Travel is a great market for chatbots, and here’s the proof:
SnapTravel, a bot that lets users find and book rooms via SMS texts and Facebook Messenger, just raised $8 million.
Unlike a lot of chatbots on the market today, SnapTravel isn’t a fully automated solution.
The bot handles onboarding and answers users’ simpler questions, and human agents are always ready to help with the tough ones.
For example, if you booked a non-refundable hotel but your flight gets cancelled due to weather, an agent would respond to your questions and try to help, rather than leaving you to deal with an unsympathetic bot.
Here are top 9 insights from their journey:
1. Chatbots are great for onboarding a customer. A user can quickly engage with a chatbot as it is a simple UI they are familiar with. Chatbots are also great for answering simple questions.
2. Human Agents are necessary for tricky situations. If you booked a non-refundable hotel but your flight just got cancelled due to a storm, you want to chat with a live human agent — not a chat bot! At SnapTravel — our live human agents are available 24/7.
3. A Webview (mobile web) is essential for most hotel searches. If you are a business traveler who has booked with us many times before and you make a request — we could just send you a booking form for the perfect hotel.
4. Building on top of Messenger means that we have access to a new and untapped source of distribution (discover, drawer…).
5. It means that we can engage a user without forcing them to download a new app.
6. It means we can leverage sponsored messages — one of the most untapped ad units on the platform.
7. If a user makes it to the booking form but doesn’t complete the transaction, we can retarget that user directly in their messaging inbox as opposed to trying to follow then around the web with display ads. We have seen a 30%+ jump in conversion rate with effective Messenger retargeting techniques.
8. Continuous A/B Testing is essential — The leader in the hotel booking space (Booking.com) is well known for their rigorous A/B testing platform. Similar to Booking.com, we have invested in internal tools that allow us to run hundreds of tests in parallel, anything from messaging frequency, tone and length to web ui fonts, colors and interactions. Due to our relentless focus on data driven experiments, we’ve seen a 2x higher conversion on mobile compared to traditional bookings websites.
9. Delight the customer — One of the benefits of working with a traditional travel agent is the personal service and attention you get. However, no one has the time anymore to walk into a travel agency, or even pick up the phone to call. At SnapTravel, we have invested significant resources in delighting our customers — providing 24/7 human agents/customer service over messaging.
https://medium.com/@hussein_fazal/snaptravel-8m-series-a-raise-conversational-commerce-77c389fa4edf
SnapTravel, a bot that lets users find and book rooms via SMS texts and Facebook Messenger, just raised $8 million.
Unlike a lot of chatbots on the market today, SnapTravel isn’t a fully automated solution.
The bot handles onboarding and answers users’ simpler questions, and human agents are always ready to help with the tough ones.
For example, if you booked a non-refundable hotel but your flight gets cancelled due to weather, an agent would respond to your questions and try to help, rather than leaving you to deal with an unsympathetic bot.
Here are top 9 insights from their journey:
1. Chatbots are great for onboarding a customer. A user can quickly engage with a chatbot as it is a simple UI they are familiar with. Chatbots are also great for answering simple questions.
2. Human Agents are necessary for tricky situations. If you booked a non-refundable hotel but your flight just got cancelled due to a storm, you want to chat with a live human agent — not a chat bot! At SnapTravel — our live human agents are available 24/7.
3. A Webview (mobile web) is essential for most hotel searches. If you are a business traveler who has booked with us many times before and you make a request — we could just send you a booking form for the perfect hotel.
4. Building on top of Messenger means that we have access to a new and untapped source of distribution (discover, drawer…).
5. It means that we can engage a user without forcing them to download a new app.
6. It means we can leverage sponsored messages — one of the most untapped ad units on the platform.
7. If a user makes it to the booking form but doesn’t complete the transaction, we can retarget that user directly in their messaging inbox as opposed to trying to follow then around the web with display ads. We have seen a 30%+ jump in conversion rate with effective Messenger retargeting techniques.
8. Continuous A/B Testing is essential — The leader in the hotel booking space (Booking.com) is well known for their rigorous A/B testing platform. Similar to Booking.com, we have invested in internal tools that allow us to run hundreds of tests in parallel, anything from messaging frequency, tone and length to web ui fonts, colors and interactions. Due to our relentless focus on data driven experiments, we’ve seen a 2x higher conversion on mobile compared to traditional bookings websites.
9. Delight the customer — One of the benefits of working with a traditional travel agent is the personal service and attention you get. However, no one has the time anymore to walk into a travel agency, or even pick up the phone to call. At SnapTravel, we have invested significant resources in delighting our customers — providing 24/7 human agents/customer service over messaging.
https://medium.com/@hussein_fazal/snaptravel-8m-series-a-raise-conversational-commerce-77c389fa4edf
Medium
SnapTravel just raised an $8M Series A. Here is the story.
