In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, leveraging a robust contact list can be the game-changer for your business. Manychat offers a unique platform where Contacts from various channels converge, creating a powerful tool for personalized and efficient communication that will supercharge your sales.

This guide will navigate you through the nuances of managing Contacts in Manychat, providing pro tips on acquiring, managing, and optimizing these contacts for your business’s success.

What are Contacts in Manychat?

This is the name given to the list of users who have contacted your business and are stored in your account for livechat use, broadcasting, and marketing campaigns.

Keep in mind these are not the same as your social media followers, your Contacts are the people you’ve had a conversation with on your DMs after you have connected Manychat to one of these channels.

Contacts are not limited to just one platform; they encompass a diverse range from Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, to WhatsApp. But it doesn’t stop there; email and SMS Contacts can either stand alone or be integrated as additional contact points alongside your social media Contacts.

This multi-channel approach ensures a comprehensive marketing strategy, reaching your audience where they are most active and allowing your business to craft highly personalized campaigns.

Acquiring Contacts like a Pro

The art of acquiring and converting Contacts involves a blend of strategies! Our most successful Manychatters use a mix of the following methods to guarantee a higher rate of contacts on their account, with the advantage that by using Manychat, scaling your lead acquisition has never been easier:

• Organic Strategies: using the free entry points to your chats can help you grow your list to never before seen heights without breaking the bank! Here are some of our favorite:
  • Leverage comments automation to engage with users and add them to your Contact list, this will help anyone who comments on your posts or reels to start a conversation with you
  • Turn on your story mention replies on IG, and message anyone who has mentioned your business on their stories
  • Use the power of Instagram Live automations, so whoever comments on your live video can get an automated sequence of messages about the topic you are discussing
• Meta Ads: Utilize Manychat’s collaboration with Meta to run targeted ads. Our free webinar on using the Meta Ads Manager like a pro is an invaluable resource that can turn you into an expert without breaking the bank! Our favorite type of ad is called CTX, or Click to X! What does the X stand for? Well, any channel you want it to, of course:
  • Click to Messenger or CTM: these types of ads make it so that anyone who click the button on your ad will be taken to a conversation with your business via Facebook Messenger. Our native integration to CTMessenger means you can trigger an automated chat about your promo from the get go!
  • Click to Instagram Direct or CTDM: Just like on FB Messenger, these ads open up a conversation with your Instagram Profile, with the added value that thanks to our automations you can also check who follows you and who doesnt before triggering a message, allowing you to give extra incentives to those new Contacts that dont follow your page yet.
  • Click to Whatsapp or CTWa: this type of ad is special and unique in the fact that you can have it on BOTH Instagram and Facebook, but the difference is that when the lead clicks on the ad button, a Whatsapp conversation will open on their app with your business. If your Contacts chat heavily on whatsapp, this is the type we recommend the most.

• Website Widgets & External Links: Embed Manychat widgets on your site to convert visitors into Contacts seamlessly with easy to embed HTML buttons. You can also have links via our Ref URL trigger all over the place to ensure your contacts can find simple ways to contact you, or even embed a chat bubble on your site that immediately shows a Facebook Messenger modal!

Managing & Filtering

After acquiring contacts in your ManyChat account, effective management, filtering, and segmentation becomes essential. This can be achieved through the use of tags and custom user fields, which are powerful tools for organizing your contacts and tailoring your communication strategies.

• Tags: Tags in ManyChat are labels you can assign to your contacts based on their behaviors, preferences, or any other criteria relevant to your business. For example, you can tag a contact as “Interested in Product X” or “Attended Webinar.” These tags help in segmenting your audience for targeted campaigns. Learn more about using tags effectively on ManyChat’s Blog.
• Custom User Fields: Custom User Fields are akin to personal data slots where you can store specific information about a contact. This can range from basic information like age and location to more complex data like purchase history or customer preferences. Custom User Fields enable you to personalize communication and segment your contacts based on detailed criteria. Discover how to best utilize Custom User Fields in your strategy here.

Retargeting: Mastering DM Lists

All three channels (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) offer DM or marketing lists that Contacts can opt into. Effective contact management involves setting up rules or automations to encourage new contacts to join these lists. Whether it’s for exclusive discounts or event updates, these lists are vital for future engagement. Facebook Messenger now offers this feature for free, Instagram is in open beta, and WhatsApp operates on a pay-to-play model.

Deleting Contacts: Keeping Your List Valuable

Maintaining a clean and effective Contact list is crucial. We recommend removing Contacts who haven’t opted into any retargeting options after a certain period, a good rule of thumb is 3 months. You can read this article here for more information on how to delete Contacts that have no value to your business.

Another way of effectively reducing the number of contacts is by manually merging them once you have identified two Contacts are the same person! Read this article if you would like to learn more about this feature.

By mastering these aspects of Manychat, you can transform your Contact list into a dynamic and powerful tool for your business, driving engagement, and fostering lasting customer relationships.

Looking for inspiration? Check out these other creator success stories using Manychat:

• How Conquista Tu Mundo with Johnny Abraham leveraged Manychat to drive $15,000 in launch sales in 20 days
• Jenna Kutcher’s 3 Easy Instagram Sales Strategies That Generated $900k – Organically
• Amy Porterfield’s 3 Powerful Instagram Strategies

The contents of this blog were independently prepared and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ManyChat or any other party. Individual results may vary*

The post Contact Management Guide: Pro – Maximizing Your Manychat Contact List appeared first on Manychat Blog.

Manychat has a native Hotmart integration that you can connect in a few easy steps.

