Let’s talk about cleaning up your landing pages and optimizing your list-building strategy using Smart Sense.
You’ve probably noticed a resurgence of pop-ups across the internet.
Everyone is building out their lists, which was fine when life on the web revolved around email.
But these days, there’s a new game in town. Email is but one of many channels that people are spending their time on. Messenger and SMS are competing with email for the title of the best channel for reaching customers.
Not to mention people splitting their time between their phones, laptops, tablets, and more.
So Many Channels, So Little Time
Customers are fragmented across the internet, between different channels and devices.
Gone are the days where everyone was accessible via email inboxes.
Savvy brands are deploying ALL the latest plugins and popups they can to keep up with the shifting trends of the modern consumer.
The goal is to make sure that customers can be reached wherever they are spending their time.
But can there be too much of a good thing?
List-Building Builds Clutter
The problem with trying to cover all your bases is that it’s not always pretty.
This mess of modals isn’t from the 90s—this was seen in 2019.
A pop-up for email, a modal for Messenger, a customer chat widget for onsite communication, and (not pictured) a page takeover modal on mobile devices.
Some shops are able to fine-tune their settings across the various products
It can quickly get hairy—no one wants to end up creating a modal mess on their page. Check out this piece for some help on choosing the right Messenger modal for your site.
A Smarter Solution for Contact Capture
But what if instead of throwing things at the wall and hoping that something sticks, your site was smarter?
The easiest thing would be to allow customers to opt-in with just one click using a Messenger opt-in, but this only works smoothly if the user is already logged into Facebook. Luckily, most users are, and it’s much harder to fake a Facebook account than it is to drop in a bogus email address.
But for the folks who don’t use Facebook, then what?
Typing an email in is no problem for desktop users who have a full keyboard and all their digits at their disposal, but typing in an email address on a phone can be a pain!
In that case, what about having them send you a text message instead?
Many factors affect how likely a customer will be to opt-in to your list.
What if your site could automatically detect these details about your visitors? Wouldn’t you want to make smart choices based on what device a customer is browsing from, whether or not they are logged in to Facebook, or if they’ve even been to your site before?
Smart Sense would just do the smart, right thing.
Display the modal with the highest likelihood of collecting your visitor’s contact info with the most frictionless modal at your disposal.
A mobile user that is not logged in to Facebook might find it a hassle to log in but probably wouldn’t mind shooting out a preset SMS message to start a conversation with your brand.
Smart Sense routes the user to the modal that is most likely to capture their contact information.
ShopMessage Smart Sense Technology
Smart Sense is designed to play nice with other 3rd Party modals, instead of competing for the customers’ attention like crabs in a barrel.
Smart Sense now comes standard for all growth plugins created through ShopMessage.
Visitor traffic will be directed based on factors (like the ones described above) to grow your lists without annoying your customers.
ShopMessage coordinates the various plugins and modals like a conductor leading an orchestra, or an air traffic controller. Create an experience that converts, rather than overwhelms.
Still have questions? Check out this help doc for more details!
Facebook Messenger Marketing gives brands a valuable new channel for growing revenue. Some strategies and tactics will be familiar, and some are brand new.
In this webinar, our co-founder and CEO, Arjun Ohri, walks you through it all. We’ll dive in and teach you everything you need to know to crush it with Messenger.
Shipping Notifications and order updates stick the landing for your customer’s post-purchase experience.
Customers are kept up to date on the status of their order and encouraged to continue building their relationship with your brand.
The Benefits of Shipping Notifications & Order Updates
Think of Shipping Notifications & Order Updates as an upgrade to your post-purchase follow-up experience. These Messenger strategies allow you to build brand loyalty and drive repeat business through automated post-purchase nurture sequences on Messenger.
Great graphic, McKinsey!
The postpurchase experience is a critical stage of the customer journey in shaping their perception of your product and brand. It influences how they will view the entire category, and can even determine whether or not they ever come back to your store. ShopMessage’s new post-purchase features create more touch points to entice your customer back to your store.
