In this article:
Enterprise Messaging is moving beyond SMS to include new interactive and richer messaging formats as part of a mix of messaging solutions.
Our Enterprise Messaging Survey 2017 developed in partnership with Ovum, explores the business appetite for the rapidly-evolving Enterprise Messaging sector. Alongside A2P SMS and messaging based on RCS, it’s chat bots that are capturing the imagination of Enterprises, which arguably received a significant boost with Facebook’s launch of bots on its Messenger platform in 2016.
Here’s how chat bots are taking hold:
- 25% of respondents in the survey indicated that they are using chat bots to automate customer interactivity and a further 32% indicated that they are trialling chat bots.
- Chat bots are being operated across multiple channels. 84% of those that have already deployed a chat bot have done so via a chat app, whilst 76% are using social media platforms like Twitter Direct Messages.
- Whilst chat apps and social media are delivering a significant portion of the chat bot traffic, 48% of respondents rely on the ubiquitous, handset agnostic, SMS to deliver a chat bot experience to customers.
- Improving customer experience and customer service is the primary driver for deploying a chat bot: 96% use chatbots to provide easy access to content and services, 92% use them to automate customer-facing functions, 88% use them to help improve customer service and reduce churn and 76% use them to include in–message payment options.
- Chat bots are helping enterprises control the cost of customer interactivity with 84% of respondents using them to reduce back-end costs, and 72% indicating that they felt chat bots were cheaper and more effective than developing and distributing an app.
- Some enterprises are already measuring the benefits of chat bots to their bottom line. 72% have seen increased revenues, and 64% have experienced reduced customer churn.