DIY Technology: AI-Powered Chatbots

This is the second of a series of posts focused on free tools that enable marketers to quickly and easily harness new technologies

Check out the other post in this series here

Another new major technology impacting today’s marketing landscape is Artificial Intelligence, or AI. This is one of the technologies that I think will have the greatest impact on marketing as we move into the future, and it’s already being widely adopted by major brands.

One of the most pervasive ways that brands are utilizing AI now is through chatbots. I’m sure you’ve experienced a chatbot — I use the one in my Bank of America app weekly (the chatbot’s name is, aptly, “Erica”), and I just unsubscribed from my NYT Crossword subscription via chatbot. It’s almost like talking to real person, without actually having to talk to a real person.

This new communication tool is gaining momentum: more than 4 billion devices had voice-powered assistants in 2018, and consumers, especially Millennials, actually seem to prefer Live Chat over other forms of communication.

Odyssey, our content studio at Miles, has built a number of chats for clients as well as for their proprietary Places.Travel content hub. “Maria” has a personality that reflects Places.Travel’s fun, welcoming tone. She can answer questions and provide suggestions, and as you interact with her more, she continues to learn more about your preferences and can tailor her recommendations even more closely to your needs over time. And you don’t need to download a special app – it’s all through Facebook messenger.

Ready to build your own chatbot? You can hire an agency to help you, or build one yourself using a tool like Chatfuel.com. Best of all? It’s free to get started. Our Odyssey team has tried it and have reported back that you can create your own chatbot in just about eight hours. Not bad for a day’s work!

Here’s a gallery of chatbots: https://chatfuel.com/bot/

Get started to create your own: https://chatfuel.com/