Wondering how to increase customer loyalty so you can grow your business? Guest expert Joren Wouters shares how to build a loyalty chatbot.

Build a Customer Loyalty Chatbot for Retention

## The brand

Yash Bhansali and Vikram Kanodia met in high school. Now, they’ve founded a chatbot agency together called Talkative.AI. Their chat agency’s mission is “to use conversational AI to power ecommerce, create unique customer experiences, and empower brands.” And when the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, they saw opportunities to help their customers weather the storm using AI chat bots. This is the story of one such consumer marketing client, a Mumbai bakery called Essange that specializes in stunning cakes and cupcakes.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213.webp 1618w" width="1618" height="1194" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_0_b023920213.webp" alt=""><figcaption>Essange is known for their beautiful desserts.</figcaption></figure>

## The problem

When the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, lockdowns went into effect all around the world. Since gatherings and parties were prohibited, Essange experienced a sudden, major drop in business. “Regular orders slowed down,” explains Yash, “and many people started baking at home for themselves instead by following online video tutorials on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.” To stay in business, the bakery’s owner knew she needed to pivot—and fast.

## The solution

Yash and Vikram knew that a robust AI chatbot would be the perfect solution to help this client keep her business afloat. Their Facebook chatbot agency had already built her a bot for [FAQ automation](https://chatfuel.com/blog/chatbot-for-customer-service), but they knew that now was the time to turn that into something even more powerful and engaging. “We decided to use this opportunity to create a unique, memorable experience for all her customers while generating a new source of income at the same time,” Vikram and Yash tell us.

Here’s how the Bake at Home bot works:

1.  Customers buy a DIY “bake at home” kit from the bakery, which includes everything they need to make their dessert of choice except for milk and eggs.

2.  The customer uses their phone to scan the QR code on the kit, and they’re directed to the Facebook chatbot that Yash and Vikram built.

3.  The AI bot acts as a virtual baking assistant, guiding the customer through each step of the baking process with instructions and GIFs.


<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_1_e0d2c2c906.webp" alt=""><figcaption>The AI&nbsp;chatbot for the bakery guides customers through instructions for baking their dessert.</figcaption></figure>

“Not only does the chatbot make the baking experience super easy and fun,” Vikram explains, “but it also retargets the customer a few hours later to upsell other DIY baking kits.” The Messenger bot also invites users to tag the bakery in a photo of their completed creation on social media, which helps the business generate social proof.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_2_0f580235d5.webp" alt=""><figcaption>The bakery chatbot invites customers to share a photo of their creation on social media once they've finished it.</figcaption></figure>

Yash and Vikram explain that they wanted to use a chatbot for something more than a marketing channel or a [customer service experience](https://chatfuel.com/blog/chatbot-for-customer-service). “The client said, *Can we make the bot part of the business?* And that’s when we figured out that there’s a tandem opportunity to actually make the bot part of the product she’s selling,” they share.

## The recipe

“We’ve found that good chatbots don’t need to be complex chatbots,” says Yash. “Some of the most effective bots are those that use only simple or basic features, but are designed to focus on business goals and providing the best customer service experience through smooth interactions.”

That’s why Chatfuel was the right fit for their project. “We feel that the Chatfuel team keeps the end-user in mind while designing the platform,” shares Vikram. “The end-user experience is our relentless focus with every chatbot, so using Chatfuel helps us create more value for our clients.”

Here are a few of the Chatfuel tools and features the Talkative team used to build this baking bot:

-   **Artificial intelligence (AI)**. “We leveraged Google’s NLP to understand user input and respond intelligently. This ensures a seamless, unrestricted, and natural user experience,” says Yash. To apply AI in the simplest way, you can [set up AI rules](https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/828883-keywords), which are pre-set messages your bot will send  in response to certain text inputs from users. An AI chatbot can significantly improve the user experience, as it did for the Bake at Home Bot.

-   **Customer Chat Entry Point.** Yash and Vikram used this plugin so that the chatbot would pop up and offer help to anyone who visits the bakery’s website. [Adding a chatbot to a website](https://chatfuel.com/blog/add-a-messenger-chatbot-to-your-website) is an easy way for any brand to get new users.


<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65.webp 2588w" width="2588" height="1390" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_3_0cc4bc2a65.webp" alt=""><figcaption>The chatbot is ready to engage anyone who visits the bakery's website.</figcaption></figure>

-   **Facebook Ads Entry Points.** This feature lets you easily set up [sponsored messages](https://chatfuel.com/blog/sponsored-messages-guide-to-reengaging-chatbot-subscribers) and [click-to-Messenger ads](https://chatfuel.com/blog/create-click-to-messenger-ads-to-drive-traffic-to-your-bot) for your bot, and Yash and Vikram took advantage. “Sponsored messages and click-to-Messenger ads on Facebook [and Instagram](https://chatfuel.com/blog/use-instagram-ads-to-bring-users-to-your-dms-or-your-messenger-bot) were ‘baked’ into the branding and marketing strategy,” they tell us.


Vikram and Yash shared that they also made use of [gallery cards](https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/925465-media-assets), images, GIFs, and sequences in the recipe tutorials. User attributes and [Zapier CRM integrations](https://chatfuel.com/blog/a-marketing-automation-love-story-chatfuel-zapier) helped them with personalization and retargeting. All these features combined helped improve the customer experience for the bakery bot’s users.

