How a Distribution and F&B Business has Enhanced the Customer Experience using AI Powered Smart Bot
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This is a blog about how a chatbot or a Virtual Assistant transformed the customer experience for a
customer in the Food & Beverage Business
customer in the Food & Beverage Business
Old World
In the old world, our Customer, a Distribution and Food & Beverage Business conducted its customer interactions via:
- Restaurants/Cafes – 340 Restaurants & Cafes
- Call Center – 280 Personnel
- Delivery – 850 Personnel
- A Matured Web Portal and Mobile App
The Distribution and F&B Business’ forward-looking management team chose to invest in IT and bring Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the game to resolve the current issues and outsmart the competition. In conjunction with Streebo & IBM, they employed a Smart chatbot for their F & B Business.
The Journey to the new world
Prior to the launch, IBM & Streebo team trained the chatbot on various back-end systems at the Distribution and F&B Business, including ERP and CRM System and showed it how to fetch information from various siloed systems in a secured and scalable manner.
Powered by IBM Watson Assistant, the leading Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine (as per Gartner and Forrestor report of 2022), Streebo’s Smart chatbot was Trained until 99% Accurate, meaning it would answer at least 99 out of 100 questions correctly.
The Streebo Smart Virtual Assistant for Food and Beverage was added to the workforce after a few rounds of evaluation. The chatbot was pre-trained in various Food Ordering functions such as Nearby Restaurants Locator, Browse Food/Beverage Menu, Add/Remove Items to the Cart, Schedule/Customize/Track Order, Return/Cancel Order, Update Profile, Checkout and Payment Transactions among others. The Bot had in-build functionality to transfer to a Live Agent in case it was not able to answer any questions.
Powered by IBM Watson Assistant, the leading Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine (as per Gartner and Forrestor report of 2022), Streebo’s Smart chatbot was Trained until 99% Accurate, meaning it would answer at least 99 out of 100 questions correctly.
The Streebo Smart Virtual Assistant for Food and Beverage was added to the workforce after a few rounds of evaluation. The chatbot was pre-trained in various Food Ordering functions such as Nearby Restaurants Locator, Browse Food/Beverage Menu, Add/Remove Items to the Cart, Schedule/Customize/Track Order, Return/Cancel Order, Update Profile, Checkout and Payment Transactions among others. The Bot had in-build functionality to transfer to a Live Agent in case it was not able to answer any questions.
Bot Features
IBM Watson Powered Streebo bots are omni-channel, meaning they can answer queries from across channels including web app (Restaurant Website), mobile app (Food Ordering App) and external-facing social media channels like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google Chat and SMS among others. Streebo’s AI powered bots also support voice assistants such as Google Home, Amazon Alexa and Siri.
By deploying the chatbot, the Distribution and F&B Business has expanded its outreach to new social media channels and at the same time put in a smart & highly intelligent employee in place. The Smart Virtual Assistant for F & B now manages the first line of interaction and provides instant responses. The blog below captures the customer journey in the new world after the Cognitive Assistant was put in place.
By deploying the chatbot, the Distribution and F&B Business has expanded its outreach to new social media channels and at the same time put in a smart & highly intelligent employee in place. The Smart Virtual Assistant for F & B now manages the first line of interaction and provides instant responses. The blog below captures the customer journey in the new world after the Cognitive Assistant was put in place.
Customer’s Food Ordering Experience in the new world
Let’s understand the customer experience in the new world with the help of a user’s (Christina’s) journey in different scenarios:
Initial Interaction with a customer Bot on Facebook Messenger
Christina lives in Catalonia and it’s her birthday today. She has planned to throw a party for her colleagues during lunch. In the morning She is chatting with some of her friends on FB Messenger collecting wishes and is checking their schedules. She sees a personalized ad for her favorite restaurant and that they have a 10% off as a special for her. She is not sure if they accept online payments. As she clicks on the link it takes her to the FB Messenger chatbot deployed by the restaurant.She posts her query regarding online payment in the chat window. The bot responds with the answer. She again asks “Do you accept debit crds?” (Notice she misspelled “cards”) The bot still understood it and responded with the relevant answer – this is what smart NLP engines can do.
