Using Chatbots in Your Marketing Strategy
Facebook has become one of the most important platforms for brands not just to advertise their products to billions of users, but also to interact with those customers in a meaningful way to increase sales. Facebook Messenger marketing can be a versatile tool for advertisers, as it offers personalized interaction with interested customers at all stages of the funnel. Chatbots – programs designed to mimic human interaction on messaging platforms – allow marketers to automate the process.
Follow these steps to build out effective, conversion-boosting chatbot campaigns.
1 – Determine Where It Fits in Your Marketing Funnel
Marketers can use Facebook Messenger chatbots at all stages of the marketing funnel, from sharing informative content in a welcome series, to answering customer FAQs, to pushing a potential sale across the goal-line when triggered by an abandoned cart.
While each of these strategies requires a very different approach, they can all complement each other in the overall mission to increase sales. Map out your customer’s journey from awareness to purchase to determine where Facebook Messenger can be effective in moving them toward checkout.
Keep in mind that chatbots are just one piece of your overall marketing mix, so make sure your Messenger strategies complement, rather than compete with, other channels – hitting your customers with similar content from too many angles can be overwhelming.
2 – Choose Your Platform
In order to automate your Facebook Messenger campaigns, you’ll need to sign up for a chatbot platform. Choose the platform that best fits your needs and budget. Key things to look for when choosing your chatbot platform are features (like analytics or templates), cost, and whether or not it offers integrations with other platforms you use for marketing.
(We happen to prefer Octane)
3 – Segment Your Customers
Break out your different customer demographics into segments. The more personalized your messages, the more effective they will be in forming deeper connections with customers – you’ll want to tailor different content, offers, etc., to the various segments in order to make it feel specially designed for the person receiving it.
4 – Build Your Conversations
Content and tone will vary based on which part of the funnel you’re targeting with Facebook Messenger marketing. In a welcome series, you’ll want to be less aggressive, providing high-level information like product descriptions or the inspiration behind a new collection. Bottom-funnel strategies, like abandoned cart messages, should focus on recapturing potential customers that were close to purchase with aggressive tactics like discount codes, free shipping offers, etc.
an automated Facebook Messenger conversation
You may be building content from scratch, but try to draw insights and repurpose content from other successful marketing channels wherever possible. As mentioned, personalize your messaging to each of your specific user segments. Include links to relevant website content, product pages, etc., with clear calls to action (CTAs) at the forefront of all messages. Keep chatbot messaging consistent with the rest of your marketing channels – if your brand voice is light and humorous, don’t suddenly get serious in your chatbot messaging, even if you’re trying to push that sale across the line.
5 – Set up Tracking
Most chatbot platforms include features to track the performance of your messages and how users interact with them. Before implementing your chatbot campaigns, lock down your tracking methods to monitor how users are engaging with your messages. This data will prove useful in optimizing your strategies on an ongoing basis. Which leads us to…
6 – Optimize & Adjust
Your chatbot conversations may be automated, but managing your campaigns requires constant attention. Keep an eye on analytics and user behavior. The longer your Facebook Messenger marketing campaigns are active, the more insights you’ll gain from how customers interact with your messages. Are they reading and responding? Are they clicking through to desired pages? Are they completing purchases from abandoned carts?
Important statistics like open rate, click-through-rate (CTR) and conversion rate will show you where to adjust your campaigns for the most efficient performance. Additionally, keeping track of other behavior can help reduce your bounce rate – for instance, pay attention to what questions customers are asking in order to address FAQs in your welcome series, anticipating and resolving confusion before it happens.
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Get the idea, but don’t have the time to build and manage chatbot campaigns on your own? Hit us up. We’re here to help.