Talk-A-Bot

We proudly introduce our recently launched chatbot connected to the Cricket World Cup 2019!

In cooperation with Viber, we delivered our sports game Cricket bot, within 7 weeks. Fans can reach it on Viber – see its many great features. The bot’s main aim is to promote the Viber platform in countries where cricket is a national sport. It does so by offering a cool platform to get information about the game, predict results and win.

In May 2019, cricket-loving countries –such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and so on – were eagerly awaiting the start of the June Cricket World Cup held in England & Wales. Viber sees a major spike in user growth during the tournaments with the excitement and fanfare surrounding the game. Alas, this is where Talk-A-Bot chatbot solutions and Viber’s aim came together and we started to work on the World Cricket Bot. We believe using chatbots for sports events can provide an effective tool for mass participation, event organizers, sports clubs, race promoters, and charity event coordinators to handle participant inquiries 24/7. It also provides an effective marketing tool for event promotion.

And for what else?

Chatbots are also perfect for GAME PLAYING via chat!

So, let’s see what our chatbot can do:

1.       Send a reminder every morning for the matches of the day to make predictions – users get a daily reminder about the upcoming matches.

2.        Allow users to make predictions – users are able to submit the predictions for each match for 3 questions (guessing for both teams)

3.        Leaderboard – There are Global and Country Leaderboards, to see the most important thing: World Cup scores!

4.        Invitation system – users can invite a friend to play with or challenge their friends to predict better – of course!

5.         Share information about the match schedule and the previous results – If you are interested in either of those – go for it!

And the prizes? As the platform is Viber, users can win unique sticker packs and Viber out credits.

So far, 150 000 users have already contacted the bot and 100 000 have predicted the outcome of at least one game. The top playing countries were Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Great Britain, Australia.

There is still less than one month left of the game, so we expect more and more users, especially when we’re getting closer to the finals!

Go teams!

Facebook held its biggest event last week in San Jose, California. The F8 conference – an annual conference for developers – was kicked off with a Tuesday morning keynote from CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The audience got to learn more about what Facebook is working on. A new privacy focus, redesign for many of its sites and apps… But what does this mean for an enterprise chatbot provider like Talk-A-Bot?

The 6 most important changes revealed at the F8 Conference:

1. Instagram – WhatsApp – Messenger cross-platform calls

Cross-platform calls were announced at the F8 Conference. We expect that business messaging and the chatbot API will be unified.
Firstly, this will standardize many common features across the platforms. As a result, chatbot developers will be able to handle them more easily.
Secondly, it will open up huge market opportunities. For instance, WhatsApp is the dominant chat app in many target countries for Talk-A-Bot. Also, it has the capacity to charge its users. This is clearly an opportunity for business messaging.
As an example, WhatsApp’s business product catalog pilot was very successful in India with 1M users. People were enabled to send and receive money. It turns out, users trust chat platforms to do serious business.

2. Facebook Privacy

Mark Zuckerberg finally realized the value of privacy. Above all, it is key for long-term success and business capability.

“We believe that for the future, people want a privacy-focused social platform. I believe that if we build out a fully encrypted interoperable service… that’s going to be an important contribution to the world.” – said Zuckerberg.

We agree, and we’re looking forward to the new, fully encrypted world. It will clearly help business-related communication. Furthermore, it will make more users trust the platform.

3. A more efficient version of Messenger (under 30MB)

A lighter and faster version of Messenger – it’s something that everyone has been waiting for. For one thing, many users expressed their disappointment with the speed of the application, both on Google Play and the Apple store. In addition, the app requires huge storage. But still, there are 20 billion messages sent each month. People-to-business messaging on Messenger still has massive growth too. Currently, there are over 40 million active businesses messaging people across the globe. Facebook made one of our main chatbot platforms harder, better, faster, stronger. And for that, we’re absolutely grateful. Even if the technology changes behind the Facebook app – it won’t affect our APIs.

4. Out of the box business functions

Facebook is bringing appointment booking to the Messenger API. In other words, you can have an instant booking, real-time availability, and reminders.

“Appointment booking is a common way that people and businesses are already interacting on our platform, so we built a dedicated solution that can be integrated with a business’ calendaring system to provide people with the most up-to-date appointment availability.”

As a result, these new features will help developers’ jobs, too. More tools mean more opportunities!

