Dmytro Kot

Use cases

Healthcare

<p>Newsletters are one of the most effective ways to deliver value to your clients. While emails still remain a tried and tested formula for sending newsletters, their effectiveness falls behind modern messengers like Snapchat, Messenger or WhatsApp.</p>
<p>A marketing industry giant HubSpot <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/facebook-messenger-marketing-experiments">ran an experiment</a> to compare email and Messenger newsletters effectiveness. While email newsletters still delivered a decent open rate of 30% and a click rate of 2.1% they vastly underperformed Messenger newsletters with 80% and 13% respectively. That’s more than 600% higher engagement compared to email.</p>
<figure><img alt="table.png" src="/cms/static/blog/62861689ca8f1120c4325a58_fd1072cf0963cce3c22ba87206ccbd989dd41687cde155be3e20afa23d1f994eca57cd6012472b4645c54bd48565d348f0f6a21679321d5c42b23b7088f52b8e96cb8e2df40d7fe572247ebef869eff5b32e878a376a2ef278a44f24e61d999d6d852aa8.png" height="417" width="1200" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAABCAIAAAB2XpiaAAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAFUlEQVR4nGP4/++vHQODjpoQw5waACa9BLV0OBkfAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Moreover, Messenger newsletters are new. So new, that most Facebook businesses don’t know they exist. This gives you a chance to truly stand out and be among the first to unlock their untapped potential.</p>
<p>In this guide you’ll learn how Messenger newsletters work, how they are different from email newsletters and how to create your first Messenger newsletter campaign.</p>
<h2>What is a Messenger newsletter</h2>
<p>Messenger newsletter (officially ‘Recurring notifications’) is a brand new feature released in 2022 for Facebook Pages. It lets you create daily, weekly or monthly newsletter campaigns and send them out to subscribers right in Messenger chat. This newsletter can contain: product updates, special offers, news or any kind of promotional messages, unless they don’t violate Facebook guidelines.</p>
<p>Any Facebook Business Page can use Messenger newsletters. But to access this feature, you’ll need to <a href="https://https:://chatfuel.com">sign up for Chatfuel</a>. It’s a no-code tool that lets any business automate day-to-day their routine tasks, like replying to common customer question. In this case you’ll need it to create and send out Messenger newsletters.</p>
<h2>How is Messenger newsletter different from email</h2>
<p>Unlike emails, your whole communication with each customer is in one place — a Messenger chat. So if a subscriber wants to ask a question about what they’ve just read or contact you for help, they’ll just type in a message right there.</p>
<p>A Messenger newsletter offers a more concise, but interactive experience. An email typically has a longer format with title photos, headers, paragraphs and in most cases ends with a CTA (Call-To-Action) button. Due to Facebook guidelines, you are limited to one message per newsletter only, but don’t worry, you can still create eye-catching newsletters with multiple pictures, buttons and more.</p>
<p>Your newsletter is also spared of certain email quirks:</p>
<ul>
<li>it won’t get into spam folder;</li>
<li>it will avoid delivery issues;</li>
<li>it will appear as intended on multiple devices.</li>
</ul>
<p>Let’s look at an example. Lets say 1,000 people already receive a weekly email newsletter from your swimsuit store. They read about new arrivals, special offers and then click your CTA and go to your website. With a Messenger newsletter you can use galleries to make the same experience more interactive. Galleries work similar to Instagram posts, where your visitors can swipe through up to 10 cards. Each card has a picture itself, a description and a button. It makes it so much easier for a person to explore each card and decide which one they want to buy.</p>
<figure><img alt="NTN galleries.gif" src="/cms/static/blog/6286168a5e0b73baf81cf959_32c69911aa63afa49ed4fb1b8bb2875fca268210a82c07cccf4dc24ba2f656fc3a53bbafc034416a3e070e421b410c77124600f91e019e359eae96cefa9ff787765965e03b12d33a3294d6a4a292255a8d88a3d45e6f606077b483bd6c1ce343771a7866.gif" height="942" width="1514" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>A newsletter with latest blog posts to build brand loyalty</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Who can benefit from a Messenger newsletter</h2>
<p>Any business that offers services or sells something via a Facebook Page. Some examples:</p>
<ul>
<li>Creators;</li>
<li>Educators;</li>
<li>Online retailers;</li>
<li>Entertainment;</li>
<li>Health & Beauty;</li>
<li>Restaurants.</li>
</ul>
<h2>How to send a Messenger newsletter</h2>
<p>First, get your letter ready. Creating a Messenger newsletter follows the same steps as a regular email newsletter: figure out a goal, gather content and design a template. Next, you’ll need to subscribe a visitor or a client to your newsletter. You can subscribe anybody who messaged your Facebook Page or left a comment by sending them a special message with a subscription button. After they subscribe, you will be able to create campaigns and send daily, weekly or monthly messages.</p>
<p>There is only one rule you need to keep in mind. You need to subscribe a person to your newsletter within 24 hours after their last message.</p>
<h3>Subscribe your readers</h3>
<p>First, you’ll need to <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com/sign-in">register at Chatfuel</a>, it’s a tool that lets you create newsletter campaigns for Messenger. After you do the initial setup, go ahead and create one or several Flows. A Flow is a conversation logic that is automatically triggered when a user sends a message. It is activated when a user interacts with your page by sending a direct message, leaving a comment under one of your posts, etc. Remember those pop-up chat windows that offer answers to common questions, as if you are talking to an agent? Flows are what’s going on under-the-hood.</p>
<p>Next, you need to add a special subscription message. You can add it anywhere you want, but in general the end of the Flow makes the most sense. After you do, your users will be able to subscribe by clicking a button and you can start crafting your first newsletter.</p>
<figure><img alt="NTN notify button.gif" src="/cms/static/blog/6286168ad3e2e8b016adb12c_7b67baf69ea00ab56e4d11fc6c38b05ddc36c3e52a6b57601b819a803e0e589af127014d151e17311d4635325d44577e14e979a0261e2327c8fec9c18b08aff2321c508510175d2d4532f21f3aabceaed6ecee1e3b11c8ce1a85cbd56c92debe6b8ac935.gif" height="940" width="1336" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>Visitors receive a subscription request</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Send your newsletter</h3>
<p>Creating newsletter campaigns is done in the separate Reengage tab that works the same way as any email automation platform. First you choose details of your campaign: date and time, topic, segments of your audience. Next, you add your content. Try to experiment with adding photos, using galleries, buttons and spicing it up with emojis. After you’re done editing, enable your newsletter campaign.</p>
<h2>Create your own Messenger newsletter</h2>
<p>Messenger newsletters are available to all <a href="https://chatfuel.com">Chatfuel</a> users. Try following this guide and create your own newsletter campaign. You can see how it works on your own Facebook Page. First 50 chats are free which is enough for you to get familiar with Chatfuel, try newsletters and other available features.</p>
<p>Newsletters is just one of many features available for Facebook automation. If you enjoyed reading this guide and want learn more about automation, see how you can <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/attract-customers-facebook-faqs">use FAQ buttons to attract more customers</a>.</p>

Do you want to get 600% higher engagement compared to email? Then, read about the new Facebook feature—a newsletter right in Messenger.

