ROKO Labs App Toolbox

Chatbots are the big buzzword in Tech these days: We’ve all seen and heard of chatbot platforms introduced by Facebook, Slack, and even Microsoft. We’ve talked to Siri, Alexa, and Google at home and on our smartphones. Maybe even asked them about the meaning of life, or requested a poetry reading.

When we talk about Chatbots, we’re usually talking about AI bots: bots that use natural language processing and artificial intelligence to simulate real human conversations. But as these technologies evolve, it’s important to distinguish that not all bots are AI bots -- and some situations actually call for so-called “dumb” bots. So, what’s the difference?

Natural Language Processing

One of the big differences between “smart” bots and “dumb” bots is natural language processing. This gives many AI bots the ability to parse and understand users’ questions, and give a meaningful reply in context. This can be hugely useful for AI bots on messenger platforms, like Slack or Facebook messenger. This way, the bot can provide comprehensive service, understanding what users want and producing the most relevant results.

What are the limitations? Because you can say anything you want, an AI bot can be stumped by a question it doesn’t understand. Check out, for instance, this WikiHow article on how to confuse Cleverbot -- a chatbot project that has been in development since the 1980s, and passed a Turing Test in 2011. Messages with song lyrics, cheesy pick-up lines, or even very long messages can confuse cleverbot -- though it continuously learns and improves based on its interactions with humans.

Who’s Initiating?

Another key distinction is that with AI bots the user generally initiates the conversation, asking questions and prompting the chatbot to come up with an appropriate response. You might ask a travel-bot to find you flights for a certain date or ask your Google Home to lay down a beat. The user talks to the bot with a purpose in mind, and the bot fulfills their request.

What if you want to turn the tables and ask your users for something? A simpler bot can be a more consistent, foolproof solution for an app or website to achieve a focused goal: to drive conversions or collect feedback and user preferences.

Take ROKO Labs’ InstaBot for example: InstaBot can be deployed at any pain point in your website or mobile app to help the user complete a flow, or collect or other valuable info. This makes for a pretty smart “dumb” bot: the conversations are pre-scripted, asking users for clear inputs -- but we’ve found the most successful ones are short and sweet, driving toward a clear goal.

So what?

You are on the marketing team at your company and are looking for something to post on your corporate twitter account that will get people talking. Something that is cheap, but interesting to get eyes on your brand. So your options are targeted ads, post a photo, or maybe link to a press release?

We believe there is a better option in creating engagement content through social relevant chatbots. To demonstrate what I am talking about, I have created a sample InstaBot conversation that you can try below. This is a 4th of July bot that was written to create some funny perspectives on people’s holiday traditions.

4th of July Bot

Can we insert chatbots into the blog directly?

The goal of this bot was to tell a story that is a little fun, historical, but relatable to the holiday. Above all get people to interact with your brand in a positive way.

In the above example I have added a prompt to ask for email, but you could use subtle prompts in your bot to collect any user information. Some examples we have seen are:

- Lead Generation

- User Preferences

- User Sentiment – opinion on a certain matter

Things to be careful of

Make sure you create the conversation with the same voice/tone that reflects your business values. If you are a company that relates to a serious subject, you don’t want to go overboard on trying to be funny as it could backfire. Additionally you want to make sure you are not talking at the user, and instead speaking as if it’s a live conversation.

Also know what kind of conversation you want to have. The 4th of July bot was a story that required a few engagement points. But the goal was to be informative so longer text prompts made sense. Other bots like the examples below, require a lot more user engagement and therefore longer text prompts to the user are not recommended as there is generally a larger drop off rate.

Content that is relative to social topics such as concerts, holidays, sporting events, etc. are a fun and easy way to communicate with your users. A great experience leads to a positive opinion of your brand and can lead to higher user retention rates for your core business.

Try building some bots out for yourself and check out some other recent content based bots we recently created.

Mad Lib Bot

Interest in chat bots is rising as brands discover new ways to utilize the technology to connect with their consumers. That said, thus far, the use cases for chat bots have been limited to basic customer support functionality or humorous/cringeworthily conversations with a robotic human “personality.” For brands to create bots that are less novelty and more substance, they’ll need to figure out how the bot is actually bringing value to the user experience. See below for three different ideas for how brands can use a bot to improve user experience.

1. Suggestion Bot helps A&E Improve Content Search-ability 

A&E has a great mobile app that allows users watch the cable network’s content on a mobile device. But like all products with tons of content to choose from, users can spend more time searching for content than actually consuming it.

