When’s the last time you picked up a phone to make a call? Was that after you looking for ways to talk to that person via text or Messenger and not getting hold of them?
Chances are, you only did that call because there was no other way. Most people opt for messaging instead of calls now. They’ll go online and look for ways to order delivery via a website or app. Perhaps even just plain give up on ordering if there’s no way to reach other than a phone.
If you haven’t ordered something online via Messenger during this lockdown, where have you been? Everyone’s doing it.
Whether it’s food, groceries, clothes, or other commodities, online ordering through chatting up businesses has become part of the New Normal.
This is a great time to speed up and expand your small business by using a chatbot, but do you know that online ordering is not the only interesting use of a chatbot? If it’s talking to people through messenger services, a chatbot can certainly help!
Here are a few innovative uses for chatbots we’ve found:
Deliver Curated News Your Subscriber Wants to Know About
CNN rolled out chatbots in 2016 that messages subscribers about breaking news they are interested in. They publish a mix of curated and automatically selected stories to various platforms, and in some platforms like LINE, they've seen their audience surging to over 4.5 million followers.
Many companies have gotten on this trend, like Wall Street Journal and the BBC, as well as more niche outfits like HackerNews and VentureBeat.
Field Routine Questions For Your HR Department
Leena AI is building chatbots to answer questions for employees. How's that for cool? Ever had to wait to find out how many leaves you had left, or what exactly your company medical plan covers?
A chatbot handling routine queries can free up HR professionals’ time to provide more valuable care to complex employee cases and work for employees’ well-being. Plus, with some appropriate integrations into internal systems, they can even give benefit usage numbers and even file employees’ leaves for them.
That’s pretty neat and a time-saver in our book.
Have Someone to Talk to When You Can't Sleep
Introducing Insomnobot 3000, your fellow insomniac. You that time when it was 3am and you've just been tossing and turning in bed and just can't sleep? And all your friends have stopped answering because they've all fallen asleep--except you?
Well, at least you've got a friend in Insomnobot 3000, who can keep you company instead of letting you scroll through your feed over and over again, or jump down the Wikipedia rabbit hole.
Source: http://insomnobot3000.com/
Don't Know What to Cook? Ask a Chatbot
Home chefs, rejoice! Ever run out of ideas of what to cook? Dinner Ideas gives you recipes ideas everyday that you can cook, or you can prompt it with an ingredient and it will give you a few things you might want to consider preparing.
Get Your Voice Heard on Important Social Issues
While this may be more of a survey bot than one you go to for answers, UNICEF is using this platform to get help for people in developing nations. The U-Report bot gathers data through polling its subscriber base and UNICEF can use this data as the basis for potential policy recommendations.
Get Inspired with More Chatbot Ideas
These are just a few of the innovative uses chatbots have, if you put your mind to it. From health awareness to starting social change, chatbots can be the automated assistants we need to help push our goals forward.
Why not try these chatbot ideas on for size?
- Launch an awareness campaign by letting people have a fun conversation with a chatbot
- Follow up on a sale by asking for reviews or service feedback
- Play with your friends and have a bot manage leveling up for you and your friends
- Help people shop for things by asking for requirements and giving recommendations (affiliate links, anyone?)
- Motivate people on various things like health, fitness, reading, etc.
- A chatbot that helps people relax when they're stressed
- Provide recommendations on where to go for various services and get commisions for sales
- A tour guide bot for interesting places near you
- Find nearby housing available for rent or sale
- Scheduling chatbot that helps manage invite lists for that mananita (after the lockdowns!)
- Remind people to take their pills
- Habit helper, to remind people to do things until they form a habit
- Chatbot to answer people's law questions, or accounting questions, or tax questions, etc.
- Feedback chatbot for teachers and speakers
- Take reservations for your restaurant/salon/parlor/etc
- Health bot that helps people find home remedies or self-diagnose (and perhaps also get doctor appointments, or chat with one remotely)
- Spell- and grammar-checker chatbots
- Chatbot that talks to people who are feeling depressed and lonely and offers advice
- Recommend and remind people of health, fitness, and safety practices
- Personal assistant chatbot that can remind you of important events
Chatbots can be both fun and useful, and the best bots are those that are both. If you’re starting a new business, you don’t need to stop your chatbot dreams at order-taking and inquiry-handling.
Those are things that are very good to have, but once you’ve got that down, think about how you might delight your online customers even more. Upgrade your bot and get to the next level!