How to create a newsletter in Facebook Messenger

Guest Experts

<p>Every social media manager says you should add interactive posts into your content strategy to increase the engagement rate. Not only to have better statistics but to sell more and become closer to your customers. And marketing analysts prove this: recent research <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43039-021-00035-8">showed</a> that “engaged customers display greater brand loyalty and satisfaction, and are more likely to contribute to new product development, service innovation and viral marketing activity spread by word of mouth.”</p>
<p>But, it’s hard to engage the followers if you don’t think up anything new. So, we collected nine examples of engaging posts for Instagram showing promising results. Use them as your inspiration, adapt them to your brand, shake up your usual posting process and reap the fruits of your ideas.</p>
<h2>Secrets of good engagement</h2>
<p>Before posting interactive content, take a look at the rules applied to all types of engaging posts:</p>
<ul>
<li>Don’t post them too often to keep the followers surprised. Remember that you don’t sell at once with such posts, and you won’t get comments in a few days after posting a piece of interactive content. So save your resources.</li>
<li>Don’t ask customers to do random activities or actions when you run games in socials. Instead, slightly nudge them to mention your product or to share the values of your brand with their followers.</li>
<li>Ask to follow easy steps. The easier the rules, the more comments you’ll receive. For example, asking to tag a friend in comments is better than demanding visitors to go through several steps, like following your page, leaving a like and tagging a friend. But, sometimes, thought-through comments are needed.</li>
</ul>
<p>Explore the best practices below to understand which approach is better for your case.</p>
<h2>9 examples for interactive content on social media</h2>
<h3>Take what you need</h3>
<p>Shopify published a post with options users can take as if they see tear-off ads hanging on a lamppost. They mixed options for business and private life to grasp a bigger audience.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post Shopify" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c942061530b631aa45b_67f041139170cffd2ddeb7b758778d16497a5feefe0dffefdad732e386c222aac209bdbd1558a017ccd673087e11bf6c9c85e5fb0b5db3080b44209590593c339a4315a0ce26a0aecc625f0becd3c99bb2eb46a0cb95792ddfa04b8a0bf8be8f34ad0399.jpeg" height="1267" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJUlEQVR4nGPYOEPn0FJ7BmsGHgsGEQYXbgYbBgaGx9en/f+6EQBvDQkv6IoKNQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Such design takes very little time but gives good engagement.</p>
<p>To adapt the idea to your brand:</p>
<ul>
<li>Write the list of effects your product or service delivers to clients. For example, strong hair, freshness, rich scent — if you sell shampoos.</li>
<li>List the products or services you provide. For example, a full-body massage, uniform tanning, fresh manicure — if you run a beauty salon.</li>
<li>The values your brand broadcasts. For example, consciousness, sympathy, cooperation — if you’re a non-commercial organization helping someone.</li>
</ul>
<p>To encourage the followers to leave comments, ask them to choose a thing from their wishlist and tag a partner or a friend using @ so they know what the person wants. Or say you collect statistics about your clients and will share the results with everyone, so every comment matters. Another thing you can do is to make options funny. So you won’t have to ask people to tag their friends — they’ll share the post just to make other people laugh.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>The first words you see</h3>
<p>This is Olie asked followers to find three words in a set of letters. They devoted the post to the skills the followers should practice as the brand provides training programs and clothes and stands for self-improvement.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post Olie" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c95a73c187d852982a1_e7b3922f4da1e814c236eeff8ead069fe1ab6767f1973355f20df8cc66dc39664d458bdb932cbf2f35926bb0f8b0c328297de187d81b8030fe6665b438c505854378f5d4f67981bed38c6492bd61da6d95f46799f09d4592890c5f921dc5f7a81143c84b.jpeg" height="1152" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAMUlEQVR4nGNgsIji0fdU9cxkEBMx5WdRE+QzZAjV9Yg1DQjT9WI4cfzE08dPf3z9DgCjeg0337AMwwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Add your brand logo to the design to prevent author’s rights infringement.</p>
<p>To adapt the idea to your brand:</p>
<ol>
<li>Create a list of words connected with your brand, values, or products.</li>
<li>Place them in the square vertically and horizontally.</li>
<li>Randomly fill in the whole square with letters. Make sure you didn’t create new words out of your list.</li>
</ol>
<p>To get more attention to your interactive post, ask the followers to tag friends in the comments to get them playing in the game. Or promise to create a giveaway and give them a small reward for a random comment.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>A simple question to the audience</h3>
<p>People like talking about themselves and sharing their success and news. So, sometimes you can effortlessly get hundreds of comments just by asking your audience a simple question.</p>
<p>Girlboss simply asked the followers whether they have any good news to share and gathered 366 comments. The followers shared their news, tagged friends, and exchanged positive comments with each other.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post: simple question" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c95d486a0eb59a21fdf_afe0ced47eb645e114b1d25b8776b49840b090cd4854ee012adae85e90430fa52953fee2ac8c12d481b966181da5409e172333640b1d93f793c264dce26bdc18bbb1c29e782ec81cdd51edf2b573431948d42acd4718c645720edd4bb0c1067f8cef0881.jpeg" height="1267" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJUlEQVR4nGPILFP4/m8jg5ouw5RpeQxmLgwF1ZoMQgIiV6/eAACNZgnX/TNMTQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Experiment with the design: make a screenshot from Twitter, add a sticker from Instagram stories, or call the post a “Honorous board” to get more attention.</p>
<p>The sphere of your business shapes which questions to ask — they should be connected with your brand. But there are questions suitable for everyone:</p>
<ul>
<li>Which three things inspired you today?</li>
<li>What do you think about the (latest event)?</li>
<li>Which (product) do you like the most?</li>
<li>What’s your superpower?</li>
<li>If you win $1 million, how would you spend it?</li>
</ul>
<p>Make sure it’s easy to answer to your questions, and you ask for a little effort or provide options.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>Relatable meme</h3>
<p>Memes gather all likes, comments, and tags if they’re relatable. Think of a meme or a catchy phrase that makes people laugh and share.</p>
<p>A Swedish fintech company Klarna posts memes relatable to their followers. They write comments that they think or feel the same and tag their friends. They connect the memes with shopping as it’s their sphere.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post meme" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c94127362c94abd65a4_a5e0043d2196c83032db73a561fcfda1cdc601ccb6bb0c403142cf0244fc66c33a878e70db79da069ddc35e90fca9092bbde4589db79f380062348e4913fdc345ccdf2ba777af66b498e4720736b3dc681f7a97fe5312be746df1c6c6e8e2f65c8f12bb1.jpeg" height="1082" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAM0lEQVR4nAEoANf/ACUAAMKvq25MZwBMNjT2/PyHYWwAnY2H3N7dZ0FCAKObmK2ko6iYm1tAEzLJOYf/AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Get even more likes and comments — create a funny illustration or take a popular meme and adapt it to your brand.</p>
<p>If you need help and inspiration in meme creation, use meme generators:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://imgflip.com/memegenerator">ImgFlip</a> — a vast library of popular memes. Take them as a template or upload your picture, add the text and customize it. View the most popular memes in a special section to know what’s popular now.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.kapwing.com">Kapwing</a> — a more complex meme builder for those who want to create them like a pro. Here you can create not only an image but a video, add emojis, control the picture using layers, record the screen, and add transitions, audio, and different elements.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.canva.com/create/memes">Canva</a> — a free meme generator that allows editing popular memes available in the app library. They offer over 5000 meme templates and two mln watermark-free images.</li>
</ul>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>This or that</h3>
<p>People adore voting, sharing their opinion, and waiting for the results to know who won. So, give them such an opportunity — ask the followers to choose between:</p>
<ul>
<li>products,</li>
<li>flavors,</li>
<li>colors,</li>
<li>looks,</li>
<li>shops at different addresses.</li>
</ul>
<p>A clothes brand, “Her Treasures Boutique,” regularly publishes posts where they ask to choose one of two looks on the same model. They get comments, involve users, and show the product. People write “A” or “B” in the comments, increasing the engagement rate.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post: voting" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c95d486a07d79a21fe0_fc51245416103d961eae60a5feb24b3b6736b9694c2894b325ca564d22441637b14ba35c188633da0032c21ffa8bc6eb7cc30a864274a9ee9c06ed1e711aefe869cea70f07f1834c28a6ae5ae2a4a4a1eaed08974a7b9a0798b7aba567fd926ca8a5e448.jpeg" height="1267" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJUlEQVR4nGN4/erVh/fvGQSYGRgFmBj8tfWCzU0ZPrz7/P/vfwCtjAznnljLswAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>And don’t forget to leave the shopping tags to lead the followers to make an order.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>Guess the product</h3>
<p>This game works well only with the existing customers or loyal followers as they know your brand and product range. Ask them to guess which product you propounded, give hints for the novelties, and check whether your audience knows the differences between your products.</p>
<p>Coca-Cola asked followers to guess which flavor was hidden. They hid two words plus gave facts that followers may not know. You can take this approach as an example and test it for your followers.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post: the game" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c95bc2be18bc66afb52_d7c535d611332208abd3d2da0d6e72ed2daaeed63e111a659636df9d01caefa4f528e1de9465c55c654535e1b51cb943e270625d12885cc03daec475eb2f14dfb15db76c1074704a368ce90c4971f7c3b2a3c8a5605c78e1da9d3027c9692fa7940f913e.jpeg" height="1118" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAM0lEQVR4nAEoANf/AJuFfsy6t/Xv5ABOPTVnWllkVkoAIwAAgG1uJAEAAMCwq/Th3v/v7mmTEs9rg0dKAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>And don’t forget about the hints — you’ll get more comments.</p>
<p>To increase the engaging effect, offer discounts and give a reward to one of the participants. But don’t reward a person who answered the first — others won’t be motivated to participate.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>Match</h3>
<p>Add a few columns and lines to make them cross. Put products, flavors, or services recommendations in these squares. Such “matches” make people feel that the recommendation is personalized and increases leads and sells. To adapt it to your brand:</p>
<ol>
<li>Choose a few products or services you want to focus your followers’ attention on.</li>
<li>Write short characteristics for them.</li>
<li>Match them with anything simple: favorite color, weather, or mood.</li>
</ol>
<p>Starbucks offers followers to guess what their spring will bring. They are to choose a favorite drink and their spring vibe to get an answer. Most of the followers write their results in the comments. Starbucks got 452 comments on this post.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post Starbucks" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c951496aea1c437da11_4c8f2c6c1539758cf13ddd56d3784a17f85e370e4f697ca4fdb450e168b9f99aa2cbba641a34cd5636475da7455a6e7fda3f64f54090222ac006503466f5eba9ae1369b690b44ca1d9964d19a0096818a0f935e7cfe6ec3f352806ff38239c43ecb7bbaf.jpeg" height="1149" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAM0lEQVR4nAEoANf/AKqsq766vdzU2ADAwrwJDgABAwAAtLKsbm4va20nAJOTk8LAwu/u8IwqE/4Jf3IQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Don’t forget to ask for comment on the results.</p>
<p>Motivate the followers to leave the comments — say they’ll find co-thinkers or that you do the research and will show the results later.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>Tag a friend</h3>
<p>Sometimes people tag their friends without asking when they want to share the post and don’t send it to DM. But if your followers aren’t used to tagging — ask them to do it a few times to create a habit. Their tags help you grow the audience faster for free — don’t ignore this instrument.</p>
<p>HelloFresh asked followers to tag a friend the followers love more than food topped with melted cheese. They got 38 comments. People tagged their friends and wrote “definitely!”, “hahaha you” and “hey bestie lol.”</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post: tag a friend" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c966f5bad0ae7e5c2d1_c91f98267af7f0ccad410f225a6d34984e4eda373e70a141bc6bf53622e1a490c098332c52160de37a013e072b4adb6754f6bf27b3211a228114815ac8b613e944dd2f3e5593a25964d316f01b3bb8f22722e9c863a6b74cfc3ba8cb59e8b5658d172d82.jpeg" height="1224" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJElEQVR4nGPwSnLOaKxnYBBiUDXQZRDW4tX3cGHYvW/vt98/AVzxCRH8qa/uAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Support the picture with a good joke to make closer contact with the followers.</p>
<p>Make sure you create a positive post, and a tag will make your followers’ friends smile or laugh. This way, you connect people’s good feelings with your brand, and there’s a bigger chance your followers’ friends will become your customers.</p>
<p>‍</p>
<h3>Giveaways</h3>
<p>Don’t wait that people who subscribe to you during the giveaway will stay with you for a long. So don’t try to increase the audience with giveaways; use them for engagement and organic growth.</p>
<p>To create an engaging giveaway, think of a unique algorithm. Don’t ask users to write emojis and numbers — it asks too little effort from the users. Ask intriguing questions instead.</p>
<p>Daisy, a jewelry brand from London, posted a giveaway on the 8th of March. They ask to tag inspirational women in the comments and share the stories of why these women are inspirational. They got 652 comments and warm stories and then chose a winner from the comments.</p>
<figure><img alt="example for interactive post: giveaway" src="/cms/static/blog/62680c96e78044aa3ed5e930_c1b3652eddf714f90c32f95503be1d925495cf19954d6653cbc3106d297d29dc1497a910d09bf69dedd6f8b2f2d2b48493746613c89553add7f330603bc69285b42359d39e0c88f88f5078f80f64b2c5890af6c1a4c7fb199a99bf3f42d7961d6e597874.jpeg" height="1270" width="750" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAAECAIAAAArjXluAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJ0lEQVR4nAEcAOP/ALWvqffy6wAtHxYjFQkAnpeRr6ehAGNjZPr6+7TZDVswrz9SAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>It’s better to say it’s a giveaway in the picture to catch more attention to it.</p>
<p>To make the giveaway even more engaging:</p>
<ol>
<li>Choose a winner not randomly but for the best comment.</li>
<li>Ask the followers and their friends to put likes on the best comments.</li>
<li>Announce the deadline and see who got more votes.</li>
</ol>
<p>It works as there’s more competition, and while putting likes, people read each other’s thoughts, find new friends, and comment on the comments.</p>
<p>Also, make a screenshot of the results when the deadline comes to prove everything is fair. And if you choose a winner randomly, make a screencast of the process and share it in Stories or the post with the results.</p>
<h2>Turn the engaged followers into customers</h2>
<p>Gathering comments isn’t enough if you want a better conversion and increased sales. Chatfuel automation allows <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/automatically-respond-instagram-comments">answering all questions automatically</a>, creates a CRM from users’ comments, and helps to lead the followers further to the marketing funnel. Connect your Instagram page with Chatfuel no-code automation builder and start the first 50 conversations for free.</p>

