Communicating with each and every one of your event participants can be a challenge. Take a minute and think about it…how many channels are you using today to attempt to reach them all? Whether it’s email, a website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, an event app, or paper brochures and schedules, it seems like you can never quite reach them all!
Imagine if I told you there is a way to reach close to everyone in your audience (because nothing is ever quite 100%!) and, not only will you reach them all, but you might even be able to eliminate a communication channel or two. So how is this possible? What’s the way? It’s an event chatbot!
A chatbot is a software program that uses includes Artificial Intelligence (AI) components and programming to interact with people over messaging channels. And why are event chatbots so well-suited for this?
- They are accessible and easy to interact with on mobile devices (95% of US adults own a mobile phone)
- They do not require users to download a new app; most already have a text messaging app (92–100% of US adults text daily)
- Chatbots live on web chat and existing messaging apps such as SMS, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Kik, WeChat, Viber and other platforms with that have billions of active users
- They leverage AI for their domain of knowledge and ability to personalize conversations
- They are text-based, self-service, and available 24/7/365
Now let’s explore how an event chatbot can be used to reach a few different types of participants you may be struggling to reach today.
Non-App Users
As a society, we are spending more time on our smartphones. However, we are also downloading fewer and fewer apps. In fact, nearly half of us now download zero apps per month (source: comScore MobiLens, June 2016). This trend is referred to as app fatigue.
When it comes to events, 46% of attendees don’t download event apps. The reasons vary by attendee: Some don't want to download another app on their phone, some don't want to take the time to learn something new, some aren't permitted to download unapproved apps on their company-owned devices, and others are concerned about security issues. Of the 54% of attendees that can and do download an event app, less than half engage with it preferring to use their own tech.
How can an event chatbot help? Chatbots are easy to access. Participants can use their favorite messaging app to connect with your chatbot. Or, they can chat with it on your website if you make it available there. Event chatbots are omni-channel and regardless of the channel, text messaging is familiar and easy to use for participants; there’s no app to download and nothing new to learn.
Millennials
Are you trying to reach millennials and finding it a challenge? You’re not alone! The 80 million millennials in the US are the least-engaged generation; yet, it’s never been more important to reach them.
Chatbots can help! According to the 2016 Internet Trends Report, millennials prefer their contact with businesses to be text-based communications (like live chat, social media, SMS text messaging); and, they also happen to really like self-service. In fact, 69% of millennials would like to solve customer service issues by themselves without having to talk to an actual person in customer service.
EventBots can meet both of these millennial needs. After all, they are the epitome of text-based self-service!
Personalized Conversations
There are many types of events: sporting events, weddings, professional conferences, reunions, tradeshows, just to name of a few. And each of these events caters to a different audience, with different types of participants with different informational needs. Did you know that EventBots can personalize and tailor their conversation (information and content) to the specific type of participant? That’s right! An EventBot can converse with attendees, speakers, sponsors, hosted buyers, etc. in their language and get them the information and answers they need when they need it.
Conversations can also be personalized at an individual participant level using information and content made available from other event systems. With an EventBot every participant gets only the information they need, when and how they want to access it.
EventBots are here! Are you ready to reach all your participants in a fresh and innovative way?