Here, we’ll show you the steps to connect your Hotmart to your Manychat account, so you can start selling and promoting your Hotmart products on Instagram and Facebook right away.

What is Hotmart?

If you’re new to Hotmart, it’s an all-in-one platform for digital creators and entrepreneurs to build and sell digital products, including online courses, memberships, subscriptions, events and eBooks.

As a global tech and education company, Hotmart is a leader in the digital product market offering a complete ecosystem for creators, affiliates, and online course buyers. They have more than 370,000 registered products, 26 million users, sell products in more than 185 countries.

How does Hotmart work?

Here’s how Hotmart works:

• Creators who have expertise in a certain area creates a product (like an online course or an eBook) and sells it on Hotmart.
• Affiliates who have a large online presence help promote and sell this product to their audience in exchange for a commission.
• Buyers purchase the product on Hotmart, via the search page or clicking on a creator or affiliate link.

How does Hotmart help creators?

Hotmart helps creators build their first product, monetize it, and distribute it. There are also detailed analytics, so they can track their progress and make informed decisions about how to promote their products.

What products can you sell on Hotmart?

Hotmart sells various types of digital content, including:

• eBooks in PDF or EPUB formats
• Documents, audiobooks, and music
• Video classes
• Talks and screencasts
• Software
• Images
• Podcasts
• Scripts and any other file formats that can be downloaded.

It is also possible to create subscriptions for membership programs, or any type of product where buyers pay a recurring fee.

How can I benefit from Manychat x Hotmart integration?

Use Manychat x Hotmart integration to follow up on abandoned carts or send updates regarding purchase statuses (either a successful purchase or purchase delivery information). Get most of this integration by freely browsing through your contact list to make sure you have the full information on user data.

How can I integrate Hotmart with Manychat?

Connecting Manychat and Hotmart takes a few easy steps.

First, you’ll need to generate your Hotmart credentials. Here’s a walkthrough video to help you step-by-step in Hotmart:

Next head over to your Manychat account, and follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Manychat account.
2. Navigate to the “Settings” section.
3. Click on “Integrations.”
4. Provide your Hotmart account credentials.
5. Click “Next”

That’s it!

You’re all set to use Manychat with your Hotmart account to start selling and promoting your products!

Ready to integrate Manychat with Hotmart?

Looking for inspiration? Check out these other creator success stories using Manychat:

• How Conquista Tu Mundo with Johnny Abraham leveraged Manychat to drive $15,000 in launch sales in 20 days
• Jenna Kutcher’s 3 Easy Instagram Sales Strategies That Generated $900k – Organically
• Amy Porterfield’s 3 Powerful Instagram Strategies

The contents of this blog were independently prepared and are for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ManyChat or any other party. Individual results may vary*

The post How to Integrate Manychat and Hotmart (5 Simple Steps) appeared first on Manychat Blog.

Partnering with Manychat Agency Partner Jugo de Limon Digital and Conversational Marketing, Centro Médico Eternal not only grew their customer base by more than 10,000 leads but generated over $15,000 in sales in 30 days using Manychat.

Overview 

Based in Nuevo León, Mexico, Centro Médico Eternal specializes in regenerative treatments with stem cells, treating conditions such as osteoporosis and arthritis. 

Centro Médico Eternal CEO, Juan Roman Garza, was looking for an agency to help him improve the Manychat automation they had created in-house.

That’s where Pepe Lozano, founder and CEO of Jugo de Limon, stepped in. He helped Centro Médico Eternal grow its database, achieve $15,385 in sales for its stem-cell treatment, and boost its ROI by 12.9% using Manychat.

The challenge 

Before Jugo de Limon came on board, the owners of Centro Médico Eternal had developed their Manychat automation themselves.

Pepe and his team identified that there was no conversation structure, and they were not serving users correctly or generating customer databases.

In short, they weren’t using Manychat to its full potential, nor were they using it to book more appointments.

“They received blocking warnings,” Pepe says. “They did not know all the benefits and functions that the platform offers.”

The goal

Centro Médico Eternal wanted to improve customer service, automate first-contact inquiries, and collect contact information to book appointments.

Once Jugo de Limon explained all the opportunities they were missing, they were convinced that with the right development and management, they could achieve great results with Manychat.

The strategy

Here’s how Jugo de Limon helped turn things around for Centro Médico Eternal.

First, they established the welcome messages, default reply, and menu.

“We identified keywords that people used in messages, and we created the corresponding conversation flows to answer the most important FAQs,” explains Pepe.

Next, a series of qualifying questions were developed so leads could identify their condition and the center could obtain a pre-diagnosis that helped them offer a solution.

Jugo de Limon developed a Clicks-to-Messenger ads campaign strategy, using JSON and Comment Growth Tool.

From April 2021 until March 2022, Jugo de Limon ran Clicks-to-Messenger ads promoting a stem cell success story, targeting people who lived 20km radius of the clinic in Monterrey Nuevo León, with an interest in wellness and alternative medicine.

From the ad, a flow was developed where a sales representative is directly assigned in Manychat Live Chat. 

This flow also accounts for working hours, after-hours, weekends, and holidays, which includes sending a message via WhatsApp or collecting the user’s contact information to follow up the next business day.

In the same flow, they use an automated “fake follow-up”, where the chatbot greets the lead with the real name of the salesperson that will get in touch with them. This Fake Follow-Up strategy, developed and taught to Pepe by his Manychat Educator Trilce Jirón Garro, is a staple in her community’s education process and can be found in all of her student’s flows.