## The results

The Bake at Home Bot performed extremely well, according to Yash and Vikram. “The chatbot achieved its design goals beyond expectation in terms of lead conversion, increased sales, brand building, and customer engagement,” they tell us.

“Our experience-oriented design **acquired 250% more users in a month** than the automated FAQs version was able to acquire in over a year,” shares Vikram. “User activity spiked to **50x Active Users** and 13x Reengaged Users. Plus, online-to-offline sales conversions also increased significantly, which helped our client jump-start her business amidst the COVID slowdown!”

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274/xs_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274/sm_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274/md_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274/lg_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274/xl_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274.webp 1600w" width="1600" height="707" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274/original_ai_chatbot_helps_bakery_during_covid_4_e361b59274.webp" alt=""><figcaption>The virtual assistant version of the bakery's chatbot acquired 250% more users in a month than the FAQ&nbsp;version did in over a year.</figcaption></figure>

## A chatbot can get your business sweet results

The digital customer experience the Bake at Home Bot offers was a game changer for Essange Bakery, as it helped them expand their customer base, increase sales, and stand out from the competition. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level with a free AI chatbot, [get started with Chatfuel](https://dashboard.chatfuel.com) today.

A marketing agency built an AI chatbot for this bakery to help them stay afloat and even grow during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bakery Creates New Revenue with AI Chatbot in COVID

Here’s the story of MyDreamChat — a startup that created a Facebook Messenger mental health chatbot for dream analysis. It grew to over 12,000 users in the first five months with under $5,000 in marketing spend. It brings powerful therapy experience as part of a larger project to create a separate app for this purpose. Tackling the minimum viable product creation, they ended up using the Messenger chatbot practically and creatively.

## The brand helps to start your mental health improving journey

Sansan Fibri, the founder of the startup, has always believed that our dreams have the power to help us uncover and deal with emotional challenges. However, most of us need the proper guidance to start this mental-health journey. That’s where Sansan’s AI chatbot MyDreamChat comes in.

It’s a guided self-therapy tool that helps users analyze their dreams in a conversational, quiz-like format. The goal is to lead them towards a resolution at the subconscious level for more sound mental health.

While Sansan started on this concept in 2018, it’s become more relevant than ever in the COVID-19 era. Sansan and her team surveyed over 10,000 MyDreamChat users a few months into the pandemic. They found that 40% of customers used words like “feeling trapped,” “hopeless,” or “powerless” to describe their coronavirus-era dreams. But after dream analysis via this mental health chatbot, 82% of respondents reported gaining new insight, which led to feelings of hope and optimism.

## The iOS app for the MVP proved to be way too pricey

Sansan explains that “effective mindset change and lasting healing occurs when we become conscious of our unconscious patterns and triggers. Those drive 95% of our decision-making and behavior.” Dream analysis is an effective tool on this journey for mental health, which is why she founded a startup called [Wakefully](https://wakefully.io) in 2018.

However, to build the complete product she dreamed of, Sansan needed investors. And to attract investors, she knew she needed to start with a minimum viable product (MVP). The purpose of the MVP would be to validate market interest and cultivate a motivated and engaged core audience.

So she started by commissioning an iOS app for her MVP in 2018. But “it turned out to be an expensive user interface that was not really usable and most definitely not scalable,” Sansan shares, since she was doing all the analysis work behind the scenes.

After that experiment, Sansan knew she needed a cheaper and more automated solution for her true MVP. “That’s when I realized that the conversational nature of the app I envisioned and the Q&A in branching logic lend themselves pretty nicely to a chatbot,” — she says. “It seemed like a more affordable and scalable solution to test market interest. Thought at the time, I had no clue that I, the visionary/non-technical founder, would be able to build it myself!”

## Chatbot has it all

“In the past, I used lead quizzes that would send people to my landing page waitlist. No more! I saw how I could streamline the entire funnel: ad → quiz → landing → dream analysis using a Facebook bot.” She was sold when she learned that she could use chatbot marketing to drive traffic, capture leads, retarget, and deliver value. “Our entire value proposition, all in one chatbot!” says Sansan.

She turned to Chatfuel for this project right away. Sansan tells us: “In my research, Chatfuel kept coming up as the platform that can enable someone like me, lacking any coding skills, to build an awesome Messenger bot. Using just Chatfuel and its [videos](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_z5c5UnMJ0waRJ8Bx1cFg) and [help docs](https://docs.chatfuel.com/en), I built and launched the first version of MyDreamChat in about two weeks. I continue to learn, grow, analyze, and iterate due to the vast amount of information and tools Chatfuel provides.”

Here’s how MyDreamChat chatbot for mental health works:

1.  The user selects their dream type (being chased, falling, or feeling trapped).
2.  They take a personalized quiz about the details of the dream they can remember and the feelings they associate with it.
3.  The chatbot generates a personalized analysis of the user’s dream. The analysis explains what it “means” or symbolizes in the context of that person’s life experience.

“It delivers this dialogue using positive psychology to help reframe their thinking about this and other dreams in a therapeutic, healthier way,” explains Sansan.