Secret of good engagement: read about best examples for interactive content on social media and adapt this ideas to your brand.

9 ideas you can steal for interactive posts on social media in 2022

Platforms

<h2>Missing comments in activity feed</h2>
<p>On Instagram, you get a notification every time somebody posts a comment. And if you are running a business, you can’t afford losing a single lead. But notifications about new comments are in the same feed as your likes, new subscriptions, recommendations, etc. This is by design. A unified activity feed helps Instagram engage users, but it makes comments harder to track. So business has to work around it. You can track comments yourself or hire somebody to do it for you. But, there is a more elegant solution. Automation.</p>
<h2>What you can do with automation</h2>
<p>Automation lets you send your customers a message and engage them right away. Instagram has the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1274133/engagement-rate-per-post-social-media">highest engagement level</a> compared to Facebook or Twitter. Around 1.16% per post, compared to 0.27% and 0.07% respectively. This means that users post more, but also expect you to reply quickly. That’s key. Automation easily solves two things. How fast your business replies and what engagement level your profile has. It also helps your business save money on staff.</p>
<p>Automation can help you:</p>
<ul>
<li>increase conversion;</li>
<li>retain customers;</li>
<li>increase online sales.</li>
</ul>
<p>You can do all that with Chatfuel. It’s a no-code automation app for small and medium business owners. It lets you create a conversation logic between your users and a bot. Kind of like a chain of messages. In our case, we need to track and reply to Instagram comments. Let’s start with a conversation example.</p>
<p>A user leaves a comment asking if the item is in stock. Our system replies and gives them a link to a website to check availability. A customer then goes to the website. After several minutes, your bot offers them a promo code for a future purchase. All they need to do is leave their email. You can set up responses to FAQs, run promo campaigns or send people a link to your website. In this tutorial, we will focus on replying to Instagram comments.</p>
<h2>How to automate Instagram comments in Chatfuel</h2>
<h3>Sign up with Chatfuel</h3>
<p>To start, you need to create an account at Chatfuel. Go to <a href="https://chatfuel.com">chatfuel.com</a> and sign up using your Facebook account. We recommend using a Facebook account for registration. This is because you will need to connect your Facebook Page before turning on automation. After creating an account, you will get first 50 conversations for free.</p>
<h3>Preparation</h3>
<p>Next, open Flow Builder. It’s a tool that lets you create automation in Chatfuel. Go to Flows tab in the left sidebar menu and create a new Instagram Flow. Then, click on the plus sign button on the right to open a menu. Add Comments Autoreply Entry Point. This will be the place where user starts conversation. Now, it’s time to configure comments reply settings.</p>
<h3>Decide which comments to respond to</h3>
<p>First, decide if you want to respond to all comments or to comments from specific posts. Then, think about keywords. Do you need them for your business? They are useful in case you want automation to react with a different message to a particular keyword. For example, you decide to run a promo campaign. Set up a separate message that responds to a keyword #iwantdiscount. Now, when your clients leave a particular comment, automation responds with this specific message. After that, choose the response to be private, public or set up both. Add more content if needed.</p>
<p>Look at the example below. In this Flow, our system sends a DM to a user after they post a comment. The message contains a link to the online store. After 5 minutes, a bot sends a second message offering a user to leave their email to stay tuned for new promo campaigns.</p>
<figure><img alt="Instagram comments autoreply flow example" src="/cms/static/blog/6202647615d70905a39051af_cf6df8b5a4993c71d4cdc6caea3fa263c7ccfc299ca430e7ac9c1ec24b729420aa2e0260e5e0f4b45c0f97e7e9820076900bc364e69a78204831db3781e464a6e4e61e0edd09504e2c426b64b072936abfe55590ef97800c5934fc029b1dc81e23dd0c2e.png" height="479" width="1420" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAABCAIAAAB2XpiaAAAACXBIWXMAAA7DAAAOwwHHb6hkAAAAFUlEQVR4nGPQUFHLzcmpq6nat28fABraBWbdYuvSAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<h3>Connect your Facebook and Instagram</h3>
<p>Finally, you need to connect your Facebook Page. Click on Grow tab in the sidebar menu and find Connect button next to Facebook Page and Instagram Account. Connect your Facebook Page first, then connect your Instagram Account. Your Instagram Account is linked to a Facebook Page, that’s why we need both connected.</p>
<h3>Turn on auto replies to comments</h3>
<p>After connecting your pages, go to your Flow and activate Comments Autoreply Entry Point. Your bot status will change to Live. It means that automation is on and your bot is now responding to comments.</p>
<p>Find this article helpful? We appreciate it. We believe that automation can take your business to the next level. <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com/sign-up">Sign up</a> for Chatfuel and never lose a new lead again. If you want to read some more, check out our <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/low-cost-hypothesis-testing">latest customer story</a>.</p>

Missing comments in Activity Feed? You can automate responses to Instagram comments with Chatfuel. This tutorial will show you how.

