AI Chatbot Upgrades Fan Experience at Sports Venues

Where's my seat? What is the best hot dog vendor? Which beer tastes less like water? 

These are the important questions when you enter a packed sports venue where staff is rarely available to answer. But the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit is one of many venues across the country that have you covered, thanks to an AI-powered chatbot that's never too busy to help a fan out. 

Chatbots for sports fans

In an effort to improve their customer experience, Little Caesars Arena connects fans to an AI chatbot trained to answer all of their burning questions. Essentially, instead of fans frantically searching for a staff member to ask where the nearest bathroom is, they can simply type the question to an AI concierge on their phone and instantly get a response.

The AI chat is developed by Satisfi Labs—a conversational AI platform for retailers, sports venues, attractions, and live events. So far, their intelligent chatbot platform recognizes over 800 unique inputs and can help with almost every type of query, from directions to the ticket booth and bathrooms to what the team's stats are and whether there is handicap parking. If there's a question that stumps the bot, an alert is sent to the venue staff (so they can pick up the slack via direct chat) and to the tech team so they can teach the chatbot the missing answers. 

Behind the curtain, the Satisfi bot allows venue staff to track customer trends. For example, if fans are repeatedly asking for vegetarian nachos then the chatbot will pass on that information to the staff to influence future concession decisions. 

The clear benefits of a chatbot-fueled user experience and statistical business decisions is quickly spreading across U.S. sports franchises. Among those is the Texans, Houston's most valuable franchise, which also called in Satisfi Labs to roll out their AI platform on its app and website. 

A rising trend across the U.S.

Jamey Rootes, president of the team, first heard about the AI chatbot at the Atlanta Braves’ stadium, SunTrust Park, during a conference and was impressed with its accuracy and abilities. Not only could the chatbot answer fan's questions on the spot, it could also be used to launch polls, surveys, contests, and keep the door open for continuous engagement even after a game is over.  

In Saint Petersburg, Florida, Minor League Baseball (MiLB) partnered with Satisfi to create a bilingual customer service for its English and Spanish speaking fans. The 2019 initiative aims to integrate the chatbot into each team's Facebook Messenger to effectively connect with MiLB fans in their preferred language, providing answers on ticketing, parking, teams, and the venue.  

David Wright, MiLB's Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, stated on the league's website, "This cutting-edge technology will better our ability to understand the fan journey by providing a platform for our teams to engage a more diverse audience and turn data into intelligent action." 

With an increasing number of venues integrating AI chatbot technology as part of its digital infrastructure, soon it'll be commonplace to have seamless user experiences at every major event. As Satisfi proudly states on its website: "AI technology is changing how we navigate public space."

Learn more about present and future of chatbots

With chatbots in everything from retail to therapy, it makes sense for businesses to learn more about these helpful bots and how they can leverage them to improve their customer service.

At VOICE Summit, there'll be no shortage of industry experts presenting case studies and even workshops on how to build and effectively integrate an intelligent chatbot. Early registrations for the event are already open (and running out fast), so be quick and sign up here.