Currently, the app’s search functionality helps users looking for specific shows, but this tool won’t help users who’re browsing. To help users browse content efficiently, A&E could introduce a helpful show suggestion bot. In this example conversation, the bot asks the user if they’re interested in the “most recent,” “most popular,” or “classic favorites.” If the user selects “most popular,” and the bot would make some recommendations.

There’s nothing show-stopping about this chat bot, but it does provide a simple and easy way for the user to navigate the app. And as a benefit to the brand, the bot conversation can be managed on a web dashboard, that way, every time new content is released the bot can update without altering the app’s code.

2. Web Bot to accompany Pepsi’s “Pepsi Pass” App

Pepsi has an app called Pepsi Pass that allows users to collect points by taking selfies and pictures of Pepsi bottles (fun!). Those points can then be exchanged for prizes like headphones or concert tickets. While the app feels like a complete experience, the accompanying website appears to have been an afterthought. Case in point: the page directs users to “Hang out. Enjoy Pepsi. Get Points. Repeat.” but they forgot to mention why -- (it’s about the prizes right?!?).

To create a more engaging experience for this landing page Pepsi could introduce a bot to hype up this month’s prizes. The bot could ask users what type of events they’re interested in, whether it be music, sports, or live events, then ask users where they are located, and finally show them all of the fun ways to redeem Pepsi Pass points in their area. Sign me up!

3. Pre-flight checkin bot for Cheap O Air

The travel industry has been quick to adopt chat bots, some with greater success than others. You’re likely to learn more from your daily horoscope than Julie the Amtrak bot, but the KLM bot is a pretty slick way to get your boarding pass. I think Cheap O Air could be the next to add a helpful bot to the mix.

Jacqueline Chen is the creator of Chibird, a popular character that is adored by her 100,000+ fans on Tumblr and multiple other social networks. Jacqueline creates positive animations and drawings on her tumblr, Chibird.com frequently to share her art with her fans and spread positive messages. She also launched Chibird and Penguin iMessage Stickers last year and has seen success as one of iTunes top iMessage sticker apps!

We’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Jacqueline recently about Chibird, how she started, and her upcoming plans. Read below to learn more and be sure to download her sticker app, and check out Chibird on Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram!

Where are you currently based and what is your main job?

I’m currently a university student studying computer science. I’m based in the East Coast, but I’ll be moving to California at the end of the year.

What made you want to create an iMessage Sticker App for Chibird & Penguin?

I’ve always wanted to create stickers, ever since Facebook stickers came out. When iMessage stickers were released, I was really excited to finally get the opportunity!

What was your favorite part of creating Chibird & Penguin?

It was fun coming up with the ideas for different emotions and seeing them all come to life. I sketched a bunch of variations on paper before settling on the final versions.

This one may be a hard question but which Chibird & Penguin sticker is your favorite?

Hm… I actually really like the Chibird with the eyebrows and folded arms, just because of how silly it is. I also like the Penguin with the flags!

You have a huge fan following for Chibird and your fans seem to love that you focus your stickers and art around positive social justice messages! What was the inspiration behind that?

I’ve always just drawn what I felt, and sometimes I feel the need to take a stand for certain social issues. Our world can be really negative and hateful, but it doesn’t need to be that way. I want my art to be positive and welcoming! I hope my art can reach people who need it and show them support for their rights, happiness, and equality.

What are your favorite design programs to use?

I use Photoshop for all of my drawings! I also like to sketch with pencil and paper.

What other iMessage Sticker Apps do you like to use?

Ahh! I hope this doesn’t sound narcissistic, but I actually don’t use any other iMessage stickers right now! I think I’ll go download some other ones now that you’ve mentioned it!

Besides stickers, what other projects do you like to work on for Chibird?

I’m currently working on a book for Chibird and longer animated videos. Stay tuned!

Chibird has been around for a while and has a huge following on Tumblr and many other social platforms. When did you start Chibird and what was the inspiration behind it?

I started Chibird in high school because I wanted a way to finally get all the ideas in my head out into the world. I’ve loved drawing comics since I was little, and social media has been an amazing way to share my art with everyone. I really love being able to create things and add a little bit of positivity into people’s lives.

What projects can we expect for Chibird in the near future?

The book and animations are first on the docket! But hopefully we’ll get to see some more shirts or other merchandise for Chibird in the future!

Chibird & Penguin has seen amazing success as one of the top iMessage Sticker Apps in the iTunes store. Do you have any advice for aspiring sticker designers and creators?

Thank you! I think the best thing you can do is find what you love to do and stick with it. You don’t have to copy a certain artist or follow a specific formula, but working hard and putting in consistent effort pays off. Figure out what makes you special or unique, and people will find you if they really love what you do.

Anything you want to say to fans of Chibird?

