A frustrating Messenger Menu experience will turn off your potential customers. Frustrated customers walk away, happy ones stay. Businesses that are even thinking about using conversational flows to drive revenue should know this.
But how could a messenger menu be conversational?
The Problem Faced by Businesses on Messenger
Here’s a story about the current state of the persistent menu using the analog phone to illustrate the problem faced by Businesses on Messenger today.
Imagine that a customer calls your store’s telephone number. It rings and rings until finally, the customer hangs up because no one was there on the other end.
Slightly better would be if the customer could call and get at least a menu of choices. “Push 1 to Browse Collections. Press 2 for Frequently Asked Questions. Choose 3 for…” and so on, and so forth. As ridiculous as Pushing 1 to browse products sounds, this is basically the functionality of the existing persistent menus on Facebook these days.
No one likes to be left hanging on the other end of the line, not knowing if they’ve been heard. The Messenger can now be paired with a conversation to create an engaging, frustration-free customer experience.
But what if when a customer Pushes 1, the voice on the other end starts asking more questions. It learns what types of products the customer is looking for, or what size, and what color before it takes them to your site.
It’s almost as if there WAS someone there on the other end of chat the first time the customer came in.
ShopMessage’s Messenger Menu provides the tools you need to automate this concierge-style experience to more deeply engage with your customers.
No one likes a boring menu.
Why You Should Care About Messenger Menus
There are over 20 billion messages being sent on Messenger between people and businesses each month. Customers are already using this channel to engage with your business.
The persistent Messenger menu is the first line of defense protecting your customer support channels from incoming customer requests. It gives customers control of their interaction with your brand.
Customers get the ability to navigate through a couple of layers of menu items to find what they’re looking for.
How Messenger Menus are Getting an Upgrade
The trouble with this is that the customer journey is often complex, with many steps. You might need to ask your customers 3-4-5 or more questions to understand their needs and direct them to a solution.
With the existing persistent messenger menus, nested menus provide at most 2 levels of clarification. Your customers will need to click a link to some destination and the onus is on them to find what they are looking for from there.
ShopMessage’s conversational message sequences provide an extension on the standard persistent menu capabilities. You will be able to anticipate your customers’ needs and present their solution, automatically.
TL;DR: You can set up a large tree of messages. You can have up to 93 Titles with 75 calls-to-action. 3 menu items with 5 sub-menus each having 5 double-sub-menus. The math checks out.
This is what 75 menu CTAs look like.
This is certainly a lot of options, but a lot rides on you choosing the right hierarchy on the first level choice.
What if your customer needs more guidance?
Sometimes the customer needs a little extra help, and there may not always be anyone around to help. The phone will just ring and ring and ring. The dots that show the person on the other end of the chat is typing will never show up.
ShopMessage introduces the ability to take any of those numerous menu items and plug a message sequence into it. Doing this unlocks a much more robust way to further engage with your customer.
3 Ways Brands are Using Messenger Menus to Guide and Engage with Their Customers
Providing highly targeted product recommendations using a product quiz
Reframing FAQ as a conversational interaction instead of a long page of a text
Telling your brand story, fireside chat style
Basically, Customers can interact with your brand through a series of quick reply buttons in the conversation that narrows their search, categorizes their needs, and funnels them to the correct landing page.
And best of all, you can create and manage your Facebook pages’ persistent menu right from the ShopMessage app where you’re already using other flows to drive sales.
3 Benefits of Using ShopMessage’s Messenger Menu
Take customers deeper into your chat experience using images, videos, carousels, and message quick replies before presenting an outbound link to your website.
Track customer behavior such as purchases on your site that direct results of interactions with different Menu items.
See which conversations are engaging your customers the most. Understand what’s resonating about your brand by following the data.
Newcomers will see a Get Started option to engage with your page’s Messenger channel.
Where Does Your Messenger Menu Live?
The persistent menu appears in Messenger chats with your Facebook page.
When a customer engages in a chat with your brand, and you have a persistent menu configured, it will be visible at the bottom of the viewport window.
To activate your menu, the “Get Started” button must also be enabled. New users attempting to chat with your brand must have a way to opt-in to receive messages from your Facebook page.
You can optionally disable the input field that allows customers to type whatever they like. Brands that don’t have the resources to invest in a dedicated human to respond to inbound customer requests would benefit.
Removing the ability to send messages effectively removes the expectation that a reply is coming soon. This, in turn, removes the direct point of frustration.
Your Messenger Menu is accessible from the main navigation.
How to Get Started with Your Messenger Menu
The Messenger Menu feature is live! To access the persistent menu, click the Messenger Menu item from the side navigation of your dashboard.
