Moshtix launches new chat bot for Facebook Messenger

Leading independent Australasian ticketing company Moshtix has launched a novel feature which connects Facebook Messenger users with live events.

The so-called “MoshMessenger” Facebook chat bot is pitched as a first for the local ticketing market and was unveiled Monday, on the eve of the annual Bigsound summit in Brisbane.

Moshtix, owned and run by its CEO Harley Evans, will present the new bot during a party Wednesday afternoon at Bigsound.

Messenger is a formidable platform in terms of scale. Earlier this year, Facebook revealed 1.5 billion people use its messaging app and platform around the globe each month, up from 1.3 billion reported just six months earlier.  According to the social media giant, more than 13 million Australians are plugged in with Messenger, a figure that represents more than half the country’s population, and 80 percent of its smartphone users.

To play with the new software, just launch the Messenger app and find Moshtix in the search bar. An introductory message pops up, and a series of click-through options invites you to search for events or jump in for customer support.

Moshtix’s new chatbot

After a ticket purchase, the bot can deliver the goods directly to a Facebook Messenger account which, according to Moshtix, is designed to save customers having to print or find tickets or dig them out of junk folders. And importantly, those tickets can be scanned from a smartphone for entry to the show.

MoshMessenger forms part of a much broader package of investment and development the ticketing firm has been working on for the past year that ties into its mission to “make live easy,” Evans tells TIO.  The bot “sits between a rebuild of our back-end ticket system, and a host of imminent improvements to the customer journey, and these three projects tie in together nicely to enhance the end to end experience for our ticket buyers and event organisers. And the good thing is there’s more to come. ”

The Discovery functionality is available to anyone from launch, and the ability to have tickets sent to Messenger will initially be rolled out to the clients that helped during the research stage of the product. “Over the course of the next few weeks,” adds Evans, “we’ll then start to add more and more clients to the point that it becomes a default option.”

The software was built in partnership with digital agency Bolster, whose founder Alex Zaccaria comments, “We’re stoked to be at the forefront of a new era of events marketing in Australia. We’ve pushed the boundaries of what’s possible with conversational marketing through the first release of this bot. What’s most exciting about MoshMessenger is that it goes beyond just marketing, into function and purpose. It will help fans discover shows and get answers to their questions, quicker than ever. We can’t wait to roll out the next phases of it once it’s had time to learn, too.”

Founded in 2003 and based in Sydney, Moshtix boasts more than 1.3 million active event goers in its database and partners on a wide range of live music and entertainment events, including Splendour In the Grass, Indie-Con and the upcoming Field Day and Twilight at Taronga Concert Series.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.