How to automatically respond to Instagram comments

Industries

<p>My name is Mary, I’m a Product Manager at Art&Fact. Personally, I care about my health and my skin in particular. I would even call myself a full-time beauty enthusiast. I usually spend a lot of time reading about different skincare products and take my time to choose a good fit for myself. Now, working at one of the largest beauty brands in Russia — I can help our customers build their skincare routine easily.</p>
<h2>How to make it nice and easy?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.art-fact-products.com">Art&Fact</a> is a Russian beauty brand that manufactures cosmetics and skincare products. Since April 2020, the company has brought out more than 35 face, skin, and hair products to the market. I think we’re growing pretty fast for a young company. Our brand has its own philosophy regarding the production process: using only effective and clinically-tested formulas.</p>
<p>We develop these formulas in collaboration with leading labs in Europe and the US. And then manufacture them in Russia under stringent standards (quality control). No artificial fragrances, dyes, or flashy ingredients, nothing like that. And, of course — no animal testing. At the same time, the company successfully keeps the products at affordable prices, so most of our customers can purchase high-quality products for each stage of their skincare routine. There are different customer needs, even though there are only a few skin types. So we realized that choosing a right fit might be challenging for some of our customers.</p>
<p>Art&Fact has a nice Instagram account, and many customers prefer purchasing products right there. So we get lots of very similar questions in our DMs: ‘Is it better to buy serum or cream? ’, ‘What products are a good to use in the winter? ’, ‘Are your products safe for my skin? ’</p>
<p>My team and I decided to run a test promo: free Zoom consultations with skin care professionals to help our customers choose suitable products. Initially, we wanted to see if it will simplify selecting and purchasing process for our clients. We kept it simple: 100 video consultations on Zoom, 30 minutes each.</p>
<h2>Please, try again</h2>
<figure><img alt="Art' Fact Chatfuel bot" src="/cms/static/blog/61ee6db90b9790661fb871ad_4edb0cfce434a0a1e13737b7342ea996de316cdb33e4365890310f7a21f8f1c07450393df8c63c3c495f8a9bdd5426c36f16da54dfc4a557e066ead023f840e49eeb8693f09e1334ef1033fbfe2b4a753c9873e0752e1f0ea75e873937514786a908cff7.jpeg" height="1280" width="1280" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAAECAIAAAAmkwkpAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAP0lEQVR4nAE0AMv/AOP//4BifFVoZrnFnQClhnxyYUEACS5gZWMAOhQkhGZMMEtVWISPALLH2pWcrGNygavI1FzxF0g7lvj7AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>I went through several important steps. First, I hired 5 skincare professionals and prepared info cards for each of them. I added qualification and experience details, so clients could learn more about each professional and choose one to consult with. Next, I created a short survey about the skin type and other details to make each consultation more productive and personalized. Finally, I had to find a platform to put everything together.</p>
<p>Like most beauty professionals, I’ve already heard about YClients. So, I decided to go with them. They can schedule Zoom meetings, which was very important for my project. My initial plan was to make an Instagram post with promo details. Then send a Typeform link to people who replied to the post. They would complete a pre-consultation survey and receive a link to YClients. Finally, they would book a meeting with a skincare professional.</p>
<p>I spent several hours setting everything up: profiles, schedules, small pre-consultation survey, then I tried to launch the whole thing. Bam, error message: please try again. It just wouldn’t work. I was bombarding support and nervously explaining the delay to my manager. It was late in the evening when I left the office feeling really hopeless. I spent two weeks trying to get this ship sailing and still didn’t depart.</p>
<h2>Why don’t we make a chatbot?</h2>
<p>When I got back home that night, my husband Nick noticed that something was off. He asked me what happened and told him the whole story. Why don’t we make a chatbot? — he said. Nick works at <a href="https://chatfuel.com">Chatfuel</a>, and at first, I thought he was joking. I couldn’t manage a platform made for beginner users, and he was suggesting I make a bot. Why not try? — I thought. So I grabbed a laptop and started building my first bot.</p>
<p>It was important for me to make it so that clients wouldn’t leave Instagram. My bot would DM users who commented on the post with the keyword ‘I want consultation’ and offer them the survey. Clients then can answer the key questions before the consultation. Their answers would be saved to Google Sheets. After this, our customers would choose skincare professionals right in Instagram DMs.</p>
<p>I updated the profile cards with pictures and descriptions. After the survey, clients would receive a link to Calendly and schedule a Zoom meeting. Calendly supports sending follow-ups for both email and SMS. That allowed me to solve another problem. The skin care professionals could now recommend products after the consultation with a couple of clicks. 40 minutes later my bot was ready.</p>
<h2>Here we go</h2>
<p>Our marketing team launched an ad campaign and published a post the very next day. And a few days later we got measurable results of my project. Feeling confident, I went to show metrics to our CEO:</p>
<ul>
<li>We raised our outreach and engagement rate. 100 applications made within 2 hours.</li>
<li>We tested a hypothesis with relatively low costs and resources involved.</li>
<li>86 out of 100 applicants made a purchase right after the consultation.</li>
<li>Another 200 users got a discount code.</li>
</ul>
<p>Participants who didn’t make it on time got a discount code and most likely will use it to make a purchase. After the promo was done, we received tons of messages from people asking when is the next one, which indicates a high engagement rate.</p>
<p>And the setting up process wasn’t as difficult as I thought. You just need to get the main idea of building a bot — add one block after another, connect them, add attractive content, and use the integrations that are useful for you. If you want to see an example before building a brand new one, check out <a href="https://chatfuel.com/share/?flow=61c2f9c231fd7715e0b4b33b">my bot</a>. Feel free to use it as a template.</p>
<h2>Against the odds</h2>
<p>When I look back at the path I went through, I feel so proud. I didn’t give up, even though I was so close to doing it. I learned a lot of new things, and I realized that walking a beaten path is not as easy as it seems, and it’s good to venture out. Nowadays it’s very important to think outside the box and try new useful tools.</p>
<p>And a cherry on the top — I got a bonus for my successful project. And I know exactly who’s going to help me celebrate it.</p>
<figure><img alt="" src="/cms/static/blog/61ee6db984ecfbeae202f483_13690b8a038380140a9afaf1e64b139bc4aace22d0586b6a58df65b6c4af806cecf1fc2f5e8902addd1320c29815d0b480467cc20ca5096c1c1b0ea0b078f0a03fa0ff6d0dfa9367c324b7d2312cd2e1e69a76a46bb2d39203fed46fa225804634c2d15e.jpeg" height="1280" width="945" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAMUlEQVR4nGNoLyutaJ5ZEBnKkJ/iEepoaiMnydAyoWNqS83tozsZfv35y8vO++3bewA+SxH3rkkgJQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>Cheers, Mary 🙌</p>
<p>‍</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com">Sign up with Chatfuel</a> for free today — no coding skills, previous experience, or credit card required. You can also <a href="https://chatfuel.com/share/?flow=61c2f9c231fd7715e0b4b33b">use the template</a> Mary used for her bot as your starting ground.*</li>
</ul>

Beauty brand Art & Fact creates an Instagram bot with Chatfuel. It helped them test a hypothesis easily and at a low cost.

How a beauty brand easily tested hypothesis at almost no cost

Bojana Vojnović

<p>Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is customer loyalty. To get customers to stick around, you can invest your time and effort in improving your product and your customer experience.</p>
<p>Great customer service is an extremely valuable tool for building exceptional experience and more loyal customers. That’s why we’ll explain how customer service makes a huge impact on your business and give you concrete ideas for <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/chatbot-for-customer-service">making improvements</a> to your current offerings.</p>
<h2>Customer acquisition vs. customer retention</h2>
<p>One of the age-old questions in customer marketing is: should you focus your efforts on customer acquisition or customer retention? There is no “right” answer, but both are important for building a sustainable business.</p>
<p>Acquiring a new customer, although necessary, is <a href="https://www.huify.com/blog/acquisition-vs-retention-customer-lifetime-value">five times more expensive</a> than retaining an existing customer. Loyal customers are also more likely to make a purchase from you since they are already familiar with your brand, products, and experience.</p>
<p>So, how do you get customers to keep coming back? Offering great customer service is one of the most powerful ways to retain the customers you’ve worked so hard to acquire.</p>
<h2>What influences customer loyalty?</h2>
<p>Customer loyalty is influenced by the perceived value you bring to your customers, brand trust, and customer satisfaction—all of which can be increased through having great customer service.</p>
<p>A reported <a href="https://www.nextiva.com/blog/customer-service-statistics.html">96% of customers worldwide</a> say customer service is an important factor in their choice of loyalty to a brand, and the vast majority are willing to spend more if it means receiving great customer service in return.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/610a694aecea9356b0ce9cfd_01-min.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="2336" width="4160" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAJUlEQVR4nAEaAOX/AAADZmJp2b23//nr/wDBiv//zv9+hv+2rf+//RDfJjVuLgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>When asking consumers what impacts their level of trust with a company, offering excellent customer service ranked <strong>number one</strong>.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>How loyalty is built with customer service</h2>
<p>A great customer service strategy, at its core, means having a consistent game plan for addressing all types of customer questions and feedback.</p>
<p>If you can deliver answers quickly, efficiently, and politely, your customers will be much more likely to return.  To improve your strategy, here are a few key areas you should evaluate:</p>
<h3>Through your onboarding process</h3>
<p>Whether your onboarding process is human-led or automated, it’s a critical part of <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/customer-loyalty-chatbot">building customer loyalty</a>. Onboarding is one of the first interactions your customers have with your company, so it’s extra important to make sure they have a positive experience. If you have a self-guided onboarding process, give your customers opportunities to seek more information whenever possible.</p>
<h3>Through self-servicing options</h3>
<p>If your product or service is complex enough to require more detailed tutorials, it’s a smart idea to build out a knowledge base or support center. Your knowledge base can contain in-depth articles on product features or short, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A499Eeq9Lq8">easy-to-read FAQs.</a> The easier it is for your customers to find the answers they need, the better.</p>
<h3>Through agent-assisted support</h3>
<p>Your agents may be responsible for chatting with customers through several different channels, including phone, online chat, email, and social media. High levels of customer retention stem from consistent and compassionate service.</p>
<p>Train your agents and check-in with them regularly to ensure they are handling customer interactions with the same level of excellence across the board. Go for meaningful conversations, rather than just closing as many tickets as possible.</p>
<h3>Through feedback implementation</h3>
<p>Evaluating your strategy and performance to make your service even better is always a good idea. You should be examining feedback from your customer service team as well as your customers. Ask customers how they feel about your service <a href="https://surveysparrow.com/blog/guide-product-feedback">via feedback surveys</a> on social media or <a href="https://blog.lemlist.com/best-email-verification-tools">email</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, survey your team members to identify strengths and pain points in your current strategy. These are just a few of the many proponents of implementing a successful customer feedback loop.</p>
<h2>4 parts of customer service you can automate</h2>
<p>Good customer service doesn’t necessarily have to be entirely human-powered. Your customer service strategy may actually benefit from being partially automated.</p>
<p>If you want to provide round-the-clock, consistent service and let your agents handle more complex cases, here are a few areas of customer service that may be worth automating.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/610a6ac9b289383ee9949a25_03 (1)-min.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="2336" width="4160" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAI0lEQVR4nGNgYHU/fvH/s5f/+Y1mMTCwO3z++f/i9f8Myo0Ao8ANCq2U2Y0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>Automating services is made easy with chatbots</figcaption></figure>
<h3>1. Your onboarding</h3>
<p>An <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/onboarding-chatbot">automated onboarding flow</a> lets your customers get situated with your product or service at their own pace.</p>
<p>For example, you can use a chatbot to create automated flows that are as simple or complex as you’d like. A chatbot can walk your customers through a proper onboarding checklist, recommend related tutorials or videos from your support center, or guide them through certain features in more detail based on how they interact.</p>
<h3>2. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A499Eeq9Lq8">How to Automate Customer FAQs on Facebook Messenger</a></p>
<p>If you have a running list of the questions your agents get asked the most often, you can save a lot of time and effort by integrating them into a chatbot. Once it’s been programmed, a bot can anticipate what your customers are looking or asking for, and deliver those answers quickly.</p>
<h3>3. Advanced routing to the right teams</h3>
<p>When phone calls can’t be routed to the intended recipient, it creates a frustrating experience for both you and your customers. <a href="https://www.nextiva.com/blog/what-is-call-routing.html">Call routing</a> is a great tactic to ensure that customers who reach your business by phone will be able to speak with the person or department that can provide the help they need.</p>
<p>With routing, customers will hear a list of departments they can speak with and the action required to connect, i.e. press “1” to speak with the billing department, press “2” to speak with customer support, and so on.</p>
<p>In addition to connecting customers with the right people, automated redirections of calls also reduce wait times and can give you the option to forward calls to a partner or outside firm when you’re unavailable. Given these benefits, it’s no surprise that call routing is a proven way to boost your customer satisfaction ratings.</p>
<h3>4. Keeping databases</h3>
<p>Detailed database-keeping is essential for providing exceptional service. A <a href="https://blog.appsumo.com/crm-software">Customer Relationship Management system (CRM)</a> that integrates with your communication channels (phone calls, texts, emails, chatbots, etc.) will help your customer service team capture notes and information about customer interactions. You can then refer back to this data to make more informed decisions to increase customer loyalty.</p>
<h2>Investing in loyalty pays off in the long run</h2>
<p>Building up your customer service strategy to increase customer loyalty can help you cut costs and generate more revenue. A loyal customer is easier to sell to, cheaper to maintain, and tends to <a href="https://blog.smile.io/repeat-customers-profitable">spend more on new purchases</a>. They’re also more likely to recommend you to others, making them one of the most valuable acquisition tools. Customer service has immense benefits for your bottom line and is a powerful way to set yourself apart from others.</p>