The best part is, all your customer touchpoints are in one place for your customer. Instead of digging through a cluttered email inbox to find their receipt or their thank you coupon, they can just find it in their Messenger chat history with your brand.
Shipping Notifications & Order Updates reduce customer friction to re-engaging with your brand while delivering value every step of the way.
Shipping Notifications Done Right Can Deliver More Than Just A Tracking Number
What are Shipping Notifications?
A new ShopMessage flow that updates your customer when their order is on its way to them.
The shipping notifications flow can help you keep your customers updated on their order throughout the fulfillment process.
What do they do?
The flow sends your customers a message on Messenger when their order ships. The message includes a tracking number (where available) and a link back to your Shopify store’s Thank You page.
If your fulfillment and logistics are on a dependable schedule, you can even fill the gap with cute messages along the way.
If you know that your shipping goes out on a 3-5 day schedule, you can send a message on Day 2 saying their package just on the truck. On Day 3 saying they just left the local sorting facility.
Advanced Shipping Notifications flow like this add character to your messaging. The goal is to keep customers engaged in the conversation all the way to delivery day and beyond. Follow-up these engaging updates with a Quick Reply. Allowing your customers a way to engage back with your brand tells Facebook that they want to keep the conversation alive.
More engagements with your customers give you more opportunities to make a great impression and redirect them back to your website or other destination of choice.
How Does it Work Though?
ShopMessage’s Shopify integration will listen for changes in your Shopify store’s order records.
When we’ve heard that the order is fulfilled via your existing fulfillment processes, ShopMessage will get notified. We’ll take that shipping info, drop it in our message template and kick off the Shipping Notifications flow for your customer.
Your customers will then receive a message accessible on both Facebook and Messenger containing their shipping information. We’ve even configured the default to include a link to your store’s Thank You page which contains their order information and tracking link.
Shipping Notifications is a flow that includes all opted-in customers from your site. Anyone who has purchased an item after your Shipping Notifications flow has been activated will be eligible to receive these shipping notifications, as long as they have already opted-in to messages from your business.
How the Order Updates Growth Plugin Can Help You Collect Opt-Ins for You Shipping Notifications Flow
What’s this New Order Updates Thing?
Order Updates is a new growth plugin placement option for Shopify merchants using ShopMessage. The growth plugin goes on your Thank You Page, displaying after the customer has completed checkout. at peak happiness with their purchase.
What does the Order Updates plugin do, again?
The Order Updates plugin gives your customers a way to sign up for updates about their order from the Thank You page.
The new growth plugin type also allows you, the merchant, to set up three follow-up messaging sequences for your customers right out of the box.
First, you can send an immediate confirmation that the Order Updates request has been received. As soon as they sign up for updates, they’ll receive this message confirming their sign up.
Second, the Order Updates plugin enrolls customer into your Customer Thank You flow. This flow contains the customer’s receipt, a link back to your Thank You page and any other messaging you would like to include. ShopMessage customers will very likely have this flow set up already, but if not, turning it on is simple. Flip the switch!
Third, this plugin will enroll the customer into the Shipping Notifications flow described above. Yes, it’s true that all opted-in customers will be enrolled in the Shipping Notifications flow. But, you still need them to opt-in before you can send them messages!
Customers will inevitably want to know where their order is. The Order Updates plugin is a great way to enroll customers into an automated Shipping Notifications flow that keeps them up to date on their order.
How is the Order Updates Growth Plugin so good at collecting opt-ins?
Unlike other growth plugins on your site, this plugin will display for all customers, whether they are logged in to Facebook from their browser or not.
This increases your chances of collecting valuable opt-ins while delivering real value to your customers at the same time.
Prompting customers to opt-in to receive messages about their new order is a recommended best practice. Offer real value in exchange for their permission to be messaged and you reduce the friction to collecting your customers’ permission to receive messaging.
This is a more convenient way to share info that you would be giving them for free in an email.
