MasterCard account holders would soon be able to track their expenses, review past purchases, and more through their Facebook Messenger.
MasterCard has become the latest enterprise to embrace Facebook's chatbot platform. The company is looking for innovative ways to interact with its customers such as with the help of automated artificial intelligence.
MasterCard announced its plan regarding Facebook Messenger at the Money 20/20 conference earlier this week. TechCrunch reported that the bot used by Facebook would be fuelled by the well-known Kasisto's conversational A.I platform KAI, which is a spin-off from SRI International. SRI was also once the home to Siri before Cupertino giant Apple acquired it.
The upcoming MasterCard Messenger service is currently undergoing pilot testing. Customers would be able to ask queries about their accounts, spending habit, cardholder benefits, and receive offers from Master Card Priceless Experiences Program.
MasterCard merchant partners would be able to access the company's Bot Commerce API later this year to test MasterCard integration with their chatbots. The MasterCard bot would also allow online consumers to make purchases on messaging platforms. The bot is expected to be released to Messenger's one billion users by early next year.
When it comes to embracing bot-based commerce, MasterCard is not the only company to join the bandwagon. American Express and PayPal have debuted their own messaging platforms to integrate virtual assistants for account management as well as for online shopping.
In fact, PayPal has announced that it would be soon be rolling out a messenger which would be useful for PayPal customers to link their accounts with Facebook. The Messenger would help the customers to manage receipts, get easier notifications, and have a repository for transactions neatly kept at just one place.
It seems more and more brands across the world are evolving and planning to offer next-generation shopping experiences to their customers. And many of these organizations believe that bot-based systems are the way forward.