Facebook Messenger and Chatbots

Do you want to grow your business through automated and personalized experiences? Are you curious to use new and effective marketing channels to increase the volume of your business, optimize benefits and minimize costs?

Then this article on Chatbots and Facebook Messenger Marketing is ideal for you.

This post offers you a series of answers:

• What is a chatbot?
• What can a chatbot do?
• Who is currently using chatbots?
• What should companies do with chatbots?
• How to effectively use Facebook Messenger as a Marketing Channel?

What is a chatbot?

Un Chatbot is a chat tool programmed that can talk, or rather communicate, without the presence of a human person. Through simple predefined response sequences or automated responses, a chatbot, using machine learning and integration with the company's core business, CMS and marketing automation systems, can streamline and optimize standardized work processes, especially for the customer service team.

The interest in the customizing and automating customer service, lead generation and content marketing are increasing. Nowadays, companies are starting to focus on creating more value through customer service.

Good, proactive customer service isn't just about good marketing. Customer service is a very important strategic piece in your business.

Chatbot Marketing via Facebook Messenger

The focus of this article is focused on Facebook Messenger as a platform for optimizing customer service and the marketing channel. A Chatbot with automated responses can help your business automate interaction and communication, both with new and existing customers, when no one is present.

According to Facebook,”The world is sending messages”. The future is focusing on messaging marketing, especially chatbots.

Who uses chatbots and Facebook Messenger?

Nowadays, everyone does it. Today, more than 2 trillion messages are sent between people and companies through messaging applications. Messages are increasingly personal, and we can see how people prefer to communicate with companies in the same way they do with their family and friends. This trend is increasing.

And it's not just young people who are diligent users of messaging services.

78% of adults and 91% of teenagers use messaging apps every day

In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook) already said: “People spend more time sending messages than being socially active.”

A Nielsen survey shows that 53% prefer to buy from a company they can communicate with directly online, and 56% prefer to write a message rather than call the company.

As we can see, the dialogue between companies and users is increasingly being managed through a chatbot.

How do consumers use messaging apps to communicate with companies?

In general, users prefer messages because they are easier and faster to send than to write an email, call or visit the physical business in person. The data is very interesting:

• 56% of people prefer to send a message instead of calling or writing an email to a company.
• 39% of users are looking for information or answers to questions.
• 33% of users search for opening hours, address and stock status.
• 33% of users make purchases.
• 30% comment on their feedback.
• 30% of users share images of their products.

Messaging Applications in Spain

Data in Spain vary slightly from other countries according to the Ditrendia Report: “Mobile in Spain and in the World 2018"

• 80% of Spanish young people between 18 and 24 years old use instant messaging applications.
• Spaniards spend at least an hour a day answering messages.
• The most used messaging application in Spain is WhatsApp (96%), followed by Facebook Messenger and Telegram.
• A Spaniard spends an average of 64.35 minutes a day chatting on Whatsapp.
• 15% of consumers in 195 countries around the world have initiated conversations with a commercial website using a chat.
• In Spain, 68% of users value chatbots for being a 24-hour service and 55% for their quick response.

At the end of 2018, the growing interest in messaging applications on the part of companies is notable. We have been able to observe, so far this year, how several companies have been introducing a chatbot, specially designed to interact with their customers in a completely personalized way.

The first companies to use a well-implemented chatbot will surely reap greater benefits than those that don't use it.

4 Quick Benefits of Chatbots for Businesses

Chatbots must be well configured and should be used with caution. The user quickly notices if there is a bot or a person on the other side. Bots are not a substitute for in-person customer service, but they can be used to complement the most common dialogues.

Bots gain in availability, speed and intelligent use of data. And in many cases, the unique and personalized dialogue attracts attention when it is launched. Benefits of a chatbot:

• Optimizes customer service.
• Optimizes customer insights and improves the knowledge base.
• It reduces administrative costs.
• Streamlines Digital Marketing activities.

1. Optimizes Customer Service

Customer service has a particularly important focus at Novicell. We believe that customer service deserves a greater strategic focus on the part of most Spanish companies.

A chatbot with automated interaction and communication can manage both new and existing customers when the customer service manager is not present, creating a better user experience which make customers feel happier and more satisfied.

2. Optimizes customer insights and improves the knowledge base

With the right technology and software in the company, a chatbot not only serves to interact with a company's users, but it also collects valuable data and information about customers. This data is of great value to the company because, at the same time, it helps to improve the business with new knowledge.

3. Reduce administrative costs

A chatbot can save companies up to 30% of business costs because it streamlines standardized workflows in the company's customer service.