How to build a conversational commerce company
Amazon is about to release a new chat app that could be the WeChat of North America.
You may think “Really!? Yet another messaging app?”
However, the idea is not that far-fetched for several reasons:
1. Amazon has already been building messaging services, both for enterprises and consumers.
2. Amazon has already started to dip its toes into consumer communications, namely with Alexa Calling.
The free calling and messaging service, Alexa calling, was launched in May.
It’s not so hard to get that Amazon was from the start expanding the communications experience outside of the Echo-device ecosystem: people could also use their Alexa apps — on smartphones and other hardware — to communicate with each other.
And it makes a lot of sense that Amazon would develop a more focused, standalone messaging experience as a progression of that.
Anytime hopes to be an all-in-one feature rich service that could even rival social networks.
Some of the possible features are:
- Food ordering in group chat
- Bill splitting
- Embedded gaming (remember they own Twitch)
- Video calls with filters
- Ability to make reservations
- It will have gifs!
- Video and audio calling
- Secure messaging and photo filters
- Support for video and photo filters
- Ability to @mention other users (just by name)
We’ll see how ecosystems like Alexa, Prime Video, and Anytime will bridge the consumer into the Amazon experience; that will be able to facilitate everything, not just shopping, anytime they want.
Interesting times :)
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/14/amazon-messaging-app-anytime/
You may think “Really!? Yet another messaging app?”
However, the idea is not that far-fetched for several reasons:
1. Amazon has already been building messaging services, both for enterprises and consumers.
2. Amazon has already started to dip its toes into consumer communications, namely with Alexa Calling.
The free calling and messaging service, Alexa calling, was launched in May.
It’s not so hard to get that Amazon was from the start expanding the communications experience outside of the Echo-device ecosystem: people could also use their Alexa apps — on smartphones and other hardware — to communicate with each other.
And it makes a lot of sense that Amazon would develop a more focused, standalone messaging experience as a progression of that.
Anytime hopes to be an all-in-one feature rich service that could even rival social networks.
Some of the possible features are:
- Food ordering in group chat
- Bill splitting
- Embedded gaming (remember they own Twitch)
- Video calls with filters
- Ability to make reservations
- It will have gifs!
- Video and audio calling
- Secure messaging and photo filters
- Support for video and photo filters
- Ability to @mention other users (just by name)
We’ll see how ecosystems like Alexa, Prime Video, and Anytime will bridge the consumer into the Amazon experience; that will be able to facilitate everything, not just shopping, anytime they want.
Interesting times :)
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/14/amazon-messaging-app-anytime/
TechCrunch
Is Amazon working on a new messaging app called Anytime?
Messaging apps today are one of the most popular ways consumers communicate today, not just with each other but, increasingly, with businesses and services. Now there are signs that we could see…
My friend Mike, who’s the CEO and co-founder of ManyChat, is sharing a real value bomb!
They’re going to release ManyChat–Zapier integration very soon and now are giving EARLY ACCESS to this channel!
The initial integration will connect ManyChat to 750+ other apps and will enable use cases such as:
1. Ask a subscriber for an email inside the bot and add it to your email marketing service / CRM.
2. Ask a subscriber for their phone number inside the bot and add it to your CRM / send a Slack notification.
3. Ask for any text (feedback / suggestions / rating) and pass this text to Google Sheets / Slack / email.
4. Trigger an email sequence based on an action inside the bot (e.g. user pressed a button saying "Get the 7-day crash course" and you trigger an ActiveCampaign sequence to this user).
5. Register people to a webinar with 1 tap, if you already have their email in a Custom Field.
6. Move the lead in your CRM pipeline when he/she get's a certain tag in ManyChat.
7. Add a lead in your CRM when you get a new subscriber in ManyChat.
..and many many more.
Disclaimer: This is early access, so there is a chance things will break.
If you want to get an invite, send Mike your email here: m.me/mikedyang
Because we love you guys ❤️
They’re going to release ManyChat–Zapier integration very soon and now are giving EARLY ACCESS to this channel!
The initial integration will connect ManyChat to 750+ other apps and will enable use cases such as:
1. Ask a subscriber for an email inside the bot and add it to your email marketing service / CRM.
2. Ask a subscriber for their phone number inside the bot and add it to your CRM / send a Slack notification.
3. Ask for any text (feedback / suggestions / rating) and pass this text to Google Sheets / Slack / email.
4. Trigger an email sequence based on an action inside the bot (e.g. user pressed a button saying "Get the 7-day crash course" and you trigger an ActiveCampaign sequence to this user).
5. Register people to a webinar with 1 tap, if you already have their email in a Custom Field.
6. Move the lead in your CRM pipeline when he/she get's a certain tag in ManyChat.
7. Add a lead in your CRM when you get a new subscriber in ManyChat.
..and many many more.
