One of the prediction for 2018 on digital marketing is the growth of Messenger bots or chatbots. These will be the key components of a marketing strategy both in B2B and B2C marketing. AI-based bots may seem really impersonal and not useful, but when built right these can be extremely beneficial addition to any business regardless of industry. People want answers immediately and a bot can help you offer that immediate reward, and of course increase your sales.
Facebook’s Messenger is the way to go if you are thinking of creating a messenger bot for your business.
Messenger Platform connects you to over 1.3 billion people each month.
The future of bot looks really good. It has been estimated that 85% customer interactions are managed by bots by 2020. Of the generations millenials are most open to bots with 71% having positive attitude towards bots. It wont be long before AI is the norm or the new normal.
Before we get into how you can use Messenger bot, lets talk why you should be using a bot in your business.
BENEFITS OF USING A MESSENGER BOT
First benefit is relationship building which does not sound right because it is not a human relationship, it is AI working. You still can build relationship as you are able to connect with potential customer when they want the information, not when you are available.
Most people read Messenger messages immediately where are email is not read immediately. We all get a “ding” when a message arrives. A lead / customer has to start the process so you will never run into “spam” problems as lead has given you a permission to contact them via Messenger.
Well built bot allows you to personalize your content to match with the potential lead. This will eventually lead to boost in sales and increased profits. A lead is able to find what they are looking for faster than any other way plus it all happens on a Facebook Messenger.
Chatbots are interactive and offer versatility in messaging. You can use quizzes, video, messages and more to interact with your lead/customer.
HOW TO USE MESSENGER BOT FOR YOUR BUSINESS
There are numerous ways you can use Messenger Bots for your business. It allows you to automate your business and offer extra services to your customers. Plus you are able to reach your lead and/or customer way better than via traditional email. Having said that you should not stop building your email list even if you use bots for your business! Use both to get most out of both communication types.
NURTURE THE RELATIONSHIP
Bots can be used to nurture the relationship. You can use same as an email sequence where you send lot of value to prime the lead into a pitch. Bot can be used exactly same way. Only difference is that interaction that can be added to a bot which increases your open/read rates drastically.
Do make full use of videos and images on a bot, don’t just use text like on an email message.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Answering common customer support questions takes a lot of time! You can use bot a bit like FAQ and the only difference is that bot is actually read whereas FAQ pages rarely are.
SELL
Yes, sell on a bot! You can sell any type of product or service with a bot. As an example Domino’s Pizza sells their pizza with a bot.
If you do use bot to sell, make sure there is an option to contact human sales rep as well. Also do tell them that they are using a bot to make their order. Never trick customers thinking they are interacting with a human on the other side. Be open about bot and give is a name too!
Also a bot can be designed to boost sales by showing customers products/services they are looking for. You can use carousel images of your products and ask lead to select which one they are interested in.
ACCEPT PAYMENTS
Goes together with previous, if you sell on a bot, make sure you can accept payments as well. Stripe or Paypal can be integrated with a bot allowing you to securely collect payments.
BUILD YOUR EMAIL LIST
I mentioned earlier that you should not ditch your email because of bot. You should use both at the same time. Email list still today is an asset to any business. The aim of a bot is to get people off the bot into your email list.
Hi Nina,
I am pretty interested to work with you and create a couple of chatbots together with you.