The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

The AA is often referred to as “Britain’s fourth Emergency Service”. But, being known for doing one thing very well is both a blessing and a roadblock when it comes to attracting brilliant candidates. We developed a new employer brand for the AA to help them overcome this challenge. The next step was a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site. With a totally new way to navigate and a recruitment industry first – a website-based chatbot – we helped them boost not only their employer brand, but their number of site visits and applications.

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How to Use Chatbots to Improve Recruiting

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Scope and Scale

In 2016, the AA brought PeopleScout on board for a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site. We were set a sizeable task, to attract and engage more visitors and increase applications – all underpinned with innovation.

Situation

Say the AA and a lot of people can’t see beyond roadside recovery. Heading to the careers website, visitors are overwhelmed by choice or jump straight to the same old roles. Which means they miss out on the impressive variety of careers they offer (from customer advisers to digital professionals), and the AA loses the opportunity to engage with excellent candidates.

Solution

Solution Highlights

• Navigation Innovation
• Bleeding-Edge Software
• Booting Site Traffic
• Huge Increase in applicants

A RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY FIRST

When is a website not a website? When it’s chatbot-powered. In February 2017, we launched a reimagined careers site that could do justice to the new brand proposition, “Ready for ANYTHING?” At its heart is a totally new way to navigate and a recruitment industry first: a website-based chatbot.

BLEEDING-EDGE SOFTWARE

To achieve it, we sought out bleeding-edge software – Microsoft’s Bot Framework – which was still in beta and constructed new bot pathways even as the core code changed under our feet. The result, AAbot, is your guide to the world of AA.

ENTERTAINING, INFORMING & ENGAGING

By asking questions, candidates can access all website information from within the chatbot – utterly tailored to their interests – and, if desired, full job listings. With expressive animations for (almost) any occasion and banter full of cheek and surprise, AAbot is packed with personality. He takes the employer’s tone of voice in a bold, playful new direction. And he shows that functional UX copy can entertain and build a brand, as well as inform.

Results

BOOSTING SITE TRAFFIC

Site visitors are now engaging with the wider AA story and roles. We’ve successfully boosted candidate interest, as site traffic has risen by 60 percent year-over-year, while the bounce rate has fallen by 17 percent.

HUGE INCREASE IN APPLICATIONS

Applications, meanwhile, have increased from 8,000 to more than 30,000, taking direct hire numbers from 55 percent to 95 percent of all applicants. And it’s just the start.

MULTI-CHANNEL APPEARANCES

AAbot is already a breakout star, appearing in digital ad banners and social media communications. You’ll already find him at the Wycombe Wanderers football stadium, emblazoned all over the AA offices and popping on LinkedIn. And we have big plans in the pipeline to let AAbot loose across the end-to-end recruitment process.