The Complete Guide to Using Facebook Chatbots for Business

Most manufacturers don’t have the assets to provide 24/7 on-line customer support and gross sales assist on Facebook Messenger, not to mention on their web site. Fortuitously, chatbots don’t want to sleep (or eat lunch). Facebook Messenger bots can reply buyer questions, observe packages, make product suggestions, and even shut a sale any time of the day or night time.

Facebook is the most-used social media platform in the world. If you have already got a shop set up on Facebook, you’ve taken the best step to be part of an ever-growing on-line market. You’d be lacking out on stable gross sales alternatives in the event you don’t think about including a Facebook Messenger chatbot to your group.

Learn the way to use Facebook Messenger bots (a.okay.a. Facebook chatbots) for customer support and social commerce under. Create a streamlined expertise for your buyer and followers, and stand out out of your competitors.

Facebook Messenger bots live within Facebook Messenger, and can converse with some of the 1.3 billion people who use Facebook Messenger every month.

Chatbots are like digital assistants. They are often programmed to perceive questions, present solutions, and execute duties. They’ll present a custom-made on-line buying expertise and even make gross sales.

The advantages of utilizing Facebook Messenger bots for enterprise

Meet clients the place they’re

First, let’s have a look at some fast stats to set the stage for how a lot of your potential viewers is accessible by way of Facebook Messenger:

• Chat and messaging are the most-used sorts of web sites and apps, adopted by social networks.
• The variety of messages despatched to companies on Facebook has doubled in the past year.
• Greater than 375,000 people from over 200 nations have interaction with bots on Messenger every single day.
• Facebook Messenger has the third-most active users of any app, beat out solely by Facebook and Whatsapp
• Greater than 100 billion messages are exchanged on Meta apps every single day.
• Folks spend a mean of 3 hours each month utilizing Facebook Messenger (and 19.6 hours a month utilizing Facebook itself).
• Meta reviews the potential promoting viewers for Facebook Messenger is 987.7 million people
• Most people (69% within the U.S.) who message companies say having the ability to achieve this improves their confidence within the model.

The level is that your viewers is already utilizing Facebook Messenger, they usually anticipate to give you the option to work together together with your model there when visiting your Facebook web page. Chatbots can improve your fee of response, making it simpler for folks to get the data they anticipate in real-time, on a channel they already use.

As a bonus, Facebook Messenger has sponsored advertisements, which might be focused to individuals who have beforehand been in contact together with your Web page. Use these advertisements in tandem together with your chatbot to goal high-intent clients.

Save time for your group and your clients

Clients anticipate 24/7 availability, they usually hate ready on maintain. Additionally they ask lots of the similar questions time and again (and over) once more.

Should you’re spending a variety of time serving to folks observe deliveries, verify your return coverage, or ebook appointments, a little bit automation will go a good distance. Clients can be in a position to entry the data they want, even in the event you’re unavailable.

They’ll save time with on the spot solutions to their questions, and also you’ll save time by letting your Facebook Messenger chatbot reply the simple questions, like on this instance from Canadian retailer Simons.

This frees up extra time for people to handle extra difficult Messenger conversations that transcend the capabilities of a Facebook chatbot.

Automate gross sales

Don’t restrict your Messenger bots for Facebook to customer support requests.

More than 16% p.c of individuals use social media messaging and dwell chat companies for model analysis. And 14.5% say a chat field to communicate with an organization is a driver of their on-line purchases. This all leads to actual enterprise outcomes: 83% of customers say they might store for or purchase merchandise in messaging conversations.

With the best script, a Facebook Messenger chatbot could make gross sales. Conversational commerce permits for personalised suggestions, lead qualification, and upselling.

As your bot greets potential clients, it will possibly establish their wants, ask fundamental questions, present inspiration, and direct high-quality leads to your human gross sales group.

Your Facebook chatbot may comply with up with individuals who abandon the conversational commerce course of, like on this message Joybird’s bot despatched 24 hours after finishing the sofa-style quiz.

The dos and don’ts of utilizing Facebook Messenger bots

DO set expectations clearly

First, be certain that the person is aware of they’re interacting with a bot. Introducing the bot could be a great way to begin. You’ll be able to even give it a reputation, like Decathlon does right here.

Then, make it clear what the bot can and might’t do. Program your Facebook Messenger chatbot to take the lead in guiding the person by way of the expertise by asking questions or utilizing prompts that transfer the interplay ahead.

If the bot wants time to course of a request, use the typing indicator (three dots) to be certain that your buyer is aware of issues are nonetheless taking place, as seen on this instance from Tiffany & Co.

Should you want time to reply or move the dialog alongside to an individual, make that clear, too, and set expectations about when the shopper can anticipate a response, like Bumble’s Facebook bot does right here.

A mini-don’t as a part of this tip: Don’t refer to your Facebook chatbot as “dwell chat” or use different terminology that suggests it’s an actual individual.

