Close More Sales with Facebook Messenger Bots

Apr 23

Business automation seems to be a new buzzword these days and automation technology is certainly booming. While you should never take the personal touch out of your business 100%, automating most of your business administration tasks will give you extra free time for your friends and family.

First of all, let’s dive in to what exactly is a bot? You probably have heard the term “bot” in the past in relation to the Search Engine bots that scour the internet looking for relevant and useful information to place in their search engine results. That’s why the term “content is king” is so true; if you have lots of good content on your site, the bots will decide to list your site in their results, thus providing you some organic search engine traffic and potential new customers.

Are these bots people? Not at all. Some bots are automated computer scripts programmed to complete certain tasks at a designated time or after another particular task is completed. More complex bots are actually a form of Artificial Intelligence which can identify keyword usage and memorizes the answers to thousands of questions. Of course, there are people programming the bots to do certain tasks but bots work much more quickly than humans can. Just think of all the websites on the web. It is physically impossible to have human eyes on all of them, searching for content. Bots work 24/7, don’t take breaks, don’t need vacations…you get the idea.

Facebook Messenger bots (also called chatbots) are a relatively new form of technology that takes the basic autoresponder idea and puts it on steroids. With traditional email marketing, you send an email to your list and wait (or hope!) for them to open it to find out about your deals. Even if you write the most creative, interest-grabbing subject lines, many times your emails are competing with hundreds of other marketers and shopping ads, or they’re going straight to the spam folder.

SIDENOTE: This isn’t to say give up on email marketing! Over the last 10 years email open rates have averaged around 22-25% so it’s still a worthwhile business practice but here’s how email is different from Facebook Messenger bots.

With a messenger bot, marketers can get their message to their clients’ or prospects’ eyes immediately since the notification pops up on their phones or computers. Email is a bit more passive since you need to wait for your client to open up their inbox to view the message. Of course, you still need to be creative to grab that person’s attention and your offer should be relevant to their needs, but the key is instantaneous delivery and views.

These Facebook Messenger bots are also competing with mobile apps. While mobile apps are menu-based, chatbots are more conversation-based, giving a more personal touch in developing that relationship with your prospect. Keep in mind, too, that sales is not the only thing a messenger bot is good for. Since we’re talking about building relationships and giving your customers a positive experience, your bot can also answer questions, provide entertainment, or direct clients back to your website for more information. Consider it a type of business concierge who takes your customer by the hand and guides them through whatever process they need help with.

Why are Facebook Messenger bots worth investigating? Two main reasons come to mind: automating some of your communications is freeing; and Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion monthly active users worldwide. When used correctly and with a strong marketing plan, chatbots can be used to create strong relationships with your clients and attract new prospects to your business.

Still need more convincing? Facebook IQ conducted a study in 2016 with 12,500 responders about the use of mobile messaging and its trends. Here are some interesting statistics from that study:

· Sixty-three percent said that their messaging with businesses has increased over the past two years

· Fifty-six percent would rather message than call a business for customer service

· Sixty-one percent likes personalized messages from businesses

· More than 50 percent are more likely to shop with a business they can message

Overall, people are thrilled with the idea of mobile messaging businesses and feel it makes for a stronger relationship with businesses that have this capability!

Step One: Review Your Incoming Messages

Strategic planning will yield the best ROI when it comes to using your Facebook messenger bot and the first step in this planning is to analyze who is contacting you and why. Once you know this, you’ll be able to offer the best response via messenger bot. You’ll want to aim for messages with a good mix of helpful plus intriguing.

Take a look at your emails and your current Facebook messages. Other than the spammy guys looking for dates that pop up in your “Other” folder, who are your messages from? Are they current clients or prospects? Are they networking acquaintances? Have you met them in real life or are they online friends?

Now analyze: why they are contacting you. Do they have questions that belong on a FAQ page? Are these messages invites to events? Are they potential JV partners who want to talk about a project? No matter the reason, many of these message responses can be automated with chatbots so your customer service team can be freed up to manage more serious customer problems.

Also analyze your email and your help desk (if you have one) and ask these same questions. People are accustomed to a lightning-fast response these days and are turning to chatbots to fill that need. Again, don’t forego the email or help desk because those are great alternatives for many people. The idea with using chatbots is to make the customer experience as easy and as pleasant as possible, even for those people who want or need the extra speedy responses afforded by chatbots.