When the salesperson reaches out in Live Chat, the lead already knows them by name.

The results

Using Manychat, Jugo de Limon helped Centro Médico Eternal increase appointments and sales of stem-cell treatments, as well as build a database of more than 10,000 users.

With a one-month investment of $1,282, the center received 1,200 messages at a cost of $1 message, generating 140 contacts and 80 new first-time appointments.

This meant that each new appointment booked cost only $31.80 each, generating $2,544 USD. From this, 10 customers purchased full stem-cell treatments worth  $15,385, an ROI of 12.9%.

“We are now developing a Recurring Notifications strategy for 2023 that will send educational content, and we are also planning to launch Manychat for WhatsApp,” adds Pepe.

“The use of Manychat in conjunction with the attention of sales representatives has been of great importance in order to increase sales and appointments.”

Key takeaways

To drive demand and acquire more customers to grow your database and your bottom line, apply Jugo de Limon’s three tactics:

• Don’t include a special offer or discount in your ad. Instead, reserve those for leads who give their details – and offer the first appointment for free after you’ve qualified the lead on a call.
  
• Add a personal touch by including a “fake follow-up” in your message flows. This way, your lead knows the name of the customer service agent who will be following up with them the next business day.
  
• Personalize the conversation further by including responses that acknowledge working hours, after-hours, weekends, and holidays. Include the option for them to send a message via WhatsApp and collect the user’s contact information, so you never miss a valuable lead.
  

Incorporating these elements into your Manychat strategy can help you attract and convert more leads, resulting in a higher ROI.

The post How Centro Médico Eternal achieved $15,385 in sales and a 12.9% increase in ROI using Manychat appeared first on Manychat Blog.

In fact, using this one strategy, La Repa exceeded its projected sales for Black Friday, generating 300% more sales than forecast.

Overview 

WhatsApp is a popular option for businesses, boasting 2 billion users. It allows companies to cultivate relationships with customers, engage in two-way conversations, and sell directly within the platform.

In several countries, this is the most common way to communicate with friends, family, and businesses.

For companies, this messaging app presents a significant opportunity: You can leverage the untapped potential of WhatsApp’s user base, reaching a large audience at low cost.

Costa Rican mattress store, La Repa de Sueños, and their marketing agency, TBS Marketing, recognized this opportunity. So, they decided to experiment with WhatsApp templates inside Manychat for a Black Friday marketing campaign. 

Their results were nothing short of astounding – achieving a staggering 9,000% ROI.

Let’s take a look at the strategies La Repa implemented to generate these results, including WhatsApp templates.

First, let’s learn more about WhatsApp API and how you can apply WhatsApp templates to your next campaign.

What’s the WhatsApp API?

There are 3 different types of WhatsApp accounts you can use:

1. WhatsApp Messenger: The personal app you can download on the app store, primarily used for communication with family and friends.
   
2. WhatsApp Business: A separate app you can also download, which offers business-oriented features such as product catalogs, and limited automation and broadcasts. It’s perfect for small businesses that wish to provide more personalized customer care on a channel customers prefer.
   
3. WhatsApp API: This allows medium and large businesses to communicate with their customers at scale. Businesses can build systems to connect thousands of customers with agents or chatbots, enabling both automated and manual communication. Additionally, you can integrate the API with numerous backend systems, such as CRM and marketing platforms, like Manychat.

WhatsApp API does have its differences. Most notably, you won’t be able to have WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business running on your phone’s app, and conversations are only open for 24 hours on WhatsApp API. 

So, this is where WhatsApp templates come in.

What are WhatsApp templates?

A WhatsApp message template is a message format that you can send to users once they have opted-in and given your app permission to send them messages. Templates can include videos, images, buttons, and more.

Before using a message template, you must submit it to Meta for review and approval. This process can take up to 48 hours, to ensure high-quality content and avoid spam. 

Once your template is approved, you can send the message template to your entire WhatsApp list at a cost. The cost varies per country. For example, in Costa Rica, sending out a template outside of the 24-hour window costs only $0.08 per contact.

The challenge 

Using WhatsApp Messenger and WhatsApp Business, La Repa would have to manually reach out to each potential customer who requested more information on pricing.

So, TBS Marketing had an idea – proactively contact their WhatsApp list of 11,800 contacts and let them know about the special Black Friday discount, using a WhatsApp template through WhatsApp API so the process of customer care could be done using their CRM system.

“We refused to do a generic marketing campaign,” explains La Repa CMO and TBS Marketing CEO, Trilce Jiron Garro. “Past leads are your best future customers, but sending out a massive SMS feels impersonal and money-grabby.

“On a normal WhatsApp, we would’ve had to send a message lead by lead. With Manychat, we were able to overcome the scalability challenge.”

The goal 

La Repa wanted to connect with their audience in the most personal way possible – and on the channel they prefer. 

“Usually, holiday campaigns are sent in cold emails or dreadful SMS campaigns,” says Trilce.

“For a Latino audience used to engaging with La Repa’s founders on TikTok, this would feel off. So we decided to try the newest toy in the box: Whatsapp templates.”

The strategy 

La Repa wanted to do something different from their usual ads, so the video invitation seemed the best option.

So they created a WhatsApp template, which was approved by Meta, that included:

• A 40-second vertical video (Instagram and Facebook Story format). The video script explained the benefits of buying a mattress from them as well as the Black Friday deals. Here’s the exact script:

“Hi there! It’s Tril from La Repa, and we have a romantic date this weekend. We are going to host a special Black Friday weekend with amazing discounts, and I’d love to see you there. We both know we’re gonna have great prices, but that’s really not the important bit. Every single product has a 100-night sleep trial and of course, we take care of your old mattress to avoid pollution. Also, I bought you eggnog! See you in a few days!”

