Beauty brands are developing customized bots that elevate the customer experience with their engaging personalities, personalized tips and product recommendations, as well as their seamless customer support.

Bots are artificial intelligence’s answer to beauty consultants working the cosmetics counter: they are informed, entertaining, patient, eager to please and available 24 hours a day. They also offer an array of services designed to expose customers to new products, and of course they appeal to tech-savvy millennials who live on messaging apps.

Here are the latest ways that beauty brands are leveraging AI technology to attract and retain customers.

Influencer Marketing


Personality bots, based on a celebrity or influencer, are effective and playful ways for brands to engage with users. CoverGirl created a chatbot of Kalani Hilliker on Kik that is friendly and conversational. Hilliker is the teen dancer, model and television personality who rose to fame as a contestant on the Lifetime reality series Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition. She also has 4.5 million followers on Instagram. Engagement with Kalanibot has been highly effective, resulting in more conversations with the bot, coupon delivery and click-through on coupons received.

Color Matching


Madison Reed’s hair color bot, Madi, is determined to find the perfect shade for users, just like a human colorist at a salon. The bot, which is accessible through SMS text or on Facebook Messenger, requests a selfie. After analyzing it and asking a few questions, Madi presents a personalized color match. The bot’s database includes 2.5 million hair profiles, enabling it to deliver accurate color recommendations. Additionally, an algorithm sends notifications, messages and emails to customers based on their hair color and dyeing frequency.

In addition to Sephora’s bot on Facebook Messenger that lets users book makeover appointments in stores, and a bot on Kik that gives product recommendations and user tutorials, Sephora’s Virtual Makeup Artist lets users try on makeup virtually. They can explore trends by finding the perfect shade match for any celebrity look or outfit, learn new techniques with tutorials customized to the user’s face, and virtually arm-swatch eyeshadow palettes to compare shades.

Estee Lauder’s Lipstick Chatbot helps users find their ideal lip shade. The bot, which works on Facebook Messenger and was created in collaboration with ModiFace, enables users to search for and virtually try on lip shades, take a quiz that provides personalized shade recommendations, and do a search by color (searching for lipsticks by taking a photo of any object).

Beauty Consultations


Bots are making it easy for customers to identify beauty products tailored to their needs, especially in skin care where there is a plethora of choice. Kiehl’s launched a skin care advice bot on Facebook Messenger that simplifies the process of searching for products by asking users questions about how their skin is looking and feeling. The bot lets users search products by natural ingredient and skin type, and then recommends products, facilitates purchase, and even tracks orders. The bot is full of emojis and has a friendly, unintimidating tone.

HelloAva is a new startup, launched in spring 2017, which makes personalized specific skin care recommendations. Using SMS text messaging or Facebook Messenger, users answer 12 questions similar to those asked by a dermatologist. The questions allow HelloAva to categorize the user in one of 30 different skin types in order to make specific recommendations. Users can also send a photo of their face to the Ava bot that then connects them to a real-life advisor who can further elaborate on the algorithm’s findings.

Gifting


L’Oréal’s Beauty Gifter, launched last April, is an intelligent beauty products discovery and transaction bot. The bot helps users find the right beauty gift box for their friends based on a series of questions that it asks the gift receiver (for example, their age, skin tone and type, and color combinations they prefer). Beauty Gifter then helps the gift giver select the right brand from the broad portfolio of L’Oréal brands. This doesn’t spoil the surprise since there are so many brands to choose from, according to L’Oréal.