An easy and pleasant customer experience can also lead to more sales and possibly a shout out on social media. Here are some real life examples of how chatbots are being used by big companies:

1. Answer basic customer service questions. Even if you have your return policy, questions about your group coaching program, or other questions written on your website and sent in customer emails, people sometimes miss this info, don’t know where to find the info, or just want a reassurance before they make a purchase. A chatbot can answer these simple questions for you or can direct customers to the FAQ page on your site. Chatbots can also provide order tracking information in a timely fashion. Which would you prefer as a customer: calling an impersonal number and getting stuck in a voice mail prison waiting for a real person or tracking your order with the help of a chatbot?

2. Provide immediate value with personalized content. Whole Foods uses their Facebook messenger bot to nurture relationships by helping customers find new recipes. Once you hit the Get Started button, the Whole Foods bot welcomes you and immediately starts leading you to the information you’re seeking. The bot answers immediately – even during the middle of the night – and will ask you questions about what type of dish you want to cook. Think of how helpful this is for commuters stuck on a train, realizing they have nothing ready for dinner when they get home. They can plan their dinner on the train and then stop by Whole Foods for a quick shopping trip on their way home. Not only does the chatbot bring traffic to the Whole Foods website by sharing recipes but it helps to close the sale when its users decide to stop in to buy groceries for that recipe.

3. Sell products. The 1-800-FLOWERS chatbot is built primarily to sell products. This process is streamlined through the bot and is easier to browse, order, and enter billing information than even going straight to their website. The Domino’s Pizza chatbot also allows you to place your food order with ease.

4. Provide entertainment. Some companies prefer to build relationships by entertaining their audiences, like Trivia Blast does with their chatbot. You can choose which trivia games to play and challenge friends. If entertaining your audience fits with your brand, be sure all your content is mobile-friendly and dynamic (aka photos, videos, etc. which will catch your eye.)

5. Offer specialized services. While phone apps are still a popular way to reach your customers and offer services, now the Facebook Messenger bots can perform these same services directly from the messenger platform. Take a look at RemitRadar’s bot which offers money transfer services. Users don’t need to download a new app; they don’t need to remember their website login information; within minutes they can complete a money transfer safely and securely.

As you can see, you can get creative when programming these bots and you can customize them to compliment your brand, services, and signature products.

Step Two: Determine Your Ultimate Goal

In a perfect world, what do you want those who contact you to do? Will they book a discovery call, purchase a program, join your mailing list, or something else? With your end goal in mind, it will be easier to map out your sales funnel.

Remember, you can have multiple end goals or you can start with one goal and change it along the way. When or if you make a change, you will likely have to rewrite some of your automated messages but don’t let this end goal question stop you from using a messenger bot.

Let’s start with some basic funnels and explore the options for your coaching practice.

Funnel Idea #1: Answer basic customer service questions. If someone contacts you asking about your pricing, you can answer the question right in the bot’s message. (You want this experience to be as easy as possible and prospects may not like clicking back to your website in this instance). You can include your one-on-one pricing as well as your group coaching programs (if you have these available) in the bot’s answer.

End Goals: One result can be a new coaching client who pays for one-on-one or group coaching. A second result can be booking a discovery call for those who are unsure about which program is best. For those confident new clients who purchase through the chatbot, include a discovery call to be sure you’ll work well together and to map out what goals they want to achieve through this coaching. A third result, especially if your calendar is full at this time, would be directing the prospect to sign up for your email list to get notified when openings become available.

Funnel Idea #2: Provide immediate value with personalized content. A fun idea is to provide quizzes to your prospects. The subjects and titles can be easily customized based on your specialty and your brand or you can do something as simple as, “Do I Really Need a Coach?” Your bot can ask questions in a very easy-to-understand survey and then based on those answers, the bot can provide the prospect with a personal result.

Health coaches can customize their bots to offer customized BMI results, tips for how to balance one’s diet, as well as specialized recipes based on the user’s end goal. This is valuable information but also gives a glimpse into the health coach’s style.