<figure><img alt="dream analysis_chatbot_02_fb.png" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee/original_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee.webp" height="1168" width="2080" blurdataurl="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAACCAIAAADwyuo0AAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAI0lEQVR4nGNgkEtdcOl/zvo7DFqFDAxqhaf//w+asJNBLAwAjrcK7tc9d+IAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" placeholder="blur" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee/xs_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee/sm_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee/md_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee/lg_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee/xl_startup_launches_dream_analysis_chatbot_to_improve_peoples_mental_health_0_f726ec73ee.webp 2080w"><figcaption>Positive psychology in action</figcaption></figure>

## Satisfied customers and high conversion

Sansan originally built her Messenger chatbot as an MVP for her separate app. She intended the Messenger bot to be a temporary solution but now decided to continue using Chatfuel as the top of the funnel with her own app. “The experience is so optimal for customer acquisition,” she says.

This decision is based on the incredible results she’s seen with her chatbot for mental health and dream analysis so far. Take a look:

-   The chatbot has an 82% user satisfaction rating based on exit polls seamlessly integrated into the chat after an analysis.
-   The average engagement rate for users is 3 times more in the first week.
-   30% of users share the bot, and 25% of page likers share MyDreamChat ads, making for a virality factor potential of 50%.
-   Sansan and her team identify 53% of users as highly likely to convert (to download their separate app) and 33.5% as likely to convert to paid subscribers in the app.

MyDreamChat illustrates how the use cases for Messenger chatbots are practically infinite. Most any scenario that would benefit from a personalized, back-and-forth conversation can be created in Messenger. It’s not just e-commerce retailers or brick-and-mortar businesses. As you can see, chatbots that provide mental health care or guidance work incredibly well in Messenger. They are using no-code technology to help people live better. We love to see it!

Wakefully is currently offering a promotion to their Facebook chatbot subscribers: a pre-order discount on membership once their complete, separate app is released.

If you are ready to build your own project in Chatfuel, [get started for free](https://dashboard.chatfuel.com) to boost your sales.

How e-commerce brand create a Messenger mental health chatbot for dream analysis and increase engagement rate x3. Here’s the story of MyDreamChat — a startup.

Chatbot Analyzes Dreams to Improve Mental Health

Read on to find out what an ecommerce chatbot can do for your online store, and find out how to get started building one.

9 reasons your eCommerce business needs a chatbot

Over Q1 of 2020, as the coronavirus morphed into a pandemic, [Facebook reported](https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2020/Facebook-Reports-First-Quarter-2020-Results/default.aspx) “a record number of people using \[their\] services.” People worldwide have been quarantined at home, spending lots of time scrolling social media for both news and entertainment.

COVID-19 has affected different ecommerce niches and their Facebook ads in different ways. But there’s no denying that there are more eyes on Facebook feeds than ever. If you’ve got the resources to experiment with ads to (ethically) boost your ecommerce sales right now, read on! Jason Smith knows a thing or two about Facebook ad sales funnels. (He turned $30,000 into more than $170,000 for his small business customers)

Here’s a summary of his tried-and-true strategy for using Facebook ads to ignite your ecommerce store’s sales, whether you’re selling on Shopify, WooCommerce, or any other major ecommerce platform. It all begins and ends with this master chart.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0.webp 1920w" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_0_0e3205d9d0.webp"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## The two sections of the Facebook ads funnel

As you can see on the far left side of the chart above, Jason divides the ecommerce funnel into two parts based on how much of your budget you should spend on each.

1.  **Prospecting: the upper part of the funnel.** According to Jason, ads for this part of the sales funnel should account for 60-90% of your budget. They’re intended for **prospecting:** getting the attention of people who have had little to no interaction with your page yet, but that fit the characteristics of prospects you want to target.

2.  **Retargeting: the lower part of the funnel.** The ads in this section of the funnel should account for 10-40% of your ads budget. They’re meant for **retargeting:** recapturing the attention of lukewarm or even hot leads who have had some interaction with your page. Note that retargeting isn’t a process for small budgets, Jason explains. If you’re only spending $1k on ads total, for example, you likely won’t have enough users to successfully retarget.


## Prospecting

In this stage of your Facebook ad strategy, Jason recommends focusing on:

-   dynamic ads

-   Lookalikes/narrow interests


### Dynamic ads

Dynamic ads (catalog sales) on Facebook let you pull data from a specific product catalog on your ecommerce site and automatically insert it into ads. The Facebook ad will either showcase your most popular products, or product (s) a particular user viewed or even added to their cart. You’ll save time this way, since you don’t have to come up with the ad creative.

There are two ad-set targeting options Jason recommends for ecommerce shops here. (You should use the *purchase conversion* objective for both.)

1.  **The broad audience.** In this case, you don’t target anyone in particular. Instead, you let your website’s [Facebook Pixel do](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/952192354843755?id=1205376682832142) that for you based on the purchase data it has gathered.

2.  **Interests.** In this case, you target users with specific interests. And contrary to popular belief, the best practice is actually to clump all of your interests together in one campaign. The Facebook system works better with the data this way, according to Jason, and it’ll target more people.


### Tips on improving your dynamic ads

-   **Exclude the right people.** Audience exclusion is an important factor in any successful Facebook ad campaign. For dynamic ads, you want to exclude anyone that could overlap with your next ad-set targeting. That means excluding those who have interacted with your Facebook page or your [click-to-Messenger ads](https://youtu.be/v2F1uXt2AlQ) in the last 30 days. You will target these people later on down the funnel. (You can see all the audience exclusions for each step in Jason’s chart above).