Here you’ll be able to set up your menu. Different stores will have different menu requirements. Next, learn to make the most out of your Messenger Menu.
5 Tips for Making the Most of Your Messenger Menu
Go beyond a simple set of nested links. Don’t just cross your fingers that you have what your customer needs.
Integrate your brand’s Messenger Menu with ShopMessage’s conversation message builders to create a more engaging, responsive experience for your customers.
Send your customers exactly where they want to go. Why send them to a landing page with your latest product releases if they have a preference for discounts and clearance?
Utilize quick reply button navigation so your customers can tell you what their preferences are. Based on their responses, you can present to them a collection of the most relevant products.
Communicate in your brand’s voice. A conversational medium deserves a conversational voice. Give emojis a try. Who doesn’t like to be greeted with a smile?
So, how about it? Are you ready to get started with ShopMessage?
M.Me Links (a.k.a M-Me Links, Messenger Links, M-Dot-Me Links, Mmmmm links) are an essential component of your conversational marketing strategy for two reasons.
First, Facebook Messenger stands to be THE revenue channel of 2019 for businesses on Facebook. You may have an email list already, but do you get 80% open-rates and 25% CTRs on your emails?
M.Me links allow you to migrate your users over to a more engaging and effective conversation channel with your customers.
Second, ShopMessage combines the versatility of a hyperlink, the efficiency of automated user flows, and the authenticity of a conversational interface. This triple-threat marketing tool helps you collect all the info you need while building an ongoing relationship with your Messenger contacts.
This new functionality enables businesses to create a scalable concierge-style experience for customers discovering their Facebook Messenger chat from across the internet.
M.Me Links take visitors from around the web to your Facebook Page’s Messenger channel.
What are M.Me Links?
In 2016, Facebook announced M.Me Links. These are a native feature that allows businesses to spread links around the internet for potential customers to discover. When clicked, these links open up a Messenger conversation with your Facebook business page.
Facebook created usernames for your Facebook pages which make it easier to find your business on Facebook. We set “shopmessage” as our custom identifier. When you click https://www.facebook.com/shopmessage, you’re taken to the Facebook page for ShopMessage.
You business page’s M.Me links also use these identifiers. When you click https://www.m.me/shopmessage, you’re taken to a Messenger chat conversation with our business page.
When you arrive in this conversation, one of two things will happen:
Visitors who do not have an existing conversation with our Facebook page on Messenger will see a “Get Started” button. When a user clicks this button, they are saying to Facebook “Yes, let me talk with this business. Let this business to talk to me.” Clicking the button will display the Messenger thread.
If you have already had an existing Messenger thread with our business, then you will see our history together.
Why You Should Care About These Links Now
Although Facebook has honored custom ref params on M.Me links since the feature has been available, you couldn’t use them for much more than tracking traffic.
Don’t get me wrong, tracking traffic is important. In fact, ShopMessage lets you track link clicks and revenue associated with customers earned through each of your M.Me links so you can drill down into the traffic sources that are working for you.
But what if you don’t want the customer journey to stop there?
Now you can continue the conversation with the people clicking through to your brand. You’ll be able to customize a unique set of responses for users that click M.Me links made in ShopMessage. You will also have data tracking the clicks and sales driven by your custom M.Me links.
This is the first significant improvement in your customers’ experiences with M.Me Links since 2016. Now visitors can receive an immediate response from your brand that speaks to where your customers are coming from.
They won’t have to type in anything and wait for a human to respond. Your chat experience will be more engaging because it says the right thing to your visitor as soon as they arrive.
Oh, and we made it so you can make your custom ref param any string of text you want. Remembering and sharing links should be easy.
How Your Customers Benefit From Better M.Me Chat Experiences
The key change here is context.
Now, you can craft intelligent, thoughtful responses that acknowledge the preceding context of your customer’s journey. Rather than staffing someone behind the chat, your responses will be ready to deploy whenever a visitor appears through your link.
Your customers won’t experience the confusion of getting excited about your brand, clicking the link, and not having any kind of follow-up to push them through to the next step of your marketing funnel.
Merchants using ShopMessage can use M.Me Links to create a conversational experience. These messages greet visitors coming from different traffic sources across the web in a contextually relevant way. A few words go a long way in easing the transition into a Messenger conversation with your brand.
You can tailor your custom ref parameters to different incoming customer experiences.
3 Examples of Possible M.Me Customer Experiences
1 A user clicks a link in your email newsletter, blog or twitter feed and receives a dynamic discount code. It’s a great way to thank them for their readership.
