If you’re one of those who spend a considerable part of your day online, chances are you must have come across chatbots. They’re the next big thing in the digital world – all set to revolutionize the way customers interact with businesses online. No wonder that 80% of businesses already use them or plan on using them by 2020.
So, what exactly are chatbots? They’re basically automated programs designed to converse with people using textual or auditory methods. You can find them on apps, web pages, and social media helping you with the answers to some of your questions or even providing customer support.
A chatbot that specifically resides on Facebook Messenger is known as a Facebook Messenger chatbot. Considering that a whopping 1.3 billion people use Facebook Messenger every month, the Facebook Messenger chatbot represents a huge opportunity for businesses. In fact, there are more than 300,000 active Facebook Messenger bots and every month almost 8 billion messages are exchanged through them.
As beneficial as they are, there are certain basic principles of setting up a Facebook Messenger chatbot that you shouldn’t ignore. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the do’s and don’ts of setting them up. But first, let’s take a look at how exactly they can help you.
Benefits of Facebook Messenger Chatbots
There are quite a few benefits of using Facebook Messenger chatbots for your business. The fact that Facebook Messenger is used by more than a billion people every month is a clear indication of the immense reach this platform offers.
Also, Facebook Messenger is the third-most popular app (after Facebook and YouTube) and is used by 68% of all app users. So, the platform provides you a relatively easy way of reaching your target audience.
It’s also a much less competitive space as compared to advertising on Facebook. Compared to the 6 million active advertisers on Facebook, the number of Messenger bots is only around 300,000.
Using Messenger chatbots, you can help your customers get instantaneous support. You can automate the answers to some of their most common queries and help them save time and effort.
You can also set up chatbots to qualify leads. Just ask them some basic questions and if they qualify as a lead, you can set up a meeting with your sales team.
They’re also an excellent means of re-engaging your customers. Use them to remind them about the shopping cart they’ve abandoned, suggest related products, or notify them about tailor-made offers and discounts.
Do’s of Setting Up Facebook Messenger Chatbots
Let’s now take a look at some of the best practices you should keep in mind when you set up a Facebook Messenger chatbot. These practices can help to make sure that your chatbot is effective and drives the desired results.
1. Focus on a Single Goal
If you try to do too much with your chatbot, things can go a bit haywire. As a result, you’ll end up providing a poor user experience. So, keep things simple and focus on only a single goal that you want to accomplish using your chatbot.
For example, Fandango sells movie tickets, so they use their Facebook Messenger chatbot to help you browse showtimes at nearby theaters. They keep it pretty simple and explain the purpose of the bot clearly when you begin your interaction.
2. Keep Your Interactions Short
Don’t expect users to use your chatbot with rapt attention. They can get easily distracted by the countless other apps on their phone. So, keep your interactions short and reestablish context of the discussion if needed. Here’s how the Fandango bot reestablishes context.
3. Offer Help When the Bot Fails
People might respond to your bot in ways you hadn’t anticipated. This can throw your bot off course and it won’t understand how to respond. In order to provide a decent user experience even when the bot fails, resort to displaying the help menu or quick replies to help the bot get back on track.
4. Use Familiar Language
Always converse in a way that feels familiar and natural to your customers and prospects. Avoid using jargons or a tone that differs greatly from the brand personality you have created. Your customers need to feel that they’re not speaking to someone new but with a brand they’ve engaged with countless times before.
5. Keep it Conversational
Use a tone that’s conversational and friendly. However, make sure to keep it professional too. Use active voice as it’s easier to understand and respond to. You can even use contractions to keep the tone slightly casual and friendly but avoid using slang.
You need to also decide whether you’ll be using “I” or “we” and stick to the one you decide on. Make sure you use correct grammar, spelling, and proper punctuation too. Here’s how the Fandango chatbot keeps the tone conversational and friendly.
Don’ts of Setting Up Facebook Messenger Chatbots
Before you go about setting up your Facebook Messenger bot, keep in mind the things you should steer clear of.
1. Don’t Leave Users Unattended
If you leave any user hanging without a response, you’ll be providing a very poor customer experience and eventually drive them away. So, make sure that your bot responds to each and everything.
2. Don’t Ask Users to Type Too Much
If you ask users to type in every response, not only will you make it inconvenient for them but also for yourself. This can create situations in which your bot does not understand the response they’ve typed in causing the bot to fail. So, always allow your users to select their responses from a predefined list of answers.
3. Don’t Disguise Your Bot
Don’t ever try to disguise your bot as a real person. Your customers will trust you more if you’re authentic and clearly admit that they’re interacting with a bot.
4. Don’t Ask Questions You Don’t Know the Answers to
If you ask an open-ended question, make sure you follow it up with a list of probable answers to choose from. This will help your chatbot understand the interaction better and decide the next steps accordingly.
5. Don’t Have One-Sided Conversations
Make sure that your chatbot alone doesn’t do all the talking. Map out every interaction and create multiple variations of each interaction with different prompts and responses. This will help you prepare your bot appropriately for a variety of responses from users.
Final Thoughts
Facebook Messenger chatbots are great ways to engage with your audience and provide instantaneous support. However, don’t consider them to be a replacement for your customer support team. There will always be scenarios that can’t be handled effectively by a chatbot. So, provide your customers the option to contact your regular support team too.
However, if for some reason you’re not comfortable using a Messenger chatbot, I’d strongly recommend using Agorapulse’s Inbox Assistant to respond to all your Facebook messages effectively.
What are your thoughts on using a Facebook Messenger chatbot? Let us know in the comments below.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Setting Up a Facebook Messenger Chatbot posted first on http://getfblikeblog.blogspot.com
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