End Goals: Direct new prospects to your one-on-one coaching or your group coaching programs. Which direction they choose will be based on the answers they give the bot. If they’re brand new or balk at the one-on-one pricing, direct them to a group coaching option. If they still say group coaching doesn’t fit their budget, direct them to your eBook. If some prospects have multiple years’ experience with coaching, direct them to your one-on-one coaching, mastermind group, or exclusive VIP event status. Obviously you don’t ever want to lose a connection with prospects by saying, “Nope, you don’t need my help,” but there are other ways to direct them to your business.

Funnel Idea #3: Sell products. Some people need help choosing the best resource to solve their problem and if you have multiple books, reports, or products, they may have questions about each one. In this scenario, you can program the chatbot to answer questions about each of your products as well as take orders.

End Goals: With this kind of programming, the ultimate end result is a sale. Once the order is placed, the download link can be delivered through the bot or, in the case of a physical product, your customer can track the package’s delivery. For those who are still unsure, you can direct them to pages on your website that has pertinent information to their problem or direct them to sign up for your email list. You can also program the bot to check in with this prospect in a few days or a week and ask more questions in an effort to close the sale. At this point, they are a warm contact and may just need a little nudge or reassurance before making that purchase.

Funnel Idea #4: Provide entertainment and education. Use your Facebook Messenger bot to alert your followers when you go Live on Facebook. Always provide valuable information or tips and you’ll certainly grow your following. If you create a frequent schedule of live videos, your name recognition will also grow.

End Goals: Every video or piece of content you produce should have a main goal and a call to action. Where do you want your viewers to go next? To your blog? Email sign up? Check out your coaching packages? That choice is up to you and may vary depending on the day’s topic. Mention the call to action in the live video then remind your viewers via chatbot about the call to action offer.

Funnel Idea #5: Offer specialized services. You can get creative with this category. One idea is to create a short-term challenge using your chatbot. Facebook Messenger users have to opt-in to receive your messages – much like email marketing – so you’ll know that only those who are interested in your challenges are receiving your targeted messages. This challenge can give users an idea of what longer challenges will be like, what your coaching style is like, and you can learn more about each individual challenger by asking questions.

End Goals: Again, the ultimate goal is to gain coaching clients or to sell your products. Prepare your sales funnel to have higher-end products or packages so those past customers who have graduated from your coaching program will still have offers to choose from; otherwise you run the risk of losing that past client as a future customer.

These are just a few basic ideas of how to create funnels with your chatbot. Start off small and easy to test out the features and then continue to add more options, especially as you continue to grow and create new products and packages to sell. Your only limitation is your own creativity.

Step Three: Determine Your Messenger Flow

What’s the best use of messenger bots for your audience? For coaches with a single program, a simple response might work well. If you have multiple programs, though, consider a more complex funnel to ask for more information from your client.

Once users agree to receive messages from you, you can send simple reminders or more proactive sales messages. The order in which these occur depends upon your main goals that you determined in Step Two. Also, how well do you know your audience? Do they want to hear from you every day or would twice a week be better? Again, it depends on your main objective but other times you discover these answers through trial and error.

Bots are triggered when users search for and activate your bot. Users can search via Facebook Messenger for bots or you can use a call to action in your Facebook ad to activate your personal bot. Usually a simple, “Can I deliver this message to you via Facebook Messenger?” is enough to warrant a click.

After the user opts in – or grants permission – to receive messages from the chatbot, you can send as many messages as you like. (Do you see the similarity to email opt ins?) First, a welcome message is most common and polite. If a user simply searches for your bot, welcome them and ask how you can help. Maybe they’re just experimenting and figuring out what a bot is or maybe they have a real question. The next step in the conversation depends solely on how the user responds.

If the user has clicked on a link in your ad for a free download, then your welcome message should include that download link. Or if you’re sharing a video, send a link to your YouTube channel or wherever the video is hosted. People love instant gratification and will expect it from a messenger bot. After the download is complete, or after the user visits your YouTube channel, the bot can then follow up with tips about the freebie or with directions of what they can do after they read or watch it. In a few days, you can follow up – again, similar to an email sequence – and ask if they have any questions about the freebie. Once again, the conversation will depend on the user answering questions.

