Happy Cyber Monday everyone! Hope you all had a great, restful holiday. Lots of stuff going on, in particular from Google with Chatbase. And of course, Facebook's Web Widget (in closed beta for now). Every company should be thinking about their strategy around this new Web Widget. What can you do when you're instantly granted access to name, gender, location, language and push notifications with higher CTR than email to every website visitor.
This can be pretty huge. Ping us to learn more. Gotta say, never a dull moment as this industry matures. Let’s dive right in!
Really remarkable, guys. Created by the organization REST, this bot works in two ways: 1) to deter solicitation and 2) to connect sex trade workers with help, when and how they need it, via the anonymous safety of a text message. Pretty powerful to see how scaling 1:1 communication via messaging channels can impact people’s lives. With the latter use case, making resources more accessible seems simple, but makes such a huge difference *now, buying time while legislature catches up.
We’ve really got to hand it to the folks at Kassisto, bringing chatbots to the Financial Services world. Will be interesting to see how they tackle regulatory hurdles to expand outside of Asia. And how they’ll adapt to different user behaviors in western markets, where users interact frequently enough with their banks that they can justify a native app experience.
Ok this is preeeeetty simple--it’s basically a better online form--but that’s nothing to sneeze at! In fact, we commend companies for taking this approach. Sure the use case could’ve been a bit more imaginative, but it’s important to just start! Because in the future, everything will have a conversational interface. The sooner you start that conversation, the sooner you can start improving upon it based on that incredibly powerful conversational data gathered 1:1, at scale.
We love this article about how Israeli “Uber for Beauty” startup is deploying AI and specifically chatbots. It’s a *~beautiful~* example of how chatbots, and AI, can and should be applied to a business to make it better. Could MissBeez, and any other business, function without AI or Chatbots? Sure. But will it be better, faster, and as a result, more successful thanks to its application? Duh. It’s proof that chatbots aren’t just another feature, they’re an essential part of how things will get done.
Upcoming Events
We’re proud to announce that Reply’s very own Clara de Soto has been selected as a finalist for Female Founders in Tech! In NY December 11th? Check out the competition here.
Notable Bots
Just in time for the holidays, check out Morton Brine Time - the Alexa Skill from icon brand, Morton's Salt (and built on Reply) that helps you prepare the perfect turkey this holiday season.