To get customers to stick around, you can invest your time and effort in improving your product and your customer experience.

Why Great Customer Service Builds More Loyal Customers

Angela Skowronek

<p>Automating lead generation means allowing the company to focus on more pressing matters maintaining contact with customers. Chatbots can take some weight off your shoulders in this endeavor. According to APSIS, a four score of automation software marketers drive increased leads, and 77% convert more leads than those who don’t. This article will show how you can embed automation and how it can benefit your business.</p>
<h2>Challenges that business faces</h2>
<p>Sourcing high-quality leads is tricky, whether you create helpful content that leads prospects down the funnel or attracts cold prospects. There are three main challenges that businesses usually face:</p>
<p><strong>Not enough high-quality leads</strong>. Improving the quality of leads is one of the most important goals for two-thirds of marketers, according to Ascend2. Some marketers turn to lead generation agencies, and not all get the desired result.</p>
<p><strong>Too many leads</strong>. Wrong targeted ads and giveaways can bring many leads. But, if resources are limited, companies can spend too much time on leads that <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/cut-operational-costs-with-messenger-bot">turn out to be unqualified</a> or miss their chance with high-intent prospects.</p>
<p><strong>Personalizing experience for new users</strong>. According to an Accenture survey, consumers are more likely to shop with brands that offer relevant recommendations. In addition, tailored experiences that keep users engaged demand constant human interaction.</p>
<p>Automation can solve these challenges. It is more accessible than ever to businesses of all sizes. You can use an online platform as a <a href="https://chatfuel.com">no-code tool</a> to create different types of automated systems. <a href="https://funneloverload.com/lead-generation-statistics">80% of marketers</a> say they’ve found that automation like chatbots generates more leads and conversions than other methods.</p>
<h2><strong>How chatbots expand your lead generation sales funnel</strong></h2>
<p>Messages from <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/future-of-chatbots-based-on-data">chatbots have 80% open rates</a>, while emails only have 20% on average. Automation also has 35% click-through rates on messages with links than email’s 2%. It lets you set up triggered email communications easily, without having anything to do with the backend or coding. You can also integrate your CRM or other business tools with your Chatfuel bot.</p>
<p>A lead generation chatbot can work for you 24/7. Users get information without you having to answer repetitive questions with the FAQ template. As a result, you have more time to focus on providing excellent service to your customers and finding new ways to grow.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/624ad1b10181b33bd684bb62_example_FAQ.png" loading="lazy" alt="How chatbots expand your lead generation sales funnel" height="1168" width="2080" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAI0lEQVR4nGP48flLUlBMqH/Fg6uvGb7//y+jFc7Ab/f5938AwsMOePmow9oAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>Users see interactive buttons in your Messenger bot</figcaption></figure>
<h2>How does a chatbot work</h2>
<p>A chatbot is a computer program that has a back-and-forth conversation with users. Simple chatbots follow a script: If the user says X, they say Y. More advanced chatbots use artificial intelligence to provide humanlike answers to user inquiries. Building both types requires no experience.</p>
<p>One of the most common types of chatbots “lives” on Facebook Messenger. It means your business can generate leads from 2.8 billion global users. However, anyone can enter your chatbot without a Facebook account, using a guest mode if it’s embedded on your website. So that’s even more users for your chatbot. Depending on your needs, your bot can attract leads, start a conversation with users, provide information about your services, and ask questions to qualify them.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<ol>
<li>Users open a chat with your Messenger chatbot by clicking your Facebook ad or browsing <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/add-a-messenger-chatbot-to-your-website">your website</a>.</li>
<li>The bot offers basic information about your business: their names, emails, or phone numbers.</li>
<li>The bot then asks the user a few questions to determine if they’re warm leads. For instance, it can provide a discount if the user follows your organization on Facebook or signs up for newsletters.</li>
</ol>
<p>Depending on your needs, you can set your bot to take the next step: help users to <a href="https://youtu.be/9jGuWa1sgAw">schedule an appointment</a>, gather their contact details and send them to your CRM, <a href="https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/849315-live-chat">pass the conversation over</a> to a human agent, or more. Once you’ve set up your automation, it can start generating and qualifying new leads. That means you can wake up in the morning to an inbox or spreadsheet or calendar full of promising new leads.</p>
<h2>Chatbot lead generation examples</h2>
<p>Currently, lead generation chatbots can benefit different industries, such as vehicle operations, insurance, real estate, food, and drinks. Let’s look at some of these Chatfuel customers who use a chatbot as their primary lead generation marketing method.</p>
<h3>1. Nissan dealership, Israel</h3>
<p>A car is a big-ticket item that most people aren’t going to buy on the spot. Instead, they’ll make an appointment to visit the dealership, test drives the vehicle, and ask the salesperson their questions. A lead generation chatbot can be the first link between the dealership and these consumers looking to purchase a car — which is precisely why this Nissan dealership in Israel built one.</p>
<p>Their chatbot asks a few questions to confirm that the dealership has the type of car they’re looking for. Then it lets the user schedule an appointment for a test drive to move them down the lead generation funnel.</p>
<h4>Results</h4>
<p>The chatbot turned out to be a far more accessible and more efficient way for the dealership to get qualified potential customers in the door. The first month after launching the Facebook bot, the dealership sold ten cars ($380,000 in revenue) to customers who came through it. Check out the complete <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/nissan-sells-cars-using-messenger-bot">Nissan case study.</a></p>
<h3>2. Real estate and insurance lead generation: Tacobot</h3>
<p>Tacobot is a marketing agency building chatbots that generate leads for insurance brokers and real estate agents. Their clients no longer have to pay more for low-intent leads, thanks to their bots. Instead, Tacobot builds them a Facebook chatbot that qualifies leads through a simple questionnaire. It gathers information about each prospect and functions as a quoting tool so users can get an immediate, tangible benefit to incentivize them to complete the process.</p>
<h4>Results</h4>
<p>Tacobot’s clients can expect high-quality insurance leads for $2-5 each and high-intent real estate leads for less than $10. Check out the complete <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/marketing-agency-uses-messenger-bots-to-deliver-high-quality-leads-for-clients">Tacobot case study</a>.</p>
<h2>Put your business lead generation on autopilot</h2>
<p>Whether it’s lead generation for lawyers, lead generation for restaurants, or a B2B lead generation, a chatbot can help. Businesses across industries that depend on leads are turning to Facebook Messenger and Instagram automation for a lead generation more and more.</p>
<p>With Chatfuel, building your lead gen chatbot is easy. Use our templates to load, customize, and launch automation for your own business regardless of your coding experience. With interactive automation, you can save time. Focus on improving things that matter most while providing constant communication with your customers. <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com/sign-in">Sign up</a> today to get started.</p>

This article will show how expand your lead generation sales funnel and how it can benefit your business

How to automate your business lead generation funnel

Joren Wouters 

Wondering how to increase customer loyalty so you can grow your business? Guest expert Joren Wouters shares how to build a loyalty chatbot.

