This is the era when Chatbots are the need for business. If anyone wants to stay ahead in this competitive age, they need to have a Facebook Messenger bot.
Based on the reports of Twilio, near about 89% of consumers say they want the option to talk to businesses through conversational tools like chatbots. And, this is one of the major reasons why brands with big names are using messenger chatbots to market their products.
But the point is it’s not only limited to marketing. Yes, and most important is Chatbots can completely change the way you do business.
Usage of Chatbots in your business will automate so many of your tasks, which can save enormous time and get you high returns in your business.
Hence, chatbots are the key to that door, especially if you’re looking to open doors of more revenue and save time.
So, if you are looking for ways to use Facebook Messenger bots to increase conversions for your own business, then you are at the right place. Here we have made a complete guide to it. Yes, let’s begin with what Facebook Messenger bots are to understand the further guide well.
What are Facebook Messenger Bots or Facebook Chatbots?
In simple words, a chatbot is a piece of automated messaging software that uses AI to converse with people.
Bots are programmed to understand questions, execute tasks, and provide answers. They’re a friendly and accessible time-saver, especially if we talk from a customer’s perspective. Your customers can type a message, as they would to a friend, rather than opening an app (let alone downloading one), running a search, making a phone call, or loading a webpage.
Well, it could be said that for decades, Chatbots have been around in some form, and now, they exist in apps, on webpages, on social media—like your call.
And, a chatbot that lives in Facebook Messenger is a Facebook Messenger bot. That means it converses with some of the 1.3 billion people who use Facebook Messenger every month.
Guess what, you probably already have a Facebook Messenger strategy if you’re on Facebook. A Facebook Messenger bot tells that how you scale that strategy.
Facebook has 300,000 active Messenger bots as of the 2018 F8 conference. That’s three times as many as in 2017.
Facebook Messenger Bots for Business
Using a Facebook Messenger bot has many benefits, but there are two major advantages to it. First of all, there is a very low barrier to entry for both you and your target audience. Used by 68 percent of app users, Facebook Messenger is the third most-used app in the world.
And the important part is it’s not just for group chats among family or friends. But a recent survey of Nielsen discovered that people consider messaging the second-best way to talk to a business. Yes, if we talk about the stats, every month, people exchange 2 billion messages with businesses over Facebook Messenger.
So, when 71 percent of users delete an app within 90 days, compare this to the rest of the mobile app market.
Plus, building a Facebook Messenger bot is a lot cheaper than building a mobile app if you want to communicate with your customers. Another benefit is that the field is still wide open. There are only 300,000 chatbots, while Facebook has 6 million advertisers. Hence, the competition is very less.
Meanwhile, only 30 percent of marketing emails are opened, and even marketing email click-through rates (3.1 percent, on average) haven’t improved over the years. Apart from all, Chatbots can also help you bypass inbox competition.
So we have seen the context here. Still, here are some points showing what a Messenger chatbot can help you do:
1. Talk to Your Audience Directly
People are 3.5 times more likely to open a Facebook Message than a marketing email, according to a Headliner Labs report. And, customers likely to move further down your marketing funnel, since they can respond only by pressing a CTA button—that means when they don’t need to type.
Besides all, Facebook Messenger has sponsored ads that can be sent to anyone who was earlier in touch with your Page. Okay, this indicates that you already have a ready subscriber list and can use these ads in tandem along with your chatbot to target high-intent customers.
2. Recognize the Leads
This is currently happening that bots greet their potential customers, ask basic-questions, (like “What’s your budget?”), identify their needs, and immediately direct high-quality leads to your human-sales team.
3. Re-Engage Customers
Another best thing about bots is that they are capable of retaining information, and those details can be used to go the extra mile.
Offering relevant content at the right time, a Facebook Messenger bot can reach out personally, rather than paying for a barrage of advertising. A reminder to the customer about those cycling shorts still winning the customers, for example, you spent this day last year with mother-in-law as her birthday celebration.
4. Manage e-Commerce Transactions
Bots can do the selling and that too with the right script. And drop-off rates are lower than in a traditional ad-to-webpage pipeline because everything happens without leaving the comfort of Facebook Messenger.
Also, as the bot makes suggestions, conversational commerce leaves room for personalized upselling. Everything from “Seems your BUS won’t be leaving until 5 AM. Do you want a late check-out?” to “Chips with that?”