Disclaimer: This is early access, so there is a chance things will break.
If you want to get an invite, send Mike your email here: m.me/mikedyang
Because we love you guys ❤️
Facebook is going huge on improving their AI assistant M.
They've just acquired AI assistant startup Ozlo to help build “compelling experiences within Messenger that are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning”.
Ozlo initially focused on helping users sift through restaurant listings in a conversational format.
But they've eventually expanded to include not only restaurants but also weather forecasts and more local business services, like movie listings, leveraging popular APIs like Yelp.
As we can see guys from Ozlo were doing pretty the same thing Facebook AI assistant M is trying to build and became a pretty valuable asset.
So happy to see all of these acquisitions started emerging in a chatbots space 💪🏻
https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/31/facebook-acquires-ai-assistant-startup-ozlo/
They've just acquired AI assistant startup Ozlo to help build “compelling experiences within Messenger that are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning”.
Ozlo initially focused on helping users sift through restaurant listings in a conversational format.
But they've eventually expanded to include not only restaurants but also weather forecasts and more local business services, like movie listings, leveraging popular APIs like Yelp.
As we can see guys from Ozlo were doing pretty the same thing Facebook AI assistant M is trying to build and became a pretty valuable asset.
So happy to see all of these acquisitions started emerging in a chatbots space 💪🏻
https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/31/facebook-acquires-ai-assistant-startup-ozlo/
VentureBeat
Facebook acquires AI assistant startup Ozlo
Facebook has acquired AI assistant startup Ozlo to help build "compelling experiences within Messenger that are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning,” a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed to VentureBeat. A brief note on the acquisition…
Oh, sh*t. That’s the Hook Model!
Have you ever spotted a popular framework in action?
It’s a strange yet reassuring feeling!
Realising someone has implemented a strategy, textbook perfect. Nir Eyal would be proud.
Well that happened to me yesterday when I was reviewing Champ for our #botoftheweek series.
Champ has stormed to success in the last couple of months, processing over 25 million messages on Messenger, here's my review as to why.
Full review here, made by Matthew, one of our BDDM community admins:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E1FPlwEF4ZBFFe8NonVbiPPySM0rZne4E4fsggeV1pg/edit?usp=sharing
Have you ever spotted a popular framework in action?
It’s a strange yet reassuring feeling!
Realising someone has implemented a strategy, textbook perfect. Nir Eyal would be proud.
Well that happened to me yesterday when I was reviewing Champ for our #botoftheweek series.
Champ has stormed to success in the last couple of months, processing over 25 million messages on Messenger, here's my review as to why.
Full review here, made by Matthew, one of our BDDM community admins:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E1FPlwEF4ZBFFe8NonVbiPPySM0rZne4E4fsggeV1pg/edit?usp=sharing
Google Docs
BDDM Bot Review: Champ
Champ from Champion.ai has stormed to success, quickly becoming one of the most popular bots on Messenger. Processing 10 million messages in their first 2 months if their numbers match reports. Monica Champ, introduces herself as your personal football…
Smart speakers market is growing rapidly.
Google and Amazon have already sold millions of their smart speakers in the last year.
Xiaomi, Alibaba, Microsoft, Apple and many others have already launched their own smart speakers recently.
Facebook doesn't want to miss the opportunity.
Their research lab is reportedly working on a device about the size of a laptop for video calls, similar to Amazon Echo Show, and a separate smart speaker.
The devices could be available as soon as spring 2018.
Something big and completely new is coming.
Amazon Echo has only 15000 skills, Google Home has something around 400 and Microsoft Cortana has only about 70 apps available.
Can you imagine that App Store, for example, has only 70 apps available?
That's crazy.
Don't miss the train, it's going super fast.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/01/facebook-is-reportedly-developing-a-video-chat-device-and-smart-speaker/
Google and Amazon have already sold millions of their smart speakers in the last year.
Xiaomi, Alibaba, Microsoft, Apple and many others have already launched their own smart speakers recently.
Facebook doesn't want to miss the opportunity.
Their research lab is reportedly working on a device about the size of a laptop for video calls, similar to Amazon Echo Show, and a separate smart speaker.
The devices could be available as soon as spring 2018.
Something big and completely new is coming.
Amazon Echo has only 15000 skills, Google Home has something around 400 and Microsoft Cortana has only about 70 apps available.
Can you imagine that App Store, for example, has only 70 apps available?
That's crazy.
Don't miss the train, it's going super fast.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/01/facebook-is-reportedly-developing-a-video-chat-device-and-smart-speaker/
VentureBeat
Facebook is reportedly developing a video chat device and smart speaker
Facebook's research lab Building 8 is reportedly working on a device about the size of a laptop for video calls, anonymous sources told Bloomberg. Sources also say a smart speaker is being developed by the company, and that the devices could be available…
When we were launching our first chatbot project I was building the whole system from scratch manually.