Allowing customers to sign up for Order Updates preempts an onslaught of order status inquiries in your customer support channel.
What About the Immediate Confirmation Message?
Your Order Updates plugin can also send your customer a message immediately after they sign up for updates. By giving your customer immediate feedback that their request to be notified has been heard, you’re able to start your relationship with your customer on Messenger on the right foot.
The immediate confirmation message feature is standard across all growth plugins. Read more about Immediate Confirmation Message and see how you can use it to enhance trust in your brand.
How to Get Started
First of all, sign up with ShopMessage if you haven’t already!
When you log into your dashboard, the Shipping Notifications flow will be displayed as a recommended flow to enable. Click here to walk through the details.
When you create a new growth plugin, the Order Updates plugin will be included in the list. Shopify stores can take advantage of this feature today. Don’t worry, more platforms coming soon!
If you already have the Shipping Notifications flow turned on, it will be enabled already.
If you don’t have it turned on yet, you can turn it on during the Follow-Up configuration for this growth plugin.
Turning the Shipping Notifications flow on here turns it on for all of your customers. It does not matter whether they opted in through the Order Updates plugin or a different plugin.
M.Me Links plugged into a ShopMessage conversation sequence give you a powerful way to engage with your fans, followers, and customers. Here are 7 ways you can set up M.Me Links powered by ShopMessage for your business today.
1. Migrate Your E-Mail List to Messenger
The first thing you should do is distribute an M.Me link in your emails and email signatures. Then email subscribers will convert into more engaged Messenger subscribers—low-hanging fruit!. Email has served us well for years, but you want to make sure that you are able to reach your customers wherever they happen to be. Using your email list to turbocharge the growth of your Messenger list is a great way to increase your ability to reach customers who may not always check their email.
2. Re-Engage Your Social Media Followers
At the same time, you should share links in social media posts. Name me a social media platform that doesn’t give you the way to share links? Tweet your links, drop them in a Facebook post description, pair with a Pinterest infographic pin, and even your Instagram swipe-up links all at the same time! Tailor the next step of the acquisition funnel to reference the preceding step’s contextual content.
3. Leverage Influencer Reach on YouTube and Instagram
While those are going out, why not sponsor a YouTuber / Influencer and have them stick the link in their video descriptions or bio. Drill down deeper with partnerships with your existing network of ambassadors. When you create a mutually beneficial experience for your two audiences with a personalized and enriching for their audience, everyone wins! Then you can both dive into the detailed conversation metrics at every step of the way.
4. Embed Links in Your Digital Marketing Content
Insert a Messenger CTA link in your digital marketing content. Longtail contacts will still receive the same appropriate messaging whether they find you immediately, or 5 months down the road. Imagine your e-book getting passed around and having the tracking to see all the new customers being driven by that document.
5. Print Dynamic QR Codes on Branded Materials
Put it in a QR Code and print it on your packaging materials right away! It’s a great way to remind customers after they receive their items that there’s more you can offer them. Imagine a code on your boxes or bags that can be scanned to hook your customers up with a Free Shipping discount. Forward-thinking brands can even print limited edition promo QR code shirts for your ambassadors to wear in real life. Guerilla marketing at high-traffic events like Coachella or South by Southwest is about to get a whole lot more interesting!
6. Set-up an M.Me Link in your Footers
Have your M.Me link available as a contact channel on your website. It’s a nice alternative if you don’t have a dedicated customer support agent. When visitors have questions or demand to speak to the manager, you can send them here. An M.Me Link designed to handle inquiries and FAQs can be a great way to get people the answers they need without bombarding your customer support channels.
7. Text it!
Last, but not least, consider a text. Daily Messenger volume now exceeds peak SMS volume. Texting a link is a great way to convert your SMS subscribers into Messenger contacts. Conversations happening over Messenger are less disruptive to your customers. At the same time, you can do a lot more to engage through a Messenger chat than through an SMS conversation. Make your brand more accessible via Messenger with additional signals to reach your customers on Facebook.
