Australian real-estate site Domain is usually at the forefront of Android releases, and it’s no surprise that the company has brought their notoriously fast development skills to take advantage of Facebooks new Bot system.
The Facebook Bot announcement was made at their F8 developer conference last month, where they announced they would be welcoming businesses wanting to create ‘chat bots’ for their Messenger platform. From ordering flowers online to requesting instant weather and traffic updates, Facebook’s chat bots are here to give us a lot more information when we want it. Sounds cool right? Well, Domain has launched Australia’s first chat bot.
The Domain chat bot is fairly basic at the moment, performing one function, but performing it really well. The Domain Facebook bot delivers house prices just by dropping a location pin in Facebook Messenger, even if that house isn’t for sale. Domain has pricing information on over 13 million properties in their database, so you can have a bit of a sticky beak around your neighbourhood to see what your home is worth.
To start getting prices using the Domain Messenger chat bot, simply open Messenger, search for Domain (you’ll have to scroll down to businesses) then simply hit the three dots in a grey box and select location. Drop the pin and the Bot will deliver house pricing around that pin. You may have to scroll a couple to find the exact one, but it works.
This new way to find information ties in with Domain’s drive to get information to their users as quickly and as easily as possible. Damon Pezaro, Chief Product Officer at Domain said:
We’re always looking for ways to make searching for property easier and more enjoyable, and our Messenger bot is a great way for people to instantly access the information they need quickly to get ahead in the property market.
Consolidating property search into one of the most popular consumer apps creates a whole new experience for Domain’s audience. It’s widely cited that consumers spend around 85% of their time using just five smartphone apps each month. Creating a Domain bot for Messenger allows a more natural communication interaction and saves consumers time flipping between apps and websites.
The Bot is live for you to try right now, simply make sure you have Facebook Messenger installed, remember you can use Messenger without a Facebook account, then open a chat with Domain and you’re good to go.