5. Free Up Your Time on Customer Care
Customers hate waiting on hold and gradually want 24/7 availability. Plus, some customers keep asking the same questions over and over (and over) again.
If you’re spending a lot of time checking your return policy, helping people track deliveries or booking appointments, a little automation will go a long way. Yes, now you can focus on the tasks that Messenger chatbots are still lacking to do.
Ways to Use Facebook Messenger Bots to Boost Conversions
1. Let Them Answer Common Customer Service Queries
Provide customer service is one popular and best use of chatbots. A chatbot is a great way to field those questions that your customer service team is asked over and over. All you need is to teach it what to say.
Chatbot by Domino’s Pizza is one great example of this. The bot even let the customers order directly from it and track their orders. An option there, “track order,” is a simple, effective customer service tool. You can imagine how many calls Domino gets from their customers to know the status of the ordered pizza.
You can follow below best practices when creating a customer service chatbot:
a. Let Customers Contact a Customer Service Agent Easily
Provide a “Are You Satisfied With The Answer” option that can lead the still-stumped users to an actual customer service agent.
b. Make Users Aware That They’re Working With a Bot
It is impossible to trick people into imagining that they’re talking to a real person instead of a bot, especially when it comes to customer service issues. So, do not try to make it.
c. Don’t Ask for Private Info Via Bot
There is a time when business needs the personal information of the customer to verify a user’s identity. Well, in that case, direct that person to customer service via your website or a phone number. Because demanding for such data through Facebook Messenger is normally not a good idea for security reasons.
2. Build Brand Awareness
Promotion of the site is always needed, but for that, you need to let people know what your site does. And, guess what, you can use your bot for it. Yes, particularly when communicating with people who have recently entered your brand’s sphere of influence, let them know all using bot only.
It can't be denied that bots are one great way to capture interest. By doing so, you are converting people from a cold audience to a warm audience and moving them down your sales funnel by conveying your brand in a way that appeals to your target audience. There’s no reason that you can’t do it, and there are a few ways to do this. So, find out the best way that works best for your brand.
Most importantly, initiate talking with people by using a greeting message, especially ones who decide to message you. This allows them to learn a little more about your business before they engage in conversation. Here is one great example. An organization like UNICEF offers a greeting message and provides information about what it does.
Other than that, you can choose the option to provide a menu at your Messenger window's bottom. This allows customers to ask questions to learn more about what you do, who you are, and other useful information. This menu section enables users to learn more about the organization.
Moreover, as part of your bot conversation, you can also engage in brand awareness directly. Must say, you are likely to capture your audience’s attention by letting people know about a recent event your business has been a part of or an interesting project you’ve been working on.
3. Send Broadcasts to Subscribers
To increase your customer lifetime value, you can send out ad hoc broadcasts to your subscribers as well as your standard bot conversation. To draw attention back to your brand and increase customer lifetime value and the likelihood of future conversions, there are many useful ways to use these. However, you need to ensure that these aren’t too sales orientated and send them out with a gap of some time– not more than once per week.
Moreover, to let customers know about important business news you think they will find interesting, you can use broadcasts to offer them content that they may find useful for example a blog that may draw them back to your website or ask them if they want to be made aware of future product information and launches.
4. Encourage People to Visit Your Product Page
Once you’ve used all of the above features, you can start directing your users to your product pages to warm them up. Again as we have mentioned earlier, it is very imp that you make it feel natural and conversational and not at all like a sales pitch. It is a big no. You can always add a shop button to the menu if you don’t want to direct people to your product pages this way, but the well-organized conversation does tend to work well.
For example, Burberry offers you the flexibility to browse its products in both the menu and the conversation.
5. Include Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is a buzz nowadays. Victoria Beckham, an English businesswoman, fashion designer, and singer, is one of the few people to embrace augmented reality as part of her chatbot, and the results are seriously amazing. It could be said that she's the owner of one of the best Facebook Messenger bots.
Yes, to try on her collection of sunglasses to see whether or not they would suit them, she uses it to allow users to use their camera. It is one amazing way to encourage conversions, which we are hoping to see more of in the future.
In a Nutshell
So, we have seen how much Facebook Messenger chatbots important and have soared in popularity among businesses. Also, we have learned how they can deliver automated responses to users who contact you through Messenger and are now being used for a wide array of purposes, including selling and customer service.
