The user experience for chatbots is frustrating for marketers and advertisers who care about the brand experience. This presentation, a combined deck from talks presented at the Global Artificial Intelligence Conference in New York and Jeff Pulver's MoNage in Boston, looks at the changes in user experience, how marketers can focus on brand experience, and then which marketers have made the most of what they can do with chatbots. This includes examples from brands such as Vogue, Campbell's, Victoria's Secret, and others.
Note: I have made updates to this deck but SlideShare no longer allows re-uploads. If you are interested in the latest slides, email me - dberkowitz/at/serialmarketer/dot/net and I will send you a Dropbox link.
Research and Discovery Tools for Experimentation - 17 Apr 2024 - v 2.3 (1).pdf
Learning from the Best Branded Bots: How Chatbots Flip UX Norms and Deliver New Kinds of Value
1. Lessons from the Best
Branded Bots:
How Chatbots Flip UX Norms and
Deliver New Kinds of Value
David Berkowitz
Chief Strategy Officer, Sysomos
@sysomos / @dberkowitz
dberkowitz@sysomos.com
2. It’s two mints in one!
This presentation is unlike any I’ve put together, in that it’s a hybrid beast.
In one week in October 2017, I gave two talks on chatbots. First, at the Global Artificial Intelligence Conference
in New York, I gave a talk on Lessons from the Best Branded Bots. Then, in Boston, at Jeff Pulver’s MoNage, I
spoke about how Chatbots Flip UX Norms and Deliver New Kinds of Value. Both were new talks for me, but as I
created them at the same time, I used some material from each one to inform the other. This is an annotated
version that combines them.
Both of these stemmed from a project that was more of a hobby: collecting great examples of how marketers are
using automated messaging and conversational commerce. This is shared publicly at bit.ly/brandedbots. You
can find far more examples and details about marketers’ bots there, and I update it at least quarterly as I find
more material. If you have examples of yours or others to include, plase let me know.
At Sysomos, the insights-driven social platform, we’ve created technologies to empower marketers and
agencies to learn from their target audiences and interact with them. For more about this, please visit
sysomos.com, or contact me for more information.
Thanks so much for taking the time to go through this. I look forward to learning much more about it, and I hope
to learn from you as well.
David
3. I’m sharing this because I love the potential for conversational interfaces and
experiences. I worked in search engine marketing and social media marketing
in the early days, and this is the next generation of how language connects
marketers with their audiences.
5. To start understanding marketers’ perspectives,
consider the options they have with their website. See
the bold, beautiful imagery. We’ll focus on Victoria’s
Secret’s Pink brand, one of the more consistent first-
movers digitally.
6. Here’s their mobile app: lots of creative options with a
smaller form factor balanced out by added
functionality (eg location features, push notifications,
constant real estate on user’s phones, etc).
7. Remember Facebook apps? They were a thing, once.
It’s far more templatized, but it had some fun features
– quizzes, social couponing, games, organic reach for
promotions (those were the days).
8. Instagram. There are video and carousels
image sizes, but it’s generally what you see
artly shot square images, with most reach
gement coming from ad buys.
9. And now… the banded bot. It screams, “Make the
logo bigger!” And pretty much every bot looks like this
– even a better bot like this, running on Kik, with tone
and content that do well to engage the audience.
10. Messaging platforms focus on user experience (UX),
as they should. But marketers need to push for a
better brand experience (BX). The status quo does
not work for large consumer brands.
11. Here’s Katy Perry’s Kik bot for her perfume produced
by Coty. It was the first US bot to offer a real product
for virtual currency. Look at the difference between
how the brand promoted the experience outside of
Kik, and how it looked on Kik.
12. This is a fun game. Here are bots from two clothing
brands. Can you tell which is which? Stripping the tiny
logo out at left, it’s essentially impossible. Answers
are in the notes field. An aside: these are among the
better-crafted bots.
13. Your brand
here
or maybe here
or here
The brand experience is practically invisible here. It’s
like the brands have been uploaded to the cloud
somewhere; they’re no longer anywhere near where
the consumers are.
15. And now we have Brandless! It’s like a dollar store, but with $3 items. I’m not convinced
anyone wants to shop this way (even Amazon Essentials brands benefit from reviews and
comparing prices to other brands; choosing to pay $3 for non-branded toothpaste or $4 for
Crest is at least a choice). But it’s a sign of where things are going.