2 A visitor sees an ad on Instagram with a link to learn more about your products and services. Clickers are taken to a Messenger chat thread that asks them some easy quick-reply questions. These can help identify where in the purchasing cycle they are or what their preferences are. Then you can send them a link to the most appropriate landing page.
3 A customer receives their item. The packing slip has a QR code on it. When scanned, it sends them an animated gif in Messenger that thanks them for being a loyal customer.
There is no limit to how many M.Me Link parameters you set up. Just make sure that each parameter is unique to your page.
How to Get Started Using Conversational M.Me Links
ShopMessage merchants can create conversational M.Me Links like they would other growth plugins. Select M.Me from the list of Growth Plugin types in the Growth Plugin creation flow.
M.Me Links are a type of Growth Plugin. This is because they help businesses grow their relationship with more customers in Messenger. Using M.Me Links made through ShopMessage is a win-win. They create a great experience for your customers while growing your brand’s list of Messenger contacts along the way.
Contacts created through your M.Me growth plugins will qualify for other Messenger Marketing flows you have set up in ShopMessage. This includes customer retargeting flows like cart abandonment and browse abandonment. Instead of just creating a chat, you’re creating a future relationship with these visitors.
Lastly, M.Me Links work across the internet wherever links are shared. Here are a few ideas to help you get started.
7 Strategies to Grow Your Messenger List with M.Me Links
1. Migrate Your E-Mail List to Messenger
Distribute in your emails and email signatures and convert those email subscribers into more engaged Messenger subscribers. 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
Share them 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! Tailor the next step of the acquisition funnel to reference the preceding step’s contextual content.
3. Leverage Influencer Reach on YouTube and Instagram
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. Create a mutually beneficial experience for your two audiences by making the experience super personal and enriching for the audience, with 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. It’s a great way to remind customers 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. Print limited edition promo QR code shirts for your ambassadors to wear IRL for some guerilla marketing at high-traffic events like Coachella or South by Southwest.
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!
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. Become more accessible via Messenger with additional signals to reach your customers on Facebook
Dynamic Discounts protect businesses from coupon fraud.
Most Shopify merchants have fallen victim to Coupon Fraud at one point or another. Bad apples always seem to rear their ugly heads to take advantage of your generosity when you’re giving away sweet discounts in your coupons.
We created Dynamic Discounts to give merchants a way to reward their customers for taking an action, while minimizing the merchant’s exposure to the risks of coupon abuse and fraud.
What are Dynamic Discounts?
ShopMessage’s new Dynamic Discounts are autogenerated, unique single-use discount codes that Shopify merchants can share without worrying about fraud or oversharing.
Customers that opt-in to Facebook Messenger conversations with your brand qualify for receiving these discount codes. Merchants have to set up their discount rules only once. Each customer that receives the Dynamic Discount receives a new code having the same discounting rules.
How Do Dynamic Discounts Work?
Dynamic Discounts plug into Shopify’s Price Rules API to create and distribute unique discount codes though Messenger. Your customers will always receive Shopify-compliant discount codes.
At the same time, you’ll gain better insights into the types of discounts that are driving the most value to your customers. You will gain a clearer picture of the growth drivers for your business. Your exposure to risk from potential coupon abuse will decrease dramatically.
Make discount code abuse and oversharing on coupon code sites a thing of the past with Dynamic Discounts!
Generate unique codes for each customer to limit coupon abuse.
What Kinds of Deals Can You Give?
The first great piece of news is that Shopify users will be already familiar with the functionality. It’s a lot of the rules that you’ve already used in Shopify natively.
Just in case you’e not familiar with the bells and whistles, here’s a quick run down of what deals are waiting for you.
Discounting by Type
There are three main types of discounts that we support.
Fixed Percentage: how about 10% off for signing up for that newsletter?
Fixed Amount: why don’t we hook up customers with $10 on their birthday?
Free Shipping: everybody loves a good freebie!
Choose what type of reward you want to incentivize without worrying about it being abused. You can give a percentage off, some flat dollar amount, or just throw in free shipping.
With all Dynamic Discount types, you get the benefit of knowing that your codes won’t get reshared or your coupons abused.
But that’s not all! Each discount type can have other Shopify restrictions applied depending on your marketing needs.
Discount restrictions are not mutually exclusive and you can combine multiple constraints to create Dynamic Discounts for all types of sales or promotions.
Leverage different discounting strategies and promotions dynamically.
Cart Catalog-Specific Discounting
Do you want to offer discounts for certain products or collections only? You can! Or, if you’re feeling extra generous, just apply the discount to the entire cart! Your customers will love it.