I was coding about 12 hours a day.
Our only competitors were doing the very same thing using Chatfuel.
"They won't be able to scale. If they need to add some custom functionality - they're dead" - I thought.
That project hasn't worked out.
Our competitor's product is still alive and acquiring top clients.
You don't always need a custom solution, you can start from using bot building platforms to build the prototype or MVP.
Here is the list of about 50 bot building platforms with the detailed comparison.
Here you go:
https://goo.gl/Z4SXuo
I was coding about 12 hours a day.
Our only competitors were doing the very same thing using Chatfuel.
"They won't be able to scale. If they need to add some custom functionality - they're dead" - I thought.
That project hasn't worked out.
Our competitor's product is still alive and acquiring top clients.
You don't always need a custom solution, you can start from using bot building platforms to build the prototype or MVP.
Here is the list of about 50 bot building platforms with the detailed comparison.
Here you go:
https://goo.gl/Z4SXuo
Google Docs
Bot Platforms list
Bot platforms list
Name,Denoscription,URL,Twitter,Email,Contact Person,HQ,Founded,Employees,Funding,Investors,Pricing,Pricing Details,FB,Tele-gram,WA,Web,SMS Twilio,Kik,Twitter
Chatfuel,Build a Facebook bot without coding. Launch a full-featured chatbot in…
Name,Denoscription,URL,Twitter,Email,Contact Person,HQ,Founded,Employees,Funding,Investors,Pricing,Pricing Details,FB,Tele-gram,WA,Web,SMS Twilio,Kik,Twitter
Chatfuel,Build a Facebook bot without coding. Launch a full-featured chatbot in…
I used to hate Skype even before it was acquired by Microsoft.
It was buggy, ugly, old-fashioned and completely unreliable.
We've moved our internal team communication to Slack about 2 years ago.
But I see a lot of positive changes there for both common users and chatbot developers.
Microfost is really pushing Skype in chatbot direction with new releases of Microsoft Bot Framework, web chat plugin, releasing a separate tab for chat extensions and plenty of other stuff.
And right now they're adding a new feature there - payments.
The feature is pretty similar to what Facebook Messenger released a couple of months ago together with PayPal - you can easily split any bill across a number of people via chat extension.
Skype’s choice to partner with PayPal was a smart one, as it’s an established name many people have already signed up for.
Considering many business sessions happen via Skype too – like tutoring or singing lessons – it could make it easier to collect payments from clients.
I hope Microsoft will continue pushing Skype in this direction so I can start using it for some of the business communications again 🙏🏻
https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/08/02/skype-now-lets-send-money-via-paypal/
It was buggy, ugly, old-fashioned and completely unreliable.
We've moved our internal team communication to Slack about 2 years ago.
But I see a lot of positive changes there for both common users and chatbot developers.
Microfost is really pushing Skype in chatbot direction with new releases of Microsoft Bot Framework, web chat plugin, releasing a separate tab for chat extensions and plenty of other stuff.
And right now they're adding a new feature there - payments.
The feature is pretty similar to what Facebook Messenger released a couple of months ago together with PayPal - you can easily split any bill across a number of people via chat extension.
Skype’s choice to partner with PayPal was a smart one, as it’s an established name many people have already signed up for.
Considering many business sessions happen via Skype too – like tutoring or singing lessons – it could make it easier to collect payments from clients.
I hope Microsoft will continue pushing Skype in this direction so I can start using it for some of the business communications again 🙏🏻
https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/08/02/skype-now-lets-send-money-via-paypal/
The Next Web
Skype now lets you send money via PayPal
Skype’s recent redesign may be the source of much divisiveness, but that isn’t stopping Microsoft from adding new features. Starting today, you can now send money via PayPal right from your conversations. It’s a shot across the bow to Facebook, which has…
Shopify is entering chatbots and voice assistants game.
It wants for their 500,000 merchants to be able to run their business almost entirely through the use of bots or voice apps like Alexa.
The ability to run a business through a conversational interface at Shopify began with Kit, a text-based marketing virtual assistant Shopify acquired in April 2016 a day after the launch of the Facebook Messenger platform.
“We have a vision of really simplifying the way a merchant starts their day like getting up, having a cup of coffee and just being able to ask: What is the context I need to know to start my day off well, and how many orders do I need to fulfill right now? What are those products, and how many sales did I have the day before?”.
The company will also consider the launch of services on other text or voice bot platforms such as a Google Assistant action or Cortana skill.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/04/shopifys-plan-to-let-400000-merchants-run-their-business-via-alexa-and-bots/
It wants for their 500,000 merchants to be able to run their business almost entirely through the use of bots or voice apps like Alexa.
