Chatbots are predicted to be the future of customer relationships, as well as digital marketing. But why should you develop a chatbot for your business, and how do you do it?
In this blog post, I interview Larry Kim, the founder of MobileMonkey, a chatbot development platform.
Larry Kim started MobileMonkey in 2017, and today it’s a fast growing official Facebook Messenger Marketing solution provider platform that helps marketers and businesses automate customer communication and lead generation on Facebook Messenger.
Before Larry started MobileMonkey, he founded WordStream, a provider of AdWords, Facebook and keyword tools used by more than a million marketers around the world.
Larry is also a contributor to CNBC and Inc. Magazine. Key interests include: Chatbot Marketing, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, entrepreneurship and startups. He received Marketer of the Year awards from Search Engine Land, US Search Awards, and PPC Hero.
Now, over to the interview!
Larry Kim, Founder of MobileMonkeyWhat is MobileMonkey’s Background?
MobileMonkey’s mission is to give marketers the tools to build chatbots without coding, on the chat applications customers are already using right now.
The problem: Marketing engagement is dropping while costs are increasing.
Email open rate = 20%. Email marketing CTR = 1%.
Facebook News Feed = 1% engagement of page fans.
Facebook ads = cost per click went up 122% in 1 year.
The solution: Marketers who reach customers in chat will be reaching them where they already are and seeing higher engagement and lower cost as a result.
Open rate in chat is 80%. CTR is 20%.
Facebook click-to-Messenger ads with a chatbot autoresponder after the click has a cost per lead that’s 97% less than traditional Facebook ads to website landing pages.
People use messaging apps more than social media. (Source)
MobileMonkey simplifies chatbot creation and seamlessly integrates marketing bots with your website, Facebook Messenger and Facebook ads.
What Problem Does MobileMonkey Solve?
MobileMonkey is an easy to use chatbot builder platform for marketers to design bots for Facebook Messenger, which has 1.4 billion users around the world.
What DoesMobileMonkey Do, and Why Is It Important to Your Customers?
Half of consumers say that they would rather chat with a business than any other communication channel. Yet less than 1% of businesses are equipped to automatically engage with customers in chat.
The heyday of the traditional Facebook ad is over, and the news feed is becoming less and less relevant each day
Facebook Messenger marketing automation is possible for businesses of all sizes with MobileMonkey. It’s possible figure out how to build a chatbot because the platform guides you through the entire process.
With MobileMonkey, marketers can:
- Answer FAQs
- Provide 24/7 real-time customer support
- Grow lead and contacts lists
- Create customer audience segments using system variables and custom attributes
- Send targeted messages to specific audiences
- Launch drip campaigns
- Nurture and educate leads
- Ad an interactive chatbot experience to Facebook ads
- Manage event sign-ups and reminders
- Handle customer surveys
- Run contests
- Make Facebook posts interactive
MobileMonkey is filled with chatbot tools that can allow any business to customize the customer experience based on their niche and goals. There are many out-of-the-box customizable chatbot templates streamlining the creation of bots for frequently-used, high-impact industries.
We also hear from businesses that installing a bot on a website can be a sticking point to progress, so MobileMonkey has a WordPress chatbot plugin that makes adding chat to your WordPress site as easy as a plugin install.
Can You Give a Few Examples of How MobileMonkey Can Be Used?
I built MobileMonkey as a flexible Messenger marketing solution. While the most obvious applications are for delivering answers to FAQs and providing customer support, it can do so much more. There are tons of great chatbot examples available through the platform, too, making it easy for anyone to get started.
Today, and into the future, it’s all about messaging and chat marketing.
One of my favorite features is the automation of webinar signups with a chatbot and event reminders through Messenger. Since it uses Messenger, the process is 100% mobile-friendly.
The process is also interactive and conversational, enhancing engagement, and can connect directly to webinar hosting platforms. Plus, as the user provides data, you can create audience segments for targeted follow-up.
