In the meantime, marketers have recognized that there are better places to bring online bots and users together than on their website: chat apps or messaging services. The forerunner in this regard is Kik. 40% of US teens and young adults use Kik Messenger.
Kik recently opened its bot platform for companies. Companies can send their own chatbots to communicate with users and the bots act as representatives for the brand. When users write to them and ask questions, they usually reply with product information or tips. Many bots can also tell jokes and simulate simple conversations. The chatbot used on Vine (the video platform) sends users suitable films upon request for whatever keyword they’ve entered. The weather bot predicts when it’ll rain and other bots give makeup tips, for example.
According to Kik, 1.5 million users authorized their brand with the service in the first week of the chatbots going live. The reasoning behind it was to create independent personalities from 'lifeless' brands. By enabling a conversation, the user is more likely to perceive the brand as a friend. The online bots’ task is to converse with the user and inform them. At the same time, they offer a platform through which marketers can manipulate customers without them being aware of it. Kik bots cannot learn independently, which led to Microsoft having quite a negative experience.