Discounting With Minimums
How about giving discounts with minimum requirements? Let customers spend $100 to get 25% off! Give FREE SHIPPING when a customer orders 3 or more items. Deals like this are easy with Dynamic Discount minimums.
Discounting Based on Scarcity
Scarcity discounts work really well when you want to create a sense of urgency. Drive engagement amongst your customers and followers of your brand with a deal that won’t last forever.
Maybe you want to hook up the first 100 people with an insane BOGO or giveaway—you can!
Or maybe you want to have an ongoing discount that can only be used once per person. You can do that too!
Time-Based Discounting
Seasonal sales and limited-time deals are great ways to incentivize customers to act quickly. The ephemerality of the deal increases the perceived value of what you’re offering.
Set up several in advance to create a truly awesome Cyber Week experience that brings customers back to see the latest you have to offer.
Where Can I Share My Dynamic Discounts?
The second great piece of news is that Dynamic Discounts fit seamlessly into the customer’s journey that is already taking place with your brand.
You already have the tools to spread your discounts. You just have to use them!
Distribution via Growth Plugins
Now you can give each and every person a unique discount code when they’ve discovered your brand.
If you’re using ShopMessage’s Growth Plugins to grow your Messenger contact list, you can now offer a unique Dynamic Discount code to everyone who joins your family.
Just like in email signups modules, you can reward new users for signing up for Messenger communications with your brand.
You can display your Dynamic Discount on the completed state of your growth plugin after a visitor has opted in. At the same time, send this same code to your users as part of the welcome message you send confirming that they have opted-in to messages.
People get interrupted, distracted, or just plain forget what they were doing whether we like it or not. Reminding them to come back later is easy when you leave them a discount in their inbox.
Distribution via Messenger Flows
Send your contacts a unique code through Messenger that can be saved for later.
Create discounts in your Abandoned Cart flow for customers that can only be used on each specific cart.
Make unique Browse Abandonment and Winback flows to make it less risky for you to lure your customers back. Some customers just need an extra push with an attractive discount.
What’s better than converting your paying customers into loyal fans of your brand? Give them the true VIP treatment with stupendous savings on their next order.
Who doesn’t like a good discount? Customers who receive discounts are 3x more likely to convert.
Start Using Dynamic Discounts
The third thing that’s great about Dynamic Discounts is that you can get started with them right now!
For existing Shopify merchants using ShopMessage, we’ve prepared a step-by-step walkthrough with all your questions answered here. Please note that you will need to accept updated Shopify permissions. These permissions will allow ShopMessage to set up Dynamic Discounts in the Discounts section of your Shopify store.
For non-Shopify merchants, let us know! We’re working on it next, but it’s always great to hear from our customers!
Not yet using ShopMessage? Click below to get started today!
We're Live with our team of Messaging experts! Join the conversation now and learn what Messenger can do for your business, along with tips on how to get started. Submit your questions in the comments section below for the opportunity to get answers Live!
Listen in as they cover a wide range of topics, including how to engage your audiences without spamming them, intelligently automate common customer flows using a conversational interface, and earn more ROI for your marketing spend.
Or jump through a partial transcript highlighting ShopMessage.
And Arjun, like Christian, you’re representing a developer perspective. What would you say is important in terms of some of the use cases you’ve seen where Messenger works and even where Messenger doesn’t work.
Arjun: [00:08:30]
Sure. So first of all, let me with Messenger you have the opportunity to really. Meet people where they actually are, you know, all the stats are saying that the biggest growth is coming from 1 to 1 and small group messaging and so people are spending more time within the Messenger apps.
So, you know with that, that really gives you the opportunity to be more personalized and be more engaging. So in terms of the actual use cases where thing that especially in the e-commerce world. There’s a few that advertisers really taking advantage of. So I would say first of all is just helping users, just helping customers actually go through and finish their purchase or finish whatever goals that they have.
Oftentimes for e-commerce, their goals are things like their ROAS or their conversion rate and making sure customers are happy throughout their customer journey.
Continuing The Conversation
Arjun: [00:09:09]
So with Messenger, the best use cases are, first of all, tying what customers are doing on their site which is where most of the activity takes place to actually a Messenger conversation.
So if somebody’s adding a few products to their cart and they’re really kind of deliberating what they should buy. How do you follow up later on in Messenger and really give customers a personalized experience to either continue that conversation either with the bot or with the person or just have a direct link to go back and finish the purchase that they started and then so and then overall the scenarios that work best or when you’re figuring out where your customers are in their life cycle and making sure you have the right message.
