Welcome to the Rob Clegg Medium blog. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, there is a lot of hype surrounding chatbots in the marketing space. Since businesses are always looking for ways to cut costs and improve customer engagement, and chatbots have become the newest shiny object on the block that have filled the hole as an alternative way to engage conversationally with customers. More importantly, chatbots are available to companies of all sizes, so it allows the small guys to compete with the larger, more established brands.
Facebook Messenger chatbots give you also the possibility to automate the most used questions and answer your customers might have. Think of questions like “what is your return policy”, or “in which colours is this item available”. By automating these types of questions, you’re freeing up your customer service for more serious issues.
The biggest reasons, however, why you should be using chatbots is the The insane open rates of 80–90%, because every time you send a message, your audience’s phones buzz and they check it instantly.
Chatbots have also been proven to increase traffic flow, build email lists, provide a more personalized customer experience, and nurture leads. These are all things that every business wants. They also allow you to get creative with offers and promotions, and they’re available 24/7, unlike traditional customer service for many businesses, so you never miss out on an opportunity to engage with your audience no matter what time it is.
Okay, so you’ve decided to create a bot for your organisation. Now what? Before you start thinking about implementing any part of automation, it is always best to think things throw a bit.
What is the experience you want to create for your customers? What are your social media goals? Do you want to create a utility bot? Or maybe a bot purely for entertainment? If you understand what it is that your customers are interacting with the bot need to get out of it, will make it a lot easier to create the best experience for them.
To get an answer to these questions, look at the way your customers are currently interacting with your organisation outside of Messenger. A good place to start is you asking questions with your support staff, figure out what are the most common (types of) questions and then design interactions around that in Messenger.
A good business practice is to always stay on top of mind of your customers. If you develop a chatbot for your organisation, don’t rely only on that to ensure the happiness of your customers. Make sure to monitor the interactions, and take over the chat from time to time to keep it surprised and engaging for the people talking to your company.
Are you already using chatbots in your organisation? What are your favourite bots you interacted with up to today and why? Leave a comment below.
Rob Clegg is a business specialist. Learn more about Robert Clegg online on his IMBD page here. Visit the Rob Clegg website here. Follow the Robert Clegg Twitter for more tips on how to about digital transformation strategy.
