Messenger Bots & Partial payment Concept
I thought of how it could be easier to call and interact with bots, when there are lots of them for different purposes like shopping, finance, transportation, reservation etc..
Now on Messenger, you tap on the “More” icon to select the app you need, which is difficult -open another screen and browse through all apps- or the related button (like transportation icon for Uber) is on the keyboard bar, but if they are a lot they can’t fit there.
Besides, you may not know all apps which does the task you need. If they would be associated and directed to user by Messenger, it could serve also to apps for being explored.
Instead of a button like gif/transportation icons on Messenger keyboard, a symbol on keyboard could be universally used on any chat interface for calling bots about the desired task
(like hashtag or dollar sign for payment)
I tried with = symbol , if you begin with = and type what you want to do, Messenger gives suggestions by autocompleting.
Each task can have its specific ui elements, blending command line and GUI. In flight search case for example, a calendar and passenger selection part can provide easier and quicker input than typing.
Some other ideas/suggestions are;
Partial Payment option, so that you can split the total amount between users in chat group,
Calling bots to a group conversation for tasks done together -like the example here, booking a flight together through all the process from agreeing on which flight to paying together- would be convenient both for users and for companies serving to multiple users on one common interface,
Multiple bots working together passing the task to each other, so that users have a seamless experience.
