Everything you need to know about chatbots

Retailers looking to pioneer mobile-first technologies that integrate with beauty shoppers' evolving shopping preferences have a new resource.

Automat, an AI-focused marketing platform, has launched beauty.bot, a website focused on the technology and advancements within the segment.

The website encourages beauty brands, tech vendors, developers, consumers and anyone interested in the use of messaging-based applications in the beauty industry to share information and resources on everything worth knowing about beauty bots.

The beauty industry has readily adopted the conversational marketing technology provided by bots. Beauty bots incorporate cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence and augmented reality to offer personalized product try-ons, recommendations, beauty tips, appointment bookings and answers to product questions. The use of photo and video has been key to beauty bots success, allowing consumers to engage with beauty brands they love while using messaging apps they're already on, like Facebook Messenger. Ultimately, beauty bots create an authentic, personal experience for consumers, and drive loyalty, sales and engagement for brands.

Beauty.bot features three main areas:

• Bot Directory: A directory of all beauty bots organized by industry category and messaging platform. Anyone can submit a beauty bot for inclusion and the directory is continually updated.
• Case Studies: Educational, real-world examples of beauty bots transforming user experiences and delivering business results, including bots from L'Oréal, Cover Girl and Sephora.
• News: Curated content of fresh industry news covering messaging and Conversational Marketing overall and their use in the beauty industry specifically.

"We're excited to be one of the first members of Amazon's .bot initiative. At Automat, we recognized a need to educate brands, developers, tech vendors and consumers about the rapidly growing, dynamic beauty bot space, and to pull information that can be hard to find into one comprehensive resource," said Andy Mauro, co-founder and CEO of Automat. "Beauty.bot exists to help the industry collectively learn and share."