Throughout the life cycle.
Chidi: [00:09:45]
Okay, you mentioned returned as Ben mentioned purchases, which should advertisers be thinking about when they’re talking about how to should I actually optimize?
Arjun: [00:10:01]
Right. So most of our— a lot of the advertisers that we see be very successful on Messenger, they’ve already been really successful they already invest heavily on Facebook and Instagram already and so Facebook and Instagram for the stories and for the newsfeed are great for product Discovery and really kind of give them the public, like giving a public view of your brand and so when Brands want to actually get into Messenger. Then this gives them the opportunity to be more personalized in their messaging. So in terms of what they should actually do is first of all building up that Messenger Channel through on-site capture, allowing users to opt in while they’re on the website and also using click to Messenger ads in case that there’s not already an open conversation. Maybe you can start a conversation with the brand after they’ve already considered your product. And then lastly is re-engaging users later on through sponsored messages that— they can be Promotional and we’re seeing customers drive over 30x ROAS.
If you want to tell somebody you can get 30x ROAS on an ad Channel people usually say, like sign me up. So this is really an opportunity for advertisers to get a great return on their investment while giving customers a good experience.
When people drop off and then with Messenger you can get back to that person where they actually left off.
How do you think about that? Like what are the benefits of being able to get back to somebody right where they left off?
Arjun: [00:18:46]
Sure, so, I mean generally if you talk to Merchants talk to eCommerce Merchant, the biggest problem tends to be abandoned carts. So advertisers are spending so much money to acquire a customer suggest come to their site and browse around and a lot of these customers are legitimately interested in buying a product.
They’re adding products to their cart. And for whatever reason, they don’t finish the purchase. That can be because they’re distracted or they just forget or you know, maybe they don’t have the right kind of, like a coupon or discount or like a sense of urgency to pus- to push them, really, over the edge.
And so what that what we found is how do we turn Messenger into a revenue channel to actually take these customer Journeys that are already happening on the site, but getting them to actually finish the purchase and so what we found is first of all, the best thing to do is making sure that the message that’s going to the customer via Messenger is not something generic like “hey, you should come back and buy something” but instead it actually takes a context of what they were actually browsing, what was in their cart. How do we show pictures of it? Show you a description again, maybe show you some reviews and why you should trust the brand and then sending that over and then one of the things that we found is when customers get these messages, first of all, it’s very highly contextual.
I mean it’s within 30 minutes of them actually browsing the site. So you’re seeing these 80% plus open rates just on getting that first message and then beyond that advertisers have a lot of flexibility in what they can do to ultimately get that purchase.
So for some advertisers discounts are really what drives it. So giving a unique discount code to that user over Messenger that only they have that they can go and make finish that purchase that’s really valuable. But for some other brand especially higher-ticket items, Well customers always love discounts. But sometimes it’s something else. Sometimes they want to know about the return policy.
They want to know about the reviews. Sometimes they want to know about like just generally like how long is this product gonna take to get to them tell me about the shipping. So Messenger is a great time to then pick up where the customer left off on the site and to try to make it a more of a conversation to get these customers questions answered and ultimately get them to make the purchase.
Okay, and Arjun while we’re on you I have a question from the live feed from Christine. Christine wants to know how challenging is the integration of Messenger? And then also, can you give some examples specific to the retail industry?
Arjun: [00:21:05]
Sure, so, you know the nice part about Messenger is even though there’s this whole Holy Grail of integrating your entire company systems with Messenger.
It’s actually very very simple to get started. Especially if you’re an e-commerce brand. So, you know one thing that we spend a lot of time at ShopMessage is if you’re a retail brand then you can get started in just 15 minutes and especially if you use a platform like a Shopify, Magento or Salesforce Commerce Cloud, we integrate with these platforms such that when you get started then automatically you can start prompting people on your website to opt into Messenger automatically.
You can set up some of the best practices in terms of abandoned cart flows, receipts, maybe a shipping notification or a post-purchase follow-up. And then and automatically you can set up a FAQ of some of the most common questions. So this can take as little as 15 minutes to get set up with the basic experience.
And then from there really many advertisers go and add a lot of customization. The advertisers that perform the best are the ones that actually take their brand voice and actually put it into the Messenger, putting into the Messenger experience.
So, for example, we worked with a company who they’re selling toilet bidets. So, to millennials, And which is a really funny product and it was really going viral and instead of in their abandoned cart message saying “hey, did you leave something behind?” Their message said “Pssss! Did you forget to flush?” And so and it had the person’s name in it and it was something that was very authentic to that brand.