5. Easy Authentication

Facebook will also be launching a new feature for m.me links — Authentication. This will allow businesses to direct already authenticated customers (either on a mobile app or website) seamlessly into a Messenger thread. This will create an instantly personalized experience. Easy Authentication will complement the existing account linking platform feature and it will also help businesses handle common care issues such as billing inquiries, refunds, and more. Cool!

6. Messenger for Desktop

“Messenger for Desktop” is coming later this year. This opportunity gives us a new-old platform our bots will be available on.

Besides the many new features, it’s good to see that Facebook continues to invest in its enterprise product “Workplace”. This is great as more and more employees want a social platform-like internal communication. While “Workplace” is well-targeted at the knowledge workers, CHEQ by Talk-A-Bot is designed to do the same for deskless workers. Click here to read more about CHEQ!

Based on these announcements we expect the chatbot market to mature and bloom further. All in all, we’re excited to see how these changes help us connect businesses with their customers over Messenger in new ways.

TAB’s business development team simply never stops. In fact, they just came back from Japan. Ákos and Ádám (Director in Southeast Asia) held several talks. There were meetings and discussions with prospective clients in Tokyo, but the most exciting event was the visit to the Rakuten Group HQ. A short summary of Talk-A-Bot’s visit in Japan.

Talk-A-Bot in Japan and Rakuten

Rakuten’s global headquarter is called the Crimson House. The Talk-A-Bot business development team visited and had a look around the HQ of the giant e-commerce and fintech company in Japan. Later on, they caught up with the Techstars team from last summer. Rakuten is exceptionally successful: not only in Japan but also globally. This makes their support and our partnership especially important to us. In 2018 Rakuten developed many new tools and platforms utilizing big data, such as AI chatbots. In addition, the Rakuten Group implemented cross-company measures to comply with the strict GDPR regulations on handling personal data too.

Talk-A-Bot’s new product: CHEQ

Through Rakuten, several well-known Japanese brands have also become interested in the unique TAB product, CHEQ. CHEQ is the perfect communication tool for blue-collar workers. To begin with, because of its simple interface. It’s the very same messaging platform as Messenger or Whatsapp. In addition, it is also:

• trackable & monitorable. You see who has seen your message and who is in or out of the group.
• helping with managing the workflow. You can send out internal policies, announcements to specific employers.
• handling holiday requests, sick leave reports or any other personal documents.
• simpler and faster. It’s one channel for everything.
• the best way to communicate with your workers.

Olympics and chatbots in Japan

It is also important that the 2020 Olympics will be held in Tokyo, Japan. Regarding this, preparation has already started. The entire city is thrilled! Still, handling such a large amount of inbound tourism is never easy. On the other hand, Tokyo has a plan and as expected, they dedicate a key role for chatbots. According to plans, the Olympics’ chatbots will be able to navigate tourists digitally. It is not a secret goal for us to have our chatbots to participate in this.

Every time we visit a foreign market, we contact the local Hungarian embassies. This helps to strengthen relationships and company expansion. During our business development trip to Japan, we celebrated the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 at the Embassy of Hungary in Tokyo. Thank you very much for ambassador Dr. Norbert Palanovics and his team for the hospitality! We’re looking forward to our cooperation!

The digital revolution has transformed the travel industry. However, people are overwhelmed by travel and insurance options. For travel marketers looking to persuade customers to book their next getaway, it can be hard knowing how to adapt to these changes. But how can chatbots help with that?

Vacation planning then and now – too many choices

A decade or two ago, planning a vacation was a complex affair. For most of the people, it involved a visit to a travel agent, who then presented them with a set of limited options. In general, a handful of destinations, restricted departure and return dates, a set of travel insurance. Overall, there were few opportunities to adapt the trip to our own taste. Fast forward to today: thanks to the internet, we quite literally have the world at our fingertips. Technology has made the act of researching and booking a vacation smoother. However, it has also created what psychologists call the paradox of choice. In other words, the more options we have, the more anxious and indecisive we feel.

Growing tendency for trip research and customer journey

What do we do when we are overwhelmed with options? Most people’s instinct is to do a little more research. People are searching for and comparing information about more or less everything. Not only travel insurance companies, but also travel policy, flights, cruises, hotels, etc. They use various search engines, intermediaries and social media platforms.
Accommodation searches that started on search engines grew significantly: they increased from 23% in 2017 up to 31% in 2018. An average purchase journey for a single hotel room lasts 36 days. It hits 45 touchpoints, distributed among search engines and the sites of intermediaries and suppliers. After the 30th touchpoint, you can target the user well. The reason behind this is that big pages know what he or she was looking for.

