What many don’t understand about Messenger bots
And why it’s time to look at the other side of things

The reality we live in and the technological advancements of the past years have yet to offer something better and much more efficient when it comes to customer service and engaging with audiences online. I’m talking about Messenger bots-the computer programs designed to simulate and resemble human interaction as much as possible through an algorithm in a chat form. And they’ve been doing a bang on job at it!
Messenger bots are one of the latest crazes in the tech world and that’s for a reason. This relatively new technology is managing to slowly but surely transform the way the world works right now. And that is no surprise given that messaging apps are becoming more popular and used more than social media platforms. Messenger, Whatsapp, Viber and many other messaging apps are becoming a primary way of communication for billions around the world.
That presents a very appealing opportunity for businesses of all sorts. Mainly, to figure out a way to start communicating with their customers through these apps. This is where Messenger bots come in. Given that 1.2 Billion people are already on Messenger and the open rates for messaging can oftentimes be close to 90-100% with engagement levels not that far behind, this fact alone creates a new niche to be explored when it comes to reaching out to fans and customers.
Keep in mind that nowadays due to the constantly declining organic reach on social media, in the best case scenario you might be reaching only 2% of your fans! And when taking into account how much budget is spent on social media, advertising only on social becomes even more ridiculous of a choice to solely focus on. Similarly to that, even though email is known for its high open rates, it cannot compete with Messenger bots, simply because both have such different natures and offer different things to users and their audiences.
Soon, a significant part of the customer service processes will be automated thanks to Messenger bots. But there’s also another emerging pattern when it comes to Messenger bots: the option to speak and connect with large fanbases on a more personal level. Yup, that’s right! More and more musicians and artists are starting to use Messenger bots to communicate and inform their fans more efficiently and in a more personal manner. People like Armin van Buuren, Martin Garrix and so many other artists have decided to be part of the technological future.
But don’t believe me. Check it out for yourself! Only on POP you will find Armin van Buuren, Enter Shikari and Run The Jewels (among others) to have some pretty cool Messenger bots. The bots currently serve them as the perfect way to communicate with their followers on a more personal level. These Messenger bots provide fans with important information and keep audiences everywhere updated on new releases, upcoming events and much more.

Then question is: why are bots still not used by everyone out there with a fanbase? Why are not more artists making use of this incredible opportunity to engage with fans on a whole other level? That is because people still don’t get two very important things about messenger bots:
A. Messenger bots are still not where people would want them to be.
They can’t tell you the meaning of life, bring you your slippers in the morning or even give you a concise answer to absolutely everything you ask them. It will take a while until they get there. Smart people all around the world are working hard to get them to this point as soon as possible. However, many expect that bots are these majestic unicorns that can do pretty much everything. They can’t. At least not yet. That’s because to a certain extent, developments in AI are not advanced enough to be helpful for bots to become these all-mighty powerful systems that can satisfy every need a person has. Benedict Evans himself has also given his 0.02$ on the matter:
“…Fundamentally, you can’t create answers to all possible questions that any human might ever ask by hand, and we have no way to do it by machine. If we did, we would have general AI, pretty much by definition, and that’s decades away.” — Benedict Evans
Many need to be reminded of this fact. It will take time and we all need to be patient. Messenger bots are paving a whole new way for businesses to communicate with customers and for artists to engage with their fanbases.
A lot of people are also misusing the Messenger bot to a certain degree. Yes, in their essence they’re all about texting. Yet, which action do you think is easier-writing a whole sentence or simply pressing a button? The point is, that many consider bots to be difficult and not as efficient because they expect them to be as intuitive as a human would be when given certain commands in a chat.
However, the functionality of the Messenger bot is limited to the extent where it can provide you with plenty of satisfying options to give you information but it won’t do that great of a job if the person on the other side asks random things and expects an answer that makes complete sense. At least not in most cases. The opportunity lies in intelligently guiding the user to perform the right actions that will give him/her answers to what he/she wants answered, rather than expecting that the bot will understand every command its being given.
B. Messaging apps are now used more than social media platforms
Even though Messenger bots are not exactly where most people would want them to be, they are the new way of engaging audiences and connecting with them in a different, more personal way. That’s due to their helpful and customizable nature. However, many are still not aware of the fact that messaging apps are surpassing social media platforms quite a bit because of the decreasing efficiency levels of reach and engagement on feeds (only 2%!). Also, that’s because users now spend more time on messaging apps than scrolling through social media feeds.
They are not aware that there are approximately 1.2 billion people on Messenger and messages can have open rates close to 90-100% and engagement levels of 80-95%! Even email marketing cannot brag about such numbers, not even close! People are also missing out on the fact that with Messenger bots you don’t need to download any apps and no logins are required.
You’re already on Messenger and you spend a lot of your time there. That’s why businesses and artists can fully gain your attention right there, in the chat that’s already on your phone, in your pocket.
Frankly, it’s time to embrace Messenger bots while keeping in mind their current limitations as well as their untapped potential. It is easy to write off Messenger bots at this stage because they’re not able to act exactly like intelligent humans just yet. However, they are evolving quite quickly and the opportunities to reach audiences, users and fanbases more easily are already here and are just waiting for others to recognize them.
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