Customer surveys with a Facebook bot are another area where MobileMonkey shines. Let’s face it; most surveys are pretty boring. That’s why people don’t fill them out. With MobileMonkey chatbots, it’s all about engagement.
After the massive Facebook data breach, social media platforms took a credibility hit.
The survey ends up quick and easy and completely mobile-friendly. The answers get saved in the customer’s profile – which is marketing gold – giving marketers the ability to follow-up based on responses.
That’s something you just can’t do with anonymous survey data.
MobileMonkey also gives marketers the ability to get hot lead alerts when a high-value prospect enters the funnel.
When the user hits the right part of the journey and has a question, MobileMonkey sends an email to your designated contact address. Then, your sales team can swoop in and keep the conversation going, ensuring that lead doesn’t slip away.
A ton of Ad Targeting options are just gone
Most marketers know that drip campaigns are marketing magic. Nothing beats being able to nurture a lead during their journey, turning them from a new contact into a huge fan.
With MobileMonkey, you can set up chatbot drip campaigns using one of the most engaging platforms in the world: Facebook Messenger.
As the user engages, the chatbot identifies the audiences that fit and adjusts the journey accordingly. This personalizes the experience automatically, increasing the odds that they’ll stick around and become a paying customer.
A drip campaign chatbotIn Your Mind, What is the Future of Digital Marketing and Marketing Technology?
The heyday of the traditional Facebook ad is over, and the news feed is becoming less and less relevant each day. Today, and into the future, it’s all about messaging and chat marketing.
After the massive Facebook data breach, social media platforms took a credibility hit. Users felt that their trust was violated, and that mental shift hurt businesses that relied on traditional ads and news feed to make money through these platforms.
When people think of AI-powered chatbots, the first thing that usually comes to mind is virtual assistants, like Alexa or Siri.
The amount of time people in the US spend on Facebook fell. User growth stalled. Then, ad prices shot up, due to the reduction in ad inventory.
Plus, a ton of Ad Targeting options are just gone. Even Facebook Analytics was scaled back. This means the traditional approach just isn’t valuable anymore.
How Do You See AI Changing Marketing Onwards?
When people think of AI-powered chatbots, the first thing that usually comes to mind is virtual assistants, like Alexa or Siri. But, when I think of AI for marketing, I think the customer service use case is just scratching the surface of what’s possible.
What I’m really excited about is using chatbots for extremely engaging, personalized marketing. With bots, you can send surveys, registration forms, and so much more in an interactive way.
With bots, you can send surveys, registration forms, and so much more in an interactive way.
Then, I can send push notifications to keep the user in the funnel and nurture the connection. For example, an hour before an event, I can send a reminder to make sure they will attend.
AI is also giving us the ability to segment the audience. Highly specific drip campaigns can be delivered to a subset of users based on a range of criteria, all without me having to examine each user to see which groups are a fit.
This personalizes the experience to the individual.
If you marry one marketing channel, you aren’t going to succeed over the long-term.
All of these things are very easy to do and incredibly powerful, and they can all be done with a combination of AI and Messenger. It is beyond what email can offer, making it a trend that is going to change the future of marketing forever.
Do You Have Any Other Thoughts on Marketing Technology and its use in Marketing Onwards?
The most important thing to remember is that marketing technology is always changing.
If you marry one marketing channel, you aren’t going to succeed over the long-term. Every channel has a lifespan, and you should expect to use all of the ones you rely on today five years down the road.
Every channel has a lifespan, and you should expect to use all of the ones you rely on today five years down the road.
Today, right at this moment, we are in the middle of a once-in-a-generation shift in communication. Private messaging apps are the primary communication method for so many people, and that trend is going to continue.
We are in the middle of a once-in-a-generation shift in communication
In the next two years, messaging automation will be a norm. Businesses that embrace it today get the early-adopter advantage. And those that don’t are just going to find themselves playing catch-up when they inevitably realize that they’re already behind.
In this interesting interview, Larry Kim outlined the future of chatbot-powered Internet marketing approaches. Perhaps it is time for your company to develop a chatbot?
