How Facebook Messenger Bots are Changing Social Media Promotion
Marketing technology is changing business at a dizzying pace. House cleaning company owners must grapple with blogs, social media, online booking, scheduling apps, Google Local Service ads, Facebook ads and so much more.
Hold onto your hats, folks, because there's yet another cutting-edge technology you need to learn. Messenger bots (also called chatbots) offer a level of automation that may forever change marketing, sales, and customer service for your cleaning business.
The technology is essentially a chat program that appears on a website or in an app, like Facebook Messenger. These bots can answer questions, provide information, and recommend services similar to how (and often as well as) a human would. It's live chat using technology instead of humans.
This post will specifically focus on Facebook Messenger bots, which are a potential game changer for residential cleaning companies.
Why Facebook Messenger?
As previously mentioned in this post on Facebook ads, it's important that businesses meet their customers where they are. That once meant their mailbox, more recently it meant their inbox. Increasingly, however, it means their Facebook messages.
Not only is Facebook the most popular social network worldwide, Facebook Messenger has the most active monthly users (103.5 million) of any mobile messaging app.
Nearly everyone is on Facebook, and most users have at least some experience with Messenger. These same consumers are also quickly becoming familiar with chatbots as more companies begin implementing the technology.
Already nearly 60% of millennials and Gen Xers in the U.S. have interacted with chatbots. Soon, Messenger bots will be commonplace and, likely, an expected feature on all business pages. In 2018, there were 300,000 active Facebook Messenger bots—up threefold in just one year.
Simply put, Facebook Messenger bots are expected to completely transform how businesses conduct customer service, sales and marketing. If you don't take time to learn about them (and soon) you risk being left in the dust by your more tech-savvy competitors.
Bots for Customer Service
Chatbot technology automates tasks that would otherwise require manual labor. This means you can add features you previously couldn't afford, or you can shift your time to more high-value tasks.
Today, most companies use chatbots in a customer-service capacity. By 2020, 25% of customer service and support operations will integrate chatbot technology, according to Gartner. That's up from less than 2% in 2017. Already, 18 percent of adults turn to messaging apps when requesting customer service from an online retailer (and service businesses are likely to follow suit).
Bots create a direct, immediate line of communication between a business and its customer or prospect. When a person contacts a business through its Facebook page with a question, comment, or complaint, a Messenger bot can provide an instant response.
Customers tend to ask the same questions over and over again (even if the answers are plastered all over your website and Facebook page). Even a novice can pre-program a bot to answer a range of simple questions like, “What's your phone number?” “How can I book an appointment?” “What are your prices?” and “Do you clean windows?”
A little automation goes a long way. With a bot fielding these simple, repetitive questions, receptionist or customer service reps are freed up to respond to more important matters.
In the age of Google, people have become accustomed to getting information quickly. They want 24/7 access to businesses, without being placed on hold or having to leave a message. With a bot, your prospects and customers can get real-time answers without making a phone call or even navigating your website.
Plus, a Messenger bot allows them to have conversations with businesses on a platform they already know and use. The easier you make it for consumers to work with you, the more likely they will be to purchase from you.
Messenger Bots for Sales & Marketing
With time, Messenger bots may also change your approach to selling. Ecommerce businesses are have successfully employed Messenger bots for several years, and service-based businesses are following suit.
Anyone who has engaged with your business page is now part of your subscriber list on Facebook. This means you can target them with your Messenger bot. People are more likely to open a Facebook message than an email, so you can also expect higher engagement rates.
Rather than paying for Facebook ads, the Messenger bot can reach out personally and offer relevant content at the right time—like your blog post with tips for Spring cleaning or a discount on services in advance of holiday party season.
As new prospects interact with your bot, it can ask basic questions (i.e., “How many square feet is your home?” or “How often do you need house cleaning services?”). This information can be used to immediately direct high-quality leads to your human sales team. This data-collection process can also help the bot later deliver timely offers that customers actually want to receive.
Bots can also be used to help new clients book services, to remind customers about upcoming contract renewals, to offer customized seasonal cleaning services, or to send coupons for add-on services.
But Aren't Bots Too Impersonal?
One of the biggest concerns businesses have about bots is that they're too cold and impersonal. This is particularly troubling for smaller businesses that have built their reputations on the personal touch.
The truth is, 45 percent of consumers don't care if they are interacting with a human or a chatbot as long as the information is accurate and timely. Even so, it is possible to program a chatbot to interact in a human-like manner.
You can give your Messenger bot a name, and you can write scripts so it stays true to your brand voice. This allows your automated bot to provide real-time answers on your behalf, and do so in a conversational way.
How to Get Started with Messenger Bots
Messenger bots are high-tech, but you don't need to be a computer programmer to create one. You can come up with a basic bot pretty simply using a third-party program that integrates with Facebook Messenger.
Programs like ManyChat, Chatfuel, and Conversable typically offer a free trial or free tier with basic options. They will walk you through the process of creating and activating your Messenger bot.
Start simple. Don't try to do everything right away. There's a learning curve with bots (just like there is with ads or any other marketing effort), so it's best to choose just one goal for your bot, whether that's customer service, lead generation, or promotion. Work on this one aspect until you have it perfected before adding on another goal.
Even after you've built a bot, you'll want to keep learning. This technology is constantly evolving, and your bot will also need to evolve. Plus, over time, you'll be able to see what is working and not working with your specific bot so you can make adjustments to improve its return on investment.
If building and/or managing your own bot is simply too overwhelming or time consuming, you may want to enlist the help of a chatbot professional. Many digital marketers are adding bots to their offerings, but be sure to ask for references and examples of proven successes.
In today's fast-paced world, it's important to quickly learn and implement new technologies in order to meet customer expectations. Chatbots are more than a passing fad. Learning how to use them can help you take your sales and customer service to the next level.
As a cleaning business owner, you have unique marketing challenges. Having been through many of those same challenges, and having helped thousands of cleaning companies since 2005, Jean and her team are ready to run your entire marketing program.
Get back to running your business and let us help you start growing today!
