https://www.iotworldtoday.com/wp-content/themes/ioti_child/assets/images/logo/IoTWorldToday-mobile-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • Roundups
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Podcasts
    • Strategic Partners
    • Latest videos
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Editorial Submissions
  • Events
Iot World Today
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • Roundups
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Podcasts
    • Strategic Partners
    • Latest videos
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Editorial Submissions
  • Events
  • newsletter
  • IIoT
  • Cities
  • Energy
  • Homes/Buildings
  • Transportation/Logistics
  • Connected Health Care
  • Retail
  • AI
  • Metaverse
  • Development
  • Security
ioti.com

Five2ndWindow


Thinkstock

messaging bot

March of the Mobile Messaging Bot

More than 11,000 bots want to strike up a conversation on Facebook Messenger. But companies should enter the world of bots cautiously.
  • Written by Tom Kaneshige
  • 16th November 2016

In 2008, Pizza Hut made a bold move in the mobile space by launching SMS ordering. Pizza lovers simply had to flag their favorite orders on Pizza Hut's website and then tap out the text message, “send me my order.” The word “order” triggered pizzas to be made and delivered and credit cards charged.

After a couple of years, SMS ordering was shut down. “In hindsight, it was way too early,” says Baron Concors, global chief digital officer of Pizza Hut.

Eight years later, though, Concors was on the main stage at MobileBeat 2016 in San Francisco this summer talking up Pizza Hut's new ordering bot for Facebook Messenger. He ordered 50 pepperoni and cheese pizzas for attendees (a mix of marketers, product managers and developers) in less than a minute. The Messenger bot found Concors' location on a map, sent pictures of tasty pizzas, showed the total cost and confirmed the order.

Bots are essentially a form of artificial intelligence that can perform tasks without human intervention, such as answer customer service questions or take pizza orders. We are already familiar with virtual assistant bots in smartphones and homes today. (Think: Siri, Alexa and Echo.) As mobile usage coalesces around messaging, bots are arriving on the scene hoping to strike up conversations.

Given all the rage around messaging, will Pizza Hut's Messenger bot avoid SMS ordering's fate? It's impossible to tell. Mobile consumers are fickle, quick to change preferences. For instance, they'll swarm to trendy tech (like chatting with a bot) one day and abandon it the next. They'll expect bots to know certain things about them—for example, Pizza Hut's bot shouldn't talk about meat-filled pizzas to a vegetarian—yet will turn on bots they think know too much about them and invade their privacy.

There's no question marketers in pursuit of the mobile consumer face a daunting challenge, especially when technologies such as messaging bots suddenly go viral. Being too late to a mobile trend can be just as bad as being too early, and execution must be flawless.

Consider the birth of the messaging bot craze. Mobile consumers spend large swaths of their time in messaging apps, and so Facebook launched a chatbot platform for Messenger this spring. In turn, marketers have been rushing bots to market for the last three months. More than 11,000 bots now spin their wheels on Facebook Messenger.

“The experience on Facebook is largely kludgy and meaningless,” says Lynette Luna, principal analyst at Current Analysis. “The danger there is turning consumers off of bots. Bots have to be largely frictionless, meaningful and not take a lot of effort to interact with.”

That's not to say messaging bots won't take off. Luna says bots can enhance customer service by answering frequent questions or pushing people in the right direction for sales. They just can't be annoying, she says.

Should a messaging bot have a personality? Should a bot reveal that it isn't human? Should a bot use voice-recognition and natural language understanding technology? Answers to these questions vary from industry to industry. Marketers won't know what's right for their customers without a lot of testing.

“I think marketers should tread into this space very cautiously and carefully,” Luna says. “Pizza Hut aimed to just give customers another way to order food. They haven't really advertised it either, preferring to study customer interactions and what new features they could add. I think that is a good strategy.”


Tom Kaneshige is editor of Five2ndWindow, an independent news channel covering digital business transformation and the new customer experience. You can reach him at [email protected].

