Sinch, the Evolution of Chatbots
The terms that surround the concept of interactive dialogue with customers are evolving. The history of this kind of customer engagement started with the concept of a “bot,” but has morphed to greater heights of sophistication that now include Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Understanding. In the past, a “bot” was simply a pre-set decision tree interaction with limited response capabilities and many “chatbots” in-market today are still just that. Today, not all chatbots are created equal and the bots of yester-year are not the bots of today. Sinch’s Two-way Conversational Messaging goes far beyond the traditional concept of a “chatbot.” Sinch Conversational Messaging leverages AI using the most advanced Natural Language Understanding and Processing. In a recent Platform Spotlight* Chatlayer (the programmed powering Sinch Conversational Messaging) out-performed IBM Watson, Microsoft LUIS and Google DialogFlow. Sinch’s customer conversation flows with rich media experiences, created by expert conversation designers who work closely with brand management to ensure the dialogue with the customer is natural, intelligent, and engaging with a look and feel that is consistent with the brand identity and voice.
Luxury Two-Way Conversational Messaging:
Customers expect their luxury brand experience to be convenient, on their terms where they want to engage, and of superior quality and experience. This means luxury retailers need to be accessible through every channel, including web, mobile, messaging and in-store; luxury brands like Louis Vuitton understand this. Louis Vuitton CEO, Michael Burke, said: “Today, our clients like to be connected to the Louis Vuitton universe wherever they are. They shop in our stores worldwide and are often in contact with their personal shoppers. They also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and find our products on louisvuitton.com. It became evident that we should create the Louis Vuitton Virtual Advisor” that can engage customers in two-way intelligent conversation wherever they want.
A luxury shopper expects a highly personalized experience. They don’t have the patience to sift through information to get to what they need. They wish to be guided, understood, and provided options that are specific to them and communicated on their preferred channel. A Sinch white paper Mobile Consumer Engagement (2020) conducted by Mantis Research tells us that consumers are 80% more likely to make a purchase when the brand offers a personalized experience**.
Luxury companies outside the world of CPG and fashion have also identified that providing a seamless experience where customers can communicate with brands on their preferred channels, 24/7 will increase customer engagement, loyalty and sales. In the luxury automotive space, brands like BMW, Porsche, Mercedes and Audi have responded to their customers’ desire by setting up two-way conversational messaging to facilitate everything from building and pricing a car, booking a test drive, automotive aftercare and car sharing. It’s no surprise that the MHP a Porsche company report Future Automotive Sales Journey*** supports this finding; 75% of all customers stated that they would like to book a test drive appointment virtually, and 88% would use two-way conversational messaging to book a test-drive.
Sinch’s best luxury automotive example involved Messenger People and our client BMW branch in Munich. Sinch and BMW Munich offered customers an automated AI chat environment allowing customers to query their repair status with a conversational message. For more complex queries, service staff provide BMW’s clientele with the necessary information in real time via chat, along with automatic updates and request customer consent for work on vehicles. Albert Rösch, Head of Service Consulting, BMW branch Munich said this about the program, “In July 2020 (in one month) we received over 12,400 customer messages. 11,100 of these were answered automatically”.
Luxury brands such as Channel, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci or Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, and Audi have all leaned into conversational messaging, in intelligent chat/dialogue and rich media environments. All have kept their look and feel and the feedback from customers and leaders support this technology. The numbers tell the same story as Juniper Research reports the current spend in chatbots will rise from $41B in 2021 to $290 B by 2025.
** Mobile Consumer Engagement (2020), PDF
*** Future Automotive Sales Journey, PDF