Marketing is changing and the way people want to communicate with business is changing. 

Whilst email is still the number one form of communication that businesses turn to, messaging platforms are fast catching up.  Facebook has over 1 billion monthly active users on Messenger.  With people happily communicating with friends and family on Messenger, they know it makes sense and, indeed, are happy to start communicating with businesses too.

With the recent announcement from Mark Zuckerbeg about merging Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messaging and Whatsapp, Messenger Marketing becomes an even more attractive proposition in the future.

A modern way to communicate

A survey by FactWorks found that more than one in two people surveyed across 15 markets consider business messaging the “modern way to communicate.”  Businesses are no longer faceless entities with formal channels of communication.  People want to communicate by Messenger, with informal messaging and quick immediate, responses.

In a Nielsen study results showed…

  • 63% of users said their messaging with businesses has increased over the last two years
  • 61% like getting personalized messages from businesses
  • 67% expect to message businesses even more over the next two years
  • 64% of people would prefer to message vs talk on the phone or email a business!

So what exactly is Facebook Messenger Marketing?

Messenger marketing is marketing to your audience using an application that performs an automated task on Facebook Messenger.

 There are several companies who provide the bot platform, including Mobile Monkey, ChatFuel and the one I use which is Many Chat.  Don’t be put off by the word ‘automated’ or chatbot though.  You are in complete control over your copy and can reflect your voice and style within that copy.  There is a very human element to messenger marketing and indeed many businesses are using it purely for customer service.

So let’s look at 5 ways why you should consider using a Messenger marketing chatbot for your business

1.  Chatbots are conversations starters

When you send out an email, it’s out of your hands.  Yes, you can look at statistics like open rate and click through rate, but even if they are opening the email, do you know if they are reading it?  Even if they are reading it, then what?   You’ll no doubt have a call to action but it’s a one-dimensional activity.

A message sent via a chatbot on Messenger allows engagement far more than email ever can.  Remember the old ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books?  An experience on Messenger is rather like that.  You can give your audience choices such as whether they want to read a blog or not, or find out about Service A or Service B.  A consumer can choose what they want to know, what info they want to read if anything, what activity they want to do. All this can be done in a conversational manner.

People want and enjoy personalised communication that helps steer them quickly along their own customer journey.

2.  Open rates are far higher than with email

On average across all industries, email open rate is around 20-25%.  With Messenger marketing those open rates rocket to around 90%!

People are primed to open direct messages and once they understand how engaging this form of communication is, it’s likely they’ll open every message.

Click-through rates on email are less than 5% but with a chatbot this increases to at least 25%, with some seeing 50+%.

3.  Replies are instant 

Replies from both the chatbot and from your reader are instant, making it feel like a conversation.  It’s this conversational manner of the messaging that sets Messenger marketing apart from email marketing. 

4.  Segment and tag your subscribers very easily

To make the most of your marketing, it helps to tag your subscribers so you can personalise their experience further.  Sending your subscribers content that is highly relevant will increase their engagement and trust. Whilst you can do this in many email marketing platforms,  it’s often not very intuitive to set up.  Tagging on Messenger, however, is incredibly easy and can provide you with a great deal of information about your subscriber’s preferences.

5.  Bitesize pieces of information are easily digestible 

Have you ever received an email and, assuming you actually opened it, then simply scanned down it to see if anything is worth reading?  Perhaps you only got as far as the first piece of news, such as a blog link on which you clicked, but then didn’t go back to the email to read the rest of it.  With Messenger marketing you can send bitesize pieces of information that allow the reader time to consume it, before giving them the option to read or learn more.

 

To see what Messenger marketing looks like, click here for a demo.

If you’d like to know how Messenger marketing could fit in to your business, schedule a call with me