• After this message, La Repa sends a text message with the store’s opening hours.
  
• Lastly, there is a closing opt-out message that reads: “If you want out of our VIP messaging list, text us the word ‘squash’.”

This message was sent to 11,800 of La Repa’s WhatsApp contacts. They had an investment of $880 for retargeting and used the broadcasts feature within Manychat.

For context, WhatsApp Business API limits daily broadcasting according to your quality rating:

• Unverified accounts can send 50 business-initiated messages per day
• Verified accounts have a 1000-message daily limit
• Accounts that send 2000 business-initiated messages in five days receive an increase to 10,000 daily messages
• Accounts that send 10000 business-initiated messages in five days receive an increase to 100,000 daily messages
• By sending 100,000 in a week, accounts reach unlimited messages.

These amounts scale automatically based on your phone number status, phone number quality rating, and how often you initiate conversations with unique customers.

At the time, La Repa had a 10,000 daily limit. So, in order to send out a message to each person on their list, and not overload the sales team, they used Manychat’s Randomizer and Smart Delay features to divide the audience into three groups.

The results

La Repa could never imagine the impact this campaign would have. In fact, projections showed sales at $30,000 over the weekend. 

This strategy was so popular that the business had to call for emergency sales help and stay open after closing hours. La Repa exceeded their projected sales target by almost 300%, reaching sales of $85,000.

Month by Month clients. Nov 2021 had 189 clients, 2022 had 464:

In addition, out of the 11,800 people who received the message, only 88 opted out.

Key takeaways

The use of WhatsApp API and its messaging template feature is an effective way to reach out and engage with customers. Not only can it be used as a retargeting tool, but to broadcast messages quickly and efficiently.

If you’d like to try WhatsApp API, take note of these three takeaways from La Repa’s ultra-successful Black Friday campaign:

• Take WhatsApp templates for a test drive. Try something new with your WhatsApp list. Remember, you can use templates again and again with your audience.
  
• Get creative with your WhatsApp template ideas. With WhatsApp API, you’re not limited to text. Videos, buttons, and images can be used.
  
• Engage with your audience in a manner and on a channel they prefer. For La Repa, connecting with their audience via a personal video invitation on WhatsApp proved to be a smart investment.

La Repa’s success shows just one way to leverage WhatsApp API for time-sensitive campaigns, so the possibilities for this platform are endless.

The post The essential WhatsApp template that helped La Repa generate 9,000% ROI appeared first on Manychat Blog.

That is the response time most customers expect from a business on social media.

And just 50% of businesses are meeting this expectation.

Here’s how Dental Art by Erika Elescano shaved down their response time by 80% and achieve 12,000% ROI using Manychat and a CRM system.

Overview 

Dental Art by Erika Elescano offers general dentistry, as well as cosmetic and specialist dental services across three offices in Peru. Owner Walter Paredes and his wife, Erika – a dental surgeon and the clinic’s medical director – started the business 15 years ago. Today, the clinic has grown to seven staff. 

Dental Art is one of only a handful of centers specializing in functional orthopedics of the jaws (OFM), which corrects all kinds of bite problems without teeth removal or surgery. 

“Ninety-five percent of our clients and leads are women, and almost all of them are mothers,” Walter explains. “OFM treatment is largely aimed at women bringing their children to the consultation.”

The challenge 

For many months and across many campaigns, Walter – who is also responsible for marketing and sales at the clinic – was looking for a way to publicize OFM, connecting with mothers of young children, without success.

He had two objectives: to connect with this audience, and compete with the top company in Peru, which offers the same service. 

The rival company had 120 ads running on Facebook and Instagram during the same time period, September 2021 to January 2022. For comparison, Dental Art had only one ad running.Walter admits he had been using Manychat for a long time, “but not to the level or psychological orientation towards sales” he learned from Manychat Educator Trilce Jiron Garro and her signature CRM strategy.

The goal

In addition to publicizing OFM in a competitive landscape, Dental Art also wanted to manage their customer database more effectively, increase appointments, and in turn, generate more sales.

By interacting with leads on multiple channels, including Messenger and WhatsApp, and including a CRM connected to Manychat, Dental Art was able to have a 24/7 presence and responding immediately has ensured prospects know to expect a callback from the customer service team.

“I am convinced that a business does not grow without having a database and knowing exactly who are the people who are buying from us and what specific actions they are taking regarding what we are offering them,” adds Walter.

The strategy 

First, Dental Art focused on capturing the attention of their audience: mothers who want the best for their children’s teeth without invasive surgery.

“To achieve this, we made the simplest video possible in which we showed the results that are obtained when using the functional orthopedic treatment of the jaws,” says Walter.

Next, they refocused their ad copy – telling moms about all the unnecessary medical treatments they may be exposing their children to that don’t always correct the problem.

“We made our message talk about children being subjected to surgery, dental extractions, long post-operatives, all accompanied by a lot of pain,” explains Walter. “We end the message by saying that you can avoid all of this if you use a specific treatment.”

Next, Dental Art ran a Clicks-to-Messenger Facebook ad, with JSON, Comment Growth Tool, and ref URL because they knew people in Latin America don’t always follow the call to action and click the “send message” button, but may comment on the ad instead.

