Have you ever contacted a company or business through Facebook Messenger with customer service questions? Things like "If I get this service, how much does it cost and what's included". Or "Where is your office located". Or "how can I return this product I bought but it was the wrong size?"

Social media is becoming a major customer service tool and big companies like Whole Foods Market, Dominos Pizza, 1-800-flowers and more are creating great customer service experiences while freeing up customer service reps by giving their Facebook Messenger a secret weapon: Chatbots.  

Why a Facebook Messenger chatbot?

Facebook now lets your followers have an automated conversation with you over Facebook messenger.

This means that your clients can immediately get info about directions, opening hours, services, book an appointment and more right over messenger without you needing to personally respond to each question. Messenger bots make this possible.

Plus, they're super cool. Just take a look at some of the things a chat bot can do for your salon clients:  

First, ask yourself if your salon actually needs a bot

• Can certain customer service questions be automated?

• How much time do you spend answering questions on Facebook every day?

• Do you have a staff member that’s always immediately available to answer questions?

• And is this something that your target audience will understand and be interested in?

The advantages of having a chatbot for your salon

• It's available 24/7, even when a receptionist can’t pick up the phone to answer questions

• Clients and lead can engage with you right from social, where they’re most engaged after seeing your photos and videos.

• It shows that you use the latest technology and are catering to a certain younger target.

• You can encourage more online booking requests: when things are immediate they are more likely to happen. In fact, surveys show that the fastest business to respond to questions are most likely to get the sale (or in this case the booking if you answer their questions)

The disadvantages of a chatbot

• If the bot isn’t done well, it may confuse potential clients and put them off.

• The bot could seen false and not friendly if you don't inject your own sense of humour and style into it.

Remember, you're not being replaced by a robot!

You can have a bot that immediately welcome chatters and answers basic questions, then hands the client over to you if they need more specific or personal help .

If you think that a chatbot would help streamline your customer service and online bookings, read on!  

How to figure out which questions your chatbot can and should answer

  One of the best advantages to a chatbot is that it can answer common questions you get asked through email, Twitter, and Facebook, responding quickly without your help.

To take advantage of this, you need to gather up the info your clients often ask you most. Most likely you have this content readily available to you:

- What’s on the homepage of your website? What are the most common things people want to do when looking at your website?

- What are the most common questions you get via email and messenger? Go back through your most recent emails and Facebook messages to see what kind of questions they’re asking  

Once you have a chatbot, you'll want more potential clients to chat with it - on and off Facebook

Find out where you’ll be promoting your bot. On the homepage of your website and front and centre on your Facebook page are two great places. Other areas where you can do it are on your emails: "Chat with our Salon Joy virtual assistant on Facebook now”.

Put the link on the page and go! Find instructions for how to get the official "Send to messenger" button here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/messenger-platform/plugin-reference/message-us or just link to your messenger page with a hyperlink.  

Some ideas that you can easily implement into your salon's new virtual assistant:

• Share your most recent Instagram images and videos with them if they ask to see examples

• Get them to make an appointment booking request

• Promote your most recent promotions to them (no need to remember which promotions are happening, the bot will remember for you)

• Give quick answers to your most recently asked questions like hours, location, phone number, prices

• Offer exclusive discounts. For example, if someone recently requested an appointment through Facebook chat, you can proactively send them out a message that says that for their next appointment they can get a discount.

This all sounds awesome. How do I get a salon chatbot?

Here are are few companies that help you make a chat bot without much or any technical knowledge. Some of them are as easy as drag and drop.

• www.chatfuel.com - Completely free to use and a simple drag and drop editor, although not as many options and integrations as the other two.

• www.converse.ai - You can try it out for free, although it is slightly more difficult.

• www.botsify.com - You can create one chat bot for free. You’ll get free integrations, unlimited messages, and up to 100 bot users.

Want to offer immediate and exceptional customer service and free up time for you salon? A smart Facebook Messenger bot could be the right answer.