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American Express is getting into one of the hottest trends in tech
(Facebook messenger addresses business visibility)
American Express has announced plans to start piloting a Facebook Messenger chat bot for U.S. cardholders.
The bot, which has the straightforward name Amex Bot, will let users opt into notifications about balances, benefits, and services tied to recent purchases made inside the Messenger app, reports Engadget.
The financial company plans to launch the company in the next few months.
In Amex's demo, the bot told a user it had spent a certain amount of money on an airline and then gave the user the option to receive information about the airport lounge for Amex customers or to use Amex's concierge service to browse restaurant reviews in the destination city.
Amex has been pouring energy and resources into digital innovation, so the move into bots is unsurprising. Chat bots let users perform tasks within messenger apps that would otherwise be done in a separate app. Amex can use these bots to reach users in a place where they already spend much of their time rather than making them download a separate app.
Amex and Facebook already work together to send recommendations to users based on their Facebook likes. The bot should just enhance this partnership by grounding these relationships in purchases and then serving them directly to the user.
Finally, the bot should support Amex's digital ambitions. The company said in its 2015 annual report that it would invest in multiple channels (including digital) to provide customers with valuable services and reward programs, which should help boost user engagement and loyalty.
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