By Ryan O’Connell
Facebook is a prime example of a social media platform that allows businesses to do far more than just communicate directly with their customers. Making the most of Facebook and its business features can automate massive portions of the business, lowering operating costs and increasing productivity. One of the most effective features to look out for is Facebook Messenger Chatbots. These can automate your marketing efforts and customer service which helps you easily engage with current and potential buyers. The excitement around chatbots certainly isn’t going away anytime soon and it’s extremely important for businesses to understand how they can help you better serve your customers in ways that matter the most.
What are Messenger Chatbots?
In the simplest terms, a Facebook chatbot is an automated messaging software that converses with users through artificial intelligence (AI). The primary use of these Facebook bots is for customer service applications, where the bot is programmed to understand predetermined inquiries and respond with the appropriate answers. Some of the tools available from the chatbot include:
- The ability to send and receive text, images and rich bubbles with CTAs.
- Message templates that let people tap buttons and use other visuals to interact with your bot.
- Messenger greetings and calls to action to prompt users to “Get Started.”
How Facebook Messenger Bots Can Help Your Business
Directly Reach Your Customers
In 2018, it was found that users are 3.5 times more likely to view a Facebook Message over a marketing email. Since customers can respond to a message by pressing a CTA button without the need to type anything, its extremely likely that they’re going to proceed further down the marketing funnel over simply receiving an email instead.
Facebook messenger also allows sponsored ads, which target users that have already viewed or interacted with your page. These ads can be used in correlation with chatbots to better target the right audience for conversions.
Seek & Identify Leads
Your bot will have the ability to ask users questions as they greet them, identifying their needs and instantly directing these leads onto human management.
Reduce Turnaround Time
The longer it takes to respond to a customer who has reached out to you via messenger, the less likely your odds are of converting them into a lead. When a customer contacts your business page with a question, the answer needs to be generated as quickly as possible. Facebook also displays your response rate on your business page and has stated that messages sent from API’s (bots) are included in your pages response rate and time. With messenger bots, slow response rate can be avoided. Customers can send queries and receive answers almost instantly.
Re-targeting
Bots can easily retain user information and these details can be used to re-engage with previous customers. Instead of paid re-marketing advertisement, messenger bots can reach out on a personal level, offering user-tailored content. For example, reminding a customer about items waiting in their cart, ready for purchase.
Manage Commerce
Conversational commerce offers a great, new way of selling products online. Users are increasingly messaging business pages to seek product recommendations alongside customer support. Bots can be used to drive sales and conversions at a lower cost through more personalised recommendations and easier to complete actions. They can do this by sending clickable CTA’s.
Don’t forget once users start to engage with your messenger bot, it’s a good opportunity to gather information on what to add to your bot and its responses. It’s important to expand your FAQ’s which will make your chatbot more comprehensive and functional.
Promote Your Messenger Bot
Many users will organically come to your Facebook messenger, but you can also actively promote your new chatbot to increase customer conversation. So when your Messenger Bot has been built, you’ll need to develop a promotional strategy to let your audience know about your new feature.
Although the conversations will take place in the Facebook messenger itself, you’ll still be able reach users who are active on external sources and Facebook offers a range of options for users to discover your bot outside of Facebook.
Web Plugins
By implementing a web plugin on your current website, you can allow visiting users to start a conversation with you and have these messages directed through to Facebook Messenger. It’s important to note that there will likely be a much larger increase in traffic so make sure you’re prepared to handle it.
Customer Matching
Customer matching gives you the ability to connect existing customers to your bot using their name or their phone number upon being given consent by the user. The message sent from the bot will be received by the customer as a message request, allowing anyone to be reached by the chatbots they choose to interact with. However, Customer Matching is available only for bots that have a U.S.-based admin for their associated Facebook Page. The phone numbers used to match customers may belong to users in any country.
Codes & Links
This function works by having users scanning the appropriate coded image using their phones camera and instantly find you on messenger. These messenger codes are available to be placed on your website, inviting any visitor to start a direct conversation with you. Likewise, messenger links are short URL’s that can also be placed on your site and provide users with a simple click option to start a conversation.
In summary, Facebook Chatbots have shaped the way consumers and businesses interact with each other on the world’s biggest social platform. So if these bots aren’t a high priority when it comes to your social media marketing game, it might be time to reconsider their value. If you’re wanting to find out more about Chatbots in general and how they can improve your online presence, please contact us today!