So I would say like even though it takes 15 minutes to get set up the more an Advertiser puts their own voice into it and add some things that are really authentic to the brand then the Messenger experience only gets better for customers and drives more revenue.
Bridging the Gap Between Marketing & Customer Service
Arjun: [00:32:06]
One of our favorite examples of an experience that kind of bridges the gap between customer service and actually marketing is a project that we did with American Eagle Outfitters.
And so what they noticed is that they had a really big push for selling jeans and bras during the back-to-school season last year and with so many SKUs, with thousands of skews it can get a little overwhelming. So just like you have a person like a physical person at a retail store who would, who would help you with your purchase, they tried to make sure that they could provide that experience with Messenger.
So the experience was you go to— if the system detects that you’re browsing for a pair of jeans on American Eagle. It, on ae.com the customer chat plugin, through Messenger can actually pop up on site and ask if you need help choosing a perfect pair.
Get 3x Conversion Rates Using Guided Product Quizzes
And then one of the great Parts about Messenger is instead of users having to type in “Yes, I need help. I’m looking for this, and this, and this.”Messenger actually provides lots of quick replies and buttons so that yeah we were able to offer, first of all, identify when users are actually browsing for jeans and then give them a quiz of just three to five questions to find the best pair of jeans for you.
Basically, so based on the fit you like the kind of color you like and you know what your personal style is. And the result is that the conversion rate for the people who are able to interact with this was almost three times the– versus ones who did not actually get this experience. And that’s really valuable because not only did these conversations lead to more sales, but whenever someone had an actual question, they can ask that question. And then if they needed someone from customer support to answer that question, then they had a channel to do so. So it really is possible to really bridge the gap between marketing and customer support. It just takes a little bit of thought about where the customer is in their Journey.
One more question from the live feed because this is a popular question right here. So Brie wants to know “how can I use messages to actually generate lead ads, right generate leads in general?
Arjun: [00:37:26]
Yeah. Sure. So one of the nice things about Messenger is that because you have these quick replies and really simple interaction scheme, then it works very effectively for lead generation.
So one scenario that we found works pretty well is running click to Messenger ads. So there’s really two scenarios one scenario is if you want to try to get brand new leads then using click to Messenger ads where the result is, you’re not going to a website, but you’re opening up a Messenger conversation and you can just with a few taps, you can really get a lot of Engagement and get a lot of information from the customer. One nice thing about Messenger is, when a customer comes in and starts engaging with it, they don’t need to enter their name. Like Facebook already knows their name. They, if you want to capture an email address or phone number you can do that with just one tap.
So, you know a lot of the basic questions that when you go to a website you have to fill out, Messenger just makes that totally seamless and then you can start getting to the meat of it. You can start getting to what are the important questions that qualify somebody as being a lead or not. So, so click-to-Messenger adds to a lead-gen conversation works particularly well.
And the thing that makes it, Messenger even a better channel for this is let’s just say somebody drops off in their flow and they don’t finish it off. You can send the reminder later on, or the next day, saying “hey you want to pick up where you left off?” And then, the customer, it’s very easy to do that.
They don’t have to go back to a website. They don’t just start from the beginning. They can just continue on with the flow. So that’s been a really positive flow and a—the case where Messenger is going to be increasingly used for lead-gen scenarios.
Chidi: [00:39:06]
So it’s clear to me that Messenger is really powerful.
What about the costs associated with Messenger? How would you guys respond to that argument if you can go first?
Arjun: [00:39:16]
Sure, so the cost of just getting a basic Messenger experience up, I mean, we are, ShopMessage offers both a managed service for large Enterprises. But also we have a self-serve version that starts to just like a 30-day trial and then nine dollars a month.
So really how would you define large Enterprises if you don’t mind me asking?
Arjun: [00:39:33]
Good question. So large Enterprises are the ones that tend to require a lot of integration with their other systems that generally have multiple teams within their, within their organization that you have to work with to make sure the experience is approved and works across these multiple organizations. Often times, there are a lot more requirements for integrating with other forms of software. And to be honest. This is actually where Christian and Snaps, his company, is really, really excels, and they have a lot of experience in it. So. Yeah, you know that said one point that I think I’d want to get across, Is that even if you are a large Enterprise you don’t have to spend months and months to get everything integrated to get value over, out of Messenger.
The nice part about it is you can have a go to market strategy doesn’t matter if you’re like a one-person Shopify store or if you’re doing a billion dollars plus in sales online. You can get started with the most common flows, which is you know, how do you welcome customers to your site?