The ability to run a business through a conversational interface at Shopify began with Kit, a text-based marketing virtual assistant Shopify acquired in April 2016 a day after the launch of the Facebook Messenger platform.
“We have a vision of really simplifying the way a merchant starts their day like getting up, having a cup of coffee and just being able to ask: What is the context I need to know to start my day off well, and how many orders do I need to fulfill right now? What are those products, and how many sales did I have the day before?”.
The company will also consider the launch of services on other text or voice bot platforms such as a Google Assistant action or Cortana skill.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/04/shopifys-plan-to-let-400000-merchants-run-their-business-via-alexa-and-bots/
VentureBeat
Shopify’s plan to let half a million merchants run their business via Alexa and bots
Shopify wants its 500,000 merchants to be able to run their business almost entirely through the use of bots or voice apps like Alexa.
Hey Telegram community,
Today’s #botoftheweek shows the perfect example of how to create a captivating product on Messenger.
Forksy is a bot that keeps a food diary, tracks calories, and provides basic nutritional tips based on your eating habits.
“But there are dozens of similar products for nutrition, why the hell did you choose this bot?”
They are not good enough.
Why?
Read the full review here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgETqbjM39bSxqdGkqYxVBU-UzFAb2n8-EX_ARwE-qU/edit
Today’s #botoftheweek shows the perfect example of how to create a captivating product on Messenger.
Forksy is a bot that keeps a food diary, tracks calories, and provides basic nutritional tips based on your eating habits.
“But there are dozens of similar products for nutrition, why the hell did you choose this bot?”
They are not good enough.
Why?
Read the full review here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgETqbjM39bSxqdGkqYxVBU-UzFAb2n8-EX_ARwE-qU/edit
Google Docs
BDDM Bot Review: Forksy
BDDM Bot Review: Forksy Forksy is a bot that keeps a food diary, tracks calories, and provides basic nutritional tips based on your eating habits. “But there are dozens of similar products for nutrition, why the hell did you choose this bot?” They are…
How do you imagine a typical voice assistant user?
A 20-something-year-old millennial spending the whole day with his phone or laptop? 👨🏻💻
That’s not true.
According to the research, the average user of personal assistant apps is a 52-year-old woman.
Interesting, right?
More of that, voice-activated apps become integral to assisted living communities.
For example, a community of San Diego retirees is using the personal-assistant gadget to listen to audiobooks, keep current with family news, and control home appliances.
The majority of the people in this Alexa focus group are in their late 80s, some use walkers to get around, and some have visual and/or hearing impairments.
They can make calls via voice commands using Amazon’s Alexa-to-Alexa calling service, send and receive text messages and much more.
In a few weeks, this organization will connect the residents’ Echoes to smart plugs and thermostats so they can adjust their lights and room temperature via Alexa.
If all goes well after that two-month test, the company will explore possible deployments of Alexa devices to its other communities.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/05/why-the-typical-voicebot-user-is-a-52-year-old-woman/
More info about retirees using Alexa: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608047/the-octogenarians-who-love-amazons-alexa/
A 20-something-year-old millennial spending the whole day with his phone or laptop? 👨🏻💻
That’s not true.
According to the research, the average user of personal assistant apps is a 52-year-old woman.
Interesting, right?
More of that, voice-activated apps become integral to assisted living communities.
For example, a community of San Diego retirees is using the personal-assistant gadget to listen to audiobooks, keep current with family news, and control home appliances.
The majority of the people in this Alexa focus group are in their late 80s, some use walkers to get around, and some have visual and/or hearing impairments.
They can make calls via voice commands using Amazon’s Alexa-to-Alexa calling service, send and receive text messages and much more.
In a few weeks, this organization will connect the residents’ Echoes to smart plugs and thermostats so they can adjust their lights and room temperature via Alexa.
If all goes well after that two-month test, the company will explore possible deployments of Alexa devices to its other communities.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/05/why-the-typical-voicebot-user-is-a-52-year-old-woman/
More info about retirees using Alexa: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608047/the-octogenarians-who-love-amazons-alexa/
VentureBeat
Why the typical voicebot user is a 52-year-old woman
There’s a race heating up in the world of artificial intelligence, and it involves smartphones, consumers, and voice. Voice-activated smartphone apps use a combination of artificial intelligence, cloud-based natural language processing (NLP), and machine…
Have you ever bought sex online?
A new bot built by Microsoft employees in their spare time is designed to discourage you from doing that.
The chatbot lurks behind fake online ads for sex posted by nonprofits working to combat human trafficking and responds to text messages sent to the number listed.
It initially pretends to be the person in the ad and can converse about its purported age, body, fetish services, and pricing.
If a would-be buyer signals an intent to purchase sex, the bot pivots sharply into a stern message.
