The Complete Guide to Facebook Chatbots for Businesses

Most brands don’t have the resources or time to provide 24/7 online customer support and sales support via Facebook Messenger. Chatbots don’t need to eat lunch or sleep. Facebook Messenger bots are able to answer customer questions, track packages and make product recommendations. They can even close sales at any hour of the day or night.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform worldwide. You’ve already set up a shop on Facebook and are ready to join the ever-growing online marketplace. If you don’t add a Facebook Messenger chatbot, you’d be missing solid sales opportunities.

Learn how to use Facebook Messenger Bots (a.k.a. Use Facebook chatbots (a.k.a. Messenger bots) to provide customer service and social commerce. You will be able to create a seamless experience for your customers and followers and stand out from the rest.

What is a Facebook Messenger Bot (a.k.a Facebook chatbot?)?

Chatbots are pieces of automated messaging software that use artificial intelligence to communicate with people.

Facebook Messenger bots can communicate with some of the 1.3 million people who use Facebook Messenger each month.

Chatbots can be thought of as virtual assistants. Chatbots can be programmed with the ability to understand questions, give answers, and perform tasks. They can create a personalized online shopping experience and even make sales.

Benefits of using Facebook Messenger bots to help your business

Meet customers wherever they are

Let’s start by looking at some quick stats that will help you determine how many people are available through Facebook Messenger.

• Chat and messaging are the most popular types of apps and websites, followed closely by social networks.
• In the past year, Facebook has seen a doubled increase in the number of messages that are sent to businesses.
• Messenger is used by more than 375,000 people in over 200 countries every day.
• Facebook Messenger is the third most active app with over 500,000 users, beating out Whatsapp and Facebook.
• Meta apps receive more than 100 billion messages every day.
• Facebook Messenger is used by users for an average of 3 hours per month. Facebook itself is used for 19.6 hours per month.
• Meta reports that the potential audience for Facebook Messenger advertising is 987.7 millions people
• 69% of Americans who message businesses believe that being able do this improves their trust in the brand.

Your audience already uses Facebook Messenger and expects to be able interact with you there. Chatbots can help increase your response rate, making it easier for people get the information they need in real-time on a channel that they already use.

As an added bonus, Facebook Messenger offers sponsored ads that can be targeted at people who have been in touch with your Page. These ads can be used in conjunction with your chatbot to target high intent customers.

You can save time for your customers and your team

Customers expect availability 24 hours a day and hate waiting on hold. Customers also ask the same questions repeatedly (and again)

Automation can make a big difference if you spend a lot of time helping customers track deliveries, review return policies, or book appointments. Even if you are not available, customers will be able access the information they need.

They’ll save their time with instant answers to all their questions. You’ll also save time by letting your Facebook Messenger chatbot answer simple questions like this one from Simons Canada.

This allows humans to spend more time on Messenger conversations that are beyond the capabilities of a Facebook chatbot.

Automate sales

Messenger bots for Facebook should not be limited to customer service inquiries.

More than 16% of people use live chat services and social media messaging to research brands. 14.5% also say that chatting with a company via chat is a driving factor in their online purchases. This leads to real business results. 83% of consumers said they would shop for and buy products through messaging conversations.

A Facebook Messenger chatbot can sell with the right script. Conversational commerce allows you to make personalized recommendations, qualify leads, and upsell.

Your bot can greet potential customers, identify their needs, ask basic question, inspire, and direct high-quality leads towards your human sales team.

Your Facebook chatbot can also follow-up with people who abandon conversational commerce, as Joybird’s bot did in this message Joybird sent 24 hours after she completed the sofa-style quiz.

What you should and shouldn’t do when using Facebook Messenger bots

DO set expectations clearly

First, ensure that the user is aware they are interacting with a bot. It’s a good idea to introduce the bot. You can even give the bot a name, as Decathlon does here.

Next, define what the bot can do and cannot do. Your Facebook Messenger chatbot can be programmed to guide the user through the experience, asking questions and using prompts to move the conversation forward.

To let your customer know that the bot is still processing a request, you can use the typing indicator (three dots), as shown in this example by Tiffany & Co.

If you need to respond or pass the conversation on to someone, let that be known. Also, set expectations about when the customer can expect a reply, as Bumble’s Facebook bot does.

A mini don’t in this tip Don’t refer to your Facebook chatbot under “live chat” or any other terminology that suggests it’s a real person.

