147: Why Messenger Bots Are Here To Stay (And How To Use Them)

The Ecommerce Influence Podcast

Did you know that messenger bots have the highest engagement rates at the lowest cost per lead? Did you know that messenger subscribers can be 5-10 times more valuable than email subscribers? If you’re ready to grow your business with personalized, highly targeted communications, then this episode is for you.

Mikael Yang, CEO and Co-Founder of ManyChat, joins us today to talk about messenger bots. Messenger has bypassed social networks to become the number one channel people are using to communicate with each other, and with brands. Yang shares the opportunities ecommerce businesses have with messenger bots to reach their customers in this highly intimate and engaging channel. Only 1% of marketers are using messenger, which is anticipated to become the main communication channel for B2C in the near future, and Yang talks about why now is the time you should start.

Episode Highlights:

• 6:53 Why Messenger is the future of B2C communication.
• 7:46 The Chinese ecommerce bot strategy that the West may not be ready for.
• 10:39 The one mistake Mikael sees most ecomm businesses making when it comes to bots.
• 11:59 How messenger bots may be the final nail in e-mail’s coffin.
• 12:43 The reason why bots will elevate the level of messaging over what we currently see with email.
• 15:52 How the structure of email encourages marketers to spam their audience and what Facebook is doing to ensure relevance to its users with bots.
• 20:39 The ways Mikael sees Facebook controlling costs and rewarding businesses for positive messenger engagement.
• 22:52 What’s really working for brands using messenger bots right now.
• 28:02 The 3 actions you should take with messenger bots.
• 33:40 How to develop a conversation with your audience through messenger bots to understand what they really want from you.
• 38:28 New to messenger bots and looking for the “quick win”? This is what Mikael suggests.

Links and Resources:

• ManyChat
• ManyChat Facebook Community
• Free Messenger Marketing Course (ManyChat)

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. If you’re running an ecommerce business and sending emails to your customers, you should be using Klaviyo. It will help you find out who your best customers are and target them one-to-one to make more money.

I’ve been using Klaviyo since they were just two employees. Now they have a team of 150 and are rolling out new features almost weekly. If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyo and you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding.