Why You Should Use Messenger Chatbots for Marketing Now is a good time to take their advantage because of low competition

Imagine it was 1998 and you were among the first in your industry to have a website—it would be one of the few indexed on Google and competing in the digital ad space. Go back even further to 1880 with a phone number and be one of few listings in the phone book.

Messenger chatbots, which are still in infancy today, present a similar opportunity—now being a good time to take advantage of the low competition.

Like a website address or phone number, a chatbot is a destination for customers to reach a business. Chatbots are technology you can talk to and can be launched in messaging applications like Facebook Messenger.

There are 1.3 billion users on Messenger and at this year's F8, a mostly-annual conference by Facebook, 300,000 bots were said to be on the platform. Meaning: a big user base and small competition. So, chances are that you already have a messaging app on your phone like Facebook Messenger but you're not doing any messenger marketing with a chatbot.

The discover tab in Messenger lists the most popular bots and also gives you the option to search for new bots.

What gets your Messenger bot featured in the Discover tab?

At initial launch, bots were selected by the Facebook team—an "editor's pick" approach.

Today, the Messenger bots that appear in the featured section and in each category of the Discover tab are determined algorithmically based on a variety of factors. While Facebook does not disclose their algorithm, increasing the chances of a bot appearing in the Discover tab is based on a good user experience, like having a high response rate and low block rate. Simply put, your bot needs to be engaging from first interaction and the messages you broadcast to users need to be relevant and not too frequent or spammy.

Messenger bots should also be created with a purpose or solve a specific problem for your customers. Rich media can also be added to increase engagement like images, audio, and video.

Keep in mind that it takes time to test and learn to improve your user experience.

Advertise to Messenger as a conversation destination

Get new users to your bot with Facebook ads by using the send message button. Users don't have to submit details like other opt-in models. A user will be asked if they want to open the bot in Messenger, subscribing the user instantly.

Chatbots can also start a conversation with a user after they comment on a Facebook post via organic or paid reach. This bypasses websites and landing pages, creating less friction to get customers interacting with businesses.

Retargeting

Similar to website retargeting where users are shown display ads on ad networks like Google and Facebook based on the content they viewed on a website. Chatbot retargeting is free, you can broadcast specific messages to users who have viewed content within your chatbot. For instance, if a user viewed one of 10 products in a bot, the user could be automatically sent a message at a later date with more information about the one product they viewed that interested them.