6 ways chatbots are succeeding for brands

The initial excitement around the marketing potential for chatbots has tempered in the wake of less-than-enthusiastic feedback by some users. However, this hasn't stopped such brands as American Express, Cover Girl, Absolut and others from instilling value in automated dialogues that goes beyond simply telling customers when their order is arriving. At this month's SXSW Conference and Festivals, nearly everyone in the audience for a chatbots panel discussion raised a hand when asked how many had used an automated messaging assistant in the past six months. However, nearly all hands quickly dropped in response to a follow-up question about who was still enthusiastically using the same chatbots. The starkly different responses reflect the gap that exists between consumer interest in chatbots and developers' abilities to execute successfully.