One best practice for using chatbots is to always include an easy-to-find customer service phone number. Yes, the chatbot is supposed to lessen the need to call a number however, if your prospect isn’t getting the information they need to make an informed decision, they will likely disappear and never buy from you in the future. You can always design your bot template to include the phone number or offer the phone number as part of the conversation. Not every one of your prospects will be tech savvy and some people just prefer to speak to a real person instead of a machine.

In some ways it will seem like you’re playing mind reader, trying to predict what people will ask for and creating a relevant response. Keep in mind that you can customize your bots and refine the conversation(s) based on the responses you receive. Tracking your response rates and knowing other analytics will help you craft pertinent responses that your customers will appreciate.

Step Four: Choose Your Platform

As with any good tool, you have lots of vendors to choose from. The good news is that nearly all of them offer both paid and free levels, so go ahead and test a few out! However, it’s important to do your due diligence, ask a lot of questions about each platform, and test each one yourself; otherwise your customers may be turned off by this technology and you’ll end up wasting money.

Some well-known platforms include Botsify, Conversable, It’s Alive, Chatfuel, and OnSequel and they all boast big name clients. Here are a few features they all offer which will be important to you for creating your own chatbot:

1. Drag and drop interface. No need for knowing serious coding to create a chatbot. Even though this AI technology sounds like something from a sci-fi movie, these platforms have simplified the process, making the latest technology available to more companies, including yours. Each interface will be different and each one will have different levels of intuitiveness so test each one for ease of use before committing.

2. Share new content from an RSS feed, social media, or your website. Program your bot to publicize your new content from these other sources. Especially helpful for those who don’t use social media or who miss your posts.

3. Get feedback with polls and quizzes. What better way to know how to serve your audience than to actually ask them! Response rates are better using bots because the notifications show up immediately, especially if you grab their attention with creative writing.

4. Easy integration with your other social media platforms and services. Yes, we’re talking specifically about Facebook here but your bot can work with many other platforms. Get the most coverage for your money so make note of these integrations and which ones will be most beneficial to you.

5. Support services. As with any new service or technology, you will feel more comfortable with your investment if you know you can ask questions. Research if support services are free or paid and if there are any limits. All of the above mentioned companies can also create your bot for you, however, that will be a more costly investment.

What Chatbot Users Want

Something else to keep in mind while doing research: what features do your customers want in a chatbot? Choosing a platform based solely on pricing and ease of use for YOU doesn’t mean it will have the features that will make your users’ lives easier. Since this technology is so new, many in your audience may not have any idea what features would be important to them but here are some features your clients will appreciate:

1. Situational awareness. Don’t expect your users to input paragraphs of data to get their answers. Chatbots should perform their function with a minimum amount of data input and perform it quickly; otherwise it’s no better than using a website or phone app.

2. Make your bot sound human. Nobody wants to feel like they’re talking to a robot and you’ll forge better relationships with your audience if you add a more human touch to your chatbot. This is not to say you want to trick your users into thinking a real human is on the other end but a human conversation is intimate and will coax users to use the chatbot longer or on multiple occasions. Write your text with your brand personality and as if you’re talking to you best friend. Program your bot to answer the users after a few seconds pause, similar to the pause you see when responding with another human who is typing their response. You can also make it sound human by giving it a persona and using vocabulary that matches that persona. This is a fun way to add a little humor to the bot and to entertain your users. Just be sure the bot personality compliments your company’s branding.

3. Predict what your customers want. Mind reading is a tough gig but your bot should always drive the conversation forward by offering natural suggestions. For example, when ordering flowers, instead of simply asking, “What type of flowers would you like,” your bot should suggest, “Would you like roses or lilies?” Your bot can also then ask, “Would you like to add a card to that order?” Chatbots should be helpful, predictive, and should move the conversation forward toward a sale.

4. Short and simple interactions. Since most people use chatbots from their mobile phones, which have limited screen space, keeping the questions and responses short is preferable to end users. This is not the time for frilly, descriptive verbiage; keep it short, simple, and to the point for best results.

As you can see, there are many factors to look for when choosing a chatbot platform but don’t let these lists overwhelm you from doing your research. Keep refining your chatbot goals, map out your strategy, and decide your budget; then choosing the right platform won’t be so difficult.