-   **Choose automatic placements.** Jason recommends always using *Automatic placements* when setting up your ads, instead of selecting manual placements on only Facebook or only Instagram. With automatic placements, your ads will appear for users on both platforms, based on their behavior. It makes your ads more likely to be seen by the right people.


<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b.webp 683w" width="683" height="314" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_1_2c6c4f1c2b.webp" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/bac9fbd0-460b-4e2b-878d-853e6a48ec7e/Screen_Shot_2020-06-01_at_10.13.39_AM.png"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

-   **Choose the right campaign goal.** You’re after conversions, so *Conversion*s should always be the campaign goal you choose for these ads. Otherwise, Facebook will show your ad to users who may click and engage with it, but aren’t necessarily likely to convert.

-   **Run one campaign with two ad sets.** Run an ad set for the broad audience and one for the interest-based audience. It’ll help you learn how different creatives perform for different groups of users. (Remember: Make sure to exclude the targeted audience of one set from the other set’s targeting, and vice versa. Otherwise, you risk fatiguing users with too many ads.)


### Lookalikes/narrow interests

An ad targeted to a [Lookalike audience](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531?id=401668390442328) means it’ll reach users who are similar to your existing highest-value customers. Use purchase-event data from your Facebook Pixel for your Lookalike audiences.

💡**Tip**: Want to create a Lookalike audience based on your most valuable chatbot users? Export user data from the [People tab](https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/1575151-people-tab) to Facebook Ads Manager in one click with Chatfuel’s Segment Sync feature.

Create four different Lookalike audiences and a narrow interest-based audience within your campaign. Jason shares that your Lookalike audiences should be based on the following percent of your highest value customers:

-   10%,

-   5%,

-   3%,

-   1%.


Follow the same rule you followed for dynamic ads: Exclude the targeted audience of one set from the other set’s targeting, and vice versa. You should also exclude customers who have purchased from you in the last 30 days. The reason behind both tactics is to avoid irritating users with too many ads from you.

### Tips on improving your Lookalike and narrow-interest ads

-   **Trim the fat.** When it comes to exclusions, think about how long your product lasts. Make sure to exclude customers who have already purchased from you and won’t need more of your product yet. Also exclude anyone who has already viewed or interacted with your page. That way, you don’t risk wasting ad dollars and annoying users by showing them ads that don’t fit where they’re at in the customer lifecycle. The chart at the beginning of this article will tell you which people to exclude (look to the *Audience exclusions* column).

-   **Experiment with the creative format.** As Jason says, “Facebook is a testing platform.” Experiment with carousels, single-image ads, video ads, etc. to see what works best.


## Retargeting

In this stage of your Facebook ad strategy, you’re doubling down on the warm users who have already had some kind of interaction with your page. Jason recommends focusing on static and dynamic retargeting.

### Static retargeting

With static retargeting, you want to reach people who aren’t yet hot leads, but aren’t cold either. That means you’re looking to target those who have viewed or engaged with your page in the last 30 days. These users know who you are, but maybe haven’t seen a specific product of yours yet. That’s why this is a great time to use a specific catalog of your popular products in carousel form.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94.webp 1920w" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_2_4090164d94.webp" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/d5439ea6-3726-46e0-af59-9733f2e39c50/Green_and_Black_Simple_Sales_Marketing_Presentation.png"><figcaption>A static retargeting ad can show some of your most popular products in a carousel to get users interested in your store.</figcaption></figure>

💡**Tip:** Static retargeting can also take the form of a [sponsored message](https://chatfuel.com/blog/sponsored-messages-guide-to-reengaging-chatbot-subscribers). If you go this route, make sure your chatbot is equipped to sell from there. Optimize your [Welcome Message](https://chatfuel.com/blog/welcome-message-best-practices) and set up your bot to [get conversions](https://chatfuel.com/blog/whisky-brand-triples-conversion-rates-with-gift-recommendation-chatbot).

#### Tips on improving your static retargeting

-   **Don’t have too many ad sets per campaign.** The best practice is to have between four and six ads per ad set active at one time. More than that may confuse the system, says Jason. Monitor your ads closely. If any aren’t performing well, you can turn them off and replace them with new ones you want to test.

-   **Exclude the right people.** Again, look to the image at the start of this article for which audiences you should include from your static retargeting ads.


### Dynamic retargeting

Dynamic retargeting ads are personalized. If a user views a product or adds it to their cart on your site and then abandons it, a dynamic retargeting ad will show them that specific product again.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e/xs_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e/sm_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e/md_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e/lg_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e/xl_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e.webp 1920w" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e/original_the_secret_recipe_for_optimizing_your_ecommerce_funnel_with_facebook_ads_3_b70632b03e.webp" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/a8f929c3-8167-4add-97b0-6667303969ff/Green_and_Black_Simple_Sales_Marketing_Presentation_(2).png"><figcaption>Dynamic retargeting ads show a product(s) the user has already viewed on your site to entice them to come back and buy.</figcaption></figure>

Jason recommends targeting people who:

-   viewed one of your products in the last 60 or 90 days

-   viewed one of your products in the last seven days (however, you may want to skip this one if you’re not going to spend enough to create substantial traffic for this)

-   added one of your products to their cart in the last seven days

-   purchased one of your products (so that you can to upsell or cross-sell)


#### Tip on improving your dynamic retargeting ads

-   **Listen to Facebook.** Facebook AdsManager will tell you if you have the audience for a particular ad set or not. Pay attention to those notifications. (And remember, as with the others, to exclude the right audiences so you don’t show too many ads to any one group.)


