Designing Bots

Chapter 4. Major Use Cases

The hard question is not “Are we doing it right?”; it is rather “Are we doing the right thing?”

—TOMER SHARON, WEWORK

LET’S EXPLORE SOME OF the use cases where bots can be utilized. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but in order to start thinking about design aspects of your bot you will need to get a taste of what is out there.

Conversational Commerce

From buying on Amazon to ordering a ride, conversational bots can facilitate commerce in our lives. When done right, conversational commerce can be more intuitive and engaging than traditional commerce. No more shopping lists on the fridge—you just say “Alexa, add sugar to the shopping list.” Travel bots can replace travel apps and websites, providing everything from booking to alerts of flight times, and customer service as well.

Users no longer need to install an app to get a ride—they can just ask their favorite @Uber or @Lyft bots for a ride in their chat app. This means that, for the first time since the mobile revolution, there is a clear separation between intent and installing an app. Assuming discovery is done right, this will also mean that the user acquisition cost for commerce will go down, possibly providing a more cost-effective means to reach your users.

A very interesting bot in this space is Kip (Figure 4-1), a shopping bot for teams. From office supplies to snacks, Kip handles the complex coordination of getting everyone in the team to add to the group order.

Figure 4-1. Kip shopping ...