Build Your Messenger Chatbot in 5 Minutes
Talking to customers is no new trick. What is new is how Facebook Messenger has radically evolved the way businesses do so.
There are over 1.3 billion active users on Facebook Messenger today. Of which, over 50% have expressed that they prefer to shop with a business they can message directly.
In the last couple of years, we have seen exponential increase in the popularity of messaging apps and all signs are pointing to Messenger Marketing being the dominant trend in the years to come.
In this article, you will be guided through the quick steps to set up a Facebook Messenger chatbot for your business. It will take you only 5 minutes. Okay, maybe a wee bit more. But I promise it will be worth it. 😉
Step 1: Choose your chatbot service
The first step you have to take is to build a chatbot.
You can start building your own bot with the library of guides provided by Facebook. However, be warned that this can get pretty complicated. Especially if you do not have a lot of prior coding experiences.
Lucky for the majority of us Non-Programmers, there already exist a host of chatbot tools out there to help you get started immediately. If you have your own e-commerce shop, I strongly recommend chatchamp.
It comes with integrations to larger shop systems like Shopify and WooCommerce that would work right out of the box. As easy as setting up your new phone (or perhaps easier). It also covers all common use cases for e-commerce businesses without any prior coding experience.
Basically there only 3 simple things you need do during setup:
- Connect your business Facebook page
- Select the e-commerce platform you are using
- Integrate plugin with your e-commerce store
Step 2: Setup your basics chat flows
Now that you have connected your Facebook page and e-commerce store with the chatbot tool, the next step is to setup your automated chat messages for specific use cases.
A common problem in e-commerce is the huge amount of abandoned shopping carts. Luckily automated reminder messages in Facebook Messenger are a good way to recover these carts. Messenger Marketing is a very effective way to tackle the problems — the platform gets up to 90% open rates and 30% CTR.
The following screenshot shows an example on how to remind your customers about their abandoned cart in Messenger.
You can head over to “Abandoned Cart” under the Auto Remarketing dropdown menu to set up a basic Abandoned Cart campaign.
The next basic chat flow every e-commerce shop should implement are automated order and parcel delivery updates.
Customise your Order Confirmation and Parcel Tracking campaigns under the Automated Remarketing menu.
Additionally every chatbot should have implemented basic welcome messages.
Facebook recently launched its customer chat plugin. This gives you the opportunity to greet your customers when they come on your website. You can turn it on in your chatchamp account here.
Step 3: Encourage people to send you a text on Messenger
So you have tested your automated chatbot and it is functioning as it should. Everything is ready to go. However, it will not equate to any results if you have no subscribers. You have to drive traffic and encourage people to connect with you on Messenger.
There are 3 main types of audiences you can target.
Website visitors
Instead of the usual “Sign up to our mailing list for 15% discount” pop-ups requesting for email addresses, replace it with a “Send to Messenger” button. The discount code will automatically be sent to your customers on Messenger and they are now your subscribers too!
You should consider using “Send to Messenger” buttons and “Send to Messenger” checkboxes at the beginning of the customer journey while they are browsing on your web store.
These common tools are a good start:
· Above Add-to-Cart Button
· On Checkout Page
· Thank you Page
· Exit Intent Popups
You can activate all of them under the “Growth” menu in your chatchamp account.
Make sure to also set “Send Message” as your business Facebook page’s call-to-action. This encourages visitors of your Facebook page to start sending you messages and in doing so, subscribing themselves to your list.
Existing Audiences
You might already have an existing email list. Fret not, they are not going to waste. All you need to do is transition these people into your Messenger subscribers.
And it is not all that difficult. Just incentivise them to message you on Messenger! It could be for discount codes, free samples, lucky draw, etc. Get creative with this.
Check out how Boom! did it.
Simultaneously, retarget your existing customers with Facebook ads that open conversations in Messenger or send out sponsored messages to those who have interacted with your business on the platform previously.
Cold Traffic (Paid) — target with FB ads
If you are targeting audience from cold traffic, you may want to try setting up a Messenger Home ad.
Unlike sponsored messages, your target audience need not have contacted you via Messenger before. Your ad will appear on the home page of Messenger app.
Step 4: Analyse and Adapt
Lastly, analyse your results and take with you the learnings to test out new ways. There is no one single correct way to approach Messenger Marketing. It differs from business to business. And the best you can do is to keep testing till you find your Holy Grail.
What’s more important is to get started now! Be an early adopter. Not a late follower (or worse still, a Laggard).