Thank you all so much for all the love and support I’ve gotten for Chibird! I’m just so happy that I can share my artwork with people. You all are always so kind, understanding, and supportive, and it motivates me to keep drawing.

Last night, we crowned Biem the winner of the 2017 App Idea Awards. Biem is an app that allows individuals to talk with a healthcare doctor, get tested for STDs, and show partners verified results from the comfort of their own home. Coincidentally, Biem was featured in TechCrunch the day before the event, which definitely gave the team a boost of confidence heading into Wednesday's finals. 

Thank you to everyone who applied to this years App Idea Awards. After a long three weeks of judging, our semi-finalist judges decided on these six finalists below. We can assure you that it was not an easy decision for them to make. We received a ton of applications this year - so if you weren't selected as a finalist, don't let that deter you one bit. Keep at it...and apply to next year's App Idea Awards!

The 2017 App Idea Awards finalists are:

1. Bee Bee is a platform that crowdsources content creation and distribution to a company's best customers. Team: Andrew Ullmann, Lucas McGartland, Erik Byargeon, and Lukas Huberman Location: Los Angeles, CA 2. Biem Biem allows individuals to talk with a healthcare doctor, get tested for STDs, and show partners verified results from the comfort of their own home. Team: Bryan Stacy, Natalie Brito, and John Rimmer Location: New York, NY 3. Floss Bar Floss Bar offers affordable luxury dental hygiene on your time. Team: Eva Sadej and Lewis Chen Location: Brooklyn, NY 4. Hazel Hazel is a smart-home system that subtly monitors your loved ones with dementia to reduce the tension that arises between patients and their caregivers. Team: Jonathan Chung, Lillian Jia, and Weijia Zhang Location: Toronto, ON 5. SWIFTE SWIFTE is a carpool platform that matches drivers who have extra space with riders who want to go to the same destination. Team: Justine Avoudikpon, Sofia DeMay, and Kenneth Duncan Location: Riverdale, GA 6. Validated Validated enables retailers and restaurants to cover the transportation costs of customers who shop or dine with them. Team: Tov Arneson, Alex Wilhelm, Alanna Beckman, Ian Lyman, and Stein Willanger Location: Portland, OR

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be announcing some of the other apps that graded high (including our runner-up, gold medalists, and silver medalists.) Keep an eye out for those! Our finals event is on June 7th at General Assembly (Manhattan HQ) and is open to everyone and anyone! We would love for you to all attend and watch these six companies battle it out for the grand prize. Make sure to RSVP now!

When it comes to using platforms to manage an app’s push notifications, we understand that app developers today have a number of really good SaaS providers to choose from. There’s Google Firebase, Amazon, ROKO Mobi, Urban Airship...the list goes on. While there are many advantages to consolidating your push messages and in-app event analytics onto Mobi, we understand this isn’t always easy to do. That’s why we architected our InstaBot in a modular way, so that you as the app developer have maximum flexibility in specifying where/what/when an InstaBot is triggered while keeping modifications to your code to a minimum.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to combine Urban Airship push messages with InstaBot. With this flow, you can send a push message from Urban Airship’s dashboard, which when opened, will present the user with a specific InstaBot conversation configured in the Mobi portal. 

Assuming that your app is already set up with functioning push messages from Urban Airship, here are this tutorial’s high-level steps:

Integrate Mobi 

Add code to alert Mobi when the app detects an Urban Airship push message 

Create an InstaBot conversation that will launch when a specific Mobi event is detected 

OK, let’s start! 

1. Integrate Mobi 

Download and integrate the Mobi SDK

Initialize Mobi in your MainActivity 

2. Add code to alert Mobi when the app detects an Urban Airship push message

In SampleAirshipReceiver.java; add code to parse out the key/value pair attached to the push message 

Build and run your app

3. Create a new push message in your Urban Airship dashboard

Make sure you attach a custom key/value to the push message. Set key to “mobi_instabot_trigger”, and set value to “1″ 

Set Delivery to “Send now” 

Send the push message to your phone

Confirm that your device has received the push message

4. Create an InstaBot conversation in Mobi that will launch when the Mobi event is detected

Send Settings - Event - Select “InstaBot Trigger 1″

Target Users - Send to All 

Always Active - Checked 

Limit Conversations - Unlimited

Now we’re ready to test the entire flow! 

In Urban Airship, send the same message that you sent in step 3. Assuming your device receives the push message successfully, you should see the X-Men InstaBot conversation pop-up!

You can download the entire project from this tutorial on GitHub. Keep in mind, you’ll need to replace the following with your own values:

Urban Airship app key

Urban Airship app secret

FCM sender ID

Last week, the ROKO team attended the MAU2017 conference in Las Vegas. Besides losing a few bucks at the blackjack tables, we had an awesome time learning and speaking to other players in the mobile technology space. One of the most interesting talks I attended was from Rachel Mallinson, Head of CRM at Topshop (one of my personal favorite brands). 