## Facebook ads + Chatfuel

One last tip: You can harness the power of your Chatfuel bot to make the Facebook ad campaigns for your ecommerce company even more effective. We already mentioned sending data from the [*People* tab](https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/1575151-people-tab) to Facebook Ads Manager with Segment Sync to improve your targeting. You should also know about the Click-to-Messenger Ads Entry Point. It’s the easiest way to link ads to your Chatfuel bot.

<figure><img><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

With Jason’s guidance and your Chatfuel bot, you’ll be on track to run more successful ecommerce ad campaigns than ever! 📈 Not yet a Chatfuel user? [Sign up for a free account](https://dashboard.chatfuel.com) today to access ALL our powerful tools and features.

Get this expert's strategy for using Facebook ads to ignite your ecommerce store's sales. Over Q1 of 2020, as the coronavirus morphed into a pandemic, Facebook.

Optimize Your Ecommerce Funnel with Facebook Ads

The game-changing tool that'll help your nonprofit save time, get new donors and volunteers, and expand its impact: a Messenger chatbot.

9 reasons your nonprofit needs a chatbot

A chatbot is your business’s Swiss Army knife: a multi-purpose tool that can help you with all kinds of different tasks and goals. Looking to cut costs, save time, boost sales, or delight customers? A Messenger chatbot can help with all four. And the best part is: You don’t need to be a tech expert or have coding knowledge to build one! That’s what no-code tools like Chatfuel are for. So allow us to dig a little deeper into the question of why your business needs a chatbot. Your business can benefit from chatbot technology in the following nine ways, because bots can help you…

## Cut business costs

*What company would turn down an easy opportunity to cut expenses? A Messenger chatbot for your business can help do this in two key ways.*

### 1\. Qualify leads automatically to reduce operational costs

Simply by asking questions in its natural, conversational style, a chatbot can automatically sort prospective customers into categories. They can narrow down which prospects would be a good fit for your services, for example. Or, they could separate out those who seem more prepared to buy your products than others. Check out these real-world examples of Chatfuel users who have found success with their lead qualification chatbots:

-   A car dealership saw a [3.5x increase in qualified leads](https://chatfuel.com/blog/nissan-sells-cars-using-messenger-bot) and a 10x increase in sales in the first month, thanks to a bot that qualifies test-drive leads

-   An astrology brand was able to [cut costs by $25,000/month](https://chatfuel.com/blog/cut-operational-costs-with-messenger-bot) and reduce their staff by over half once they launched a chatbot to qualify leads, since their employees no longer had to waste time talking to unqualified prospects.


### 2\. Improve return on ad spend

Let’s say you run a Facebook ad that directs users to your ecommerce store, your [restaurant’s](https://chatfuel.com/blog/restaurant-chatbot) menu, or your agency’s website. Once the user arrives, they’re on their own to browse, and *hopefully* convert. But direct them to a chatbot on Messenger instead, and they’ll get personalized guidance right down the sales funnel. Your bot can [recommend products](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfmQvqtJN9Q) in your store, answer questions about your food delivery, or qualify leads for your marketing agency’s services. The result? More conversions and a better ROAS for you.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4/xs_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4/sm_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4/md_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4/lg_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4/xl_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4/original_grow_your_audience_1_430858f3a4.webp" alt="click to messenger ads"><figcaption>You can create <a href="https://chatfuel.com/blog/create-click-to-messenger-ads-to-drive-traffic-to-your-bot/">click-to-Messenger ads</a> that drive users to your chatbot. Once there, your bot can move prospects down the sales funnel towards a conversion.</figcaption></figure>

## Save time

*The less time your employees have to spend on repetitive questions and tasks, the more time they’ll have for other value-adding projects. Here’s why you should consider chatbots as a business solution for saving time.*

### 3\. Automate your overflowing inbox

Are you or your staff spending countless hours responding to Facebook messages from prospects and customers? Good news: Chatbots and customer service are a match made in heaven. In fact, a well-built Messenger chatbot can answer [up to 80% of routine questions](https://www.invespcro.com/blog/chatbots-customer-service/).

In a couple of hours (and with no coding involved!), you can [build a chatbot to answer FAQs](https://chatfuel.com/blog/chatbot-for-customer-service/) instantly, 24/7. (You can also use a no-code integration to add AI to your chatbot to make it even better at answering user questions!) See for yourself: Chatfuel client HelloFresh built a customer support chatbot and [cut their response time by 76%](https://chatfuel.com/blog/hellofresh-reduces-support-wait-times-with-chatfuel-messenger-bot)! Customer satisfaction went up, and HelloFresh’s support team now has more time to focus on other tasks.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_1_45ef9810a4.webp" alt="messenger chatbot"><figcaption>You can easily set up a Facebook Messenger chatbot to answer customer questions and save your team time.</figcaption></figure>

### 4\. Launch quickly and cheaply

Chatfuel is no-code tool for building Messenger chatbots. That means you can launch a simple chatbot for your business in a couple of hours, or a more sophisticated bot in days or a few weeks. Our Flow Builder interface makes building a chatbot a visual, intuitive experience. (Video tutorial below.) Plus, all our most valuable Pro tools are now available to all Chatfuel customers. Our free trial plan gives you the perfect opportunity to test your concept with 50 users.

