H&M released a chatbot on Kik Messenger, allowing its customers to shop for their products within the messenger itself. Will the chatbot enhance the customer experience or will it fail to meet expectations? Let’s find out.
Features
Right off the bat when you open the messenger, the chatbot welcomes you with a message. The chatbot will ask personal questions to know more about your style. The first basic question is whether you are male or female after which it will ask you to pick the age group you want to shop for. The chatbot will continue to know more about the style you prefer by asking questions. It will ask to select between two pictures. Each picture has a distinct style and you can pick the one you like. A point to be noted is that conversing with the bot is not free flowing. If you don’t use the specified keyword, the chatbot won’t understand. For example, if you like a picture where model number two is wearing a black sweater, you can’t tell the bot you like the picture with the black sweater. Instead, you have to tell the chatbot you like number two.
Once it has a basic idea about what you like, it will ask you to describe your style. It will give you a list of options that may describe your style. You can choose casual, classic, preppy, street and surfer. After you have answered all these questions, the chatbot will make a style profile. It will then give you a list of choices for different types of clothes.
Based on the style profile the chatbot has built, it will suggest outfits that have four related items and the total price. You can tell the bot whether you like what it suggested or not. If you like what you see, you can ask the chatbot to save, share or shop. If you choose to share the outfit, you can select your friends and ask them what they think. On selecting the shop option, it will ask you which part of the outfit you liked and will provide a link to the product. Kik Messenger can open the link within the app itself, making the entire experience pleasant. If you select the save option, you can save the image of the outfit by holding the image for two seconds.
The H&M chatbot allows you to chat with another chatbot called Jaclyn to help you out. Jaclyn will scour the internet to find styles you like.
Verdict
The language used by the chatbot is aimed at youngsters. If you happen to be over a certain age, you may not understand the lingo completely. The chatbot is programmed to respond only to the choices presented to you. If you want to do something else or if you use a word that isn’t a keyword, the chatbot won’t understand what you are trying to say. Suppose you want to shop for products that are not suggested by the chatbot, you will have to either go to the shop itself or you have to visit the online store. The chatbot doesn’t have access to the complete product catalog. H&M will continue updating the bot as there are areas where it can be improved.
If you stick to the script, you may find what you want. Overall the experience is good as the chatbot is efficient. It uses the buttons and images properly and it builds a good profile of the person using the chatbot.
Give the chatbot a shot on the Kik messenger to see what it’s like.
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