Six weeks ago at F8, Facebook opened Messenger to bots. Any business with a Facebook page can now connect a program to its inbox and let it answer messages. Two weeks earlier, Microsoft presented "conversation as a platform" at its Build conference. Taken together, these announcements have convinced much of the technology press that chat is about to replace apps, websites and perhaps phone calls as well.
The idea deserves attention, but the case has not yet been made.
A dive centre receives the same questions repeatedly: opening hours, the price of the Open Water course, pickup from the harbour, whether diving is possible after a two-year break. Many of these already arrive through Facebook, at all hours, from people in distant time zones. In principle, this is exactly what a bot is for. We have reviewed the documentation and tested the bots currently available; this article presents our assessment at this stage.
What can a Messenger bot actually do today?
Much less than the demonstrations suggest. Bots that understand users the way a person does are not what is being released. Most of the bots we tested are decision trees with buttons: the bot asks a question, offers three options and follows the branch selected. Some perform basic keyword matching, or use Wit.ai, which Facebook acquired last year, to infer the subject of a typed sentence. "Infer" is the accurate term: a slightly unexpected message produces "Sorry, I didn't understand that" and the same three buttons.
Setting one up requires a Facebook developer app, a page access token, a webhook on a server and a considerable amount of patience. Bot-building tools with drag-and-drop editors are already appearing and are likely to improve quickly, but for now a bot is a project, not a setting to switch on. The Messenger Platform documentation explains how it works and what businesses are permitted to send. The section on rules deserves careful reading. Facebook is clearly concerned about businesses flooding users' inboxes, and that concern is justified.
The risks of a bot that learns from the public are also well documented. Microsoft's Tay lasted about a day on Twitter in March before it had to be withdrawn. No business wants to become the subject of the next screenshot.
Which questions can a chatbot handle well for a small business?
Questions whose answer is the same for everyone: hours, prices, directions from the harbour, a list of courses with a link to each course page. A bot can provide these answers at two in the morning, which is precisely when many travellers in Europe are planning their trip to Bali.
This function can be genuinely useful. It spares staff from typing the same three answers twenty times a day, and customers receive an immediate reply instead of waiting until the team returns from the boat. Facebook now displays each page's response time, and a slow one makes a poor impression.
There is an additional benefit. Building the button tree requires writing down, in one place, the standard answer to each common question. Many small businesses have never done this. The exercise is worthwhile with or without a bot, and much of the content probably belongs on the website as well.
Where does a chatbot fall short?
A bot can answer "what time do you open?" It cannot answer "is it safe for my child?"
That second kind of question is often the one that matters most. How old is the child? Can the child swim? Is the child nervous? Has the child done a pool session before? A good instructor answers with further questions and reassurance, and that conversation is frequently where the booking is made. A button tree cannot do this. A bot that attempts it anyway is worse than no bot, because the parent leaves with the impression that nobody listened.
The same applies to medical questions, refund requests and any situation where the customer is already dissatisfied. People recognize a script very quickly, and their frustration grows when the script offers no way out.
What rules should be set before adding a bot to a Facebook page?
For a dive shop, a guesthouse or a restaurant, we recommend a short list:
- Limit the bot to routine questions: hours, prices, location and what to bring.
- Place a clear "talk to a person" button on every screen, and make sure a person actually responds.
- When a question falls outside the tree, state this clearly and transfer it. Avoid loops.
- Never give the bot a fictitious human name with a smiling staff photo. The illusion does not last, and once customers notice it, they trust everything else the business says a little less.
- Review the conversations every week.
The last point may be the strongest reason to try a bot. Each failure reveals a question customers have that the website does not answer. That is information businesses normally pay consultants to obtain, and here it is available at no cost to those who review it.
For businesses not ready to build a bot, the less expensive approach is to publish the common answers on the website and in Facebook's saved replies, while keeping a person responsible for the inbox. For most small businesses, this is where we recommend starting. The time may be better invested in social media management that engages directly with people.
Where is this technology heading?
Chat is unlikely to replace websites in the near term. There is considerable hype at the moment, and many of the bots launched now are likely to be quietly switched off within a year.
The underlying idea, however, is sound. People like messaging; they prefer sending a quick message to filling in a form or making an international call. The limitation is that bots are not yet capable enough. The technology will become truly relevant when software can read "my daughter is ten, she swims well but she is afraid of dark water" and respond to it sensibly. The timing is uncertain, and given how quickly language processing is advancing, it may come sooner than expected. At that point, chatbots and assistants will become a serious tool for small businesses.
In the meantime, the recommended division of roles is clear: the bot states the opening hours, and a person answers the question about the child.