Keep it short

According to Facebook Messenger bots are used by most people on mobile devices. Do not force them to read large chunks of text on a tiny screen or type long replies with their thumbs.

The conversation can flow much more smoothly if there are buttons, quick replies, or menus than if the customer has to type every word. KLM offers eight options to help the bot drive the conversation.

Allow customers to enter details, but provide default answers or options when Facebook Messenger asks for them.

Do not lose your brand voice

While it is important to make it clear that your Facebook Messenger chatbot can be used to communicate with users, it should sound like yourbot. Keep the tone consistent by using the phrases your customers expect from you website. Your bot should reflect your brand’s casual and friendly approach.

Keep it simple. Avoid using jargon or slang that could confuse users. To ensure that your bot prompts are clear, you can read them aloud to a colleague.

Use a tone that is appropriate for the task at hand. Use a professional tone if you ask someone for personal information, such as their flight number or address.

DO NOT allow human agents to handle complex inquiries

The success of a Facebook chatbot depends on its ability recognize when a human being needs it. Automated conversations can be quick and responsive but they cannot replace human connection.

Customers should be able to reach out to a person at any stage of the conversation. Your chatbot should be capable of recognizing a request for human assistance, which builds trust even if it isn’t in the normal flow of conversation.

This example is from La Vie En Rose. The bot understands the requests, even though they don’t flow logically from its prompt.

SPAM!

Messenger bots are the only major thing you should not do. Don’t spam.

Don’t assume that customers who reach out for assistance want to receive marketing messages. Personal product recommendations may be useful, but you must have permission to send them.

Before you contact people, give them a way to opt in to your ongoing messages. Make sure you give people a clear option to opt-out of future communications. Your bot should be able to recognize language that looks like a request to unsubscribe and either confirm or implement the request.

Facebook’s guidelines for developers state this clearly: “Don’t change the type or information you send without consent.” Honor the preferences of people who signed up for specific alerts.

6 tools for building effective Facebook Messenger bots

1. Heyday

Heyday is a conversational chatbot from Artificial Intelligence that acts as a Facebook Messenger Bot and is designed for customer support, sales, and customer service. It automatically connects with your product catalog to offer personalized product recommendations to customers.

Heyday can also help customers with customer service queries as a FAQ chatbot. It can speak multiple languages and knows when it’s appropriate to pass the conversation on for a human agent. Heyday makes Facebook Messenger a great experience for customers.

Customer service inquiries can be handled by a FAQ chatbot that speaks multiple languages and knows when it’s appropriate to pass the conversation on for a human agent. Heyday makes Facebook Messenger a great experience for customers.

Get a free Heyday demo

Heyday offers a chatbot specifically for Shopify customers. If you have a small budget, this is the ideal place to start.

Try it for 14 days free

2. Streamchat

Streamchat is one the most basic Facebook chatbot tools. It is intended to be used for simple automations or autoresponders. It’s not meant to manage a whole conversation. Instead, it’s useful to send out-of-office messages or replies that set expectations about when you will be able respond.

It’s easy to use and quick to get started if you’re just starting to explore chatbots.

3. Chatfuel

Chatfuel offers a simple visual interface with customizable front-end and customization options. Chatfuel Pro accounts are required to access many of the more advanced (and fascinating) tools.

4. MobileMonkey

This tool is free and includes a visual chatbot creator for Facebook Messenger. It is intended for non-technical users. It can be used to create Q&A sessions within a Facebook Messenger chatbot.

Chatfuel’s “broadcasting”, similar to Chatfuel’s, allows you to send messages to multiple people at once with the “Chat Blast” option. Remember: This can only be done if you have permission!

5. Messenger for Developers

Facebook offers plenty of resources for those who have the coding skills to create their own Facebook chatbot. They are also open to new ideas and collaborations with their developers community.

6. Facebook Creator Studio

Although it is not a Facebook Messenger bot, Facebook Creator Studio allows you to set up basic automated responses to common Messenger requests and events. You can create an away message, set up contact information, and set up FAQs and answers. Although there is no artificial intelligence available to enable sales or conversation, you can get some autoresponder functionality so that Messenger continues to work at a basic level even when you’re not at your desk.

Shoppers can be reached on their preferred channels like Facebook. Heyday, Hootsuite’s conversational AI tools for retailers, allows them to engage with customers and convert customer conversations into sales. At scale, deliver 5-star customer experiences

Get a free Heyday demo

The complete guide to using Facebook chatbots for business appeared first on Social Media Marketing & Management dashboard.