Sephora has launched two new chatbot beauty tools for use on Facebook Messenger.
The Sephora Reservation Assistant chatbot and Sephora Color Match for Sephora Virtual Artist chatbot both have a different purpose but make use of chatbots to directly reply to consumers’ questions or enquiries.
The Reservation Assistant chatbot helps Messenger users to book appointments to reserve time for a makeover at Sephora stores in the US.
Users can directly tell the chatbot which service they would like to have and in which store. Using natural language processing (NLP) to figure out what it is being said, the chatbot sends back the closest dates and times and can book the appointment if required.
Sephora has also unveiled its Color Match chatbot, which provides help with shade matching, providing product suggestions from Sephora’s brands.
Mary Beth Laughton, SVP of Digital for Sephora, said Sephora is “excited” to use the Messenger platform to strike up conversational interactions with its customers.
She said: “Our two new bots for Messenger offer enhanced ways for our clients to engage with Sephora by streamlining how they access relevant service and product information on their mobile devices.”
Laughton added: “This allows us to provide richer, more varied conversations that ensure clients get exactly what they want out of the experience.”
To create the Color Match chatbot, Sephora worked with AR technology provider ModiFace to create an add-on feature to its existing Sephora Virtual Artist bot.
The technology allows users to scan an image, object or face of a celebrity, for example, and view a list of Sephora’s top-matching lipsticks.
After viewing the list, consumers can then virtually try on the shades presented to them and go on to buy from sephora.com.