The customer service team would call those who gave their phone number. For those who didn’t give their contact details, they implemented a remarketing strategy.Later on, they implemented Manychat for WhatsApp, creating an entirely new flow and also including the ref URL in their ad copy.

“People usually send a direct message to the page, leave a comment or use WhatsApp communication,” he adds.

“Just over 20% – 850 people – of conversations were initiated and attended by the WhatsApp chatbot. People saw us on Facebook first, but communicated directly through WhatsApp when they saw that this channel was available.”

Using Manychat tagging, Walter and his team have been able to keep lead source attribution well-organized and funneled to Monday.com to nurture each lead

effectively.

“Managing and positioning this flagship service has meant having a lot of emotional balance for me and my wife, because we could not grow as we expected until we ran this campaign,” ads Walter.

The results

Since implementing Trilce’s CRM strategy with Manychat, Dental Art has grown their business, relocating their primary practice to a larger premises, opening a second office in another district of Peru’s capital, Lima, and expanding to a third office in one of the interior provinces.

“Since starting this strategy in 2021, we managed to grow exponentially by connecting very well with the public that interests us and managing to do the necessary follow-up to take them from leads to clients,” says Walter.

In fact, using these Manychat strategies, in a period of 60 days, Dental Art achieved these incredible results:

• 12,000% ROI for the clinic’s flagship service, functional orthopedics of the jaws.
• Up to 80% decrease in customer service times.
• A 90% to 95% decrease in the cost per message.
• A 5x increase in daily messages.
• Generate sales that are equivalent to 1.3 times higher than the average annual sales for the clinic.

“People travel more than an hour and a half from their homes to any of our three offices,” says Walter. “In Peru, it is very unlikely that a person would travel for so long to attend a dental consultation.

“On many occasions, our patients have traveled more than four hours just to be seen by us, and we believe this is a combination of factors, but also in part, due to our successful Manychat strategy.”

Key takeaways

To execute a successful Manychat strategy with CRM focusing on Clicks-to-Message ads and WhatsApp, consider the following:

• Capture the attention of your audience in your ad copy and creative. What is your audience’s pain point? What are their deepest desires? How does your business solve this pain point?
  
• Connect with your leads on the channel they prefer. Dental Art was able to have a 24/7 presence and respond to leads immediately, reducing their customer service time and boosting sales.
  
• Integrate your CRM with Manychat to supercharge your lead qualification and follow-up efforts. This means you can distribute leads among your customer service team, as well as know where they are in the path to purchase.

Focusing on these three important elements can help boost your ROI, reduce your customer service costs, and successfully map out leads within your funnel.

As Walter concludes: “the result was obvious; we were victorious!”

The post How Dental Art by Erika Elescano generated 12,000% ROI using Manychat in just 60 days appeared first on Manychat Blog.

Here’s how Manychat Agency Partner and Educator Swayam Dhawan uses Recurring Notifications (RNs) and Manychat to his double holiday sales with a tiny advertising budget.

Overview

Swayam is an eCommerce agency owner who helps eCommerce business owners and high-ticket coaches with a lucrative Chat Marketing sales system to automate their sales processes.

With a background in web design, Swayam turned his attention to Chat Marketing in 2016. Since then, he has served more than 350 clients from 30+ countries, including Indian media agency Dainik Bhaskar, Bhagwati Rail, Lucrative Lady coaching clubs, and Creatofy, to name a few.

He started his eCommerce journey with just one store and has since expanded to multiple stores. 

The challenge

Swayam understood that traditional methods to recover abandoned carts, like using recovery emails and retargeting ads, resulted in low conversions. 

Rather than solely relying on emails and retargeting ads, Swayam saw the potential of using Recurring Notifications with Manychat. In fact, Manychat delivers a 58% lift in recovering abandoned carts vs. industry average. 

In addition, Recurring Notifications allow businesses to re-engage their customers after 24 hours of last interaction, with prior permission, on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, using Manychat’s Broadcasting tool.

It’s the latest way to interact with your subscribers – for free – after the initial 24 hours have passed.

Recurring Notifications are a more robust alternative to One-Time Notifications (OTN), which have some limitations. These include being able to only send a single message after you’ve obtained permission from leads, and you must obtain permission multiple times to send more messages.

Recurring Notifications allow businesses to bypass this OTN limitation, which is a great opportunity for businesses to reach their Messenger subscribers and nurture them on the channel they prefer.

The goal

Swayam’s goal was to double holiday sales using Recurring Notifications with minimal ad spend.

He then decided which type of RN would be best to achieve his goal.

The Recurring Notification is broken down into 3 communication windows: 

• Daily over 6 month period after opt-in (one message per calendar day)
• Weekly over 9 month period after opt-in (once every calendar week)
• Monthly over 12 month period after opt-in (once every calendar month)

“The bottom line is deciding what kind of RN is a good fit for your business because there are three different types,” Swayam says. “So the best one to use in your business can amplify your Chat Marketing results.”

The strategy 

For eCommerce stores, Swayam’s Recurring Notifications strategy delivers a 50% discount coupon as a lead magnet. 

Customers who want the 50% discount coupon must opt-in to Messenger to claim it.

After that, Swayam includes a message to ask leads if they wish to receive more offers and discounts on a weekly basis. The lead is then asked to opt into weekly Recurring Notifications.

On the flip side, Swayam says daily Recurring Notifications are a great option for coaches and consultants. 

When running webinars or challenges, Swayam employs Recurring Notifications to remind attendees to join a live session, and receive key takeaways, bonuses, or special high-ticket program offers.