Here are some key takeaways from Rachel’s talk:

1. Move towards personalization

This was a huge theme at the conference, including another one of my favorite presentations from Dollar Shave Club, whose Webby Award winning app seeks to give every single user a distinct experience. As a too-frequent user of e-commerce apps, one of my biggest pet peeves is when apps don’t take advantage of my wishlist, browsing history and other elements of my user profile to customize marketing via email and push. Topshop has prioritized this customized experience in the app which leads to a more engaged user base.

In this same vein, Rachel brought an interesting perspective on how Topshop can translate this personalized app experience to their in-store customers. App users are significantly more engaged than store-goers, so now Topshop is investigating ways they can leverage the app to improve the in-store experience for super-engaged audience.

2. Hardware + Software

Like many apps, Topshop is interested in how emerging hardware technology can complement their in-store experience. She specifically mentioned geo-fencing and beacon technology as way to alert users about in store items they previously flagged in the app. Imagine combining this technology with chatbot technology like Instabot? A personal shopper bot could guide you through the typically multi-level Topshop store right to the kinds of items you’re looking for by combining existing data on users’s preferences with live input from the shopper while they’re in the store.

3. Emojis dominate 

With so many chatbots popping up on the internet everyday, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out. As chatbot enthusiasts, we have picked out our 5 favorite bots that we think are disrupting the chatbot space by solving a an important problem for their users. Give it a read and you might find yourself speaking with some of these bots soon afterwards!

Buoy Health

Buoy Health is setting out to help users with diagnosing their symptoms efficiently and effectively instead of spending hours mindlessly googling on the Internet. Buoy’s algorithm analyzes your answers in real time and based on your response, figures out what questions to follow up with. Within minutes, users will receive a detailed understanding of their symptoms and their possible diagnosis.

Pitchbot

Pitchbot is great for all entrepreneurs looking to perfect their pitch. Pitchbot lets you choose from four types of VCs - angel investor, incubator, seed fund, vc firm - for you to tailor your pitch towards each group. It asks you questions and depending on your answer, it provides a customized response and also shows how optimistic the “VC” is feeling. With Pitchbot, entrepreneurs can pitch their startup to see if they get an offer or a pass from the bot which will help them tailor and polish their pitch even more for their real life meeting.

Visabot

Visabot is the first immigration tool powered by artificial intelligence and it’s determined to help users with their immigration woes. Visabot helps professionals relocate to the United States by informing users of the types of visas they can apply for, their chances of getting the visa, and the supporting documents they would need to apply for it. Visabot currently supports three types of visas (B-2 Extension, DACA, H-1B Transfer) and are looking to add more very soon. With recent announcements regarding visa change in the United States, Visabot wants to use its technology and knowledge from visa lawyers to help as many individuals stay in the country and continue pursuing their careers.

Cindybot

Cindybot, based off of British advertising consultant and technology entrepreneur Cindy Gallop, is determined to help women get the compensation they deserve at their existing jobs. By asking about the individual’s job zip code and position, Cindybot populates the median and highest salary of the job for the user. It then walks the user through a series of questions to help them better understand their value at their job and motivate them to ask for a raise. With the existing pay gap between men and women and many research supporting the notion that women are less likely to negotiate than men, Cindybot is trying to address a very relevant issue. Know someone in your life that is not getting the compensation that they deserve? Then send them to Cindybot!

Duolingo Bots

If you’ve ever attended a tech conference, you know how grueling they can be. Don’t get me wrong, we love tech conferences. At each and every tech conference we’ve been to in the past, we’ve met new interesting individuals and have heard about new companies that are changing the game. However, that being said, these day long (often multiple day long) events can cause some strain (both physical and emotional.) 

About two weeks ago, we attended TechDay here in New York, which happens to be one of New York’s largest (if not largest) tech convention. This week, a few of us are at MAU in Las Vegas. Needless to say, we know a thing or two about surviving the trying test that is the tech conference. Here’s how we do it. 

1. Get a good night’s sleep

This is pretty simple. Make sure you have a nice, long sleep (we’re talking 8+ hours) the night before a big conference. Stay in, watch a movie, drink some tea (because your voice will be non-existent 24 hours from now) and hit the hay at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow will likely start bright and early. 

2. Bring backup 

Bring as many co-workers to the conference as possible (as many as you have or as many as they allow.) If you have a booth or table at the conference, then you’ll definitely need some extra help. You’ll likely take turns watching the booth and venturing out. The bigger your team is, the more ground you’ll cover. Remember, a big team signals a strong company. 