How to Build a Customer Loyalty Chatbot to Get More Repeat Customers

Features

<p>You’re probably already familiar with the <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/top-9-reasons-your-business-needs-a-chatbot">most common uses for chatbots</a>. They can help businesses do things like:</p>
<ul>
<li>Answer FAQs instantly, 24/7</li>
<li>Generate and qualify leads</li>
<li>Recommend products</li>
<li>Move shoppers down the funnel</li>
</ul>
<p>But what many business owners and marketers don’t know is that chatbots can help with other areas of your business too. They can help improve SEO, skyrocket digital ad performance, boost customer retention, and lots more. So whether your business already has a chatbot or you’re considering building one, scroll to learn about several extra perks they can bring to your brand.</p>
<h2>#1. Chatbots can decrease your website’s bounce rate for SEO</h2>
<p><strong>Bounce rate</strong> is the percentage of a website’s visitors who only visit a single page on the site before leaving. While these statistics don’t count toward your search rankings per se, websites that appear higher on Google do <a href="https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking">tend to have lower bounce rates</a>.</p>
<p>Website abandonment is a real issue, especially for online merchants. In fact, the average ecommerce site experiences [bounce rates <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/corp/blog/bounce-rate/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20you%20should%20expect,average%20between%2045%25%2D65%25.)">of around 42%</a>. Why? Because typically, websites with high bounce rates have user experience (UX) issues. Their pages often aren’t intuitively designed, which makes it difficult for visitors to navigate. And if people have to spend too much time trying to find what they want, they’ll simply go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Chatbots can help decrease bounce rates by offering navigation help from the get-go. You can <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/add-a-messenger-chatbot-to-your-website">add a chatbot to your website</a> and set it up to ask questions that get straight to the heart of a customer’s issue. From there, it can point them in the right direction—whether that’s to an information page, a product page, or even <a href="https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/849315-live-chat">to a live agent.</a></p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb5024dead06_Chatbot on website.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="1394" width="2650" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAI0lEQVR4nGPg5OGXYGAw1VL+/es/g6KS8uwJffNmzThx6AYAWwEKBBXmoAYAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>Leeds-Beckett University offers a chatbot on their homepage to help visitors navigate the site.</figcaption></figure>
<p>As Nicolina Savelli, Wily Global’s Content and Social Media Marketer, <a href="https://databox.com/how-to-reduce-your-websites-bounce-rate">explains</a>: <em>“[Chatbots] dramatically decreased our bounce rate to 2%. […] The option forced users to browse longer and ask questions, rather than bouncing off the page.”</em></p>
<h2>#2. Chatbots can increase session duration for SEO</h2>
<p><strong>Session duration</strong> is the amount of time that people spend on your website before returning to the SERP (search engine results page). Google uses session duration to help rank your website. Longer website sessions, for example, show the algorithm that your website’s information is relevant to the search that led the visitor to it.</p>
<p><a href="https://drift.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-State-of-Conversational-Marketing.pdf">39% of B2B marketers</a> already say that conversational marketing techniques like chatbots will increase the time visitors spend on your website. It’s similar to how Messenger bots decrease bounce rate: they can help customers find the information they’re looking for more easily (and maybe some extra information they didn’t know they needed).</p>
<p>Visitors can ask for help on specific problems and chatbots will provide personalized answers that guide users to the correct information. Or, if the visitor isn’t looking to solve a specific problem, chatbots can help increase their session duration by asking them a few questions and recommending relevant content.</p>
<h2>#3. Chatbots can improve your customer service ratings</h2>
<p>For local businesses, reviews are the <a href="https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors">third most important ranking factor</a> if you want to make the cut for <a href="https://www.rankranger.com/seo-glossary/local-pack">Google’s Local Pack</a>. And even if your business isn’t geared toward local services, reviews still feature as <a href="https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors">a top Google ranking factor</a> since they boost your site’s reputation.</p>
<p>Improving the customer experience is one way to get positive reviews on sites like TrustPilot and Yelp as well as on your Facebook page—and the keys to a great customer experience are <strong>personalization</strong> and <strong>speed</strong>. <a href="https://www.evergage.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Evergage-2018-Trends-in-Personalization-Survey.pdf">88% of marketers</a> agree that customers have come to expect personalized service. And if it’s not available immediately, they’re likely to abandon your brand for the competition.</p>
<p>Messenger chatbots can improve your customer service in both of these areas. First, thanks to user attributes, bots can personalize the conversation with everything from the user’s name and time zone to preferences they’ve shared in past chats. And, of course, chatbots are available to answer questions instantly, 24 hours a day. <a href="https://www.intercom.com/blog/the-state-of-chatbots">Studies show</a> that they can boost customer satisfaction by a quarter and speed up response times by 300%.</p>
<p>Look at the HelloFresh chatbot, for example. Their “Freddie FreshBot” <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/how-to-turn-facebook-post-commenters-into-customers">automatically messages customers who leave comments</a> on HelloFresh’s Facebook posts. From there, the bot can answer questions, share coupon codes, and suggest recipes.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb3a81dead07_Hellofresh chatbot.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="1046" width="1600" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAIAAAA7ljmRAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAMklEQVR4nAEnANj/AP7+/uTm5dzg4Nvk6gC/wsRgX1YOAAA1JyQA7e/wxcTCtK+r2dTS+yMYe3SxhA0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>The HelloFresh chatbot has improved the brand's customer service.</figcaption></figure>
<p>The result? HelloFresh’s <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/hellofresh-reduces-support-wait-times-with-chatfuel-messenger-bot">response times are down 76%</a>, which leads to lots of satisfied customers, as you can see from the <a href="https://www.trustpilot.com/review/hellofresh.com">24,000 five-star reviews</a> HelloFresh now has.</p>
<h2>#4. Chatbot data can inform your content marketing strategy</h2>
<p><a href="https://respona.com/blog/content-marketing-blogs">Content marketing</a> is one of the most powerful ways to <a href="https://userp.io/organic-business-growth">improve your search rankings</a>. By identifying important questions that your target audience may have and answering them through great content, you demonstrate the authority and expertise of your brand. By optimizing this content with keywords related to these issues, you push your site up search engine rankings.</p>
<p>While keyword research can certainly help you find out what your customers are searching for, it’s sometimes easier to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. That’s where chatbots come in, because they can directly learn more about what users need and are looking for through a friendly back-and-forth conversation or quiz. Right now, only <a href="https://www.intercom.com/blog/the-state-of-chatbots">22% of organizations</a> are using chatbots to collect data. That means 78% are missing a huge opportunity to better inform their <a href="https://getcodeless.com/content-marketing-companies">content marketing strategies</a>!</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb4c3edead08_iPhone 11.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="788" width="940" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAIAAAA7ljmRAAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAL0lEQVR4nGP4/Pmzk5OTopzq58+fGV68eOHj48PLL3Dnzh2G////29ra8QryAGUAiosT8Z9aYrEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>A food blogger could use a chatbot to find out what people are most interested in, and then optimize her blog accordingly.</figcaption></figure>
<p>By collecting chatbot data, you’ll be able to discover the most commonly asked questions and biggest challenges that your customers face. These takeaways can guide your content strategy so that you have a clearer idea of the types of articles, guides, <a href="https://www.richterstudios.com/video-production/corporate-video-production">product videos</a>, etc. that your customers will find useful. In turn, you’ll end up ranking higher for key search terms that are relevant to solving problems within your specific target audience.</p>
<h2>#5. Chatbot data can improve your social media ad performance and ROI</h2>
<p>We’ve already discussed how chatbots are great tools for getting to know your customers better. The good news is that this customer data can also help improve the performance of your social media ads. The more you learn about your audience, the more precisely you can target them.</p>
<p>Take Beauty Player, a Taiwan-based ecommerce shop for skincare products. At first, their ads were expensive and underperforming. But then <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/beauty-startup-sells-more-with-messenger-bot">they launched a chatbot</a> and started gathering data about their users that way. They used that data to create custom and Lookalike audiences for their Facebook ads. The result? The brand reduced their cost per conversion by more than half — from $8.30 to $4.06 —and got a 10x return on ad spend.</p>
<figure><iframe allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O5HmJtC1A4M"></iframe><figcaption>Learn how to instantly send data about your chatbot users to Facebook Ads Manager to create Lookalike audiences.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>#6. Chatbots can encourage social sharing</h2>
<p>Your social media strategy should strive to increase brand awareness by encouraging your audience to share your content for you. Known as the “snowball effect,” you’ll gain more traction when your fans share your posts since your content will then seen by their audiences too. It’s one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness quickly.</p>
<p>To get this effect started, <a href="https://youtu.be/D4n6VLQHE5U">build a chatbot</a> that serves a useful purpose to your target audience. Then, encourage them to share the link to the Facebook bot with their friends, who are typically like-minded individuals.</p>
<p>The Taiwanese political party, Can’t Stop This Party, used this technique to great success. Founded by young people, the party wanted to urge other young voters to take part in the election. <a href="https://youtu.be/D4n6VLQHE5U">They created a Messenger chatbot</a> that educates voters on the issues and reminds them to head to the polls on election day. The helpful, engaging, and interactive bot was a huge success with its initial user base, so those people shared it. As a result, more than 40,000 youth turned out to vote in the elections! That’s the power of social sharing.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb08a5deac7b_Social sharing chatbot.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="1168" width="2080" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAJUlEQVR4nAEaAOX/AJvQ+f75/+705+Hu6ACwqKDrx+VLI0EOAgAATBAp5StJLwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>The chatbot that Can't Stop This Party created to encourage young people to vote was a success, because its initial users shared it with their friends.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>#7. Chatbots can boost customer retention</h2>
<p>Acquiring new customers can get expensive, since it’s common knowledge that you need <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/the-ultimate-guide-to-prospecting-how-many-touchpoints-when-and-what-type#:~:text=With%20this%20in%20mind%2C%20eight,might%20be%20right%20for%20another.)">eight touch points</a> with a prospect before you’ll get the sale. Of course, customer acquisition needs to be a part of every business’s strategy. But retention should be too, since it’s cheaper and more efficient to focus on recapturing past customers who have already proven they liked your product or service.</p>
<p>Netting return customers relies on a range of factors, including how well you know them, how personalized your services are, and how slick your sales process is.</p>
<ul>
<li>Let’s consider <strong>personalization</strong> first. Nowadays, <a href="https://www.redpointglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/RedPoint-Gaps-in-CX-White-Paper_3.20.19.pdf">most consumers</a> expect businesses to personalize their services. That’s why <a href="https://www.yieldify.com/ebooks/personalization-after-covid-19">most brands</a> are now using personalization techniques in their customer retention strategies. And, as we’ve discussed, chatbots are ideal for this. In using more personalized customer service interactions like bots, <a href="https://info.ada.support/hubfs/Ada%20Content%20Assets/Ada_Forrester%20Opportunity%20Snapshot.pdf?utm_campaign=Forrester%20Ops%20Report&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=72058063&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_8dT3oFjo4tn0ZHnVAyoxnnQtGBh32IKMbpzmJKYgR-9vP9tI1a8ZL9PFhhl_AHLgxJd_xFFHeUoC_phoeoD6Rfn2FDA&utm_content=72058063&utm_source=hs_automation">over half of business leaders</a> have found that they’ve ended up with more loyal customers.</li>
<li>Secondly, consider the <strong>user</strong> <strong>experience</strong> of your sales process. Is it easy to buy (and buy again) from your brand? Consider that <a href="http://f9e7d91e313f8622e557-24a29c251add4cb0f3d45e39c18c202f.r83.cf1.rackcdn.com/RTP_RT208_SURV_CustomerAcquisitionRetention_July_2019_Final.pdf">a third of retailers</a> say it’s hard to retain customers due to their long sales cycles. What’s the correlation? It’s simple: Customers don’t want to buy from companies who make it difficult to purchase their products. The process needs to be fast, smooth, and efficient for the shopper.</li>
</ul>
<p>That’s where chatbots come in again. Messenger bots have the power to ease friction in the buying process, making it easy for customers to buy again. Check out <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/ecommerce-entrepreneur-uses-chatfuel-bot-to-automate-over-100-000-in-sales">the story of Photobooth Deluxe</a>, for example. Recognizing that 95% of its customers <a href="https://www.freshbooks.com/blog/facebook">came through Facebook</a>, the photobooth company switched out its slow, manual ordering method for a super-efficient Facebook chatbot which can handle the whole process. In doing this, the brand was able to automate over $100,000 of orders within a few months, all because their bot made the repeat-buying process easy for customers.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb7546dead09_Chatbot ordering process.png" loading="lazy" alt="" height="1040" width="820" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAM0lEQVR4nAEoANf/AI+Rk7S0tuvq6wDLzc2IiIjz8/MAsLKzDg4N5ubmAN7d3n2BhePk5PZAGR+9uKzVAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>The photobooth company's chatbot reminds repeat customers when it's time to reorder printer supplies, and lets them complete the order in a few taps.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>A chatbot is a multi-purpose tool for your business</h2>
<p>As you can see, the function of a Chatfuel bot reaches far beyond simple customer service inquiries. Chatbots can now help to inform, shape, and amplify your SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, and more to help you boost brand awareness and drive sales.</p>
<p><a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com">Sign up for your free Chatfuel account</a> to start building a Messenger chatbot for your business today. Then, when you’re ready for priority support and unlimited users, <a href="https://chatfuel.com/pricing">upgrade to Pro</a>. Happy botting!  🤖</p>
<p><em>This post comes to you from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannecamarce">Joanne Camarce</a>, a digital marketing expert specializing in SEO, ecommerce, and social media.</em></p>

