In this modern day and age, e-commerce has one rule: always be on. Regardless of time zone, holiday, or day of the week, consumers expect to always be able to reach a company with their concerns 24/7. Social media has bolstered customer expectations as Facebook and Twitter – the most used social platforms for customer service issues – give users unrestricted access to communicate with a company at any given time.
However, the expectation doesn’t stop at being able to communicate with a brand at a moment’s notice. When customers interact with a company via social media, they typically expect a response within one hour, despite whether or not the inquiry was made during business hours. This expensive and altogether unreasonable expectation seems impossible to fulfill, right? Not anymore; meet Facebook messenger bots.
Features of Messenger Bots
One of the best features about messenger bots is that these artificially-intelligent wonders save businesses tons of money on a per-interaction basis. A customer service representative – who requires a wage – can only handle one interaction at a time, which makes for slower customer resolutions. It’s easy to see how quickly employee salary costs can multiply and eat away at company profits.
The ever-increasing volume of customer inquiries would require a company to hire more staff to keep up in a constant effort to please their customers. Meanwhile, a messenger bot is able to handle customer conversations simultaneously at any time of any day. Chatbots are a rare win-win for both the company and consumer. However, the benefits don’t stop there.
The instantaneous nature of messenger bots is a huge plus with consumers. According to a survey, 64% say the biggest benefit of chatbots is their 24-hour accessibility. The next most-noted benefits were the ability to get an instant response and answers to simple questions. The two frustrations go hand-in-hand, revealing the void that messenger bots are perfectly primed to fill.
Messenger Bots and Customer Service
When Harvard Business Review audited 2,241 U.S companies on their response time (via online interactions), the average response times were dismal. Over half of the companies took over 24 hours to reply – if they even responded at all. Besides reflecting a poor customer service practice, slow response times made those leads 60 times less likely to convert.
Bots are more than just great for businesses. Studies have found that consumers actually prefer them over traditional communication methods, such as phone calls and emails. In fact, Facebook reports that 56% of consumers would rather instant message than call customer service. Messenger bots are wonderfully diverse and can serve customers in a variety of ways. They are customizable in tone and design to match your brand in every way. They can also be customized to ease your customers through every stage of the purchase funnel.
Facebook messenger bots can drive awareness by providing content curated for their interests. They can alsp they can assist with customer acquisition by responding to customer interactions. Through this, they can provide personalized answers, facilitate transactions and make products and services directly purchasable. Lastly, they can also follow up with inquiries by current customers.
If your business wants to tap into the power of artificial intelligence, contact Next Level Marketing today. Our team of digital marketing experts can help you leverage the power of social media to capture leads, increase conversions and retain customers. Visit our site for a free consultation!
