Visual Chatbots to revolutionize interactions
More and more companies are implementing AI visual technologies using deep learning and neural networks. A lot of retailers are already incorporating visual search systems into their applications. These technological advancements along with the proliferation of messaging apps will lead to the development of revolutionary visual chatbots.
After Facebook announced the launch of their chatbot platform in April, more than 11,000 bots have been added to Messenger. Google is also jumping into the game, joining Microsoft WeChat, Kik, Telegram and Slack. As chatbots are revolutionising conversations, companies will leverage the power of AI to engage users with an unprecedented conversational experience by using images as entry points.
Imagine you are visiting the Metropolitan Museum in New York. At one point, you are moved by a specific piece of art. Maybe the painting reminds you a scene of your childhood, maybe it is something else. Anyway, for you, this painting holds something special.
You will simply snap the painting on messenger and share it with the MET. Immediately, it recognises the work and suggests an audio recording that tells you the story of the painting, explains the reasons the artist chose the composition, gives you anecdotes all the while enhancing your emotions and informing you on the life of the artist. Messenger will also give you a collection of high resolution pictures of the painting. You will repeat these actions with other works. After the several audio recordings you will listen to, the chatbot will let you know that a poster of the work is available at the museum boutique.
Your discussion with the MET becomes a memory of your experience in the museum.
Chatbots are the new media and images are very elegant entry points to link the consumers to additional content. Regardless if it is useful, funny, personal or commercial, this content is given when people want to go beyond just images.
While in the street, subway or bus, you will be able take a picture of a movie poster with your smartphone, chat with IMDB and instantly watch the trailer, read the critics or even book your ticket. Snapping food packagings will get you nutritional and allergy details. Snapping medication will allow you to get posology and counter-indication information. Snapping Ikea furniture will give you the option of downloading your missing assembly instructions.
Amongst these use cases think about all the applications for conciergerie services. They are already thinking of embracing the visual technology to enhance guest services:
“If hotel guests require specific items in their rooms, or are on the lookout for activities to do during their vacations, they can snap a photo of their request and instantly submit it to employees on the other end of the chat service. Consequently, consumers can expect to see major players in the hospitality field experiment with visual search capabilities as they tweak their concierge platforms.” Mobile Marketer
Visual Chatbots will deliver digital content in a highly interactive way, enabling users to share images or take their own pictures and press the send button to access associated content.
Chatbots also are an easy way for brands to reach consumers.
- Label-scanner apps such as Vivino and Delectable will reach many more customers if users can take a picture of a wine bottle and send it to their Facebook messenger instead of having to download yet another app on their smartphone.
- Retailers like JCPenney and Neiman Marcus, won’t need their app to enable their users to take a picture of a product and browse the brand’s catalogue to find it or explore similar ones.
This will revolutionise interactions and advertising, along the line of Louis Vuitton’s initiative of animated print campaigns with their LV PASS mobile app. By scanning campaign images the app directs users to exclusive photos, video and the mobile commerce page that details the merchandise featured in the scanned image. With visual chatbots you’ll no longer need an app for that.
Visual chatbots will enhance user experience in an unprecedented way, connecting the physical world to digital, engaging content. Users will now access stories, and information in a snap . Even if we are only at the beginning of the chatbot-era, brands should take part in this change.
Visual chatbots represent a real digital shift that will revolutionize major industries and the way they interact with consumers. Enter the chat where images are worth a thousand words.
Thank you for reading this.
Marine Boucherit, Head of marketing at Deepomatic.
