Over the past year, multiple messenger bots have launched, but does that mean the end of human interaction in retail? Not likely.
“Using a single app to find a date, schedule an oil change, or notarize a document enables WeChat to collect a staggering volume of personal data. They know what you talk about, who you talk with, what you read, where you go, why you’re going there, who’s there, and how you spend money both online and offline.”
In a video produced for their Times Video channel, the New York Times showcases the extensive data capabilities of WeChat, the super app dominating China. The video presents a fictional yet entirely realistic story that illustrates how users can manage nearly every aspect of their daily lives without leaving the app.
From ordering and paying for food to investing and coordinating outings with friends, WeChat has absorbed nearly every digital function in China.
North American companies like Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are likely pursuing a similar future. Although bots have existed since before the web browser, brands have increasingly developed within these major platforms.
Facebook, in particular, aggressively promotes bot development within its messenger platform. At F8, Facebook’s annual developer conference in April 2016, Mark Zuckerberg stated, “We think you should be able to message a business just like you’d message a friend, so today we’re launching Messenger Platform so you can build bots for Messenger. It’s a simple platform powered by artificial intelligence that allows you to build natural language services to communicate directly with people.”
Despite developer enthusiasm, consumer adoption remained low. People ultimately prefer human interactions over conversations with computers. Many existing chatbots attempt to understand natural language and replicate human responses, but artificial intelligence still falls short of genuine human interaction.
Bots and Humans Working Together
Bots should not replace human interactions but rather enhance them. Retailers focused on customer service should view the WeChat model with caution, as it prioritizes automation over personal engagement. Instead, AI and bots should support and improve human connections, not eliminate them.
Consider this fictional scenario where bots and humans collaborate to create an outstanding customer experience:
A customer needs a new pair of jeans and engages a chatbot to browse the catalog. The chatbot presents options within her price range, but she isn’t sure which style suits her body type. She then asks the chatbot to message her personal shopper for advice. The personal shopper, using Salesfloor, recommends the mid-rise Hudson Jeans as the best fit.
This interaction allows the customer to quickly browse the catalog without leaving her messaging app while also receiving personalized guidance from an associate when needed. By using bots to enhance human presence rather than replace it, retailers can create a truly omnipresent customer experience.
Bots Still Have a Long Way to Go
Whether through Facebook Messenger, Apple iMessage, Google Allo, or another platform, the trend toward AI-driven, on-demand interactions continues to grow. Consumers increasingly expect to organize, chat, read, watch, and shop on their preferred platforms.
However, AI technology still has limitations. In March, Microsoft launched an experimental bot, TayTweets, on Twitter. Designed with advanced learning AI, the bot aimed to listen, learn, and adapt to human conversation. Within 24 hours, it had absorbed and replicated some of the worst human behaviors, forcing Microsoft to shut it down.
Although AI has made significant progress, it still struggles to grasp the nuances of human interaction and individual customer needs—skills that humans naturally excel at.
Our Future with Bots
Bots will become an essential tool for customer communication, making it crucial for retailers to consider their role in channel strategies.
While we won’t reveal too much just yet, we are actively exploring how to integrate bots into future customer interactions. Our focus remains on using bots to create more opportunities for customers to connect with associates, rather than replacing these vital relationships. Like the fictional scenario above, we see chatbots as a way to engage customers lightly and seamlessly transition them to human associates when needed.
We welcome our bot companions and look forward to working alongside them. How do you see the partnership between bots and humans evolving?