These Are the 9 Best Ways to Use Facebook Chatbots for Your Business

By Larry Kim

When Facebook allowed the use of bots in Facebook Messenger in 2016, it opened the door to popularizing chatbot marketing. There are now hundreds of thousands of Facebook chatbots being used by businesses to generate leads, close sales, recruit talent, and more.

Chatbots save companies time and money through automation, and help make businesses more efficient in their marketing and customer service. You too can harness this power to transform your business from a lowly donkey with no reach to a majestic unicorn with great capabilities. Here's how to kick-start the process.

Goal #1: Generate and nurture leads

1. Grow your contact list to generate leads

When people respond to messages from your chatbot, they automatically get added to your contact list, becoming a lead. How to do this? Use a Facebook auto-responder to message people who comment on your Facebook posts. Or use Click-to-Messenger ads, which also increase your brand visibility, so that those who hit your call-to-action get sent to your chat.

2. Have personalized messaging

One good thing about chat is that users can see who they’re talking to, so communication is clear. You can improve on chat by sending personalized content to users that's based on their interests. This can be done through your chatbot, which can see what users like by looking at their social media profiles and buying history.

Once you have this "insider knowledge," you can segment your audience, thus allowing for more targeted chat marketing efforts. You can also give patrons of your brand VIP treatment and special offers.

3. Qualify your leads

With a chatbot, you can screen users who may be inquiring about your business by asking questions and engaging them in two-way conversations to determine whether or not they are indeed interested in your products and services. Once you have information on users' needs and preferences, it becomes easier to market to them, and also makes it easier for your customer service team to help them.

Goal #2: Improve customer retention

4. Offer promotions, exclusive invitations, and special offers to loyal customers

Your chatbot can send promotional messages and offers in a timely manner to users who have just bought or who are just about to buy something from you. Rewarding customers when they buy products from you helps instill brand loyalty. Also, if you have a rewards program, a chatbot can track who your most loyal customers are and give them updates on new promotions and special offers.

5. Have a more engaging checkout and offer add-ons and upsells

Going off the previous tip, since a chatbot can be used for direct orders, it can also make recommendations to customers. Upsell similar relevant products and bundles by offering discounts on items that will add value to customer purchases. Also give customers updates to new offers they may like according to their buying history.

6. Get customer feedback

Find out how your customers feel about you by having your chatbot ask them for reviews and feedback. It can be as simple as having customers rate your products and services on a five-star scale, or asking them to answer simple multiple-choice questions. Surveys can be sent out easily through your chatbot, making them a part of your drip campaign or a conclusion to a customer's buying journey.

Goal #3: Automate for better efficiency

7. Automate order updates, event reminders, and appointment scheduling

Event sign-ups, order updates, and reminders are all tasks that can be easily handled by a chatbot. Customers who don’t want the hassle of having to contact customer service can also get answers to questions by simply asking your chatbot what they want. You also can continue conversations with customers by providing them with recommendations or special offers, all through the chatbot.

8. Fix support bottlenecks and be available 24/7 with answers to FAQs

Relying on email and phone for customer support can be sketchy since telephones and emails have to be manned 24 hours a day. However, chat support powered by a chatbot can be reached at any time of the day, even in the wee hours of the night. With a good chatbot, you can fix support bottlenecks with round-the-clock availability and quick response times right in Facebook Messenger.

Most common inquiries can be answered with smart FAQs, thanks to dialogue features on the chatbot that direct users to the help they need. If there are inquiries that need to be elevated to human customer support, live chat takeover allows your team to come in to assist.

9. Repurpose and drip content for increased reach

If you have evergreen content you wish to breathe new life into, you can repurpose it and add it to your drip campaign for more reach. Consider content that will provide additional value, such as guides, explainers, and FAQs about your products and services. Your chatbot can help push that content to your contact list with little to no effort with automated messaging sequences.

Getting started with your chatbot

There are so many things you can do with a Facebook Messenger chatbot—generate and qualify leads, boost traffic and conversions in your website, build relationships with your drip campaign—giving you the flexibility and versatility to grow your business. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just try out one or two ideas at first and see where they take you; then do more later on.

With some work, you can mold a chatbot to suit your brand’s needs and then you'll be on your way to transforming your business from a donkey to a unicorn.

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