Everyone knows that first impressions are everything.

Whether it’s a subject line for a marketing email, an introduction to an important person at a networking event, or an image that lives on the front page of your website, what a potential customer sees first in any experience will determine the vitality of their interactions-- and chatbots are no different.

In order to have a successful chatbot conversation, there must first be an engagement by the user. In order to have a meaningful engagement, your chatbot has to have the right 'hook' to capture a user's attention.

Instabot has several methods to trigger bots, one of which is having a persistent button that can prompt a user with a 'hook' through a teaser message, which looks something like this:

There are three important areas to consider in order to have a successful teaser message, and ultimately, a successful bot.

1. Consider the Type of Bot

Depending on what type of bot you are building, it is important to have the teaser message match what the bot is built for and entice the user to engage.

For example, if you want to showcase a new feature and get a user information at the same time, why not entice the a visitor with something like:

“Hey there! We’re testing out an exciting new feature, want to see how it works and be an early beta user?”

Or maybe you’re building out a simple support chatbot to answer questions and take a user where they need to go:

“Hey, need a hand? I can help you find what you’re looking for!”

The key here is to have the teaser messages be welcoming and consistent with what the bot will accomplish. Doing so will set clear expectations on what the bot can provide and allow the user to feel comfortable engaging with the bot.

2. Craft your Intro to match Brand Personality

While it’s important for the teaser message to match what the bot is built for, it is equally important that the message matches the tone and personality of your audience.

Knowing your target audience and who you are selling to shapes the types of messages you craft. When creating messaging, it's helpful to have with the understanding of what a user will most likely find appealing and take the time to respond to. If you want to give your bot a whimsical tone, why not have the teaser prompt deliver a witty joke or regularly incorporate fun, engaging emojis?

On the other end, if your target users are straight shooters, who are just looking for an efficient way to gather information, then the hook should be clear, concise, and get to the point.

Whatever the case, a first message that aligns with the type of visitors you get will allow a user to feel like they are in the right place. When your chatbot is accurately representing your brand, and spot on in matching your users' profile, visitors will be more inclined to engage in bot conversation.

3. Considering Execution

Once you have the perfect hook that clearly conveys what your chatbot can do and matches the personality of your audience, the next thing to focus on is where and when you will showcase the teaser message and bot.

Where: The type of bot you build and therefore the language of the teaser message will depend on its location on your site and vice versa. This will all depend on how your website is built and how a user may navigate within it.

A bot with messaging intended to give more information on pricing and convert visitors may want to exist on a pricing or use cases page. A more general chatbot that gives a teaser message on answering questions or giving more information could be most effective on the homepage of your site.

Keeping the teaser message and content in mind, you can get creative and strategize where you would like your users to engage throughout your site and ultimately drive them to a Call to Action!

When: As we explored, Teaser Messages are an alternative way to engage a user with a chatbot via a persistent button without having to launch a full chatbot in their face. Instabot makes it easy to not only set a chatbot that appears when a user clicks on a button, but also when that very button can appear.

If your strategy is to have a site visitor read specific content on a page first, you can launch your persistent button & teaser message to appear based on a time delay, giving the user time to acclimate themselves to your site.

Additionally, a chatbot can also appear based on how far a user will scroll down your page!

Once you’ve nailed the basics of leveraging teaser messages and building out bots, you can create tailored bots and messaging to target returning users as well as customers who have already given their information!
Learn how to launch chatbots for returning users with targeted messaging here!

How to create personalized chatbots to work in hand with your sales and marketing campaigns can be found here.

Remember, understanding your audience and the type of bots you will be building are key to creating effective teaser messages and ultimately effective bots.

If you have any questions about this feature, or would like to to try it for yourself, email us at [email protected] and we’d be happy to help you get started.