Ever got an instant ‘hello’ from a chat window upon visiting a website? That’s an artificial intelligence persona that mimics human interaction with customers when they visit websites. They are called Chatbots.
A 2019 Gartner Study said that 15% of the global interactions would be handled by AI bots, which would increase to 70% for some industries that cater to millennials. This prediction has come true.
What’s the level of chatbot penetration in the field of online gaming and fantasy sports? Fantasy sports and online gaming is now a multi million dollar industry with an ever evolving nature in terms of offerings and technology. For the last few years, chatbots have gained momentum in deepening the engagement of sports fans and gamers to a great extent.
Major sports leagues are using Chatbots
A few years ago, Major League Baseball (MLB) launched a chatbot called “MLB Assist” that answers questions about teams, players, schedules, and standings. “NFLbot” is the chatbot of the National Football League (NFL) that helps customers with inquiries related to ticketing and merchandise.
In addition, sports merchandising companies such as Adidas too have their own chatbots to take customer engagement to new levels. Adidas’ ‘Boost’ has been helping customers in finding their right fit while buying shoes. Puma also launched Pumax Intersport chatbot that offers workout and nutrition tips, and videos to women users.
How are chatbots changing the game in sports fan engagement?
1. Streamlined ticketing process: The ticketing process of sports events has become streamline with the help of chatbots. The chatbot interfaces are so advanced today that sports fans can buy tickets, receive digital tickets, and select seating options directly. AI chatbots are also churning out QR codes, ensuring secure access controls.
2. Facebook fan engagement: Many football and basketball teams have Facebook pages that are enabled by AI chatbots that are always ready to respond to fans whenever they log in. They chat with fans about sports events, player updates, or just have conversations about the latest game. Sacramento Kings’ chatbot KAI is one such successful example of Facebook fan engagement by a sports team.
3. Fan feedback and surveys: AI chatbots are also collecting fan feedback about their seating comfort, food quality, restroom cleanliness and satisfaction during a stadium game. This is particularly used by NFL teams to gather relevant data to improve fan experiences, and tailor their offerings.
4. Sports mobile bots: The latest example of this is the National Hockey League (NHL). Tampa Bay Lightning partnered with a virtual assistant company Satisfi Labs to create Thunder Bot - a mobile app that answers real-time questions of sports fan ia chat messenger. It assists sports fans in buying tickets, provides even parking insights and food counters information.
5. Improving sports industry customer support: NFL, MLB, BPL etc are some of the biggest sports leagues in the world that engage one-fourth of the world’s population. Imagine handling such a large fan base on a regular basis. Therefore, when startups and businesses create fantasy sports websites based on such leagues, they need efficient and seamless customer support. Chatbots are solving this challenge by simulating real-time human conversations that make sport customers feel heard.
6. Implement Live Match Updates: Integrate reliable APIs or data feeds to provide live match updates, including scores, player statistics, and match schedules. This real-time data will allow users to make informed betting decisions and stay engaged with the World Cup matches.
7. We can create chatbot interfaces and more: ZabSports has a deep sports industry experience when it comes to creating fan engagement applications and websites. Our team has integrated chatbot interfaces along with fantasy sports or online sports gaming applications. If you are looking for deeper fan engagement, give us a call.
