Live Poll At MEF Rich Communications Conference On P2A Messaging

New Providence, New Jersey, October 22, 2020: Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) conducted a live poll of attendees during the session on Person to Business Messaging and Chatbots at the Virtual Conference on Rich Communications. The session, moderated by Tim Green of MEF, was held on 1st of October, with industry experts from Kirusa, Orange, WIT Software, Perform Marketing, and Abi Health sharing their valuable insights on person-to-application (P2A) messaging and different ways for consumer to discover chatbots of interest.

During the session, which was sponsored by Kirusa, MEF conducted the live poll to understand how users would want to search for RCS Business Messaging (RBM) chatbots from brands. The RCS ecosystem system for discovery is evolving, with several approaches being introduced, including (a) Searching from a web portal; (b) Using a directory chatbot (chatbot of chatbots) where the user can search for bots from within the Google Messages or Samsung Messages app; and (c) Search using a client directory built into some RCS Clients such as the Samsung Messages app.

With P2A traffic for RCS bots expected to reach 300 billion messages by 2023, it is important to understand how consumers want to discover and connect with brands using chatbots. Directories are expected to be a key tool for discovery, with browsing and search capabilities, and the ability to trigger a chat.

To help understand user preferences, the following question was asked during the live poll:

How will you search for bots from a brand?

a. From the web

b. From a directory chatbot inside the Messages client

c. Using search built into certain clients, such as Samsung

d. All of the above – depends on the situation

Almost half (47%) of the respondents, selected the option “All of the above – depends on the situation” which means that most of the consumers see themselves using all three methods, depending on the situation they are in. The next highest responses were tied between web search (29%), and from a directory chatbot (29%), with built-in search in the messaging app receiving a nod from 21% of the respondents. Attendees were permitted to choose multiple answers.

The above results were quite revealing because several platforms and carriers are only focusing on search using the built-in capability available in certain RCS clients, to the exclusion of other search mechanisms. Looking at these results, it is clear that it is even more important to provide directory chatbots and web search so that it enables users to discover chatbots easily based on their preferences.

If you would like to view the entire session, please visit here.

About Dotgo

Dotgo™, a global leader in RCS and other rich business messaging solutions, is the provider of the Dotgo Bot Store®, world’s first and largest directory of RCS and WhatsApp bots. Embracing the paradigm shift to rich business messaging that is underway, Dotgo is building the cloud communications technology and services needed in a world where every business must have a presence inside messaging apps, just as they have web sites and smartphone apps. RCS, Google’s Business Messages, iMessage, and WhatsApp are fast becoming the de-facto standards for business messaging for brands, offering exciting possibilities for customer engagement.

Dotgo enables brands and developers to transform customer interactions using rich business messaging, and helps mobile operators make RCS business messaging a reality. Dotgo is a Google partner, a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider, and a member of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum. For more information, visit www.dotgo.com. Bot Store is a registered trademark of Dotgo Systems Inc. in USA and other jurisdictions.