You’ve heard the buzz. Chatbots will change mobile apps, e-mail marketing, and customer care agents. Chatbots will reduce your costs and increase your income. They usually gonna do it all whilst you sleep.
There’s a variety of hype floating around right now about chatbots generally, and Facebook Messenger bots particularly. It’s no surprise that, in keeping with a survey by Oracle, almost companies want a chatbot in place by 2020.
Can bots actually do all the things they promise? It’s nonetheless early days. In the meantime, here are some actual-world examples and best practices to provide you a firm footing in this new landscape.
What are Facebook Messenger bots (a.k.a Facebook chatbots)?
Basically, a chatbot is a bit of automated messaging software that utilizes AI to converse with people.
Bots are programmed to understand questions, present solutions, and execute tasks. From a client’s perspective, they’re a friendly and accessible time-saver. Relatively than opening an app (not to mention downloading one), making a phone call (ew), operating a search, or loading a webpage, your client could type a message, as they’d to a buddy.
Chatbots have been around in some form for many years, and presently they exist on webpages, in apps, on social media—you name it.
A Facebook Messenger bot is a chatbot that lives in Facebook Messenger, which means it converses with some of the 1.3 billion people who use Facebook Messenger every month.
In case you use Facebook, you in all probability already have a Facebook Messenger strategy. A Facebook Messenger bot is the way you scale that technique.
As of the 2018 F8 conference, Facebook has 300,000 active Messenger bots. That’s three times as many as the year prior.
Why use Facebook Messenger bots for business?
There are two main benefits of using a Facebook Messenger bot.
First, there’s a low barrier to entry for both you and your target market. Facebook Messenger is the third most-used app in the world, which’s utilized by 68 percent of app users.
And it’s not only for group chats among family and friends. A current Nielsen survey discovered that people suppose messaging is the second-best way to talk to a business. People alternate 2 billion messages with businesses over Facebook Messenger every month.
Compare this to the remainder of the mobile app market, where 71 percent of users delete an app within 90 days.
If you want to talk with your clients, constructing a Facebook Messenger bot is lots cheaper than constructing a mobile app.
The second benefit is that the field remains to be wide open. Whereas Facebook has 6 million advertisers, there are solely 300,000 chatbots. That’s a lot fewer competitors.
Meanwhile, marketing e-mail click-through charges (3.1 percent, on average) haven’t improved in years, and solely 30 percent of marketing emails are even opened. Chatbots can assist you bypass inbox competition too.
In order that’s the context. Let’s break down precisely what a Messenger chatbot may help you do:
1. Reach your audience directly
Headliner Labs discovered that people are 3.5 times more likely to open a Facebook Message than a marketing e-mail. And since prospects can reply (normally by pressing a CTA button—they don’t even have to type), they’re likely to transfer additional down your marketing funnel.
On top of that, Facebook Messenger has sponsored adverts, which could be sent to anybody who has beforehand been in contact with your Page. Yes, which means you have already got a subscriber list. You can use these adverts in tandem with your chatbot to focus on high-intent clients.
2. Save money and time on customer care
Clients, who expect 24/7 availability, however, hate waiting on hold. In addition, they ask many of the similar questions over and over (and over) again.
In case you’re spending a variety of time helping people observe deliveries, check your return policy, or guide appointments, a little automation will go a long way. Free up your target for the tasks which a Messenger chatbot can’t do.
3. Identify leads
As your bot greets potential prospects, it could identify their wants, ask basic questions, (i.e., “What’s your budget?”) and instantly direct high-quality leads to your human sales team.
4. Handle e-commerce transactions
With the right script, bots also able to do the selling. And because all the things happen without leaving the consolation of Facebook Messenger, drop-off rates are lower than in a conventional ad-to-webpage pipeline.
Additionally, conversational commerce leaves room for customized upselling as the bot makes recommendations. Everything from “Seems your flight won’t be leaving till 4 PM. Would you like a late check-out?” to “Fries with that?”
5. Re-engage clients
Bots are able to retain info, and you can use these particulars to go the extra mile.
Relatively than paying for a barrage of advertising, a Facebook Messenger bot can attain out personally, providing related content at the right time. Remind a customer about these cycling shorts nonetheless sitting in her cart, or that she despatched her mother-in-law birthday flowers this time final year.