Quite an interesting use case for a chatbot, right?
To be honest, every day while researching the internet for a new content for the channel I come across plenty of different ways to use chatbots.
What’s the most interesting you’ve seen so far?
Let’s discuss in our chat - @botcubechat.
https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-chatbot-trolls-shoppers-for-online-sex/
A new bot built by Microsoft employees in their spare time is designed to discourage you from doing that.
The chatbot lurks behind fake online ads for sex posted by nonprofits working to combat human trafficking and responds to text messages sent to the number listed.
It initially pretends to be the person in the ad and can converse about its purported age, body, fetish services, and pricing.
If a would-be buyer signals an intent to purchase sex, the bot pivots sharply into a stern message.
Quite an interesting use case for a chatbot, right?
To be honest, every day while researching the internet for a new content for the channel I come across plenty of different ways to use chatbots.
What’s the most interesting you’ve seen so far?
Let’s discuss in our chat - @botcubechat.
https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-chatbot-trolls-shoppers-for-online-sex/
Wired
Microsoft Chatbot Trolls Shoppers for Online Sex
Program creates fake ads, send warning to those who respond: "You may be contacted by law enforcement."
Hey folks, I think I need your help right now.
I curate one of the biggest resources containing everything about bots - https://github.com/BotCube/awesome-bots.
But the main part of it was created about 3-4 months ago and I see that many of you have created a plenty of useful services, tools, frameworks, articles helping to build great bots during this time.
So I need your help to add the content I've missed.
Please share any piece of value related to bots you've created and I'll add them to the list.
It can be anything from guide to bot building platform.
You can contact me here - @maximabramchuk.
Let's go!
I curate one of the biggest resources containing everything about bots - https://github.com/BotCube/awesome-bots.
But the main part of it was created about 3-4 months ago and I see that many of you have created a plenty of useful services, tools, frameworks, articles helping to build great bots during this time.
So I need your help to add the content I've missed.
Please share any piece of value related to bots you've created and I'll add them to the list.
It can be anything from guide to bot building platform.
You can contact me here - @maximabramchuk.
Let's go!
GitHub
GitHub - DopplerHQ/awesome-bots: The most awesome list about bots ⭐️🤖
The most awesome list about bots ⭐️🤖. Contribute to DopplerHQ/awesome-bots development by creating an account on GitHub.
What is the best platform to build a Facebook Messenger chatbot without coding?
That’s quite hard to say.
But there are definitely 2 leaders in this field - ManyChat and ChatFuel.
But what’s the difference? Pros and cons? Unique features?
Article below evaluates both platforms with a list of 14 criteria.
Super comprehensive, right?
The main purpose of the article is to help you pick the platform that works best for your business.
It covers everything from pricing and plans to AI/NLP support and payments integration.
Guys, it’s a golden gem that will save you days of work.
Enjoy!
https://www.thinktuitive.com/comparison-manychat-vs-chatfuel/
That’s quite hard to say.
But there are definitely 2 leaders in this field - ManyChat and ChatFuel.
But what’s the difference? Pros and cons? Unique features?
Article below evaluates both platforms with a list of 14 criteria.
Super comprehensive, right?
The main purpose of the article is to help you pick the platform that works best for your business.
It covers everything from pricing and plans to AI/NLP support and payments integration.
Guys, it’s a golden gem that will save you days of work.
Enjoy!
https://www.thinktuitive.com/comparison-manychat-vs-chatfuel/
I have a lot of buzzwords for you today, guys.
Most of you probably knows the bot called Sensay - a bot that connects users with other people for anonymous advice.
They decided to monetize their bot by creating their own cryptocurrency based on Ethereum - SENSE.
Today, advice givers can receive tips in the form of tokens, and roughly 20 million coins have been awarded already.
Once SENSE becomes available, “coinholders will be immediately rewarded on a 1:1 basis”.
The currency may be made available to bots, apps, and services beyond Sensay in the future.
SENSE is the second cryptocurrency launched for the bot ecosystem in recent months.
This spring, chat app Kik also announced plans to create its own cryptocurrency, called Kin.
I love this trend when you can transform your virtual coins/tokens inside the app/bot into a real cryptocurrency.
I think it will help a lot of products to solve the monetization issues.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/12/sensay-advice-bot-to-launch-ethereum-based-cryptocurrency/
Most of you probably knows the bot called Sensay - a bot that connects users with other people for anonymous advice.
They decided to monetize their bot by creating their own cryptocurrency based on Ethereum - SENSE.
Today, advice givers can receive tips in the form of tokens, and roughly 20 million coins have been awarded already.
Once SENSE becomes available, “coinholders will be immediately rewarded on a 1:1 basis”.
The currency may be made available to bots, apps, and services beyond Sensay in the future.