“When people register for the webinar, but they’re not able to show up live, they miss the upsells or bonuses that are offered with the webinar,” Swayam says. “This is a smart way to re-engage those people and amplify sales quickly without going for a week-long follow-up sequence.”

Swayam also uses RNs to encourage attendance for Facebook and Instagram Lives or to encourage users to participate in daily challenges, by sending a daily reminder.

The results

By implementing weekly RNs for his own eCommerce store on a weekly basis, Swayam generated $35,000 in just 30 days, with a staggering 22% customer retention rate.

In fact, utilizing the coupon code RN strategy as a lead magnet generated $10,000 in organic sales in a single weekend.

“Along with the RNs, when we integrated email automation, we were able to make around $15,000 revenue from Klaviyo,” adds Swayam.

For his daily RN strategy, Swayam has increased webinar show-up rate from 20% to 60%, with one of his workshops driving $26,000 in revenue with zero ad spend, and adding $16,000 more using Recurring Notifications as a follow-up.

“We have doubled our daily sales for eCommerce and info products by utilizing the daily RNs functionality.”

In addition, Swayam has made $105,000 per month by selling info products on Shopify with Manychat integrations, and $35,000 per month by selling digital resources templates.

Key takeaways

To get the most out of Recurring Notifications, take note of these three things:

• Use RNs with your lead magnet. Offering a coupon is a great incentive to get your leads into your Messenger chatbot, then nurture them with a series of weekly offers.
  
• Employ RNs to deliver reminders to increase webinar attendance rates. It also boosts your ROI as you can use multiple RN topics without breaking Facebook’s 24-hour rule.
  
• Integrate your RN strategy with other automation tools. When using tools like email automation and SMS with RN, you can dramatically increase your revenue.

Businesses can supercharge their ROI using Recurring Notifications and an effective Chat Marketing strategy powered by Manychat.

The post Swayam Dhawan’s foolproof strategy to re-engage subscribers and drive $35,000 in sales in just 30 days appeared first on Manychat Blog.

Use DM automation before your broadcast

Instagram Live is immensely popular—the majority of Instagram viewers would rather watch a video than read a blog post. But it’s important to beat out your competition by promoting your broadcast in advance. DM automation can help with this by informing anyone who comments on or mentions your Instagram Story about the upcoming video. Your Instagram automation can encourage them to set up a reminder for the broadcast or to set up a countdown to get a notification when you air.

Tailor your direct messages to the purpose of your broadcast.

Before you set up your broadcast, and even before you promote it, the purpose and goal of your video should be clear to your audience. Does your video provide your viewers a behind-the-scenes look of your business, or suggest new hacks for users of your product? Are you promoting a new product or service or a reaction to industry news? Even if your viewers come in with other concerns, your automated messages can keep them focused. And the more specific the purpose, the easier it will be to communicate to your audience. And whether it’s a question and answer session with fans or explaining the rules to a contest or giveaway, create Instagram messages that convey a sense of urgency. The audience should feel that if they don’t attend, they’ll miss out.

Use DM automation in conjunction with the questions sticker

You might be focused on broadcasting, but make sure you engage with your audience almost immediately. While Instagram users like watching videos, they like interaction with Instagram Live users even more. When a viewer submits a question to a broadcast, you can share it with your audience by tapping the question mark -speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen. Using a question sticker can helplp. It can help you source common questions from your viewers that you can answer immediately. And you can set up Instagram DM automation to reach out to anyone who posts a question to continue your interaction.

Send conversation starters before and during your broadcast.

Customers are rarely aware of the next steps you want them to take—or even the questions you plan to answer. As Instagram users and new followers start watching your broadcast, you can use DM automation to suggest conversation starters to your audience that can help propel them in the right direction. Viewers can simply open your automated DM and select a choice that allows them to interact with you. And the Instagram Live comments trigger means you can send an automated DM to anyone who comments on your broadcast. Once they start engaging with your direct message, customers can enter an automated flow without leaving your Instagram Live broadcast.

Use DM automation to acquire information about potential customers.

Perhaps the most useful goal of interacting on social media is acquiring information about potential customers. And Instagram DM automation can help with that. You can encourage your Instagram Live viewers to provide you with their names, emails, and phone numbers in exchange for discounts, special offers or selectively available products.

Remember that keywords can lead to calls to action.

Keywords are incredibly helpful for leading followers into your automated message flow and encouraging interactions with your brand. They are also particularly useful when linked with a specific call to action (CTA). While each Instagram broadcast should stand on its own, keywords can direct viewers to other broadcasts or to your website. Linking keywords to a call to action, such as registration to a future event, booking introductory appointments or exchanging contact information for discounts can provide opportunities for future interaction and conversion. It’s a fact that 67% of audiences who watched an Instagram Live video will go to similar events in the future.

Use Automated DMs after the broadcast

You can use Instagram DM automation to connect with your audience during your broadcast and to encourage engagement with your video. You can also send automated direct messages to get feedback on your broadcast or your product. A survey is the most common method, but you can also use a quiz format and offer rewards or discounts for completion. An after-broadcast DM allows you to continue your interaction with potential customers, even after they’ve stopped watching your broadcast. Pay special attention to those viewers who asked questions, commented or reached out to you in any way. It’s important to keep these kinds of conversations going as long as possible. Therefore, it might be useful to set up your after-video DM automation to lead to live chat customer service.

Don’t let DM automation become mechanical

Instagram Live is all about increasing the human aspect of online interaction. Therefore, it’s important that your automated Instagram DMs focus on a genuine connection with your audience. Make sure you update your responses and change your flow for each broadcast, without sacrificing your brand’s message. Creating real customer engagement means that you have to keep your DM automation fresh and human.