4. Streamlines Digital Marketing activities

According to Larry Kim, founder of MobileMonkey (one of the world's leading chatbot solutions for Facebook Messenger), “Facebook Messenger is the most dedicated marketing channel.” The MobileMonkey messaging platform has an average open rate of 70-80% and a click rate of 20%. That level is significantly higher than the average open rate of ordinary BTC campaigns that are 15-20% and the click through rates of 2-3%.

Although in Spain, the email marketing campaigns they are still one of the most used techniques by marketing agencies, and from now on they are joined by a dangerous rival, messaging applications and the Facebook Messenger chatbot.

Facebook Messenger for Business (Get Started Easily)

Here are some examples of how you can easily get started with Facebook Messenger (with and without chatbot programming):

Customer service: Integrate Live Chat on your website with Facebook Messenger and optimize customer service.

Customer service: Program a chatbot for Facebook Messenger with simple response sequences.

Publicity: Start conversations with your customers through Facebook Messenger campaigns.

Lead Generation: Build a contact list for Messaging Marketing.

Messenger Marketing: Send campaigns through Facebook Messenger.

Customer Support - Facebook Messenger Live Chat

With the Live Chat Messenger integration, you can start conversations with visitors to your website with Facebook Messenger.

The benefits of integrating Facebook Messenger with Live Chat are several. First, users who visit your website already know the Facebook Messenger platform so they can write messages to you. Conversations on Facebook are private and individual and are stored in Facebook Messenger. In this way, both companies and customers can access conversations already made directly from Facebook Messenger.

The Facebook Messenger format is also optimized for all devices (desktop, mobile and tablet), so there is no need to consider it.

Integrating Live Chat Messenger is easy to integrate into your website. The code to be inserted can be downloaded from your company's Facebook page in the “Settings” menu option → Messenger Platform or through a third-party service, for example, from a Facebook Marketing platform such as MobileMonkey or ManyChat.

In the settings, it is possible to customize Messenger Live Chat with pre-configured automatic messages.

Customer Service - Chatbot Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is an integral part of your company's Facebook page. More than 1 billion people use Facebook Messenger every month, and 56% prefer to write a message rather than call or write an email.

If your company has a Facebook page, you've probably noticed that many customers consider Facebook Messenger as a natural channel to contact your company. And they expect a quick response to their questions.

Take the opportunity to communicate with your customers directly from your Facebook page, regardless of time and place, with automatic messages. Set up automatic notifications that tell your customers how long they should wait for an optimal response. But at the same time, you can provide them with some answers to their most frequently asked questions through programmed answers with direct links to your website.

Sales & Marketing - Messaging Campaign

Start the dialogue with your customers, both new and existing, with Facebook Messenger campaigns.

By choosing messages as campaign objectives when advertising on Facebook, you can start a dialogue with your potential customers. Start a good dialogue instead of sending your potential customer to your website, with the great danger of losing contact as quickly as it has arisen.

Nowadays, many advertisers on Facebook often choose conversations as campaign objectives. Not bad, but the competition is high. The same goes for the price of reaching your target and the campaign conversion objectives.

Therefore, we recommend that you be curious and try new forms of advertising. Facebook Messenger as a destination for your campaign is of great relevance.

Lead Generation

It integrates Facebook Messenger as part of the mix of channels for content distribution and experiences a high level of engagement. Messenger's average open rate is as high as those mentioned above.

With Facebook Messenger you get a new Marketing channel where you can offer content. The positive part is that it's not ignored or blocked by spam filters.

You build your own Facebook Messenger contact list every time someone interacts with your business through the same platform. Use a messaging platform such as ManyChat to manage your Facebook Messenger contact list and message distribution.

ManyChat provides several tools for generating Leads and creating your Facebook Messenger contact list. You can generate a Facebook Messenger code (such as a QR code) that can be scanned with a smartphone (offline) and start conversations via Facebook Messenger (online). You can also set up automatic response messages for people who comment on selectively selected Facebook listings.

Messenger Marketing

As you build a Messenger contact list, you can send campaign messages to your contact list, also known as Broadcast, from the same Facebook Messenger Marketing platform.

You can send promotional messages with offers, news and information about your business. You can send campaign messages to the Facebook Messenger contact list or send more specific messages based on different criteria of your audience, such as gender, age, location, etc.

Facebook Messenger could become a very important marketing channel in the near future. One thing is certain: chatbots in messaging apps are a topic that marketing departments must consider and should take advantage of.

With the increasing popularity of Chatbots and Facebook Messenger, Spanish companies should be prepared to change their approach and include them in marketing budgets for future actions.

How can we help you?

If you need more information, do not hesitate to contact us.