16. Discovery
Initiation
Acquisition
Persistence
Engagement
Retention
Different media, different experiences: the DIAPER model
Here’s a new framework I created for the MoNage talk. I analyzed
digital platforms across six criteria:
• Discovery: How well one can find the branded experience (a
website, app, bot, etc)
• Initiation: How easy is it for consumers to start the brand
experience
• Acquisition: How easily can marketers pay to attract larger
audiences
• Persistence: How well brand remains visible to consumers
when the branded experience isn’t in use
• Engagement: How rich the branded experience is while
consumers deal with it
• Retention: What are the options available for brands to hook
consumers back in
This is a subjective scorecard. In the next two slides, I first color-
code the brand experience (BX) – green is good, yellow is okay,
and red is poor. And then on the following slide, I share the
rationale.
17. Different media, different experiences: the DIAPER model
Websites Mobile Apps Mobile Sites Messenger Bots Alexa Skills
Discovery
Initiation
Acquisition
Persistence
Engagement
Retention
@Sysomos / @dberkowitz
18. Different media, different experiences: the DIAPER model
Websites Mobile Apps Mobile Sites Messenger Bots Alexa Skills
Discovery Search engines/
social media
App Store/
Play Store
Search engines/
social media
Lists, in-app
recommendations
Alexa app,
Amazon.com
Initiation Click bookmark /
extension; type in
URL; search for it
Tap icon, notification Type in or search for
URL
Send message; tap
notification
Voice trigger
Acquisition Search/display ads
(among others)
Search/social/app
store ads
Search/display ads
(among others)
Facebook ads,
owned channels
Owned channels
Persistence Bookmark / browser
extension
Icon on screen or in
folder
N/A (occasionally,
bookmarks / saved
to home screen)
May appear in
recent conversation
list
N/A
Engagement Rich branded
experience
Rich branded
experience
Rich enough
branded experience
Uses FB design;
little differentiation
Typically uses
Alexa’s voice;
differentiation tough
Retention Email marketing,
retargeting, browser
push alerts
Push notifications Email marketing Push notifications You remember you
used it?; now has
‘green ring’ alerts
19. Here’s one example that shows
how voice apps may overcome at
least one issue – that of how the
apps tend to use the voice and
style of the platform, not the brand.
Vogue is a strong print brand, and
it used the Google Home voice bot
as a complement, offering celebrity
interviews from its September 2017
issue to bring the magazine to life.
20. God, grant me the
serenity to accept the
things I cannot change,
Courage to change the
things I can,
And wisdom to know the
difference.
21. Have serenity to accept what you cannot change
Reach of platforms
UX of platforms
Consumer behavior
Marketers can’t control the reach of platforms, and whether their audience is more likely to use Messenger or
iMessage. Marketers can’t influence the UX of the platforms either. And consumer behavior typically doesn’t
change in an instant. Most people who don’t like calling customer service, for example, won’t tend to realize
or trust that they can have such exchanges over chatbots.
22. Have courage to change the things you can
Focus on BX
Strategy
Approach to platforms
Go native
Go bigger
Marketers can pursue a focus on BX. They can have a strategy for how they communicate with customers and
prospects. They can have a reason for being on any given platform, and tactics for how they use it. They can consider
incorporating chat into their sites, mobile apps, and other touchpoints. And they can dream bigger – should voice-
activated assistants be in retail stores? Could chatbots power digital billboards? There are lots of bad ideas that could
surface here, but perhaps a few could be relevant for a given marketer.
23. What’s next…
From here, we dive into a review of highlights from some of the Best Brandd
Bots. These examples are all in bit.ly/brandedbots, but here, they are
organized differently. These aren’t annotated, but you can find links in the
notes field for bots, media coverage, and image sources.
83. SO LONG,
AND THANKS FOR
ALL THE BOTS
DAVID BERKOWITZ
DBERKOWITZ@SYSOMOS.COM
@SYSOMOS / @DBERKOWITZ
From one of the top 3 monage.io presenters in the 10/26
9:45am time slot
Editor's Notes
Image: http://askcampbellskitchen.com/
How Chatbots Flip UX Norms and Deliver New Kinds of ValueThis was what websites looked like.And then mobile sites and apps.And then chatbots. (Pick one example, show it all the way through).Soon they won't look like anything at all. How do you take a screen shot of an Alexa app?This is a rather odd problem to solve, but for marketers who are used to all things visual, telling the story about what you're doing becomes much harder.Beyond voice apps though, it's possible that a lot of interactions with bots won't have any manifestation at all. Consider the internet of things, wearables, smart homes, smart cars, and all of that... just as your Kia pulls into your garage, it orders you a Domino's pizza and a case of PBR, if you've arrived with other people. None of this is particularly far fetched, and all of it can be done with some version of IFTTT today. So now that you have the new kind of content delivery system, you have these new kinds of UXs. And they have to deliver new kinds of value. Or else.Take a look at a few different chatbots. See if you can guess which is which - show a couple side by side in similar verticals.Here the UX is pretty similar. The Brand Experience is pretty shitty.Shift from UX to BX - is this even a thing? Look up Brand Experience.