It’s often been difficult for businesses to track comments and followers and convert them into customers. But by combining automated Instagram DMs with Instagram Live, you encourage user conversations with your brand even before they interact with you.

Find out how ManyChat can automate your DM’s to improve your Instagram Live video

The post Using DM Automation with Instagram Live appeared first on Manychat Blog.

Use information gathered from online networking sites to increase community engagement

For female entrepreneurs there are few substitutes for social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook to define and promote your brand management. And because social media is so interactive, it can be tempting to assume that most of your customer communications will occur here. A social media presence is just the first step to reaching your target audience and building a community around your product and brand. By leveraging your social media contacts to use in other communication channels—particularly an email list-—you can create real engagement with future and potential customers.

Entrepreneurs can look to metrics to reverse engineer new content

You can improve your content and expand your message by first monitoring your metrics. By looking at the number of followers and the extent of engagement, you can not only see which topics and posts have the most impact, but which forms of communications (email, social media, automated chat) have the most success for a particular message. By reverse engineering your new content according to the metrics found in your insights, you can repeat the success of your most popular posts. While metrics don’t always tell the whole story, keeping track of what works can help you structure your communication with your customers. The return on investment of monitoring your metrics can take various forms, such as repeated customer engagement, the establishment of your brand, or improving a long-term marketing strategy.

Entrepreneurs should invest in video, not just design

It’s important to remember that it’s easier to acquire customers when they’re interacting rather than just reading. While graphics and design can be memorable, there’s no substitute for the human element when it comes social media marketing that converts followers into customers. Going live on Instagram is a great way for entrepreneurs to interact with potential customers, humanize your brand, and create a larger community. Entrepreneurs can greet newcomers and place a call to action in the comments, or promote experts who can offer new value to your audience. Using videos and going live on your social media creates a greater sense of engagement than would be possible with just simple graphics and images. Not only is it easier to convey detailed information in a video format, but when you include real people in videos as well as animation, it creates a more intimate connection between your company and your customers and puts a human face on your brand.

Clear calls to action are essential for successful Instagram marketing

It’s often tempting to trust your audience to know what the next steps are, but that is a mistake. In fact, calls to action (CTAs) are the one element that can transform an Instagram post, making it engaging rather than merely informative and directing  customers to an entrepreneur’s products and services. And because CTAs are so essential for Instagram success, it’s important to have multiple approaches. 

The most common calls to action involved questions that encourage participation by the audience. Not only does this type of CTA increase engagement and create community, it also provides a great deal of useful data about the individuals responding. Another successful method of including CTAs in your marketing content is to include a link to your site or product in your Instagram bio, preferably separated by a black line or some other kind of separator that you can copy and paste into your post. CTAs should also be included in your Instagram ads. This way, followers who read your post are automatically directed to your CTA. If your content is current, shareable, and immediately useful, then a CTA will both increase traffic to your post and create interactions that can lead customers to become increasingly involved with your company as it grows. And this is particularly important for any newcomers in your audience. If you give them a roadmap to follow, you will increase brand awareness and engagement in your community.

A goal of almost every Instagram business should be to save customers’ time

Much of the Instagram audience are looking for ways to save time and are likely to favor brands and businesses that help them do that. Whether by using marketing automation to weed through inquiries and provide greater customer service or providing links to calls to action in your bio and on your posts, any marketing method that provides your audience with information as quickly as possible will likely be popular. 

When it comes to growth, viral content is king

Ideally, you want your content to be organically found on Instagram’s explore page and on your Instagram feed so it will then show up in the stories of various users. That way, you will be able to reach an audience beyond your current Instagram followers. A branded hashtag is also useful to build your customer base, as Instagram users can follow them and be notified of any new content that might be relevant to the hashtag topic. Finally, as an entrepreneur, it’s also important to know the form of content that will resonate most with your target audience. For example, while Instagram Reels are currently favored by Instagram’s algorithm and are more likely to go viral than other formats, if they don’t work for your brand or content, there’s little point in using them.

The only strategies that work for entrepreneurs are the ones that feel natural

There are many Instagram marketing hacks and tricks, but the most important rule is that your strategies feel natural enough so you can use them consistently. If you can’t continue to implement a strategy at regular intervals, or if it takes too much work or effort, then that strategy, no matter how successful, is wrong for you. Consistency is key when it comes to Instagram success, so use only those tricks and tips that you look forward to implementing. Even if you think you’ve found what works, it is still a good idea to stay open to new digital marketing strategies and hacks for content creation that might have even better results.

The biggest challenge facing female entrepreneurs is confidence

There are many fantastic Instagram communities for female-led businesses, and more opportunities for women to find success through social media management. However, since most successful Instagram businesses have put in around 10,000 hours on social media marketing, many fledgling businesswomen become discouraged when they start. The most daunting challenge women face when wanting to start a business is a lack of confidence in their business and brand, And the most important aspect of becoming successful on social media is having the right mindset—one that identifies mental blocks and removes obstacles that prevent you from taking the right actions to support your marketing goals. 

Ready to get started with Instagram DM Automation by ManyChat?

SIGN UP FREE

The post Expert Marketing Tips from Female Entrepreneurs at the 2022 Instagram Summit appeared first on Manychat Blog.

In 2021, the company hosted its first-ever Instagram Summit to discuss advantages that DM automation and omnichannel marketing can provide for a business’s customer service strategy. While more than 8,000 registered users attended the 2021 event, the 2022 Instagram Summit was even more popular, with over 20,000 registrations and attendance by users in 30 different countries. 