SENSE is the second cryptocurrency launched for the bot ecosystem in recent months.
This spring, chat app Kik also announced plans to create its own cryptocurrency, called Kin.
I love this trend when you can transform your virtual coins/tokens inside the app/bot into a real cryptocurrency.
I think it will help a lot of products to solve the monetization issues.
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/12/sensay-advice-bot-to-launch-ethereum-based-cryptocurrency/
VentureBeat
Sensay advice bot to launch Ethereum-based cryptocurrency
Sensay, a bot that connects users with other people for anonymous advice, today announced plans to launch an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency called SENSE. The bot currently has hundreds of thousands of monthly active users, founder Crystal Rose told VentureBeat…
Intercom has launched Operator, which is a #botoftheweek for customer experience.
Why do they need a chatbot?
Intercom makes products that help businesses to communicate with their customers. The bot’s goal here is to automate some extremely simple tasks around this communication, which the bot can handle better/faster than live operators.
For example, if someone is texting business on a website, and that business is now overnight, nobody will pick up the chat. In this case, the bot could clarify the situation and ask for the best channel to follow up when the team will be back in the office.
Just like Amazon Alexa, Operator has a growing set of skills, including:
- Set expectations based on your team’s availability
- Collect contact information
- Intelligently suggest help articles to answer questions
- Automatically close answered conversations for you
- Measure customer satisfaction
It’s just the beginning, the next step is to add some kind of SDK/framework available for teams to build their own skills 🤖
https://www.intercom.com/operator-bot
Why do they need a chatbot?
Intercom makes products that help businesses to communicate with their customers. The bot’s goal here is to automate some extremely simple tasks around this communication, which the bot can handle better/faster than live operators.
For example, if someone is texting business on a website, and that business is now overnight, nobody will pick up the chat. In this case, the bot could clarify the situation and ask for the best channel to follow up when the team will be back in the office.
Just like Amazon Alexa, Operator has a growing set of skills, including:
- Set expectations based on your team’s availability
- Collect contact information
- Intelligently suggest help articles to answer questions
- Automatically close answered conversations for you
- Measure customer satisfaction
It’s just the beginning, the next step is to add some kind of SDK/framework available for teams to build their own skills 🤖
https://www.intercom.com/operator-bot
Intercom
Customizable Chatbots, Custom Bots | Intercom
Intercom's Custom Bots help sales, marketing, and support teams scale. Create and customize the perfect chatbots for your business in minutes, code-free.
Landing pages are not working anymore as well as they did.
Abundance usually leads to inefficiency, which is precisely what’s happening in the landing page landscape.
When everyone makes good looking landing pages, the user expectation is changing.
That’s why companies is suffering from an average conversion rate of 2,35%.
But here is the thing that can help - conversational interfaces.
There are different ways conversational interfaces could make a big difference in your landing page conversion:
1. Increasing user engagement - in the case of conversational inteface, we have a simple and in crescendo storytelling flow where information is provided progressively under user’s request.
2. Greater user personalization - with conversational interfaces we could make each user interaction as personal as possible via asking questions and using this data further.
3. Real-time lead qualification - in a conversational interface, the information flow works in both way by providing and asking data from users in order to validate the fit with your company’s current focus.
4. Differentiation from the crowd - using a conversational interface can help to position yourself as an innovative company and stand out from the crowd.
Take a look at the article below explaining all these points, it’s a golden gem 😉
https://chatbotnewsdaily.com/landing-page-as-chatbot-why-lead-generation-is-the-killer-app-for-conversational-interfaces-1d2c60d2ddfa
Abundance usually leads to inefficiency, which is precisely what’s happening in the landing page landscape.
When everyone makes good looking landing pages, the user expectation is changing.
That’s why companies is suffering from an average conversion rate of 2,35%.
But here is the thing that can help - conversational interfaces.
There are different ways conversational interfaces could make a big difference in your landing page conversion:
1. Increasing user engagement - in the case of conversational inteface, we have a simple and in crescendo storytelling flow where information is provided progressively under user’s request.
2. Greater user personalization - with conversational interfaces we could make each user interaction as personal as possible via asking questions and using this data further.
3. Real-time lead qualification - in a conversational interface, the information flow works in both way by providing and asking data from users in order to validate the fit with your company’s current focus.
4. Differentiation from the crowd - using a conversational interface can help to position yourself as an innovative company and stand out from the crowd.
Take a look at the article below explaining all these points, it’s a golden gem 😉
https://chatbotnewsdaily.com/landing-page-as-chatbot-why-lead-generation-is-the-killer-app-for-conversational-interfaces-1d2c60d2ddfa
Chatbot News Daily
Landing page as Chatbot: why lead generation is the killer app for conversational interfaces
A few days ago I saw this nice post by Karla Cook from Hubspot who did an excellent research on new trends in landing page design. I was…
Why Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant beat Cortana and any others? 🤔
Microsoft’s former AI expert, Qi Lu, has provided some rare insight into Microsoft’s struggles to compete with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.