3. Divide and conquer

Before the conference begins, try to figure out where everything is. Know which types of companies are going to be located where. Better yet, figure out where the companies that you should be talking to are. Make a plan with your team about who will go where and when. That way, when it’s all said and done, you’ve successfully hit every corner of the room (or rooms) rather than just having multiple overlaps. 

4. Bring water and snacks 

Bring water — lots of it. You’ll get thirsty. Your voice will eventually go. You can never have too much of it, so bring more than you’ll need. Also, make sure you have enough food to get through the say. Some conferences offer food, others don’t. Regardless of which type you attend, you won’t want to be hit with a case of the stomach rumbles at any point. 

5. Wear comfortable shoes

You’ll be walking a lot. And that’s an understatement. Make sure you wear the most comfortable shoes in your closet. If the conference requires a nice outfit, then wear your most comfortable pair of nice shoes. You won’t want the inevitable foot and ankle pain to arrive too early (especially in multiple day conferences.) 

6. Bring hand sanitizer 

You will be shaking a lot of hands. Likely, you will be shaking the hands of someone who is either sick, was just sick or is getting sick. Either way, there’s a good chance of catching a cold as a result of attending a crowded conference, so have some hand sanitizer handy. 

7. Get some sun (every now and then) 

Step outside every now and then. You’ll likely forget that the sun exists at a certain point in the day, so take a step out every once in a while to reacquaint yourself with its Vitamin D providing rays. Sit for a minute, take a deep breath of fresh air and head back in. 

8. Bring extra business cards (and pens) 

Make sure you don’t forget your business cards. You should always bring twice as many as you think you’ll need (because who knows what’ll happen...raffles, maybe?) Also, always have a pen on hand so you can write down any memorable information on the card of any person you meet. That way, once you reengage with them after the conference (likely via email), they’ll be able to remember who you are, too! 

9. Know your targets

Make sure to know the who’s who of the conference. It will be tough to figure out the exact attendees, but at least acquaint yourself with the different companies in attendance. Even knowing minor details about a company will go a long way in a conversation. 

10. Enjoy yourself

Lastly, make sure to enjoy yourself! These sort of conferences are rare opportunities for you to expand your network exponentially, so treat them as such. If you do, you’ll find yourself in interesting conversations with all kinds of individuals. Smile and be friendly. If you do so, it’ll all be easy. 

Last week ROKO Labs had our unofficial launch for InstaBot at New York TechDay. Our team put together a great InstaBot presentation and gave away some bot related swag. We also met a lot of engaging people from all sorts of companies.

Naturally we were there to talk to anyone interested in chatbots and how InstaBot could solve all of their engagement problems. We received a lot of interesting questions about use cases, implementation, and the conversation building experience. One question that seemed to come up the most was if InstaBot used AI (Artificial Intelligence). The answer - it does not and I’ll tell you why your app doesn’t need it.

AI is a buzzy term in tech and a lot of folks see it as a requirement for chatbots to work for their app – without understanding their own use cases for a bot. Most of the consumer applications on the market are straightforward and have no use for AI. So my answer to those at TechDay is the same I give to you as to why you don’t need AI powered chatbots.

For starters - AI technology, specifically machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), is not ready to be consumer available. With the exception of Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant (which have all only recently begun opening up their API to third party development) most companies do not have the resources to support the massive work that AI and machine learning require.

Communication is a complex combination of language, tone, body language, and timing. Any variation of these characteristics can alter the meaning of a statement. (This is the reason those text message jokes that I sent to my girlfriend had to be smoothed over with flowers.) Not to mention the different languages, accents, and dialects that exist – it can become a frustrating loop of miscommunication that disengages your users.

Why not just cut right to the chase and provide value to your users?

We have seen time after time that when users are able to provide open ended responses to chatbots, the value to the both the user and app owner gets diluted and unclear. Chatbots should be able to both provide user value and app value at the same time.

By building a predefined conversation with a range of values, you can quantify the results and make actionable decisions. Users are not stuck thinking about what they want from the bot, and instead they make a couple of decisions and a clear value is presented to them. Where is the AI required here?

InstaBot is a little different than most bots available on the market in that applications can build a conversation directly into their workflow instead of through a 3rd party messaging service. So our conversations can engage with users in a seamless way where the results relate directly back to the UX.

Last but not least, creating the logic behind AI powered bots is no easy task. It will most likely require a developer to be involved each time a new conversation is needed. This limits the resources you have dedicated to building a great product.