Tags: Article News Five2ndWindow

Related Content


  • AI Summit 2022: Health Care AI Group Wins Into the Den Competition
    Panakeia wins the dragon-den style pitching competition from 30 of the best and brightest AI startups
  • Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky
    AI Summit 2022: Ukraine President Zelensky, as Hologram, Asks Technologists for Help
    He will offer tech companies a digital lend-lease akin to World War II
  • Chinese Researchers Develop Mind-Controllable Metasurface
    Bluetooth-enabled sensor uses brainwaves to control scattering patterns on programmable metasurface
  • Image shows a fire truck in New York City
    Nvidia Files Patent to Help Self-Driving Cars Detect Emergency Vehicles
    The company’s solution could prevent AV’s from interfering with first responders on the road

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your IoT World Today account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest News

  • Image shows Unilever's Alberto Prado at AI Summit 2022 in London
    AI Summit 2022: Unilever's Alberto Prado
  • FDA Clears Robotic Exoskeleton for Multiple Sclerosis Patients
  • Seoul Robotics Expands 3D Perception Platform across South America
  • Image shows a fleet of Cruise robotaxis blocking a San Francisco intersection
    Fleet of Driverless Cruise Robotaxis Block Street for Hours

Roundups

View all

IoT Product Roundup: Canonical, InfluxData, Wiliot and More

23rd June 2022

IoT Product Roundup: Cisco, Telit, Draganfly and More

9th June 2022

IoT Deals, Partnerships Roundup: Google, Arm, Senet and More

26th May 2022

White Papers

View all

The Role of Manufacturing Technology in Continuous Improvement Ebook

6th April 2022

IIoT Platform Trends for Manufacturing in 2022

6th April 2022

Latest Videos

View all
Image shows Unilever's Alberto Prado at AI Summit 2022 in London

AI Summit 2022: Unilever’s Alberto Prado

Prado talks about how Unilever is using AI to accelerate the speed of new discoveries and gives them access to more breakthrough innovation

Image Shows John Lewis' Barry Panai at AI Summit London 2022

AI Summit 2022: John Lewis’ Barry Panayi on AI in Retail

Panayi talks about data and AI in retail and how individuals and the technology can work together

E-books

View all

How Remote Access Helps Enterprises Improve IT Service and Employee Satisfaction

12th January 2022

An Integrated Approach to IoT Security

6th November 2020

Webinars

View all

Rethinking the Database in the IoT Era

18th May 2022

Jumpstarting Industrial IoT solutions with an edge data management platform

12th May 2022

AI led Digital Transformation of Manufacturing: Time is NOW

9th December 2021

Special Reports

View all

Omdia’s Smart Home Market Dynamics Report

7th January 2022

Cybersecurity Protection Increasingly Depends on Machine Learning

28th October 2020

IoT Security Best Practices for Industry and Enterprise

20th October 2020

Twitter

IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

🤔 Looking for 3 Strategies to Avoid IoT Key Theft? We’ve got you covered! As tech companies continue to develop an… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

AI Summit 2022: Unilever’s Alberto Prado dlvr.it/STMpRN https://t.co/1dyLREr8N6

5th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Seoul Robotics Expands 3D Perception Platform across South America dlvr.it/STMhSV https://t.co/a10l3Eb2Kn

5th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Microsoft Extends Secured-Core Program to IoT Devices dlvr.it/STMg4k https://t.co/laBPF5VjC4

5th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Spot the Robot Dog Helps Police Ahead of Boston’s Fourth of July Celebration dlvr.it/STKWjb https://t.co/LdRg7a2xqU

4th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Another 59,000 @Teslas being recalled over a software glitch affecting the vehicle’s Emergency Call safety system… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

4th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Join us in the premier #tech destination of #Austin this November 2-3 for our next #IoT event. Connect and collabo… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

4th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

SoftBank, May Mobility Team on Autonomous Driving dlvr.it/STJrW0 https://t.co/mOYoBsgs14

4th July 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for IoT World Today newsletters: vertical industry coverage on Tuesdays and horizontal tech coverage on Thursdays.

Special Reports

Our Special Reports take an in-depth look at key topics within the IoT space. Download our latest reports.

Business Resources

Find the latest white papers and other resources from selected vendors.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IoT World Series
  • Channel Futures
  • RISC-V
  • Dark Reading
  • ITPro Today
  • Web Hosting Talk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Login/Register

FOLLOW IoT World Today ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X