“I worked on Cortana four and a half years ago. At the time we all were like, Amazon, yeah, that technology is so far behind”.
“Google and Microsoft, technologically, were ahead of Amazon by a wide margin. But look at the AI race today. The Amazon Alexa ecosystem is far ahead of anybody else in the United States.”
Lu believes Microsoft and Google “made the same mistake” of focusing on the phone and PC for voice assistants, instead of a dedicated device.
Microsoft first introduced Cortana ahead of Alexa as a promising digital assistant for its Windows Phone devices, then expanded it to be built into Windows 10 for PCs and into the company’s Xbox One console.
Cortana will also run on various Internet of Things (IoT) devices like fridges, toasters, thermostats, and even cars in Microsoft’s latest bid to catch up and beat Amazon’s popular Alexa voice assistant.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/14/16142642/microsoft-cortana-amazon-alexa-qi-lu
Microsoft’s former AI expert, Qi Lu, has provided some rare insight into Microsoft’s struggles to compete with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant.
“I worked on Cortana four and a half years ago. At the time we all were like, Amazon, yeah, that technology is so far behind”.
“Google and Microsoft, technologically, were ahead of Amazon by a wide margin. But look at the AI race today. The Amazon Alexa ecosystem is far ahead of anybody else in the United States.”
Lu believes Microsoft and Google “made the same mistake” of focusing on the phone and PC for voice assistants, instead of a dedicated device.
Microsoft first introduced Cortana ahead of Alexa as a promising digital assistant for its Windows Phone devices, then expanded it to be built into Windows 10 for PCs and into the company’s Xbox One console.
Cortana will also run on various Internet of Things (IoT) devices like fridges, toasters, thermostats, and even cars in Microsoft’s latest bid to catch up and beat Amazon’s popular Alexa voice assistant.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/14/16142642/microsoft-cortana-amazon-alexa-qi-lu
The Verge
Former Microsoft exec reveals why Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant beat Cortana
Microsoft’s former AI expert, Qi Lu, moved to Chinese search giant Baidu earlier this year. Lu spent time working on Cortana and Microsoft’s bot platform whilst he was at the software giant, along...
Amazon is going huge on building community around their voice assistant 📈
Amazon Alexa team has recently launched a program in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU).
The program itself is designed to enhance students’ ASU experience by giving them touch-free access to information and services tailored to campus living — and prepare some of them to become leaders in voice-technology development.
Incoming freshmen engineering students will be able to build their own Alexa skills or capabilities and join the growing community of voice developers.
“Our focus is putting this technology into the hands of our students in a way that will build an ecosystem that supports voice technologies throughout the ASU campus.”
I’m pretty sure that ASU is a perfect fit for Amazon because it has been ranked No. 1 in innovation by U.S. News & World Report for two years in a row, staying the course by embedding innovation into its schools, departments, athletics and student experiences.
I’m really pumped to see how Amazon is building an ecosystem around voice by doing such a program, that is a really smart move from these guys 👍
https://asunow.asu.edu/20170817-asu-news-asu-amazon-dots-tooker-house
Amazon Alexa team has recently launched a program in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU).
The program itself is designed to enhance students’ ASU experience by giving them touch-free access to information and services tailored to campus living — and prepare some of them to become leaders in voice-technology development.
Incoming freshmen engineering students will be able to build their own Alexa skills or capabilities and join the growing community of voice developers.
“Our focus is putting this technology into the hands of our students in a way that will build an ecosystem that supports voice technologies throughout the ASU campus.”
I’m pretty sure that ASU is a perfect fit for Amazon because it has been ranked No. 1 in innovation by U.S. News & World Report for two years in a row, staying the course by embedding innovation into its schools, departments, athletics and student experiences.
I’m really pumped to see how Amazon is building an ecosystem around voice by doing such a program, that is a really smart move from these guys 👍
https://asunow.asu.edu/20170817-asu-news-asu-amazon-dots-tooker-house
ASU News
ASU, Amazon bring first-of-its-kind voice-technology program to campus
Amanda Nguyen, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering at Arizona State University, has had the latest wave of technology in her hands for 24 hours.
Here’s one video from the last F8 conference that everyone missed.
It deeply covers the death of decision trees, webviews, structured menus, and chat extensions.
Incredibly helpful for beginners.
Here's the link: https://developers.facebook.com/videos/f8-2017/how-to-build-a-great-bot
It deeply covers the death of decision trees, webviews, structured menus, and chat extensions.
Incredibly helpful for beginners.
Here's the link: https://developers.facebook.com/videos/f8-2017/how-to-build-a-great-bot