AI is offering customer experience that we have never seen before. Personalised communication, 24/7 availability, the ability to directly reach target audience has made customer experience smoother than ever before. And the beauty industry is no stranger to this disruptive change. With this industry being much more personal than others, messaging succeeds here when it is personalized.
During the initial phase of chatbot technology in the beauty industry, its usage was cautious and straightforward. These AI-powered chatbots were used to handle basic customer service enquiries, such as store locations and product returns. But, with advancement in technology, chatbots have evolved into virtual store assistants for many leading beauty brands.
The major highlight for chatbots in the beauty industry is the use of Augmented Reality (AR) to offer personalised product recommendations and beauty tips, as well as try-ons.
Revolutionising the beauty industry through AI and chatbots
Personalised product recommendations
While the beauty industry has a wide range of products, consumers are often unable to understand what suits them and how to use them accurately. Here is where the role of chatbots becomes important. Through personalised communication with the user, they are able to suggest the right product to them.
Beauty brand Hello Ava provides personalized beauty information to its users through a beauty questionnaire, which eventually leads to personalized product recommendations.
The Kiehl’s Facebook Messenger bot allows users to search for products by ingredients or skin type. This replicates the traditional in-store consultation experience in a friendly bot interface. Users can also search for products with emojis and buy directly through the chatbot.
Chatbots are now your virtual makeup assistant
Beauty bots nowadays also act as your virtual makeup assistant. People like what celebrities wear and often want to replicate that look. And chatbots help them do so, by interacting with their users conversationally, suggesting cosmetic products used by these celebrities, after which they offer coupons for the promoted product.
Example of these are Katy Perry’s Mad Love or Cover Girl’s Kalani Hilliker bots are some of the recent examples of such chatbots.
Marketing research has also suggested that discount coupons provided by brands are more likely to be used when the user is able to engage with the brand, via chabots
Virual product try on? Sure!
Whether you are looking for the perfect lipstick shade or nail paint colour, these bots will help you out. What you simply need to do is take your picture, upload it and the system will automatically colour match and superimpose over a selfie with that exact colour.
Professional at-home hair colouring company Madison Reed’s bot, Madi, is a virtual hair colour bot that helps consumers find their right shade of hair colour. Rather than wait months to get an appointment with a stylist, users upload a photo to get their hair colour matched instantly. Another plus of this is that it’s accessible both through SMS text and on Facebook Messenger.
Appointment scheduling now made easy
Bots have changed the way appointments are scheduled. What we are seeing over here is a shift from the traditional to the virtual. Instead of calling the store or scheduling through apps, customers are now able to book an appointment through chatbots.
Gifting has never been this easy
Brands like L’Oréal have realised that there is immense potential in personalised one-on-one chats with customers on a large scale. And therefore launched its messaging chatbot for Facebook Messenger and Beauty Gifter. The chatbot asks the user a series of questions and then the gift giver sends a card to the recipient that says, “I want to buy you a gift.”
The bot then asks the gift receiver a series of questions and once this is finished, it sends a series of gift options to the gift giver. Through machine learning, Beauty Gifter learns each user’s preferences and makes personalised product recommendations from the world’s leading beauty and cosmetic brands.
Discover the latest beauty trends with DIY videos
We all love seeing DIY videos, especially when it comes to beauty products. This is exactly how brands market their products through innovation. Through DIY integration into chatbots, troubleshooting and product selling becomes engaging. Here, brands are also able to promote relevant discount offers, contests etc for a better overall customer experience.
With many beauty brands now embracing chatbot technology, it marks the beginning of the trend towards more personalised and intelligent beauty experiences. The future promises many exciting transformations in the beauty industry as beauty companies enhance their customer experiences with the use of technology.