<figure><img><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Boost conversions and sales

Need another reason to adopt a chatbot for your business? We’ve got two words for you: more sales.

### 5\. Gather valuable lead information

Your business needs a chatbot if you rely on leads for revenue! (For example: [Chatbots for marketing agencies](https://chatfuel.com/blog/marketing-agency-uses-messenger-bots-to-deliver-high-quality-leads-for-clients) and chatbots for real estate brokers are especially popular use cases.) First, bring users to your bot from your website or Facebook ads. Then, your chatbot can qualify them and gather contact information in a casual, conversational way. It can ask for their zip code, job title, or whatever data would be useful for your business. Then, with the Save User Email and Phone Number plugins, the user can share their contact information with the chatbot in one click.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_2_37b9ffc7e8.webp" alt="generate leads"><figcaption>The Save User Email and Phone Number plugins will auto-populate the user's contact information, if available. It makes it easy for them to share their details in one tap.</figcaption></figure>

### 6\. Convert followers and website visitors into customers

Businesses can use chatbots to turn lukewarm leads into a warm leads or even customers. Meet prospects where they are, and use your chatbot to guide them towards a conversion. For example, you could:

-   **Add your chatbot to your website.** Don’t leave visitors to browse your products or services alone! Have your friendly [chatbot pop up on your website](https://chatfuel.com/blog/add-a-messenger-chatbot-to-your-website) and offer to answer their questions, make a recommendation, or guide them to the right resources. Take the case of a large English university, for example. They added their Chatfuel bot to their website to generate and qualify leads and doubled their conversion rate, facilitating $3.1 million in new enrollments in one day!

-   **Set your chatbot to respond to Facebook comments.** The Comments Autoreply Entry Point in Chatfuel makes this a breeze. You can have your Messenger chatbot respond to comments on every post or only one post, and all comments or just those that contain keywords. Once this feature is set up, your bot will send commenters a message instantly and tell them more about your contest, offer, promotion, product, etc. Just look at what Chatfuel client DECEN Muebles did with this tool: They got almost [4,000 qualified leads](https://chatfuel.com/blog/decen-baby-brand-generates-80-of-total-sales-with-messenger-bot) from a single post!


<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_3_4cd5ebb433.webp" alt="generate leads"><figcaption>It takes just a few clicks to set your bot to automatically reply to comments on your Facebook posts.</figcaption></figure>

### 7\. Gather key customer data

The more you know about your audience, the more effectively you can sell to them. Lucky for marketers, chatbots make excellent data-gathering tools. You can set your chatbot to save the data it collects from users via its back-and-forth, conversational style. The data will be stored in Chatfuel in the form of user attributes, which are like tags. From there, you can:

-   View and export all user data from the [*People* tab](https://docs.chatfuel.com/en/articles/1575151-people-tab) in Chatfuel.

-   Create user segments in the *People* tab, and sync them to Facebook Ads Manager in one click. Then, use the data to create Lookalike audiences to reach valuable new prospects, or custom audiences to reengage existing users.

-   Use data from customer actions in your bot to visualize your chatbot sales funnel. (The Send Analytics Events plugin makes it easy.) Then, you’ll be able to clearly see if there are any drop-off points in your flow, and make adjustments to maximize conversions.


<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182.webp 2000w" width="2000" height="676" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_4_b75fae8182.webp" alt="funnel conversion"><figcaption>Use the Send Analytics Events to Facebook plugin to visualize your chatbot's sales funnel.</figcaption></figure>

## Create a dazzling customer experience

Finally, a chatbot for your business can be the “wow factor” that delights users and keeps them coming back to your brand for more.

### 8\. Personalize the experience

It’s flattering when someone you’ve met before remembers details about you. It shows you that they were truly listening to what you had to say. That’s exactly the feeling your chatbot can give your audience. Your bot can incorporate two types of user data to personalize the conversation:

-   **Data from their Facebook profile.** Chatbots on Facebook Messenger have access to a user’s basic profile details. That means that—without asking for the information—your chatbot can greet prospects by name, or customize messages by their location or time zone.

-   **Data from past conversations.** Chatbots can store data from previous chats as attributes, and use those to customize future conversations. A chatbot could tell the user about new products related to one they showed interest in last time. Or, a chatbot could show locations or shipping availability for a user’s specific area based on the zip code they shared in a past conversation.


Personalization make users feel seen and special, which helps build brand trust. Plus, [80% of users say personalized experiences](https://us.epsilon.com/pressroom/new-epsilon-research-indicates-80-of-consumers-are-more-likely-to-make-a-purchase-when-brands-offer-personalized-experiences) make them more likely to buy. That means this feature of Messenger chatbots can benefit your bottom line, too.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354/xs_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354/sm_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354/md_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354/lg_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354/xl_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354/original_top_9_reasons_your_business_needs_a_chatbot_5_310ea40354.webp" alt=""><figcaption>Use user attributes to personalize the conversation. It'll help build customer trust and can increase conversions, too.</figcaption></figure>

### 9\. Delight users with a fun, engaging conversation

There’s so much room for creativity when building a chatbot for your business. You can add videos, quizzes, and trivia to your chatbot. Sprinkle in GIFs and emoji to draw the eye and break up the text. Translate your [brand voice to your Messenger chatbot](https://chatfuel.com/blog/craft-a-brand-voice-that-converts) to make users comfortable and build trust. [Choose a chatbot name](https://chatfuel.com/blog/chatbot-names) and persona to keep users interested. Use the opportunity to create an interesting, interactive experience that your users will remember.

