Chatbots are fast becoming the inbound marketing tool of the moment. So, it was only a matter of time before artificial intelligence caught on to them and a chatbot platform was created.
Over the past few years, usage of messaging apps – such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line, etc. – has exploded. Indeed, people are now using these apps more than they are social networks, and, increasingly, they are expecting to be able to communicate with brands via these channels, too.
(Image source: blog.drift.com)
A recent article in Venture Beat makes the point that chatbots are most definitely here to stay as an inbound marketing tool, as creating chatbots, and especially intelligent chatbots (in terms of AI), has been a game changer. These are three revealing statistics as to why.
- 51% of people say a business needs to be available 24/7
- 4% of people would rather contact a business through messaging than phone
- 8% of people would rather contact a business via messaging than email
What’s more, eMarketer forecasts that messaging apps will be used by 65% of the entire global population by 2019, and, as such, the global chatbot market will grow exponentially.
(Image source: blog.drift.com)
Can You Make Your Own Chatbot for Inbound Marketing??
You can and there are plenty of no code chatbots to get you started.
In the current landscape, the process of making your own inbound marketing chatbots accessible to a wider audience is being increasingly democratized. When developing these conversational bots, understanding user input is essential. Moreover, harnessing Python chatbot frameworks can provide you with the tools you need to start building immediately. Investing in an AI chatbot is a wise choice for enhancing customer interactions.
Check out the following articles to learn more about chatbots:
- Top 3 chatbot techniques you want to know about
- 3 Colossal Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Chatbot
- How Chatbots Are Transforming B2B Marketing in 2017
And so, if you’ve decided that it’s high time that you began building a chatbot into your inbound marketing strategy, below we’ve listed five of the best tools and platforms we think you need to know about.
Let’s take a look…
5 Tools that Help You Create Chatbots for Your Inbound Marketing
1. Chatfuel
The first thing you’ll see when you head over to the Chatfuel website are the words “Build a Facebook bot without coding”.
Now, of course, you will almost certainly have a business page on Facebook, and this makes Chatfuel one of the very best tools that you could hope to use for building yourself a round-the-clock inbound marketing presence on everyone’s favourite social network.
The website states that you can get fully-functioning Facebook Messenger conversational bots that will be capable of using natural language processing in the near future up and running in under 7 minutes. We have used this tool and can say that this is true.
Chatfuel chatbot builder offers an intuitive interface that effortlessly guides you through a step-by-step process to design your chatbot's conversation. Within this platform, you can seamlessly integrate various chatbot platforms and incorporate user messages. Additionally, you have the flexibility to include links directing customers to specific content on your website, all while harnessing the power of machine learning.
You can also start experimenting with Chatfuel for free, making it well worth a look.
2. ChattyPeople
Another great platform for building inbound marketing chatbots for Facebook is ChattyPeople – especially if you’re running an ecommerce operation.
There's no coding needed to start building your ChattyPeople chatbot, it is quick and easy to get started with great chatbot development features, and comes with a free plan for you to test it out with.
ChattyPeople is ideal for making a simple inbound marketing rule based chatbot (and simplicity is key to successful chatbots), which you can deploy for the purposes of answering a whole range of customer service questions.
But if you want it to do a little more for you, then you will be walked through how to integrate that custom chatbot with Shopify, enabling you to monetize your Facebook business page even when you’re fast asleep at night.
3. Botsify
Another great chatbot building platform for Facebook is Botsify – and once again, no coding skills are required to master this brilliant inbound marketing tool.
4. Smooch
Smooch is a little different than what we’ve looked at so far on this list in the sense that it enables you to create inbound marketing chatbots that essentially act as a bridge between your business and messaging apps.
The bridge is created by sending all of your messenger chat notifications straight to the business app that you’re using. For example, if you’re using something like Slack for internal communications amongst your team, the Smooch chatbot will see to it that any customer communications coming from Line, Messenger, WeChat or what have you will be sent through to Slack (or Help Scout, Zendesk, Front, or whatever it is you’re using).
The result is that your inbound marketing team are able to answer all customer queries without having to leave the business app they’re using. Great stuff.
5. Beep Boop
Beep Boop is a chatbot creator for those who are in possession of coding skills, and who want to create a chatbot from scratch for their internal inbound marketing team on Slack.
You can use Beep Boop to enhance anything that you already do on Slack – which includes any customer service initiatives you have in place.
For example, when it comes to customer communication, you can harness the power of a Conversational bot. Delving into the world of customer engagement, building chatbots becomes a pivotal task. With your expertise, you can craft your own custom chatbot, tailor-made to your needs. If you're new to this field, a chatbot tutorial can guide you through the process. This custom chatbot, much like Beep Boop, can proactively alert you to incoming communications from your customers across various platforms, be it your website or Facebook Messenger. Moreover, it's entirely feasible to configure your custom chatbot to engage with customers on your behalf – provided, of course, that you have the coding skills (or the budget to hire someone who has) to program the bot effectively.
No free plan with this one, but prices are very reasonable nonetheless.
Over to You
There’s no doubt that powerful chatbots are transforming inbound marketing and lead generation right here and now. You've seen some examples of great chatbot building platforms, And the great news is that already there’s a plethora of other great tools and platforms out there that you can start to use to bring a cool chatbot experience to your customers right away – and many don’t even require you to know anything about programming. Take a look at the tools on this list for creating inbound marketing chatbots – there are plenty here that can have you up and running before the day is out.
