Today, Angela Zellweger and Silvan Merki talk to Sophie about the first chatbot at Implenia. Find out what it can do and what it has to do with IPads and a VIP tour of Lokstadt in this podcast episode.

About Angela Zellweger and Silvan Merki

Angela Zellweger is the founder of Ubicon, a marketing and advertising agency. She is currently supporting Implenia’s Specialties team with interactive activities relating to trigger-based marketing. Silvan Merki, on the other hand, works at Implenia, where he manages marketing and communications at Group level and for the Specialties Divisions in timber construction.

The first use case

The starting point for the first chatbot was the idea of tapping into new and existing target groups in a playful way. Regardless of whether they are interested in timber construction, architects or other customers in the construction industry: People should learn more about timber construction at Implenia in an interactive way. At the same time, Implenia’s brand awareness as an independent specialty was to be strengthened, thus motivating people to work with the company.

Specifically, the aim of the first bot was to better position the company’s innovative timber construction and associated services. The bot is designed to help potential customers get to know Implenia in a low-threshold way, while at the same time bringing existing customers even closer to the topic of timber construction and giving them new insights. Users can find out where the wood Implenia uses in timber construction comes from, how the company is committed to sustainability and that Implenia has built the tallest timber house in Switzerland.

The project process: an interplay between business, communication and IT specialists

Throughout the entire project, there was agile and close cooperation between the various departments. In addition to the Head of Specialties, the business partners from Marketing and Angela as an external partner, our colleagues from Timber Construction were of course also involved. The latter in particular had expressed the need for even closer contact with customers and interested parties in future. In addition, employees from various departments were brought in as required during the course of the project , for example for testing, technical evaluation or texting. In the end, it was a combination of business, communication and IT, reports Angela Zellweger.

No plan and still successful

It is important for Silvan Merki to emphasize that the chatbot was implemented without a concrete concept. This was a conscious decision, he reports. Nowadays, too much time often passes before a concept is written, read by all decision-makers and finally implemented that it is already outdated again. Implenia sees the chatbot as an experiment, reports Silvan, and has followed the lean prototyping methodology during the course of the project. New ideas from the team were incorporated on an ongoing basis and the concept was developed as the project progressed. The bot provides support from day one by delivering data on which users use the chatbot, how they interact with it and whether they engage in a dialog with the bot, for example.

Just let them have their say

It is also important to obtain appropriate feedback from the target group. Customers are delighted to be able to interact with a bot instead of a customer magazine, and are happy about the many insights into exciting projects provided by the bot on the website instead of having to click their way through a complicated process. The internal departments are also highly satisfied with the bot, especially when you consider that companies in the construction industry are not known for their innovative marketing and communication, reports Silvan Merki.

Specifically, 70 percent of website visitors use the chatbot, which is a considerable level of involvement considering that Implenia is active in the B2B sector and not in the B2C sector. In total, the number of chatbot users reached four figures last month. In addition to the information about Implenia and its projects mentioned at the beginning, users can also take part in a competition via the chatbot in order to, of course, generate leads. User tests were used to determine the optimal prize so that users are willing to take part. Surprisingly, Zellweger says, laughing, it was not the IPads but a VIP tour of Implenia’s Lokstadt project that persuaded users to take part in the competition.

Learnings

1 “Just try it out ” – Silvan Merki advises anyone interested to do so. It’s not as big or complicated as it sounds.

2. there doesn’t always have to be a sophisticated concept behind every chatbot. Sometimes it is also learning by doing and the chatbot itself that helps with optimization using the user data obtained.

3. don’t just focus on customers, but also on employees as potential brand ambassadors. A chatbot can help to motivate colleagues.

4. use user tests to find out how you can best achieve your chatbot goals. In a competition, for example, the prize makes a decisive contribution to lead generation.

It’s best to listen to the podcast episode with Sophie Hundertmark, Angela Zellweger and Silvan Merki for yourself pure. Have fun!

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