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Michelle Barnum-Smith talks myths of chatbots
Marketing for 20 years and a corporate career in Vodafone, China Telecom and now running her own digital marketing agency.
- Saw messaging marketing for the first time and saw the future
- Setting up funnels is so easy and frictionless on Messenger
- Ideal for Amazon sellers – don’t have to think about marketing, seamless
- Michelle is not an Amazon seller but is a marketing strategist
Myth 1 – You have to have a huge Messenger list to make a difference
- Email died because nobody reads everything – poor engagement now
- Traditional view was to get an engagement the figure required was 100,000 email addresses in your list
- ManyChat conference in Texas last week, Facebook Messenger Gods were there and put paid to the myths of chatbots
- Only 1% of Business Profiles on Facebook are connected to Messenger
- Penetration hasn’t even started yet
- Open rates nad click through rates are like 90%
- Click through rates of 80%
- Compared to email hot list is 12-15% open rate and 2-5% click through rate
- So you need massive email numbers to get anywhere which is true
- But 500-2000 Messenger list is enough to start – so an end to the myths of chatbots versus emails
Myth 2 – Amazon Reviews Funnels
- Steady stream of reviews for Amazon listings from Messenger – review funnels
- Setup a retargeting ad on FB to match my Amazon customers to an FB audience
- Some sort of offer to get them to leave a review
- Problem: When you’r retargeting an audience on FB if it’s too small FB won’t even run the ad to make it retarget-able
- That audience and those subscribers are going to be really expensive – $10 per customer
- Problem 2: Abnormal review velocity in Amazon gets flagged and your account gets suspended
- You play roulette doing this an expensive and dangerous game to enter
Myth 3 – Keep in Touch
- Build a new shiny list and you get distracted and move off
- Then come back to it later and expect fireworks
- Ignore you girlfriend for a few weeks nad you’ll not get much response – same with your audience
- Especially with Messenger – if people get confused about your connection and ‘delete’ your conversations then FB will close you down
- If you only need Messenger for 1 or 2 products then go use a launch service rather than Messenger
- You need to get back to people and have a conversation or don’t bother
- Have 5-10 related products and messenge your audience every week or 2 -5 times a month
- Get people to know, like and trust you
- Don’t get blocked
Myth 4 – Be Congruent and Relevant
- A smattering of products all over the board and works for arbitrage
- But private labelling is building a brand
- Selling shower heads nad makeup – you will confuse your audience
- You push a lipstick offer and a few weeks later you push a lawnmower it won’t be congruent
- Caveat: If the products can be kind of in a ‘deal club’ sort of thing then it can work
- For maximum results in building your messenger audience then you need 5-10 products in product groups so that when you message there is relevance there
- You need your products to be congruent for the conversation to make sense and have a consistent brand
Myth 5 – Messenger is only for Amazon
- I can only use this Messenger list for Amazon offerings – right?
- No, you can send that traffic wherever you want
- If your audience knows, likes and trusts you then they’ll go with you
- If you’re starting out and are an Amazon seller then do leverage the trust Amazon brings on your Messenger list
- Having your own traffic source gives you power to send to your products wherever they are
The Three Bs – myths of chatbots – avoid these…
- Burning your List
- Getting Blocked on Facebook
- Banned on Amazon
- Take a longer term view – build your brand outside of Amazon as well.
- Build your Messenger list for long term use
Summary
- Myth: I need a massive Messenger list to make a difference in your business
- Shift: You only need 500-2000 subscribers to get the momentum you need
- Myth: I can harvest a steady stream of Reviews for your Amazon listings
- Shift: Using tactics promoted out there, you’ll likely be paying through the nose for those review subscribers + if you’re getting a steady stream you’ll likely get banned on Amazon anyway (dangerous and expensive game to play for limited results)
- Myth: I can message your audience once or twice and be able to message a few months when I have something new to offer
- Shift: Without consistent communication your list will forget about you and will be upset with your messages resulting in deleted conversations, getting marked as SPAM and you getting blocked on Facebook
- Myth: I can offer a smattering of different products to my Messenger subscribers and they’ll be anxious to buy
- Shift: Messenger Subscribers need consistency to not be confused by your Messages. The best campaigns are from brands with 5-10 RELATED products so there is consistency in the type of offer being presented.
- Myth: If I build a Messenger list for my Amazon business, I can’t use it to promote to my website or other storefronts.
- Shift: Leveraging your Amazon presence is a great way to build your brand with cold traffic (ie Facebook Ads), but once your audience knows you provide consistent value, you now have a traffic source you can drive to any destination: Amazon, Shopify, even selling directly on Messenger!