Chatbots are known for answering questions and boosting sales, but they can also help with SEO, content marketing, ads, and more.

7 Hidden Benefits of Chatbots, from Improving SEO to Informing Content Strategy

<p>“It takes months to find a customer and only seconds to lose one,” in the words of Vince Lombardi. And what’s the quickest way to lose a customer? Through a poor customer service experience. The modern consumer expects 24/7 service that’s fast, helpful, and friendly. But most businesses can’t afford a huge team to provide this kind of support consistently, around the clock. Even if they could, it certainly wouldn’t be an easy-to-manage or cost-effective solution. So what’s a brand to do?</p>
<p>This is where a <strong>Messenger chatbot</strong> comes in. <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/top-9-reasons-your-business-needs-a-chatbot">Businesses can use chatbots for many reasons</a>, to help with everything from lead generation to sales. But one of the most popular use cases for a bot is providing excellent, on-demand customer service. The best part: You don’t need a big budget, a team of engineers, or even any coding knowledge to set up automated customer service via bot yourself.</p>
<h2>Why your business should use a chatbot for customer service</h2>
<p>Because Messenger chatbots:</p>
<h3><strong>#1. Can save you time, money, and resources</strong> 💸</h3>
<p>Let’s get one thing straight first: Chatbots aren’t here to take the place of your human customer support team. However, bots are fantastic tools for automating routine and repetitive inquiries to save your human agents time. A well-built chatbot can automate <a href="https://www.invespcro.com/blog/chatbots-customer-service">up to 80% of routine inquiries</a>, and can be available to as many customers as necessary, 24/7.</p>
<h3><strong>#2. Can provide consistently high-quality service</strong> 🌟</h3>
<p>A chatbot for customer service can handle thousands of customers at once. Day or night, no matter the topic, you can set up your chatbot to instantly provide a consistent, friendly, and <a href="https://www.cloudtalk.io/blog/contact-center-vs-call-center-the-ultimate-comparison">helpful customer experience</a> every time. It’ll never forget anything, or get frustrated at a <a href="https://www.hillwebcreations.com/people-also-ask-related-questions">user asking the same question</a> for the fifth time. Every customer who interacts with it will enjoy the same positive, on-brand experience.</p>
<h3><strong>#3. Can help your business in other ways</strong> 💬</h3>
<p>After your bot has resolved the customer’s concerns, it can offer to assist them in other areas, too. It can <a href="https://youtu.be/dfmQvqtJN9Q">recommend products</a>, share news, <a href="https://youtu.be/mNBeoGF90PY">qualify them as a lead</a>, and handle other tasks that will help or delight the customer and boost your business. Plus, after a user responds once, they become “reachable.” That means your bot can reengage them again in the future <a href="https://youtu.be/vTwdLHar6pI">for announcements</a> or <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/sponsored-messages-guide-to-reengaging-chatbot-subscribers">for promotions</a>.</p>
<figure><iframe allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gJuUOcwdGzA"></iframe></figure>
<h3><strong>#4. Are accessible to businesses of all sizes 👔</strong></h3>
<p>You don’t have to be or hire a developer to build a powerful customer support chat bot. Chatfuel is a no-code platform, which means anyone can use <a href="https://youtu.be/HX-zA-DkPaU">our visual, drag-and-drop builder</a> to create a basic help bot on their own in an afternoon—no coding required. 💡That’s why bot-building platforms have become such popular customer service tools.</p>
<figure><iframe allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D4n6VLQHE5U"></iframe></figure>
<h2><strong>How to build a customer service chatbot</strong></h2>
<p>The core of most customer service bots is FAQs. If you can set up a Facebook bot to handle the most routine, repetitive inquiries, your human support staff will be free for lots more complex, value-adding tasks.</p>
<p>An FAQ bot can be as simple or as complex as you like; it depends on your brand, your industry, and your unique audience. The simplest FAQ bots display a few common questions in the form of quick replies. When a user clicks one, they receive the answer (or a link to a webpage that has more information). Or, if the brand has a bigger list of FAQs, they might display categories in the form of a gallery, and then have quick reply options for the individual questions linked to each one.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb99fddeac6a_iPhone_11.png" alt="" height="788" width="940" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAIAAAA7ljmRAAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAMElEQVR4nGNgUKjjr1gj1ribQbmRgUGkaOnZ19f+/2eQLGdgUKhzXnjffM5tBoU6AAzoDrxbId1rAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>The simplest customer service chatbots offer FAQs for users to choose from, in the form of quick replies and/or a gallery.</figcaption></figure>
<p>On the other end of the spectrum, a business with complex customer support needs might incorporate a specific, <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/ai-benefits-for-business">trained AI</a> for their niche. A help bot like this could accept free-form text input from users and offer useful responses.</p>
<p>There are two easy ways to get started building your own customer service bot for Facebook Messenger:</p>
<p><strong>#1. If you’re building in the <em>Automation → Blocks</em> tab</strong>, use a pre-built flow for FAQs. A pre-built flow is like a ready-made set of blocks you can insert into your bot for a specific purpose (like answering FAQs). A pre-built flow takes care of the structure—you just have to add the content. So first, add the pre-built flow for FAQs to your bot. Then, fill in the question blocks with actual FAQs and answers that relate to your business, and you’re ready to go! (P.S. Start using a pre-built flow now with <a href="https://dashboard.chatfuel.com">your free Chatfuel account</a>!)</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bbde19deac6b_Untitled.png" alt="" height="622" width="834" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAIAAAA7ljmRAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAMklEQVR4nAEnANj/AH5+f7u7vcrKyuvr6wDf3t7c3Nzu7ezv7u4ABRgh7+7u3Nzc397eE+Ibx9mTQWkAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>A pre-built flow makes building a basic customer support chatbot fast and easy.</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>#2. If you’re building in the <em>Automation → Flows</em> tab</strong>, use the <a href="https://youtu.be/PF_uI1_HCvE"><strong>Facebook Page Entry Point</strong></a> to set up basic FAQs and answers in your chatbot, called Icebreakers. Here’s how Icebreakers work: When a new user arrives at the bot, they normally have to click or tap the <strong>Get Started</strong> button to initiate a conversation with it. But when you set up this Entry Point, you can have a handful of FAQ options appear on that first screen too, as other options for starting the chat.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bbbc9adeac6c_Untitled.png" alt="" height="896" width="646" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAMAAAAECAIAAADETxJQAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAM0lEQVR4nAEoANf/ADxARoeGheDh4gD19PRpaWmSkpIA+/z8JycnHR0dAMfHxzIyMp+foJY4E07NZmxKAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"></figure>
<p>You can type in your own FAQs to display there as Icebreakers, and connect them to blocks that contain the answers.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb6b39deac6d_Screen_Shot_2020-10-05_at_10.28.13_AM.png" alt="" height="746" width="1478" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAABYlAAAWJQFJUiTwAAAAI0lEQVR4nGPQ0NBISU6uqqqaP38+w/z58xsbGmbMmLF9+3YAhzYMOflxYeYAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>Fill in the FAQs and answers you'd like your chatbot to offer users.</figcaption></figure>
<p><strong>#3. If you’re building in the <em>Automation</em>→<em>Flows</em> tab</strong>, you can also use <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1FHaUFkcmY5SjI0VnRmR0xjRWpBaFRndnI4Z3xBQ3Jtc0tudmx0Nkt0WE5LSHdUVFJNQjhsaFZueUItSmtjRXRxZ1VNYWZTdGpxSDdWcVowQ1pmWkgzdUdKa2VIam1HbzJXZXd1OUVuaTgycGNOekpQaDdzQnd0N1UxWWJ0ZDI4RkdZa29yZXU5aVlzdi1ScGJkRQ%3D%3D&event=video_description&v=A499Eeq9Lq8&q=https%3A%2F%2Fchatfuel.com%2Fshare%3FflowGroup%3D5f7df73a5853af7acd0fabf9%26flow%3D5f5151cd6198d15b64ef0a95%2F%3Fvideo_ref%3Dautomate-customer-service">our free flow template for FAQs</a>. Here’s a video that explains how to install and customize it.</p>
<figure><iframe allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A499Eeq9Lq8"></iframe></figure>
<h2>Tips for improving your customer support chatbot</h2>
<p>No matter how simple or complex your chatbot is, great conversational design and a clear sense of your <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/craft-a-brand-voice-that-converts">brand voice</a> are crucial. Beyond those, how much detail you add to your Facebook bot depends on the needs of your business. If you’re looking for a more robust solution for providing the best customer service, consider incorporating some of these helpful add-ons to a basic bot:</p>
<h3>A menu option for support access any time   🔗</h3>
<p>The persistent menu is a navigation menu that users can access at any point during the conversation with your bot. You can link to your FAQ or customer support flow here. That way, users can get support from your chatbot at any time, no matter what they’re currently doing in the bot.</p>