If you’re a product manager or work in app marketing you’ve probably spent some time looking at the geographic distribution of your users with a mapping product like Google Analytics or ROKO Mobi. While these map tools easily satisfy the curiosities of geographically inclined people like me, they can be written off by others as simple visuals with little actionable information. 

On the contrary, keeping tabs on the geographic distribution of your users can be extremely beneficial to optimizing marketing spend. Here are three ways to use geography data to lower customer acquisition costs and increase the efficiency of marketing campaigns. 

1. Spend your marketing dollars in the right places

The old rule of thumb is that consumers need to see or hear about a product seven times before really remembering the pitch. With that in mind, it makes sense to advertise your application in a market that already has some exposure to your product. For example, let’s say you have a large cluster of users in Birmingham Alabama but only a couple of users in Memphis. If you decide to buy advertising in Birmingham, the likelihood that a consumer viewing your ad has seen or heard of your product via word-of-mouth is dramatically higher than a similar audience in Memphis. Seeing your ad could just be the seventh interaction a prospective user needs to finally make the download. Leveraging your product’s existing market penetration ensures that you get the most from your marketing dollars and ultimately reduce user cost per acquisition (CPA).

2. Track the success of your regional marketing campaigns 

Depending on the channels on which you’re spending your advertising money, you’ve likely picked certain regions to run your ads and you’re probably receiving information about the number of impressions or downloads you’re getting in those areas. That said, the data from any one of those sources is never complete. Someone could see your Facebook ad while at work and download the app at the bus stop on the way home. Someone else could download your app from your Instagram ad and then tell three friends who download it too. In both of those highly plausible scenarios, the tracking tools provided by ad networks fall short in providing you the full picture of how effective your marketing has been. While Facebook and Instagram will provide you the number of seconds a user “engages” with your ad, or how many download it from the ad, but they have no way of showing you how your ad catalyzed user adoption in a region. The organic growth that comes from a good ad campaign should count towards your CPA as well.

3. Determine the locality of your best users

OK, so you’ve launched your ad campaign in a region that makes sense and you’ve assessed its effectiveness, but we can’t stop there! Since not all new users are created equal, it’s important to know where your best users are located. The lifetime value of your users can be calculated in several ways. If it applies to you, the amount of money spent in your app is obviously a key indicator of value. But there are many other reasons one user could be more valuable than another. Let’s say that over the past month, you’ve acquired 1,000 downloads in San Francisco and 1,000 downloads in New York. For your app, the most valuable users share at least three pieces of content. Of the San Francisco downloads, 350 have shared three pieces of content, but only 150 New Yorkers did. In this scenario, those who downloaded in San Francisco are 20% more likely to be the highly valuable user you’re seeking. In this scenario it could benefit you to spend more marketing dollars in the bay area market to acquire more of those high value users.

As a product manager at ROKO Labs, I’m constantly working to build data visualization tools that help entrepreneurs better understand their users and grow their app business. If you’re interested in maps, app marketing, or have questions, send me a note or comment here!

So you've finished developing your app, now what? Watch the video above for a step-by-step process of how to successfully get your app on the Apple App Store and into the hands of users. 

At ROKO Labs we’ve seen thousands of product ideas come through our doors via our client services work and our annual App Idea Awards competition. Though a majority of the ideas don’t pan out for obvious reasons, it’s important to also recognize what makes for a strong product & how to be able to pitch it to investors.  

Having a great idea is only the beginning of a long journey so knowing how to get those around you to spread the word will help securing users, sales, and even funding. We put together a list of five common traits of great products to help you communicate your idea and grab the attention of those around you.  

1.  It’s more than just a pretty face

Whether you think a product is great or not, it’s important to understand its functionality vs how easy it is on the eyes.  If users frequently complain about their inability to accomplish a task, designing the most elaborate product won’t get you very far.  Ultimately your product will need to resolve core pain points that your users face in order to serve a purpose and to be deemed beneficial.  Designs are always subject to opinion & can be updated, but being able to solve a problem is not.

2. It possesses the immediate “I Get It” factor

If your product idea requires a paragraph or more of explanation to show its worth, you’re not going to get very far.  Practice your value proposition to the point where even a toddler could understand it and then refine your elevator pitch so that an investor will remain intrigued.  Users today are jaded after viewing countless Kickstarter campaigns fail so make sure you’re able to promise & deliver a product your users find achievable.

3. You have a clear path to revenue

The startup tech boom of early 2010s where user growth, virality, and hopes of future monetization are long gone.  Aside from a very small handful of startups, the promises of monetization through channels such as advertising are not compelling enough to attract investor attention.  These days, clearly defined means of producing revenue are almost a necessity so make sure your product has already begin monetization, has partnerships in place for monetization, or doesn’t rely on a magical advertiser to suddenly find your information compelling enough to buy ad space.

