Thousands of Local Businesses Launch Chatbots as flok AI Goes Live

NEW YORK, July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- flok, the customer engagement platform for local businesses, today launches flok AI chatbot capability for all partner businesses. With flok AI, thousands of flok partner businesses -- from the retail, restaurant, wellness, service and entertainment categories -- can immediately launch a chatbot to interact with their customers.

This is the first chatbot integration specifically tailored to local businesses -- who are often competing against corporate chains with million dollar innovation budgets. New businesses joining flok from today forward can access chatbot capability as part of the basic pricing package. 

"Consumer behavior and the shift toward conversational commerce are changing how the biggest brands and retailers engage their customers. We can't let local businesses get left behind," said Ido Gaver, CEO, flok. "We're putting enterprise-grade AI tools into the hands of local businesses, at a fraction of the cost. If you're a business competing with national chains, you now have a customizable marketing solution that will level the playing field in a matter of minutes."

The conversation between customer and bot is tailored by category -- for example, using the word "reservation" for restaurants, versus "appointment" for salons. In less than five minutes, any business owner can create a bot that will automatically handle the most common customer inquiries in a messaging interface. For questions that the bot doesn't know, business managers can receive a mobile message from the bot and respond to the customer directly.

Proactive AI to Start Conversations
flok AI can also be proactive, triggering conversations with customers based on criteria like location, time since last store visit or time of day/day of week. flok businesses are outfitted with beacons that guide a bot's proactive outreach -- for example, 30 days after a verified store visit. This powerful tool essentially turns flok into an AI marketing assistant that can drive measurable foot traffic into a business, boosting incremental sales.

flok provides marketing automation and customer loyalty tools to businesses who think local first in the U.S., Canada and abroad. UX images can be found here.

About flok
flok is a customer engagement platform powering conversational UX and human-assisted AI chat, loyalty programs, proximity marketing and personalization. flok is managed via web dashboard and the flok for Business app. Based in New York City, flok has raised $18MM from General Catalyst Partners, Gemini Israel Ventures and Founder Collective. For more information, follow flok on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and at www.flok.com.

Media Contact:
Dave Heinzinger
VP, Marketing Communications
[email protected]

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