I love bots. I’m a Botologist.
A bit about me… and bots
Mobile apps – and sites as well, but apps giving marketers the most control on mobile, and tapping into phones’ native functionality
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7a/f8/22/7af822b7ca20f764989fc82b28b9932e--victoria-secret-pink-victorias-secret.jpg
Facebook normalized a lot
https://www.instagram.com/vspink/
VSPink chatbot on Kik – it’s it’s logo and a shitload of text
On any given chat platform, the user experience is overwhelmingly similar – it’s so hard to tell the difference
Image source for conversation - https://twitter.com/kpfragrances/status/766673846774722560
Note the difference of the promotional art and the actual branded experience
Trivia game – which is which?
Left: Tommy Hilfiger
Right: US Polo Association
We have to prepare for a future where so much of a brand’s identity is in the cloud – this is brought about by the rampant digitization of everything
We’re even at the point where there can be a dollar-store type of brand called brandless – everything is the same price and nothing has a brand and I don’t get how maple syrup costs the same as taco shells and shampoo and everything else
Here’s a new framework I created for the MoNage talk. I analyzed digital platforms across six criteria:
Discovery: How well one can find the branded experience (a website, app, bot, etc)
Initiation: How easy is it for consumers to start the brand experience
Acquisition: How easily can marketers pay to attract larger audiences
Persistence: How well brand remains visible to consumers when the branded experience isn’t in use
Engagement: How rich the branded experience is while consumers deal with it
Retention: What are the options available for brands to hook consumers back in
This is a subjective scorecard. In the next two slides, I first color-code the brand experience (BX) – green is good, yellow is okay, and red is poor. And then on the following slide, I share the rationale.
A promising sign – Google Home + Vogue
Heaven image
So what do you do about all this?
Serenity Prayer
Reach of the platforms (Messenger, iMessage, WeChat, Alexa, Google Home)
UX of the platforms
Consumer behavior
Focusing on BX
Have an overarching strategy for how you’re communicating with customers and prospects
Have a reason for being on any platform or incorporating any kind of channel
Go native – incorporate chat into your own digital media
Go bigger – can it be incorporated into your stores, etc?
Automating customer service – just basic stuff – like Amtrak did starting 5 years ago before anyone was talking about chatbots
Ask Julie – Amtrak
https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/827/492/Amtrak-Ask-Julie-ATK-12-089.pdf
http://www.psfk.com/2016/08/dior-sells-handbags-in-china-using-wechat.html
“Luxury brand Dior is the first designer to sell a limited edition bag directly on the massive Chinese social network WeChat” – PSFK
More: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2016-08/03/content_26332279.htm
Business Insider on Line as of fall 2016
Reached 35,000 in first 24 hours, 230,000 followers in first two weeks
http://digiday.com/publishers/business-insider-attracted-230000-line-followers-two-weeks/amp/
https://line.me/R/ti/p/@businessinsider
http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-line-messaging-app-2016-8
https://bots.kik.com/#/sephora
Image and other coverage: http://digiday.com/brands/see-kik-sephora-bets-messaging-apps-e-commerce/
https://www.messenger.com/t/livelokai/
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/these-two-charities-made-facebook-messenger-bot-draw-awareness-ethiopias-water-crisis-173117
Description: Jewelry brand Lokai partnered with charity:water for perhaps the first branded cause marketing bot, with 2.5 hours of content illustrating the 2.5 hours of walking that girls like Yeshi must do to get water
http://venturebeat.com/2016/09/22/why-mattress-startup-casper-built-a-chatbot-for-night-owls/amp/
http://insomnobot3000.com/
Only available from 11pm to 5am
https://newsroom.uber.com/messengerlaunch/
Integration with Messenger (eg Uber and Lyft)
Much more coming with iMessage – embedded organically
Still a big learning curve – difficult to figure out when it’s triggered. Do you trigger it yourself? Is it automated? What’s the right balance for the platform?
And what
Bud Light: Have too little going on within the experience, require too much going on outside of it
UPS overpromises on AI here – this is just regular automation, adapted to
https://pressroom.ups.com/mobile0c9a66/assets/pdf/pressroom/infographic/UPS_chatbot_infographic.pdf
https://pressroom.ups.com/pressroom/ContentDetailsViewer.page?ConceptType=PressReleases&id=1479482899899-696
Offer a visual experience in an audio format
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0719T2K82/ref=sr_1_1
https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/10/5-alexa-skills-to-try-this-week-10-june-2017/amp/
Replicate functionality from the platforms – Amazon can basically do all this with its own custom to-do lists
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSK0GFN
https://venturebeat.com/2017/06/10/5-alexa-skills-to-try-this-week-10-june-2017/amp/