<p>If you’re building in the <em>Automation → Flows</em> tab, use <a href="https://youtu.be/DWovaAjFOOk">the Persistent Menu Entry Point</a> to set this up. If you’re building in the <em>Automation→Blocks</em> tab, you can edit the persistent menu in the <em>Configure</em> tab.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb7e11deac6e_Untitled.png" alt="" height="415" width="726" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAI0lEQVR4nGOwsrKSkZUTEhGvrKpmOHTo0PLlK65dv/H06VMAa+YMIaOnVNwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>Add a link to your customer service flow in the persistent menu, so bot users can get support at any time.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Artificial intelligence (AI) for smarter replies 🤖</h3>
<p>AI can enhance a user’s experience with your customer support chatbot. It helps the bot understand the user’s intent so it can give accurate, helpful responses to free-form text input. You can <a href="https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/828883-keywords">create basic AI rules</a> in the <em>Set Up AI</em> tab (under the <em>Automation</em> tab). Here’s how AI rules work: If a user’s typed, custom message includes one of the keywords in your rule, the bot will respond with the answer you’ve set.</p>
<h3>The option to chat with a human instead 👨🏼‍💻</h3>
<p>The debate is not technology vs. human interaction. Instead, the best support experiences combine the two. Chatbots for customer service should as the first line of defense for support teams. Then, if a user has a more complex question, <a href="https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/849315-live-chat">set up Live Chat</a> so the bot can pass them along to a human agent. That agent can pause the bot flow to jump in and resolve the user’s query personally. When they’re finished, they can resume the flow so the user can continue their conversation with the bot.</p>
<p>And if you’d like to track these support-team interactions via tickets in your CRM, you can make use of <a href="https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/2912153-conversation-handover">Chatfuel’s conversation handover</a>. It lets you integrate your <a href="https://meetfox.com/blog/4-crm-tools-to-manage-your-clients">third-party CRM</a> so the agents on your team can continue to work through that software, even when taking over conversations from the bot.</p>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bbcab8deac6f_live-chat-phone.png" alt="" height="393" width="372" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAAECAIAAAAmkwkpAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAPUlEQVR4nGMoqm/28fXNKaoQ0bRl2Ldvf15ujoWVg7qRC8PmLZvFxURTU5L////HkFFY1dre39zaWVbTAgAFfxV1kTrIlgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>This is how the initiation of a Live Chat session would appear to your bot's users.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Tags for different types of users 🏷</h3>
<p>User attributes, or tags for users who chat with your bot, are a great way to track the effectiveness of your customer service bot. Just set your bot to assign attributes to users based on their interactions: what source they come from, whether they use live chat or not, etc. Then, you can measure how their support experiences may relate to more purchases, a higher LTV, etc. over time.</p>
<h3>A way to monitor and optimize 🧪</h3>
<p>There’s room for improvement in every bot, no matter how simple or complex it may be. It’s important to monitor your chatbot’s performance often and optimize as needed. Here are a few ways to do that:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Inline stats.</strong> These at-a-glance statistics will show you how many users have viewed and clicked on each block in your Messenger chatbot’s flow. It’s an easy way to pinpoint any bottlenecks or drop-off points in the customer support experience.</li>
<li><strong>A/B testing.</strong> The A/B Test plugin lets you show multiple versions of the same blocks to different groups of users. If one version performs significantly better than the other, you can make that change final in your Facebook chatbot for an improved user experience.</li>
<li><strong>Ask your users</strong>. One of the simplest ways to see if users find your customer support chat bot helpful is to ask them! At the end of the conversation, your bot can request that they rate their experience via quick replies. (You can even use the Save User Input plugin if you’d also like to gather text comments from them.) Then, adjust your bot as needed based on the feedback you receive.</li>
</ul>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb6748deac70_starz.png" alt="" height="204" width="586" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAABCAIAAAB2XpiaAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAFUlEQVR4nGPw8/eXkZEuLy//+OkTABlrBXqUUivPAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>A simple way to find out if customers are finding your bot useful: Ask them!</figcaption></figure>
<h2>How to bring customers to your support chatbot</h2>
<p>You want your customer support chat bot to be available wherever prospects and customers are when they have questions. That’s where Chatfuel’s Entry Points come in. If you think of your chatbot like a freeway, Entry Points are like on ramps. They direct new users to your bot from outside sources. Here are a few Entry Points that are especially useful for customer service chatbots:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://youtu.be/yb2yCJshWV8"><strong>Customer Chat</strong></a> (when your chatbot appears in a small window on your website). There are two support scenarios where this Entry Point is especially helpful. First, a potential customer might be browsing your website and have a question about a product or service. Your bot can pop up and offer help, answering their questions and moving them toward a purchase or lead capture. Second, an existing customer might visit your site specifically looking for a way to contact support. The bot can appear and offer help as your support team’s first line of defense.</li>
</ul>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb4831deac71_Untitled.png" alt="" height="1680" width="2960" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAIklEQVR4nGMozyoWZNB2NAm8d/chQ2FivjyTZmFG5/v//wF2fArNFyvdrAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>The Customer Chat Entry Point lets you set your bot to appear on your website.</figcaption></figure>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://youtu.be/PF_uI1_HCvE"><strong>Facebook Page</strong></a> (when visitors are led to a chat with your bot after clicking the button on your Facebook page). If your Facebook Messenger inbox is constantly flooded with questions from prospects or customers, this Entry Point is a great option. It’ll send those who try to contact your page right to your chatbot, so it can assist them immediately. And, as mentioned above (in the <em>How to set up a customer service chatbot</em> section), you can use this Entry Point to automatically set up your first few basic FAQs for you, as Icebreakers.</li>
</ul>
<figure><img src="/cms/static/blog/60afa6a88bd1bb811ddeac72_03.png" alt="" height="2191" width="4033" blurDataURL="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAACE4AAAhOAFFljFgAAAAI0lEQVR4nGNgkM9j0ChkEApjUMhk6Nj75vn//6fe/1918TcAaF0MXM7MwIUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur"><figcaption>The Facebook Page Entry Point will send users right to your chatbot when they click the button on your Facebook page.</figcaption></figure>
<p>And of course, we recommend making use of the Persistent Menu Entry Point too, as mentioned in the previous section. There are also two other Entry Points you might find useful for your support bot in certain cases: REF Links, and Send to Messenger. Learn about them all in this video tutorial. 👇</p>
<figure><iframe allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qMG7tI41jNY"></iframe></figure>
<h2>Excellent customer service chatbot examples</h2>
<p>Here at Chatfuel, we’ve seen plenty of major clients build incredibly effective Facebook chatbots for support. First, one of the best customer service chatbot examples is 3D Mats, an online store for car accessories. They built a chatbot that answers FAQs, and uses a product quiz to help customers find the right accessory for their car’s make and model. The result: a 70% reduction in repetitive inquiries!</p>
<p>Another top example of <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/hellofresh-reduces-support-wait-times-with-chatfuel-messenger-bot">customer support chat bot case studies</a> comes from the meal-kit delivery service HelloFresh. Before they built a Messenger bot, their average customer response time was five hours. Once they launched the bot, that time dropped to an hour and eleven minutes—a 76% decrease, despite a 47% increase in total message volume! It’s all thanks to the fact that their bot now handles a large portion of inquiries, which frees up their support team to help customers with more detailed questions.</p>
<h2>Build your own customer support chatbot for free</h2>
<p>What is customer service? It’s more than just a problem-solving conversation. It’s an opportunity to impress your customers, and to build loyalty and LTV. With customer service bots, you can ensure your customers receive this kind of high-quality support every time. Chatbots in customer service is a trend that’s here to stay, because no brand can afford to lose out on business because of long response times or inconsistent support.</p>
<p>👉Ready to get started with customer service software for your business? <a href="https://chatfuel.com">Sign up for a free Chatfuel account</a> to build your first chatbot for support. When you’re ready to scale your support bot to unlimited users (and access lots of other perks), upgrade to Pro. Happy botting!</p>

Find out how a customer support chat bot can help your brand provide a better customer experience.