Main concerns and solutions for them

Keep in mind that travel is a complex, high-anxiety purchase. Unlike a pair of shoes, it’s hard for customers to return a two-week vacation. So, while you might want to improve your conversion rate, resist the temptation to jump straight to the sale. Instead, focus on helping curious customers explore ideas and be inspired. There are more than enough insurance providers, who are trying to reach the same buyers at the same time. Differentiate your company! You need to embrace the omnichannel shopper and engage them better than your competitors. At its most basic that means creating fast, intuitive, and seamless experiences across desktop, mobile pages, and apps. And a chatbot does just that.

Travel insurance & chatbot – how and why?

Besides differentiating and creating a seamless experience, you can reach your buyers at their convenience with our chatbot. With digital playing an increasingly important role in the purchase, travel companies can and should invest more in their digital experiences and technology to drive differentiation and loyalty. It’s no surprise that search and mobile devices play a more outsized role than ever before. As a result, companies that support and personalize these experiences in a seamless way will set themselves up for success in the years to come.

What can you do with a chatbot?

You can run broad or micro-segmented campaigns that will send potential customers to the chatbot. Once a user is landed on our chatbot, you can re-target and re-engage them free of charge. Our conversational interface enables automation of the most recurring tasks while providing a deeper insight into what the customers are looking for. End to end selling of travel insurance is available with payment and CRM integration. Coupons, discounts or lucky draws can also be handled within the same system. Shoppers can also recommend your chatbot to their contact with a push of a button. If a customer wants travel insurance, the chatbot can serve them at the expense of a few clicks as it remembers the user’s details from its context.

Besides the most popular social media platforms, people tend not to download any further mobile applications. That is if they don’t use it on a daily basis – like an app just for travel insurance. Our chatbot is available on the major chat platforms that your customers are using every day. Viber, Line or Telegram – you name it! That means there is no need to download a new application while the same user experience is provided through all devices or even cross-platform. Talk-A-Bot’s chatbot uses automated communication thus saves time, money and energy while creating better engagement with new target customers. Fast, accurate and 0-24 response rate for time-sensitive information. GDPR compliance is also provided by the platform. This is why for travel insurance, a chatbot may just be the perfect solution.

(Source: McKinsey.com)

In the last two and a half years we managed to grow from zero. The basis of the growth was only on real market demand and client revenues. Besides the Central and Eastern European region, our determined plan is to strengthen our business expansion in South-Asian markets too.

Talk-A-Bot has been growing steadily during the past months. Getting into the eventful fintech life of Singapore was not a question, as Ákos already has many years of experience in business development in South-Asia. Besides that, because of Singapore’s strategic position of course: the city is the most important hub for global trade. Its geographic location enables easy access to the markets of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar.

We proudly announce Talk-A-Bot has opened its first office in Singapore and in Jakarta! Both offices are in the fintech and business quarter, suitable for 10 sales & developer colleagues and completely equipped. These new offices give us an even greater chance to grow faster and develop innovative forward-thinking, market-leading new products; not only in Europe but also in South-Asia.

So, if you happen to be in Singapore or Jakarta, come over and have a coffee with us in our new meeting rooms! ????

Read about our trip to Japan too!

In February, the enthusiastic business developers of Talk-A-Bot visited Dublin. Before their first lovely pint of Guinness, they introduced their innovative chatbot solutions at the European HQ of Microsoft. In addition to that they have also presented Talk-A-Bot’s new product: Cheq. Furthermore, as a guest of Daniel Burlacu, Multi-country CEE Inside Sales Lead, they (we) discussed future collaborations and many concrete projects with the Central and Eastern Europe sales team.

As a result of the previous trip to Germany, Talk-A-Bot has reached an agreement with the Startup Campus Berlin team. Thus, they will now serve as our representative in Germany.

“The Startup Campus Berlin Program connects startups from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region to accelerator Partners in Berlin to build an international innovation ecosystem and form partnerships that benefit both parties. With the main features of the program being industry focus, project validation, university-based research validation, and professional training, we offer excellent opportunities for development and growth.”

Read more about Talk-A-Bot’s adventures here!