Last week, Lifestyle published the results of a sex survey conducted by Ratepop, a company that uses chatbot technology to disrupt traditional research and allow two- way communication with the users and customers. Over 3,500 people took part in the survey, which is now one of the biggest in the country.
For the second year in a row, Lifestyle and Ratepop polled South Africans to find out the truth behind their sex lives, fantasies, abstinence, secret yearnings, fetishes, porn habits and dream partners. And we came up with some interesting results. The survey was conducted anonymously, which allowed prospective participants the freedom to be open and honest about their answers.
But the sex survey is not the only platform on which Ratepop is able to offer fascinating conclusions about particular groups of people. The service is particularly useful for companies trying to determine the opinions, preferences and desires of their customers and can even be used to predict the results of elections or to determine the favourite sports players, according to the public, of favourite disciplines, allowing the public to decide the "man of the match", for instance. And the surveys are conducted in a fun and "gamified" way, which makes participating in them a pleasure.
But what exactly is a chatbot?
"Chatbots are machines that talk to humans," says Ratepop CEO Socratis Avgitidis. "Ratepop then analyses the data in real time as it's happening and we give our clients a dashboard where they can look at the results immediately."
And how is Ratepop disrupting traditional research?
"The cost of traditional surveys is high and Ratepop significantly reduces these costs," adds Avgitidis. "Data collection and interpretation has been slow, where Ratepop collects and processes data in real time."
With traditional surveys, one-off results lead to outdated sentiment, whereas Ratepop tracks changes in sentiment and is able to forecast more accurately, and can put a value to sentiment. "We can also create a multi-dimensional behavioural profile, whereas standard surveys might just give you a basic demographic profile."
According to The Startup, chatbots that imitate human conversations for solving various tasks are becoming increasingly in demand. They are like virtual companions that integrate into websites, applications or instant messengers and help entrepreneurs to get closer to customers.
Ratepop chatbots run on Facebook messenger, providing content that is individualised depending on interests, increasing customer engagement, providing two-way engagement and making surveys smart.
Companies that are already benefiting from Ratepop technology are Flight Centre, Pick n Pay and Tiger Brands, to name a few, the latter of which recently won an award for new packaging for their Enterprise meat products, designed using information collected directly from customers.
"If you want to know the answers, ask your customer. If you want them for life, know what to deliver," says Avgitidis...