4. You listened to your users

It may sound obvious but being able to incorporate the feedback that your users ask for can position your product in multiple ways.  Not only are you able to show your users their value, but you’ll also appear more flexible & willing to incorporate advice from potential investors.

5. It’s built by a team of experts

It may seem as though chatbots came out of nowhere - but really, they’ve been around for quite some time. Here is our history of chatbots (and all things AI) from 1950 to today...and then some.

1950: Turing Test

Alan Turing publishes Computing Machinery and Intelligence, introducing the concept of the Turing Test which tests a machines ability to exhibit behavior indistinguishable from that of a human.

1956: Dartmouth Conferences

The Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence is held, establishing AI as a field of study. Organized by Assistant Professor of Mathematics John McCarthy, the conferences lasted approximately 6 to 8 weeks.

1966: ELIZA

ELIZA, an early natural language processing computer program that simulated a Rogerian psychotherapist, is created at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. It is said to be one of the first programs able to pass the Turing Test.

1972: PARRY

PARRY, a chatbot created to simulate a person with paranoid schizophrenia, was created in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby. In the same year, PARRY and ELIZA “met” and “talked” to each other at the International Conference on Computer Communications in Washington D.C.

1980: Chinese Room

The Chinese Room argument is introduced in philosopher John Searle’s paper “Minds, Brains and Programs” published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences scientific journal. The argument poses a hypothetical scenario which implies that a computer has no consciousness, no matter how human-like it may behave.

1983: Racter

Racter (short for Raconteur), an AI computer program written by William Chamberlain and Thomas Etter, is revealed in a book called The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed. Racer is said to have to have authored the book, entirely.

1997: Jabberwacky

Jabberwacky is created by British programmer Rollo Carpenter as one of the earliest forms of human conversation based AI. Built mainly as a form of entertainment, Carpenter also intended it be capable of passing the Turing Test.

1992: Dr. Sbaitso

Dr. Sbaitso, an AI speech synthesis program for MS DOS-based PCs is released. Although the program attempted to resemble a real-life psychologist, the use of a digitized voice and its repetitive responses made it feel otherwise.

1995: A.L.I.C.E

Artifical Linguistic Internet Computer Entity, or A.L.I.C.E for short, comes to life. Heavily inspired by ELIZA, the natural language processing boy had the ability to engage in a conversation with a humans by applying heuristic pattern matching rules to the human’s input.

2001: HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)

The year in which HAL 9000, a calm-voiced sentient computer that controls the Discovery One spaceship in the 1968 science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, decides to go haywire. “Im sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that” may ring an unnerving bell. 

2001: SmarterChild

SmarterChild, the intelligent bot developed by ActiveBuddy, Inc. is released across popular instant messaging and SMS platforms. The robot sat on the AIM buddy list of millions of kids and adults across the globe until the technology was shelved following an acquisition of the company by Microsoft.

2001: GooglyMinotaur

GoogleMinotaur, an AOL Instant Messenger bot, was developed by ActiveBuddy to promote Radiohead’s fifth album, Amnesiac. It’s release marks one of the first instances of bots used for commercial means. After conversing with nearly one million people about Radiohead related content, the bot was switched off. The cause of death is undetermined.

2006: IBM’s Watson

IBM’s supercomputer Watson, named after the company’s first CEO, is developed with the ability to answer questions posed in natural language. In 2011, the computer competed on the game show Jeopardy beating former winners Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. To this day, Watson powers countless business across different industries.

2010: Siri

Siri, Apple’s intelligent personal voice assistant, is  developed by Siri Inc and released as a standalone application. After being acquired by Apple that year, the program was integrated into iOS, with the ability to interact with a number of Apple’s default applications. Today, Siri can be used across apps within Apple’s iOS, watchOS, tvOS and macOS.

2012: Google Now

Google now, Google’s own intelligent personal assistant is released for Android. Using a natural language user interface, the bot can answer questions, make recommendations and perform actions across various web services. In 2016, an evolved version of Google Now which hosts the ability to engage in a two-way dialogue, called Google Assistant, was announced.

2015: Amazon’s Alexa

Amazon releases their own intelligent personal assistant, Alexa, which is capable of performing countless tasks through voice interaction. Alexa is the operating system found within the Amazon Echo smart speaker, which acts as a home automation hub by controlling numerous smart devices.

2015: Microsoft’s Cortana

As a nod to the fictional AI hologram character in the Halo video game series, Microsoft releases their own intelligent personal assistant, Cortana. Available in numerous languages, Cortana serves as a key ingredient of Microsoft’s operating systems “makeover.”

