Hootsuite Invests In Chatbot Technology With Heyday Acquisition
Chatbots have been a popular tool among businesses to creating automated customer service strategies, growing 15 percent in two years.
Social media management platform Hootsuite has announced it will be boosting its one-on-one messaging capabilities with the the acquisition of conversational AI platform Heyday. The $48 million transaction will empower Hootsuite users to take advantage of chatbots to respond to customers questions in real time.
“The new generation of shoppers want to engage with brands by making purchases and receiving real-time customer service on social,” Hootsuite CEO Tom Keiser commented in a news release. “The relationship starts and ends on social, so we’re excited to offer brands a better way to deliver successful customer experiences at scale.”
Chatbot usage has been on the rise among enterprises. According to Salesforce, chatbot usage has grown 15 percent among companies in two years from 2018 to 2020. Social media platforms have effectively integrated themselves with customer service strategies, allowing for highly streamlined when chatbots are able to handle customer inquiries.
Heyday’s platform is designed to automate customer service, answering customer questions quickly and accurately. Juniper Research has predicted that by 2023, chatbots will have saved businesses around $11 billion annually and around 5 billion hours of customer interactions.
The acquisition comes as part of Hootsuite’s recent investment into its digital customer support. Earlier in 2021, the social media management giant acquired Sparkcentral, an automated message distribution platform.
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Hootsuite will be bringing these capabilities to its dedicated customer base of over 18 million.
“Modern day brands have to manage a multitude of daily interactions and conversations at scale—which is impossible to do without AI automation,” said Keiser.
“With the acquisition of Heyday, Hootsuite will now give AI capabilities to marketing, sales and support teams globally so they can deliver exceptional experiences at scale.”