Facebook™ marketing now has a powerful ally for any business owner and marketer: Messenger chatbots. It all started with the decision to create a separate app for direct chat within Facebook™ and then with the permission granted to businesses to contact individual users over Messenger.
In a short time, people found out that it is much more convenient to contact a business over Facebook™ Messenger than to send an email and wait for the answer. And this trend caught on—so well that over 73% of customers stated in a survey that they prefer contacting a business over chat rather than email, with 56% of them saying they prefer direct chat even to a phone call.
Where do Chatbots Fit in this Picture?
The rise of direct chat left companies struggling to keep up with the messages they receive day and night. Since it is direct chat, people expect instant replies. But how can it be managed on Sunday afternoon or during the holidays?
Enter chatbots—the tireless customer agents. There are over 100,000 active chatbots on Facebook™ Messenger now, and they all belong to businesses that found them to be the most convenient solution to the issue of timely answers to questions.
At present, Messenger chatbots are quite advanced and capable of carrying on conversations just like real human beings. They are fast learners and can create a quick customer profile after a short conversation with the person. More importantly, they can be programmed to deliver a series of messages, collect data and give product recommendations—just like any competent marketer and sales assistant.
How do Chatbots Work with Facebook™ Ads?
Chatbots are not just round the clock customer service agents—they can be trained to find leads, move them through the sales funnel and help your business get more sales. They can be connected with your Facebook™ ads or can deliver the ads themselves to the audience you selected.
Here are a few practical ways in which these Facebook™ based marketing tools work together:
1. Send Prospects to the Chatbot via the Ad
When you show an ad to cold audiences, you will probably not think about getting them to buy a product. Most likely, you used to send them to a landing page and get them to download a lead magnet, thus giving you their email addresses.
Chatbots make this process simpler and less painful for a prospect who has never heard of your brand. Instead of sending them to a landing page, the Facebook™ click-to-Messenger ad invites them to connect with your Messenger chatbot. Once this happens, the chatbot will deliver the lead magnet and collect all the data you need. Instead of a boring sign-up form, your prospects will enjoy a friendly conversation—and this is one of the reasons why chatbot marketing is so effective at the present.
2. Use our Chatbot to Deliver Lead Ads
Lead ads are designed with a single purpose: to help you get more subscribers with less friction for them. The only objective of such an ad is to get people to sign up to your newsletter. The entire process happens within Facebook™, and once a prospect clicks on the ad, their name and email address are already filled in by the social media platform.
You can opt to display these ads within the regular placements offered by Facebook™ or opt to have your chatbot deliver it as a message. Imagine the impact of a new message notification on a user’s mobile phone, as compared to the chance that they see the ad in their news feed and stop scrolling to tap on it.
3. Transfer Your Email Marketing Efforts to the Chatbot
Once you get a person to click on a Facebook™ ad that delivers a lead magnet, you usually start sending drip messages via email to all the prospects, in the well-known sales funnel strategy. But email is no longer effective—people reserve it for important business matters and prefer direct chat for interactions with brands they buy from.
So, change your strategy: deliver your messages via the Messenger chatbot! Once the prospect opted to subscribe to your chatbot, you can schedule the sequence of drip messages just like you scheduled your emails—only with increased click-through rates.
4. Retarget People who Clicked on Ads with Personalised Messages
Do you note the disparity between people who clicked on an ad and the subscribers you actually got in that campaign? It is obvious that not all of them decided to leave their email address and download the lead magnet—some of them did not like the sign-up form, others got distracted and never completed the CTA.
Instead of sending another round of retargeting ads, you can program your Messenger chatbot to remind them of the incomplete task—by offering to leave their email address during the chat and receive the direct download link for the lead magnet.
5. Get More Qualified Leads with Local Awareness Ads
Local awareness Facebook™ Messenger ads are the best type of ads for businesses that want to drive foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores. Pair this type of ad with your Messenger chatbot, and you will have a perfectly oiled machine for sending special offers and coupons to people in your local community and getting more qualified leads than ever.