So you’ve built your chatbot, brought it to light and made it public, and now you’re going to delete it? Grrr, wait! Why are you going to delete it? You just built it!
We all know this scenario. You took the step to build your chatbot, worked on perfecting, then brought it to light so people would start benefiting from your masterpiece of software, but bam – no one used it at all! And so; you just throw that artwork in the trash and delete your chatbot.
After all, the reason why we build bots is for our users to use them; whether it’s to answer their concerns, serve them, or sell to them.
If our users never use our bots, then our bots are… *I don’t even want to say it* but… a waste cost, time, effort, and precious precious code. I had to said it 🤷🏻♂️
Why Aren’t Your Users Using Your Chatbot?
How did that masterpiece go waste? Let’s think of all the possible reasons that can drive someone to stop using your chatbot.
- Your users don’t understand your bot: As we said in our last blog post, always track how well your users understand your bot and interact with it based on that, so you can upgrade it to be more understandable.
- Your bot is not of much help: What’s the point of a very understandable chatbot if it’s useless? Chatbots should either assist, serve, sell to, or at the very least entertain users. These are the basic chatbot uses.
- Your bot is hard to reach: Your bot is amazing, but people don’t know how to reach it or you made it too hard. The bot shouldn’t only be reachable through going on Facebook, clicking on the “Send Message” button, and clicking on “Get Started”.
How Can I make My Chatbot More Reachable?
Why do ads on social media, television, radio, or even billboards work? Let’s take a beverage company for an example. You’re driving on the highway, and you see a billboard for that beverage. Then it’s on the radio, maybe also on the TV, and perhaps on social media. It’s everywhere!
So now, you’re craving that beverage. You know which beverage I’m talking about.
Now, I know what you might be thinking of: No, don’t put a billboard for your chatbot for sure. So 90s 🙅🏻♂️
Your chatbot is already on Facebook. Imagine every time someone checks your website it prompts him to interact with it. A dream, right? Well, not anymore!
Using Facebook Native Plugins to Make Your Chatbot Easily Reachable
You can use several Facebook plugins to make reaching your chatbot easier than ever. Here’s some of them that work like magic.
1. The Customer Chat Plugin
This plugin allows you to integrate your Messenger experience directly into your website. Amazing, right? Allowing your users to interact with your business anytime with the same personalized experience they get in Messenger, or even complete a conversation with they originally started on Messenger. Read more about and apply it from here.
2. The Send to Messenger Plugin
This plugin is used on your website to trigger a specific authenticated event to your chatbot. It literally directs your users to use your chatbot on Messenger easier than ever! Read more about and apply it from here.
3. The Message Us Plugin
Similar to the Send to Messenger Plugin, the Message Us Plugin also gets embedded on your website to send visitors directly to start chatting with your chatbot. (Imagine how driving all or most of the traffic your website gets to your bot would grow it!) Read more about and apply it from here.
4. The Checkbox Plugin
Now this plugin is tricky and the good kind of tricky ones too! When your users are filling a form on your website, there will be a checkbox for them to opt-in to subscribing to your chatbot. Read more about and apply it from here.
Bonus, Simple Hacks
Other than Facebook plugins, there’re some simpler (somehow too simple) hacks you can use to help growing your bot.
1. The Customized Messenger Links (m.me links)
Rather than like a gazillion number in your Messenger bot link, you can create a customized Messenger m.me link that should usually be your business name [https://m.me/(Business Name)]. That way, people can almost never forget how to reach you again. Read more and apply it from here.
2. Using The Proper Built-In Call-to-Action (CTA)
Using Facebook Pages’ built-in call-to-action button to prompt people to send a message to your page to immediately start using your chatbot when they visit your page.
To setup your call to action button:
- Click + Add a Button below your page’s cover photo.
- Select a Contact you (Send Message) button from the dropdown menu.
- Select Send Message.
- Click Next.
- Select Messenger and click finish.
Once the button has been created, you can test your button:
- Hover over your button.
- Select Test Button.
3. Utilizing Your Cover Photo
Use the Facebook cover photo (or video, go crazy!) to say: “Hey guys, we have a chatbot and it’s usable here and it does this, and this, and that.” Otherwise, how will they know you have a one right under your cover photo?
Pro Tip: Even better, there’s an option in Facebook Pages settings that prompts a chat pop-up with your bot whenever your fans visit your page.
That’s a lot of growth hacks actually, use all or one at least, and watch your chatbot never getting lonely again!