2016: Tay

Microsoft releases an intelligent chatbot, named Tay, on Twitter under the handle @TayandYou. Designed to mimic the language patterns of a nineteen year old female and learn from interacting with Twitter users, Tay soon became known as “The AI with zero chill” as she began to exhibit offensive behavior. It was taken down only 16 hours after its launch.  

2016: “Year of Conversational Commerce”

Uber developer experience lead, and inventor of the hashtag, Chris Messina calls 2016 the year of “Conversational Commerce” as brands and services will begin to use messaging/natural language interfaces, through chatbots, to interact with customers. Countless publications referred to this as the “Chatbot Revolution.”

2016: Betaworks Botcamp

- Betaworks announces a 90-day pre-seed program for chat bot startups. Ten companies are accepted, each receiving $200k, and are given an office to work out of at the Betaworks Studio space in NYC.

2016: Bots, Bots, Bots…

- Bots are everywhere. Facebook announces a platform for building bots for Messenger, and tens of thousands of them are created within months. Other messaging services,like Slack, Telegram and Kik did the same. Later on in the year, Apple opens up iMessage to third-party developers. Bots have officially arrived.

2019: Replicants (Blade Runner)

Blade Runner (based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) takes place in dystopian Los Angeles, when the world is filled with illegal sentient robots, known as replicants. The 1982 film opens up with an interrogation scene in which a replicant is being administered a test designed to distinguish them from their human counterparts.

~2020: Ava (Ex Machina)

Based in the near future, though no date is explicitly given, the 2015 film Ex Machina presents the story of a programmer who is invited by his mad scientist CEO to his extremely isolated home to conduct a Turing Test with an intelligent, female humanoid named Ava.

~2025: Samantha (Her)

Set slightly in the future in Los Angeles, the 2013 film Her, tells the story of one man’s relationship with an AI operating system, named Samantha, as she evolves from a personal assistant to something (or someone) much greater.

~2030/45: The Singularity

When you’re working to grow a business, it’s easy to get caught up in anecdotal evidence and “hunches,” relying on what you can see easily with your eyes and hear easily with your ears. But how can you use data to provide a reality check, and illuminate the factors that are really influencing things like traffic and user activity? Here are a few lessons we’ve learned in putting together some of our own internal marketing reports, from a product manager who loves data. 

1. Look at change over time

Early drafts of our marketing reports looked like a series of tables like the one below (data changed.) These were momentary snapshots of what our site activity looked like right now - say, over the last week or last month. Our team wanted to know, “what do these numbers actually mean in context? How do I know if this is good or bad if I can’t compare it to previous months?” 

Note: Numbers in all tables and charts in this article are illustrative, and do not represent the traffic to any real websites.

For companies both large and small, change over time is more a salient metric than an overall measure of “what things look like now.” 

Say a large company made $2 million dollars last year in revenue, that might be great and all - unless they made $3 million the year prior, which would be a sign of significant problems that need to be resolved to reverse the decline.

If a young startup has 100 users this month, that might not sound like much. But maybe last month they only had 50 users, so their user base has actually doubled in size. If they can keep up that momentum, maybe they’re doing something right to achieve a high rate of growth: a key factor for investors looking to see that a young company has future potential.

Showing changes over time, like in the graph below, is more informative than a static table. Why did the website see a spike in traffic in February, and then go back down in March? Maybe this company can glean some insights into how to shift marketing strategy to get traffic like that every month.

2. Break it down

So, you know that things are changing over time… but how do you figure out why? You need to start by looking at some more granular information. There are a number of analytics platforms out there that can help you determine certain things, like how users landed on your site or downloaded your app. Take advantage of these to break down why or what types of users are behaving in certain ways.

What caused such a huge spike in website traffic in February? Based on the chart below, it likely had a lot to do with successful advertising. From here you can start asking more specific questions like whether the ad content was more engaging that month, if the company posted an ad on an especially relevant platform, or maybe ad spend was simply higher that month.

3. Keep raw data accessible

When you’re sending around an internal report like this to different stakeholders in your company, everybody will want to look at the information from a different angle. A stacked bar chart like the one above is useful in telling one version of the story, but much of the real discovery comes from digging into the numbers once you see these general trends.

Make sure there’s an easy way to open up a spreadsheet with the raw data. Charts are a great way to start thinking about what’s going on, but hopefully they will fuel more detailed questions that can be answered by looking deeply into the underlying information. 

4. Answer YOUR business questions

There isn’t any one “right” way to examine and visualize your data. What questions do you need to answer in order to understand how you’re performing and how to improve? What questions can lead you to actionable conclusions? Start there: Let these key business questions guide what sort of data you collect, and how you present it to your audience (whether it’s co-workers or investors).