Ready to jump aboard the “chatbots for business” train?. [Sign up for a free Chatfuel account](https://dashboard.chatfuel.com) today and start building a chatbot for your business—no previous experience or coding knowledge required.

Looking to cut costs, save time, boost sales, or delight customers? A no-code Messenger chatbot can help with all four. A chatbot is your business’s Swiss Army.

Top 9 reasons your business needs a chatbot

Here are two new use cases for what chatbots can do: They can be tools for freelancer job training and economic development.

Agency Uses Bot to Empower Freelancers & SMBs

The goal of any fitness business is to help people stay healthy by providing three things:

1.  guidance

2.  motivation

3.  a sense of community


But the coronavirus pandemic has forced gyms, boxing clubs, yoga studios, and CrossFit boxes around the world to close their doors for the time being. As a fitness-business owner, how can you continue to achieve your goal without a physical space?

After all, there’s no lack of demand right now. Many people are feeling stir-crazy at home, and look to physical fitness for stress relief and health more than ever. So how can you continue to provide these three elements to your members at a distance?

The clear answer is to shift to an online model for now. But what’s the easiest way to convert your gym or studio into a digital operation—without investing lots of time or money?

An elegant solution to this challenge is the Facebook Messenger chatbot. Bots can offer the guidance, motivation, and sense of community your members are missing right now. Best of all, Messenger chatbots are [easy to build with Chatfuel](https://youtu.be/D4n6VLQHE5U) — no coding knowledge or previous experience required.

Let’s start by diving into the specifics of what a chatbot can do for your fitness business during these times, and what it can offer your members.

## 1\. A chatbot can keep your community informed

Your first task as a gym owner or marketer in the times of coronavirus is to keep your community up to date. Information and regulations for businesses during this time change often. It’s up to you to keep members informed on how your gym or studio is affected.

Here’s the good news: Building a gym bot that shares this kind of information and [answers FAQs](https://chatfuel.com/blog/chatbot-for-customer-service) is easy.

Make sure to put the most pressing, relevant information front and center in your bot. Don’t start out with *About us* information that details how your gym was founded. That’s not the information most people are looking for right now.

Instead, they want to know if you’re open, when you’ll reopen if not, and what you can offer them in the meantime. Put these details first; don’t make users have to dig to find them. Make your bot a hub for the most up-to-date information about your business right now, and highlight how the latest changes affect members.

## 2\. A chatbot can provide personalized workouts for users

Get this: Consumers are [40% more likely](https://hbr.org/2018/01/ads-that-dont-overstep?autocomplete=true) to view items that are recommended based on personal information that they’ve shared with a brand. It stands to reason, then, that gym members will be more likely to actually do the at-home workouts you share if they’re personalized to them. A chatbot makes it easy for your fitness business to offer this type of customization.

The key is conversation. It’s how chatbots communicate with users, via back-and-forth chat. It’s also how your bot can gather information about a user’s needs or preferences in order to make custom recommendations.

It doesn’t have to be complicated to build out this type of functionality, either. Here’s an example of how you could set up a personal trainer chatbot to recommend custom workouts for users:

-   Add a bank of a few key movements to your bot, given in manageable increments, like 10 shuttle sprints, 50 jump ropes, 25 burpees, and 20 push-ups, for example. Create a gallery with videos showing how to do each one.

-   Set up your bot to quiz the user about their preferences for the day’s workout (like duration, equipment they have available, etc.).

-   Based on their responses, the bot can create a workout for the user, made up of the different movements you’ve given it to work with.


<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1/xs_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1/sm_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1/md_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1/lg_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1/xl_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1/original_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_0_9fa45a5ea1.webp" alt="chatbots for gyms"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

You can equip your bot to put together workouts for users based on their desired duration and the equipment they have on hand.

You could do the same thing with yoga poses or boxing sequences, too—whatever movements your gym or fitness center specializes in. It’s minimal work for you and maximum benefit for your users. This is just one of many ways you could use a gym bot to share your online workouts. You could also:

-   Create a gallery with one card for each day of the week, and have the respective button link to a full video workout for that day.

-   Ask users what benefit they want that day (relaxation, energy, stress relief, etc.) and have the bot send them instructions for a yoga flow that will help them achieve it.


There’s lots of room for creativity when it comes to sharing workouts via chatbot. Think about what format would best serve your users, and go from there.

## 3\. A chatbot can help you run contests and promotions to boost engagement

One element gym-goers are missing most right now is the sense of community your business provided when it was fully open. Use a chatbot to help promote community engagement still, even while your members can’t physically gather together. It can help with:

-   **Contests.** You could encourage users to log their workouts in the bot. Your bot can save them as attributes. Then, you’ll be able to easily find who had the fastest time or the most reps for that day, and reward them with a gift card or some merch. Or, you could use the logs to track who is most consistent in their workouts over a month, and give them a prize and a social-media shoutout.