How do you give them abandoned cart messages, receipts, shipping notifications, automate some customer support? And that starts, is as little as nine dollars. And then that said if you want to invest in sponsored messages to re-engage customers after the fact those, the price, the cost is really as much as a business wants to invest.
What we are seeing is over 30x ROAS for some of our customers who are using it. Blenders Eyewear is a great example of a sunglasses company based in San Diego. That you know the one that when they run a promotion it’s very few and far between they have a really they have a high-quality product, but you know when they do run the promotion they’ve used sponsored messages to reach out to really really like, segmented groups of people with a personalized message and those are converting at 30x ROAS plus and that just outperforms any other channel.
So, you know if you’re getting a 30x ROAS and your cost is really like how do I put more money into it? That’s the question that you’re asking.
Chidi: [00:41:33]
Sure.
Arjun: [00:41:34]
And then likewise for click to Messenger ads, you know, we don’t recomm– we don’t, it doesn’t have to be a massive a multi-thousand, a multi-million dollar investment into ads. You can run a basic test to see what kind of conversion you’re getting, and then use those as the ability to really decide how to invest further.
So I really want to dispel the notion that it requires a significant cost or time investment to get value out of the Messenger channel.
I was just gonna say like thinking more long-term. It’s very clear that that conversation and messaging is going to be very core to interacting with businesses over the next five, ten years.
And of course, if we look at examples like in Asia where messaging is just so central to how people engage with businesses and the US really has an opportunity to grow.
So, for brands, this is really the time to get started. If advertisers want to make the most out of the conversational channels, best to get started early. And it’s just like if you were early to building an authentic Facebook presence or building an Instagram following, this is really the time to just try to, try to get started now and like like you’re saying like the value of working with a partner like ShopMessage or Snaps is that we can help take all the best practices that we’ve learned over the years of with other businesses and just apply those directly to you, to your experience. As like the baseline experience that we know converts well. Brands can then go and customize on top of it. But they’re not starting from scratch, they’re starting from something that they know converts. There’s data around. For example, like if you are going to do an abandoned cart flow, you know, if you, for brands that provide a 10 to 15 percent discount, they actually double the conversion rate.
So if discounts or something that’s part of your existing brand strategy, and then that is some that’s a useful data point to know as opposed to having to test everything from scratch.
Seeing actually examples for many global, global advertisers. They need to make sure they have a pretty localized experience for each market they work with.
So we found in Messenger that that amounts to a few things. Number one is just the language. Making sure that if you’re browsing a site, you know in Spain then you’re going to get your message back, like, in Spanish. So and no matter what, no matter what version of a site you’re browsing you’re going to get the appropriate language.
And then secondly is it’s not just the language. It’s also nuances about the language and the interaction style. So, you know in some depending on your brand and depending on the locale, sometimes you might want to, a more informal tone versus one that’s a little bit more formal. And so working with global advertisers, we can help really give the ability to have a separate messaging for each language you work with.
And then lastly is now with GDPR and other actual regulations laws that are in place, then it’s really important to make sure that what with each, with wherever the customer is based, that you’re able to be respectful of these laws. So, you know people in the US might see a slightly different experience and someone in a GDPR based country.
So these are all things that– I don’t say these to kind of like scare people away. I think these are really an opportunity to give a personalized experience no matter where in the world your customers are.
And then lastly is for especially for e-commerce companies that want to get started today, the best thing you can do to make your messages more personalized is making sure that it’s actually just integrated with your site and that you’re set, you’re send– you’re continuing the journey as opposed to starting from scratch.
So, I mean we’re really excited about Messenger and it really is going to be the future of how people talk to businesses. It’s already how people talk to each other. So we’re excited.
Brands must choose the right growth marketing strategy when they are getting started with Facebook Messenger Marketing.
A question we get a lot is how a Messenger marketing strategy fits into the picture when email modals are already involved.
The goal is to avoid creating a conflicting, confusing experience for your customers. Messenger opt-in growth plugins and email capture modals appear and behave similarly. The last thing you want is getting poor performance from both channels by using them in tandem poorly.
When considering the right Messenger Marketing strategy, there are three to keep in mind:
Customers don’t want to be annoyed while browsing.
You want to maximize your Messenger opt-ins.
Understanding The Steps of Your Customer’s Journey
To choose the right messenger marketing strategy to grow your brand, you need to take a look at the various points in your customer’s journey with your brand. Some common events include:
Discovering your brand
Landing on your website
Browsing your site
Adding an item to their cart
Completing their purchase
Becoming a happy customer.
ShopMessage’s team has identified the most common scenarios that a merchant would want to offer their visitors a promotion. The best part is a merchant can use more than one!
