Craving Pizza Hut's cheesy pizza and breadsticks but too lazy to call for delivery? Sure, you could just launch the fast food company's app, but customers won't even have to leave their social media account when placing an order in the near future.
Consumers will soon be able to place their order by talking to a chatbot directly on Facebook Messenger or Twitter.
The popular pizza chain announced on Tuesday the upcoming launch of a new social ordering platform, which will allow people to conversationally chat with the Pizza Hut bot to make an order instead of clicking or tapping their selections.
"The new Pizza Hut social ordering platform is another example of making it easy for our customer[s] to order their favorites from Pizza Hut," Baron Concors, Chief Digital Officer of Pizza Hut, said in a statement. "We are constantly pursuing ways to simplify our ordering experience. This platform allows our consumers to quickly order or get information where they are already spending a great deal of their time."
To order an extra large pepperoni stuffed-crust pizza and sides using the chatbot, users first have to add Pizza Hut as a friend on their social media account. Make sure to have a profile set up on the Pizza Hut website to be able to then reorder favorites or saved orders.
The user only has to start a conversation on Facebook Messenger or via a Twitter DM with the Pizza Hut chatbot to casually give their order, and can ask the chatbot if there are any deals or promotions, as well ask any other question they might have, such as about nutrition information, business hours or if their nearest location delivers.
Once the order is placed, Pizza Hut will then email the customer to confirm the order details and include a receipt and copy of the conversation.
Pizza Hut partnered with the chatbot startup Convertible for the conversational way of ordering. By using automation and machine-learning, Pizza Hut will be able to provide better service and a reduced cost while staying up-to-date with the current tech trend of social ordering.
The chain's competitor Domino's already offers more tech-savvy ways of ordering from its restaurant, such as by using emojis on Twitter, ordering from smart TVs or even using Amazon Echo.
Other fast food chains, like Taco Bell, allow Slack users to place an order for pickup using its chatbot, and Burger King also has a bot for Facebook Messenger.
The Pizza Hut chatbot for Facebook Messenger and Twitter will launch in August.
Source: Pizza Hut
Photo: Lena | Flickr
