All the recent chatter about chatbot ideas is not exclusive to just one industry, as they have been customized for many uses and tailored to various businesses. Chatbot uses typically fall into research, lead generation, customer service, content distribution, or affiliate marketing, all of which can look very different in various industries.
Below, we've compiled a list of chatbot examples and chatbot uses currently in place.
Companies Using Chatbots
Insurance Chatbot
In 2016, Allstate upgraded its commercial insurance line for small businesses. After the launch, agents jammed the internal call center inquiring about the policies and how to set sales quotes, but expanding the call center was out of the question for Allstate.
Soon after, the company developed an AI virtual assistant called Allstate Business Insurance expert (or ABIe), which now handles questions from 12,000 agents and eventually answers inquires directly from customers. By the end of the first year, ABIe had paid itself off, according to Allstate.
Financial Chatbot
Capital One Financial developed Eno, a chatbot leveraged by artificial intelligence to communicate with their customers via text messages. Currently only available for a small pilot of customers, Eno provides users updates and information immediately, and can even pay bills upon request. It has access to give you information on your balances, recent transactions, credit card due dates, and credit card limit. Unlike other chatbots, Eno only uses text messages but does not require the user to install another application.
Hotel Chatbot
Marriott International's chatbot is available through Facebook Messenger, Slack, and, soon, WeChat and Google Assistant. It allows Marriott Rewards members to research and book travel in more than 4,700 hotels. You can also plan for upcoming trips with suggestions linked from Marriot’s digital magazine Marriott Traveler, all while chatting directly with the Customer Engagement Center. Of Rewards Members using Facebook Messenger, 44 percent successfully received assistance related to their stay or reservation, and 53 percent received help with their Rewards account Marriott believes that the integration on chatbots will improve hospitality and increase their customer satisfaction.
Therapy Chatbot
Woebot is used primarily through Facebook Messenger as an artificially intelligent chatbot that is trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), one of the most widely known methods of treating depression. Woebot tracks your mood and will show users how their moods change while maintaining privacy and finding patterns that might be more difficult for the average user to analyze. It talks about your mental health and wellness from brief daily conversations about what’s going on in the user’s life and how they are feeling that day. Woebot also sends useful videos and other tools depending on your mood and needs at the moment.
Real Estate Chatbot
Apartment Ocean is an AI-powered real estate chatbot that builds relationships with potential clients using personalized greetings through Facebook Messenger. It also allows users to work on qualified leads to increase revenue and provide detailed customer support rather than spending time answering common customer questions. Chats with potential clients are automatically analyzed by the chatbot to extract essential information and allow faster conversions from potential clients.
Restaurant Chatbot
One of chatbots’ many appeals to businesses is their ability to integrate with existing messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. Chatobook is a chatbot that uses Facebook Messenger to connect with a restaurants’ customers and answer any questions that has to do with the restaurant at anytime of the day. The restaurants’ bot can take reservations, show off menus and promotions to customers, and collect feedback without additional manpower or platforms.
Chatbot Ideas & Applications for Other Industries
The healthcare industry has seen a recent growth in innovative developments to reduce the cost of healthcare. HealthJoy set out to inform employees of their benefits and claims so that employers can reduce healthcare costs. This can only be done if employees are able to successfully navigate their way through the healthcare system.
HealthJoy is described as an operating system for healthcare engagement that reviews medical bills and optimizes prescription drugs to find the lowest prices for a procedure. It also helps people with their health savings accounts and pushes wellness information.
Other applications such as HealthTap or Your.MD help diagnose patients with common symptoms using AI. They can also direct them to booking an appointment with a doctor. The ability to provide advice and information for health and wellness can prevent long-term illnesses or symptoms that can be prevented with proper knowledge and access to information. For example, sexually transmitted diseases could be reduced with access to sex education.
Visabot, the first immigration robot powered by AI, can help immigrants to the U.S. get green cards by pulling all the relevant open data about the user, inform them of required documents needed, and ensure forms are accurately filled. Since its beginning at the end of 2016, this San Francisco-based startup has helped more than 70,000 users apply for immigration services.
Cost savings and improved user satisfaction will continue to drive chatbots growth
Twenty-four hour service and reduced costs for companies are only a portion of how beneficial chatbots can be for any industry. Companies can increase customer satisfaction with the elimination of repetitive and time-consuming tasks for more face-to-face service, and users can save hundreds of dollars because they won't need to book appointments. Chatbots have proven to improve human interactions and are able to connect with hundreds of humans at any moment, which only helps them develop a better sense of how to fulfill the emotional needs of customers.
More to Learn
Chatbots for business will continue to improve in the coming years. Chatbot architecture and design will evolve to the point that interactive AI will become standard for customer service. But there are numerous applications for chatbots across a variety of sectors.
That's why BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a bundle of detailed reports on chatbots:
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