DO hold it brief

According to Facebook, most individuals work together with Messenger bots on their cell gadgets. Don’t make them learn huge chunks of textual content on a small display or kind a prolonged reply with their thumbs.

Buttons, fast replies, and menus could make the dialog circulation extra simply than asking the shopper to kind at each stage. Right here, KLM gives eight potential choices to drive the dialog with the bot.

Enable the shopper to kind particulars when wanted, however at all times present default solutions or choices to select from when your Facebook Messenger bot asks a query.

DO preserve your model voice

When you need to be clear that your Facebook Messenger chatbot is a bot, you need it to sound like your bot. Use turns of phrase your clients anticipate out of your web site, and preserve the identical normal tone. In case your model is informal and pleasant, your bot needs to be too.

That mentioned, hold it easy. Don’t use slang or jargon that can confuse customers. Strive studying your bot’s prompts out loud to a colleague to be certain that they’re clear.

And at all times use a tone acceptable to the duty at hand. Should you’re asking somebody to present private particulars like a flight quantity or their handle, take a extra skilled tone.

DO let human brokers deal with difficult inquiries

A Facebook chatbot’s success is dependent upon its capability to acknowledge when a human being is required. Automated conversations are speedy and responsive, however they will’t substitute human connection.

Clients ought to have the choice, at any level within the dialog, to join with an individual. Your chatbot ought to give you the option to acknowledge a request for human assist, which builds belief, even when it’s outdoors the anticipated circulation of dialog.

On this instance from La Vie En Rose, the bot understands the requests regardless that it doesn’t circulation logically from the bot’s immediate.

DON’T spam

There’s actually just one main don’t when it comes to Messenger bots, and that is it. Don’t spam.

Don’t assume {that a} buyer who reached out for assist needs to obtain advertising and marketing messages. Customized product suggestions is perhaps useful, however ensure you have permission earlier than sending them.

Supply folks a means to opt-in to ongoing messaging earlier than you contact them. And be certain to provide a transparent means to choose out of future communications. Your bot ought to acknowledge language that looks like a request to choose out and both ask to verify or implement the unsubscriber request.

Facebook places this bluntly of their guidelines for developers: “Don’t change the kind of information you ship with out consent. If folks signed up for a particular alert, honor their preferences.”

6 instruments for constructing efficient Facebook Messenger bots

1. Heyday

Heyday is a conversational ai chatbot that works as a Facebook Messenger bot constructed for buyer assist and gross sales. It mechanically connects to your product catalog to present personalised product suggestions to clients.

Heyday additionally resolves customer support inquiries as a FAQ chatbot in multiple languages and understands when it’s crucial to move the dialog on to a human agent. The Facebook Messenger expertise is great for clients with the assistance of Heyday.

And in case you have a Shopify retailer, Heyday has a Shopify integration too!

Get a free Heyday demo

2. Streamchat

Streamchat is likely one of the most simple Facebook chatbot instruments on the market. It’s meant to be used for easy automations and autoresponders. Slightly than managing an entire dialog, it’s helpful for out-of-office replies or messages that set expectations about while you’ll give you the option to reply.

It’s fast to implement and simple to begin with in the event you’re simply dipping your toes into the chatbot waters.

3. Chatfuel

Chatfuel has an intuitive visible interface complemented by editable front-end and customization choices. When you can construct a Facebook Messenger bot for free, a variety of the extra complicated (and attention-grabbing) instruments are solely accessible with Chatfuel Professional accounts.

4. MobileMonkey

This free device includes a visible chatbot builder for Facebook Messenger designed for non-technical customers. You should use it to construct Q&A classes in a Facebook Messenger chatbot.

There’s additionally a “Chat Blast” function, related to Chatfuel’s “broadcasting” function, that enables you to ship messages to a number of customers without delay. (Bear in mind: Solely do that in case you have permission!)

5. Messenger for Developers

When you’ve got the stable coding information required to code your personal Facebook chatbot, Facebook gives plenty of resources to get you began. And they’re at all times working with their developer group to provide you with new concepts to enhance the person expertise.

6. Facebook Creator Studio

Whereas it’s not strictly talking a Facebook Messenger bot, Facebook Creator Studio does enable you to arrange some fundamental automated responses to frequent requests and occasions in Messenger. For instance, you’ll be able to arrange an away message, present contact data, or arrange an inventory of FAQs and solutions. There’s no synthetic intelligence taking place right here to allow dialog or gross sales, however you may get some autoresponder performance to hold Messenger working at a fundamental stage while you’re away out of your desk.

Have interaction with consumers on their most popular channels, like Facebook, and switch buyer conversations into gross sales with Heyday, Hootsuite’s devoted conversational AI instruments for retailers. Ship 5-star buyer experiences — at scale.

Get a free Heyday demo

Flip customer support conversations into gross sales with Heyday. Enhance response occasions and promote extra merchandise. See it in motion.