She has made up her mind about the Restaurant and is now awaiting confirmation from her friends so she can get the final headcount.
Order from the F&B chatbot on the website
She receives all the RSVPs by afternoon she is now ready to place the order and decides to order pizza and beverages from a famous food chain in Barcelona. So, she can enjoy it with her colleagues during lunch.
She opens up the F&B’s website on her laptop to place an order. She knows her favorite restaurant has a virtual assistant on the website for food ordering.
Christina asks for the menu, Bot displays it. She writes that she wants to order pizza the Bot is smart enough to pick up the entity and filters the same menu with just the pizza options> The bot shows pizza variants available in different sizes and she selects preferred ones. Bot asks to enter the quantity of selected products. Enters the quantity and as she was about to make payment, she was interrupted by a meeting reminder and decided to complete payment after the meeting.
She opens up the F&B’s website on her laptop to place an order. She knows her favorite restaurant has a virtual assistant on the website for food ordering.
Christina asks for the menu, Bot displays it. She writes that she wants to order pizza the Bot is smart enough to pick up the entity and filters the same menu with just the pizza options> The bot shows pizza variants available in different sizes and she selects preferred ones. Bot asks to enter the quantity of selected products. Enters the quantity and as she was about to make payment, she was interrupted by a meeting reminder and decided to complete payment after the meeting.
Make Payment and Place Order through Mobile application
Christina has completed her meeting and is on a coffee break. In the cafeteria, she opens up the mobile application and logs in to her profile to complete payment and place an order.
She opens the bot and asks to show the menu added to her cart, the Bot shows her cart and she selects the Make Payment option to place an order. The Smart Bot for Distribution and F&B displays saved addresses for her home and office and asks her to select one along with an option to add a new address. Christina selects her address. Further, Bot asks for Payment Options and she selects the required option and proceeds for payment.
The bot then confirms the request, after verifying the same with an OTP (OTP integration, PII Masking) and sends out the payment receipt to Christina’s registered email address and WhatsApp. Bot notifies that her order has been placed successfully.
She opens the bot and asks to show the menu added to her cart, the Bot shows her cart and she selects the Make Payment option to place an order. The Smart Bot for Distribution and F&B displays saved addresses for her home and office and asks her to select one along with an option to add a new address. Christina selects her address. Further, Bot asks for Payment Options and she selects the required option and proceeds for payment.
The bot then confirms the request, after verifying the same with an OTP (OTP integration, PII Masking) and sends out the payment receipt to Christina’s registered email address and WhatsApp. Bot notifies that her order has been placed successfully.
Track Order on Whatsapp
As her friends began to pour in, she is anxious about the order and as she is chatting with her friends on WhatsApp giving them directions and the location of her party. She simply goes to the restaurant virtual assistant on WhatsApp and types in “cuanto tardara mi pedido?” asks the question in her local language- Spanish As the message goes from her registered number, the multilingual F&B Bot recognizes her and responds that it will take about 30-60 minutes for the order.
Christina is relieved. The bot stationed on WhatsApp saved her a phone call and improved the sat index on the restaurant, she returns to the party. A few mins later she receives an automated SMS that her order is here – as she rushes down to grab the food she is wondering about the tip.
Christina is relieved. The bot stationed on WhatsApp saved her a phone call and improved the sat index on the restaurant, she returns to the party. A few mins later she receives an automated SMS that her order is here – as she rushes down to grab the food she is wondering about the tip.
Receive Tips and Feedback on SMS
She opens the delivery SMS and asks if she can tip the delivery person. The bot responds in SMS and Christina gives a big tip to the delivery person.
The bot asks for her feedback and she replies with a five-star rating as she is very happy with the service and the prompt response she received across different channels. She is now a big fan of the restaurant!
The bot asks for her feedback and she replies with a five-star rating as she is very happy with the service and the prompt response she received across different channels. She is now a big fan of the restaurant!
Click here to learn more about Streebo Artificial Intelligence Powered Distribution and F&B Bot for Restaurant Customers.