If you understand the scope of possible customer engagement points, you can identify where your existing email capture strategies fit into the larger puzzle.
You’ll be able to spot the gaps where you are not engaging with your customers. These are the opportunities where you’ll want to deploy your Messenger growth plugins.
What to Consider When Choosing a Messenger Marketing Strategy
First, you’ll need to determine whether there are any existing modals on your site that you need to take into account.
What to Do If You Have No Email Modals
If you don’t have an existing email capture modal, then this choice is easy. Display your promotional plugin upon arrival with a slight delay.
We also recommend using the exit intent and post-purchase promo strategies for good measure.
In general, you want to maximize your opportunities to capture opt-ins by using multiple strategies that hit the visitor at various steps in their customer journey.
What to Do If You Already Use Email Modals
If you already have email capture modals, they will likely display upon arrival and/or when exit intent is displayed.
The alternative is to find a new step in the journey to prompt your visitors.
Along the customer journey, a majority of brands that are using email capture modals have them deploy upon arrival, or when the visitor has displayed exit intent.
Choose the Persistent Offer strategy if you want your growth plugin to coexist with an email modal.
This subtle pill keeps your opt-in promotion visible, without competing with the arrival or exit-intent modals for attention.
The Post-Purchase Promotion is unique because it displays to visitors that have already converted into paying customers.
Use this time to celebrate your customers and encourage them to turn into repeat buyers.
You can balance your email and messenger plugin displays by targeting your visitors at different sections of their customer journey.
Use Multiple Strategies To Grow Your Messenger Marketing Contact List
Every customer is unique, and every store experience is unique, which is why we’ve put together multiple Growth Plugin strategies to make sure there’s a tool in there for every situation.
Each messenger marketing strategy determines a set of rules governing the behavior of your Growth Plugin and will pre-populate a certain set of messaging into your preset that is appropriate for the timing of your promotion.
Across all of our strategies, you will have the ability to customize every aspect of your Growth Plugin, including:
overlay type e.g. modals, flyouts, and full-page takeovers
background image
messaging
typography
colors e.g. buttons, text
discount
your own logo
The Arrival Promo
Maximize your impressions by presenting all eligible visitors an offer moments upon arriving at your store. You can set this to display immediately upon arrival.
An arrival greeting is a great way to guide your visitors’ first impressions of your site. We recommend adding a few seconds of delay, so your promotion benefits from the added surprise/delight of popping-up.
A promotion that displays immediately, or very shortly after, a visitor arrives on your site.
The Purchase-Intent Promo
Use this strategy to strike a balance between your customer’s ability to browse the site and maximizing your opt-in rate. Purchase-Intent is defined as viewing the page for X-seconds, scrolling down Y% of the page, or adding an item to their cart. You can customize the timing and page scroll percentage delays based on your typical customer’s behavior.
A promotion that displays when a visitor exhibits purchase intent. This can be defined by time spent on a page, the percentage of the page scrolled, or adding an item to their cart.
The Exit-Intent Promo
Wait to display your promotion until your customer appears to be navigating away from your store. Catching them on their way out could mean the difference between an abandoned cart and closing the sale.
A promotion that displays when a visitor appears to be navigating away from your site.
The Persistent Promo
This is a subtle, yet visible way to build your Contact list that doesn’t take up a lot of space. This hybrid promotion will render as a pill in the bottom corner of your page until your customer engages with it, or an Intent rule is triggered. When this happens, the pill will expand into a modal, a flyout, or a full page takeover depending on what design you chose.
A subtle, yet persistently accessible pill in the bottom corner of your site that visitors can engage with at will. A great way for your growth plugin to co-exist with an email capture modal that may already be in place.
The Post-Purchase Promo
This strategy is different because it targets the customer after they have completed their purchase. Use this to ensure opt-in collection by celebrating your customer with an offer they can save for their next visit.
Promoting at this stage lays the foundation for building a repeat customer while they are still feeling the joy of their purchase. Strike while the iron’s hot!
A promotion that displays after a visitor has completed a purchase. A great way to celebrate your customers and re-engage them for repeat purchasing.
Bottom Line
The customer journey is complex. There are many steps where a visitor can decide they love you or don’t care. You can engage visitors to your site with a well-timed modal overlay to build a connection with your brand’s customer.
Already using email modals? No problem. ShopMessage is designed with Smart Logic to work around existing modals and maintain a positive experience for your customers.
ShopMessage’s Growth Plugins can be powerful tools in your messenger marketing strategy. Conversational brands that engage their customers at the right time in their customer journey will be the ones that win the future of digital marketing.