On Day 1, ManyChat co-founder and CEO Mike Yan delivered the keynote address, covering issues such as creating hyper-growth, using DM automation on social media to supercharge sales, and why an omnichannel marketing approach is necessary to dramatically increase customer service and satisfaction. Here are some takeaways from the speech.

Instagram DM Automation grew much faster than any other type of automation

…And it’s not too late to adopt it.

In 2021, ManyChat launched Instagram DM automation, a chat marketing feature to help businesses increase conversions and sales. Your company can direct social media audiences to automated content in your DMs by using keywords and call-to-action questions on posts, among other triggers.

But while all of ManyChat’s Automation efforts experienced considerable growth in the past year, usage of Instagram DM Automation grew faster than any other type of automation.

With more than 70,000 connected Instagram accounts and 400,000+ automations built, Instagram users have sent nearly 300 million instant messages to their contacts. There’s no question that Instagram DM Automation is ManyChat’s fastest-growing product ever.

And yet, since Instagram has more than 200 million business-related accounts, there is still considerable opportunity for growth. Yan estimated that DM automation as a marketing strategy will be standard practice within two years, so now is the time to adopt DM automation to support your social media marketing efforts and customer service strategies.

Chat marketing leads to growing communities and increasing engagement

Chatbot automation works because it allows your company to interact with a more significant number of potential customers than possible with just human-powered customer support.

One of the advantages of chat marketing is that, with the right strategies, you can use automation to supply information about your other products and services. And once communication has been established with a potential customer, chat automation provides opportunities for cross-selling additional services, upselling premium products, and increasing the likelihood of repeat customers.

Furthermore, it is vital that you leverage communication on social media to acquire data that will help you convert Instagram customers.

Instagram DM Automation provides the ability to communicate with users without leaving the platform and lets you capture the usernames, emails, and phone numbers of potential customers.

Combine Automation and live chat for optimal results

ManyChat was the first company to combine chatbots and live chat in an email channel, an SMS channel, and channels on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger.

Yan believes that chatbot automation and live chat with human customer service should not be competing strategies, but should instead complement each other.

While automated chat is less expensive to maintain and has the advantage of being scalable as you grow, customer support through live chat is far more successful when it comes to conversion and building long-term relationships and trust with the company.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that 30% of Instagram accounts using automated DMs also use live chat for customer support.

To use live chat successfully, your company must have a targeted approach to content that allows your customer service to focus on the best leads. This is where automated chat can help.

Yan notes that tools available with Instagram DM Automation allow companies to ascertain follower count or discover whether the customer currently follows the company.

As a result, automated chat on social media can qualify and sort leads in a gatekeeping capacity, eventually sending those potential customers with the greatest likelihood of sales or the largest number of followers to interact with customer service through live chat, which has a better chance of increasing customer engagement.

Chat supports omnichannel marketing for growth of sales

These days, people have many social media options for keeping in touch with friends and family—iMessage, text, WhatsApp, Telegram, and email—as well as the direct messaging functionality available through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media platforms.

In some countries, 95% of the population uses messaging apps. And while the United States lags, with about 60% of its population using messaging apps, the number of users is expected to rise considerably within the next two years.

However, while it may be tempting to dismiss more conventional communication channels such as email or SMS as inefficient compared to social media marketing, that would be a mistake. Both email and SMS have the advantage of being universally available and reliable and provide content that results in an improved customer experience.

While at first email offers much lower conversion rates and is a far less interactive experience for customers than customer service through live or automated chat, email allows companies to maintain customer lists that they can then take to any other messaging or social media platform.

Email marketing also offers better opportunities to re-engage customers than many messaging platforms and is unparalleled in providing content that encourages long-term customer engagement.

Therefore, as chatbots, social media marketing and traditional communication channels have different strengths and weaknesses, devising an omnichannel approach for your content is the best way to reach the largest number of ideal customers.

Chat automation is just the first step in sales

It’s a mistake just to automate your DMs and believe that will be enough to improve your sales or capture your audience’s attention. You need targeted content in your DMs to improve customer service.

Yan recommends setting up a welcome menu with “conversation starters” in your automation. A potential customer who sends a direct message to your company will then get a menu of information about your products and services, or specific content to guide a conversation.

Another possibility is setting up an automation to send an automatic thank you to customers who mention your company in their Instagram Story. Setting up a comments growth tool will allow you to connect with anyone who comments during your Instagram Live.

You can also offer incentives that encourage Instagram followers to tag their friends, who can then be contacted by automated DMs and directed to customer service.

Generating successful social media interactions with your customers requires marketing content that contains the right keywords, which should be short and simple, and ideally calls to action that can lead to increased contact and communication.

The best keywords minimize customer effort while maximizing customer interactions and the possibility of conversions. For successful Instagram marketing and customer service, your company should place keyword content in various locations (IG Live, Instagram Reels, Instagram Ads, and your company’s bio) to increase followers and improve brand awareness.

The 2022 Instagram Summit supports the idea that the best Instagram marketing strategy is a hybrid approach to content that uses automation and live chat interaction as the key to increasing sales and improving customer service. And ManyChat can provide a platform that combines chat, email, and SMS to create an omnichannel marketing strategy that reaches the widest audience.

Ready to get started with Instagram DM Chat Automation?

The post Chat Automation and Direct Marketing Tips From ManyChat CEO Mike Yan at the 2022 Instagram Summit appeared first on Manychat Blog.