Ready to start turbocharging your Messenger list growth?
An effective Messenger Marketing strategy requires collecting OptIns from your customers. Opting-In is easy—as easy a click or two. It’s so easy that customers may not be sure what they had done to receive your messages.
The challenge is collecting OptIns without confusing your customers. First, you want to be transparent about how you are able to reach them on this new channel.
At F8, Facebook announced their company’s heightened focus on privacy and creating a good experience for their users. But, they also oozed confidence why Messenger is the future of business. Businesses should do their part to make the Messenger channel feel like a natural place to interact. In return, customers will continue their relationship with your brand.
Brands using ShopMessage’s Immediate OptIn Confirmation Messages are able to provide immediate feedback based on their engagements. This goodwill, in turn, lays the foundations for a customer to build a lasting relationship with your brand.
Wait, What’s an OptIn?
To communicate with your visitors via Messenger, you need to to get their permission first. An OptIn is how Facebook verifies who has permission to message whom. It’s the password that allows your business to proactively engage with your customers in Messenger.
Collecting Messenger OptIns is 2019’s equivalent of collecting emails 20 years ago. Businesses that invest in their list-building now will make Facebook Messenger their next big revenue-driving channel.
What’s the Immediate Confirmation Message?
Immediate OptIn Confirmation messages are a sweet feature upgrade for ShopMessage’s Growth Plugins. Businesses on Facebook are already using Growth Plugins to build Messenger subscriber lists.
It’s essentially a message that sends immediately after the Messenger OptIn event occurs. We’re not talking about days, hours or minutes here. We’re talking about messages that customers receive seconds after they engage with your brand.
Growth plugins were previously optimized around using the plugin to enter a customer into a messaging flow.
The problem was that flows don’t respond immediately. There is a time delay between the OptIn event and the receipt of the message. As a result, there will be a lag between the time that a Messenger OptIn event happens. This delay of even a few minutes can be enough time for a customer to lose interest.
This delay between action and reaction is not new. Even now, customers signing up via email address experience this problem.
With the Immediate OptIn Confirmation, businesses can set up a message that will send immediately. Then, seconds after the Messenger OptIn event occurs, your customer will receive a message from your business page in Messenger.
As a result, this creates a much better customer experience. You can build customer trust in this new channel by delivering the confirmation message immediately.
Since your customers are actively engaging with your brand, they are at peak receptivity to messages, despite the novelty of the channel. Customers receiving this external feedback that opting-in to messages with your brand was the right thing to do.
This micro-interaction with your business primes your customers to view your brand more positively. Furthermore, you can sweeten the experience by adding the delivery of a dynamic discount code. When you do this, you start your customers’ journey with your brand off on the right foot.
How To Use Immediate OptIn Confirmation Messaging Effectively
In order to be effective, you need to be in the shoes of your customer. An effective immediate OptIn confirmation is timely and relevant. Thus, it doesn’t distract your visitor from the thing you want them to continue doing.
Your customer will be able to trigger an immediate message one of several ways.
Visiting an M.Me Link from somewhere else on the internet
Clicking a send-to-messenger button on an onsite Growth Plugin.
Signing up for order updates — coming soon!
When this happens, a message will greet them. In order to be effective, the immediate message will be tailored around the context of the customer experience leading up to the OptIn event.
Visitors from an M.Me link may need additional context about what they gain from chatting with your business on Messenger. You can ask your visitors questions. You can then use their responses to tailor a more relevant landing page experience for them before moving them down your funnel.
People who click an onsite growth plugin will benefit from only receiving a brief confirmation message. You don’t want to pull their attention away from their onsite experience.
Mobile visitors may see your message as a push notification at the top of their phone as they are browsing. This is a great way to confirm receipt of the dynamic discount code in their inbox, without taking them off your site.
The most effective immediate OptIn confirmation messages treat Messenger as a companion experience. These messages support another interaction your customer is already having with your brand.
