Ads really don’t have to suck.

Everyone is talking about project of ads in chatbots, this week even Stratechery and Washington Post have published thoughts about this. The general assumption seems to be yet again simply: “people hate ads, putting ads into these services will ruin user adoption”. Which is bollocks.

First of all, consumers are well aware when they get a bargain, and “almost free” online tools that we use daily definitely worth a few seconds of distraction every now and then. I am not making a value judgement here, I say this as an observation – consumers might complain, but don’t underestimate them – they know it’s still a bargain and will keep using any ad supported tool as long as it brings value. 

Secondly, there is no technical reason that ads should suck. Absolutely none. This is a solved problem. There are enough different ads in the world for ad networks to be able to do a good informed decision, particularly in the context rich environment of a chatbot. 

Actually, we would argue that this is the first time the ad industry has a chance so really focus on and show it’s value to consumers, with as little forced distraction as possible.

That is why all the initial examples from big companies are about retail recommendations in chat. When consumer is shopping, they welcome more choice.

But similarly, when user is researching a topic, they don’t mind get advertised good sources on the topic, even if they are paid magazines and newspapers.

Or when looking for a solution for a health issue, an honest pitch for a provider could improve their life significantly.

Of course it all breaks when greed gets involved, ad loads increase and product descriptions get deceiving. This is the only thing the chatbot operators need to control. Not eliminate all ads, but instead design a system prompt that will filter out greedy ads.

Unfortunately I don’t have access to data on how frequent are what types of conversations with chatbots. Maybe only few % fall into ‘monetizable’ examples above. But that really shouldn’t cause us to loose hope of ads altogether. 

At this point in the evolution of the ecosystem, the big players can absolutely afford to not let everything through and focus on the holy grail of advertising – right ad, right person, right time.