Messenger Codes open a world of possibilities
We’ve had QR codes for years, but they never took off. No-one had a scanner.
However, everyone has Messenger. Well, 1.2 Billion people do.
Messenger Codes allow some of best chatbot use cases.
A lightweight way to take the physical world online.
No downloading an app, scan a code and you’re able to access the info / service you needed in seconds.
This screenshot caught my attention last week. The Crepe House San Francisco & the Joy team takes the long used method of “Like the Facebook page for Free Wifi” and moves it to Messenger.
Why does this method win out?
- Reduces friction, no login necessary. Most users are always logged into Messenger.
- Users don’t like being forced to like a page or check-in to a location. Meaning they either toggle page permissions, unlike the page after use, or just skip using the wifi meaning you lose the opportunity to interact with them in future.
- Posts on your Facebook page only go out to a small fraction of your “followers” unless you sponsor the post.
- Connecting with a customer in Messenger gives you a direct communication channel that you can send targeted offers through.
Parametric codes, what’s possible?
Facebook recently started to allow developers to pass different ref parameters to the same bot. See the FB docs. How can they be used?
Marketing Campaigns:
This means you could track the effectiveness of offline campaigns by tracking which codes are scanned the most.
You can watch users scanning parametric codes in the Postback and referral webhook events.
Multi-functionality Bots:
Multiple functionalities can be triggered within the same bot by using a unique parametric code.
For instance:
Museum
A museum could create multiple parametric codes, one for each artifact or exhibit. When scanned the Bot could trigger the part of the conversation that is relevant to the exhibit.
Sending the relevant audio file, images or text.
Restaurant
A restaurant could have a code for specific to each table so that waiters would know which table to deliver food to. They could also have codes for the Menu, Wifi or payment.
Sports Store
A sports store could trigger a conversation and video sequence whilst a customer is looking at a pair of trainers.
This way even if they don’t buy this time they can convince them to purchase in future.
Parametric codes have the potential to save the user time, and get them to value faster.
Try creating your own.