-   **User-generated content.** Your bot could ask users to submit photos of themselves, their workout space, or the makeshift weights they’re using to do your exercises at home. It’s an easy way to gather user-generated content to feature on your social media to boost community morale and motivation.

-   **Giveaways.** If you’d like the added bonus of gaining new bot subscribers, you could run a giveaway on your Facebook page. Create a post on your business page announcing a giveaway of a prize, instructing users to comment to enter. Set up the Comments Autoreply feature so your bot will automatically reply to every entrant. It can start conversations with those who don’t win, encouraging them to check out its other resources on Messenger.


## 4\. A chatbot can sell your merchandise

Does your gym or fitness studio sells merchandise like workout clothing, fitness equipment, or supplements? A chatbot can help you maintain this revenue stream during the pandemic (and beyond!). If your gym isn’t set up to sell online yet, check out this quick-start [guide to opening an ecommerce store.](https://www.oberlo.com/blog/how-i-launched-my-ecommerce-store-in-less-than-30-minutes) Once your gym has an online shop ready to go, here are a few ways a bot can help boost its sales:

-   **Answer questions about products.** This is where a chatbot’s handy FAQ function comes into play again. You can equip your Messenger bot to answer questions about everything from apparel sizing to shipping costs and times. If a customer is hesitant to buy because they have a question, the bot can answer it and close the deal.

-   **Recommend products.** Through the same question-and-answer style, a bot can gather information about a user’s needs or preferences. Then, it can recommend products that would be the best match. If you sell protein powder, for example, the bot could ask users how many grams of protein they want per serving, what flavor they prefer, etc. Then, it could show relevant products with links to purchase on your store website.


-   **Send abandoned-cart reminders.** If a user adds one of your products to their cart but leaves without buying, your Messenger chatbot can send them a gentle reminder. It’s important to not be too aggressive with these, especially in these times. But a quick message that simply asks the user if they have questions or offers a discount can go a long way.


## Other benefits of using a chatbot for your gym or yoga studio

Now you know what a chatbot can help your gym or fitness center achieve. Here are a few other reasons why using chatbots for fitness brands is a wise move during this time:

-   **They’re easy to build**. As we mentioned before, you don’t need any special skills or experience to build a fitness chatbot with Chatfuel. Our platform is user friendly, and we offer tons of support resources to help you on your way (listed in the last section of this post).

-   **They’re part of the Facebook ecosystem**. Facebook Messenger has over a billion users, so it’s safe to say that most of your fitness clients will be familiar with the interface. That means there will be no learning curve for them to get value from your chatbot, and no need for them to install a separate app. It also means you can get more users to your bot [with Facebook ads](https://chatfuel.com/blog/create-click-to-messenger-ads-to-drive-traffic-to-your-bot), if desired.

-   **They can be your business’s central hub.** A Messenger chatbot can become a one-stop shop for all information related to your business during the pandemic (and after!). You can equip it with all relevant information for members, so they know that it’s the place to go when they have a question or want an update about your business. Plus, you’ll be able to instantly update information yourself—no need to contact your developer, as you may have to for changes to your website.

-   **They can help you achieve your business goals.** Bots can help you provide guidance, motivation, and a sense of community to your members, as we discussed. But they can also help you keep up engagement and even revenue during these times to keep your business afloat.


## Examples of fitness chatbots powered by Chatfuel

### Boosty.Coach

Boosty is a French website that makes it easy for fitness enthusiasts to find workout videos and live coaching sessions to follow at home. They’ve generously made their platform free for the duration of quarantine. Their workout chatbot guides the user through the process of finding the right video for them, whether it’s about exercise, meditation, or nutrition. The bot makes it easy for users to find workouts and other fitness information that suits them.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25/xs_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25/sm_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25/md_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25/lg_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25/xl_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25/original_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_1_3993d15a25.webp" alt="chatbots for coaching"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Planet Fitness

In the times of COVID-19, Planet Fitness’s Messenger chatbot provides only the most crucial information for members. That includes FAQs about gym closures, and information about the online workouts they’re offering. The exercises aren’t available in the bot itself, in this case. However, users can click a button and will be directed to the gym’s Facebook page where they can join in on live, guided exercises.

<figure><img srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xs_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab/xs_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab.webp 300w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/sm_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab/sm_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab.webp 768w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/md_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab/md_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab.webp 1280w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/lg_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab/lg_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab.webp 1920w, https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/xl_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab/xl_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab.webp 940w" width="940" height="788" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chatfuel-cms-staging/pic/original_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab/original_messenger_chatbots_for_gyms_and_fitness_studios_2_066e06e3ab.webp" alt="chatbots for fitness"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## How to build a Messenger bot for your fitness business

To help you learn how to build a gym chatbot, we’ve collected some resources for you. Your first step is to sign up for a [free Chatfuel account](https://dashboard.chatfuel.com). Then, get acquainted with our platform and some bot-building basics:

-   Connect your Facebook Page to Chatfuel.

-   Build your first chatbot in three minutes.

-   Use a template to set up a bot to answer FAQs.


Finally, we recommend that bot-builders of all levels join [our Facebook community](https://www.facebook.com/groups/chatfuel), where you can get advice, find inspiration, and ask questions.

What's the easiest way to convert your gym or studio into a digital operation during COVID without investing lots of time/money? Chatbots!

Re-engagement