Step Five: Craft Your Welcome Message

First impressions count. You want your welcome message to be both inviting and also to inspire action. You’ll enjoy a nearly 100% open rate on this message, so make the most of it!

Chatbot messages should nurture your users and guide them toward the larger goal you chose in Step Two, and your welcome message is the first step in that nurturing process. This first message should put your users’ mind to ease with the follow up questions you ask and with the tone of the writing, especially for those who are new to this messenger technology.

Write your welcome message with a human voice, as if you’re speaking to your best friend. We touched on this in Step Four, about making your bot seem human, and that includes writing in conversational tones instead of following those formal writing rules we learned so long ago in school. Your bot’s human voice should complement your branding message so be aware of using slang terms or curse words unless that’s already part of your brand image.

Warmly introduce your company through your welcome message while also revealing your company’s personality. Build a level of trust by answering questions about your company truthfully and by providing helpful information that is relevant to your users. The welcome message shouldn’t be long but it should catch people’s attention. And remember to include the download link, if that’s something you promised!

If you want to foster some good will with your chatbot users, offer a special deal, just for them, in your welcome message. Include a coupon code or send them to a special link to redeem the offer.

Welcome messages should arrive to the user instantaneously, which is very easy to schedule in your platform’s dashboard. This user has shown interest in using your bot to ask a question so don’t keep them waiting; lengthy response times will dampen their interest and they will likely close the window and go elsewhere.

Don’t be afraid to use strong calls to action and reminder messages. Again, this is part of guiding your audience toward the end result, which is to purchase something. Sometimes people need that nudge or need help deciding what to do next. If they don’t receive that help or the process seems complicated, they will forget about your offers, or will decide to do it later, and then you run the risk of them never coming back later.

Lastly, get creative with images or videos. Text messages alone are the definition of boring so introduce your branding with images or showcase your own personality with some videos. This content can be a part of your welcome message or it can be in response to user questions. Be creative!

This is an extensive list of things to remember for your welcome message but this doesn’t mean it has to be super long. You can hire a designer to create a visual template for your welcome message that gets all this info across in a simple format. Or you can spread out this info over a series of other messages or share the info as responses to user questions.

Step Six: Craft Your Follow-Up Messages

Even if you’ll only automate the first message, it’s helpful to write your follow-ups ahead of time. That way you can simply copy/paste your responses, or—even better—your assistant can take over the conversation.

Once you get your welcome message to your liking, the follow up messages should be a little easier since some of the welcome message characteristics will continue throughout every message. Things like:

· Writing in everyday, human language instead of sounding like an uncaring robot

· Forgoing jargon, curses, or slang in exchange for simple, clear, and friendly language

· Using simple “yes” and “no” questions instead of open-ended questions

· Avoiding the use of negative sentences or questions to make the experience more pleasant

Those who are visual learners will appreciate creating a flowchart or a map of how your message funnel will flow, which will depend on what your final goal is for your bot. Experienced bot users all say that having a marketing strategy in place for the chatbot is important to its success and ROI. Creating a bot just because other coaches or businesses have one isn’t a reason to invest in one. Design the bot around the specific needs of your end user and craft your follow up messages according to that strategy and sales funnels.

When creating your message funnel, consider the customer’s journey along with your end goal and sales funnel. Do you need to create a different bot for the different buying stages or can you create one bot to guide from lead generation to repeat buyers? Do you need a separate bot for customer service? You can create multiple bots, each with uniquely different purposes so ask that question when researching chatbot platforms in Step Four.

Don’t skip through the brainstorming process for these follow up messages. Without proper planning, you might repeat yourself or you might miss out on answering a common question that your prospects ask. Either write great scripts yourself or hire a copywriter with chatbot experience to create them. These scripts should include all the possible questions a customer might ask and how they might ask them. Then write out a variety of answers and test how they work.

One last piece of advice: don’t be afraid to track and change your bots according to how your users react. New technology is meant to advance and nothing is set in stone, which should include how your chatbot interacts with your users. Is your bot guiding your prospects all the way to a sale or are prospects disappearing before making a purchase? Investigate tidbits like this and make a plan to rectify the problem for improved chatbot success.