Despite these challenges, advertisers are going full force ahead when it comes to spending on paid channels. 

According to Dentsu, digital ad spend is estimated to grow 6.5% in 2024 to total $442.6 billion. That is a lot of advertising dollars!

The thing is, people have to spend money to be seen. Organic visibility is all but gone on social media and when it comes to search, Google is doing everything it can to keep users on the site (Hello SGE).

For advertisers, the question isn’t do I spend money, but how do I make the most of the money I’m spending? How do I ensure that every dollar spent on advertising not only reaches the right eyes but also resonates with them? 

There isn’t a singular answer to this, but instead, a number of answers. 

The one we are going to focus on today – identity resolution.

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The Role of Identity Resolution in Paid Advertising

Identity resolution is more than a buzzword in the advertising space; it’s an amazing tool that bridges the gap between anonymous visitor interactions and true customer engagement. 

At its core, identity resolution is about understanding who your customers are, regardless of the platforms they use or the digital footprints they leave. It’s about piecing together slices of user data into a cohesive, comprehensive profile that can be used to deliver a great experience.

Now, when we are talking about identity resolution and ads, it’s important to distinguish between identity resolution at the platform level and identity resolution at the user level.

At the platform level, when it comes to paid advertising platforms like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., “identity resolution” is already built into everything they do. 

For example, in Google, identity resolution means integrating user signals like Google search history, website visits, clicks, etc. into a singular profile. For Facebook, identity resolution is centered on user interactions (likes, shares, comments, page interactions, etc.).

The thing is, identity resolution at the platform level is limited, and with privacy changes and cookie removal making cross-channel attribution almost impossible, we need something better. 

When we are talking about identity resolution, we are talking true identity resolution at the broader individual level—names, emails, social profiles, demographics, interests, web visits, and so much more. We are talking real customer profiles. 

So let’s jump into how identity resolution works in the ad space and how we can use it to improve performance. 

5 Ways Identity Resolution Can Help Maximize ROAS

1. Enhanced Audience Segmentation

Imagine if every dollar you put into your ads reached exactly the people most likely to buy from you. That’s the dream, right?

That’s also the power of identity resolution when it comes to audience segmentation – it’s not just about reaching more people, but the right people. 

Precision in Segmentation: Why It Matters

Gone are the days when basic demographics were enough. Identity resolution takes us several steps further. 

We’re talking about a level of audience segmentation that dives deep into consumer behaviors, interests, psychographics, online footprints, and more. 

For example, instead of targeting a broad category like ‘men aged 30-40’, we can now zoom in on ‘tech-savvy fathers in their 30s who love outdoor sports and are frequent online shoppers’. 

This razor-sharp focus is what makes your ads resonate on a deeper level. 

From Engagement to Conversion: Making Every Interaction Count

With identity resolution, your ads become relevant. Relevant ads mean increased engagement and most importantly, they nudge the audience closer to the ‘buy’ button.

What does this mean for your ROAS? 

Simply put – when your ads talk the talk, performance walks the walk.

Tailoring Your Spend for Maximum Impact

Let’s get real – in marketing, every penny counts. And if you are using identity resolution to fine-tune your audience segments, you’re making the most of those pennies. This targeted approach is not just cost-effective; it’s cost-intelligent.

As you gather data and insights from these targeted campaigns, the road to optimizing ROAS becomes clearer. You’re making informed decisions that pay off, both in the short and long term.

2. Improved Personalization of Ad Campaigns

At this point, personalization isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a must-have in the world of advertising. And with identity resolution, personalization becomes not just easier, but personalization becomes really personalized!  

The Art of Personalization

When you add identity resolution to the mix, you’re not just creating ads, you’re curating experiences. 

Identity resolution allows us to get more details about our customers – their interests, behaviors, likes, and dislikes. Using this information, we can craft ad content that resonates on a more personal level. 

Imagine you’re selling sports gear. With identity resolution, your ads for running shoes find marathon enthusiasts, while your yoga mats end up in front of yoga practitioners. It’s this kind of tailored messaging that makes your audience sit up and take notice. 

Unlocking Audience Engagement

When your audience sees content that aligns with their personal journey, engagement skyrockets. Why? Because personalized content doesn’t feel like an interruption. It feels like it belongs in their feed.

This relevance leads to higher click-through rates, more effective lead generation, and, ultimately, better conversions. In the language of ROAS, that translates to more bang for your buck. 

The Impact on Ad Spend

We all know that it’s not just about reaching people; it’s about reaching the right people at the right time with the right message. 

Identity resolution helps us to do just that. It helps us refine our targeting, reduce ad waste, and focus our budget on the audiences that matter most.

3. Efficient Multi-Channel Marketing

Your audience is everywhere. Should your ads be? Not exactly – being everywhere isn’t enough. 

Success lies in being there in the right place, with the right message. 

This is where identity resolution isn’t just useful, it’s essential. 

Crafting a Cohesive Narrative Across Channels

How many brands have funny TV commercials but boring websites? The answer – the majority.

Mixed messaging creates a huge disconnect. If there is no cohesiveness, the original message that resonated with you is immediately gone. 

Identity resolution helps ensure that you have that cohesive narrative across channels. Whether it’s social media, email, paid ads, or even offline touchpoints, identity resolution helps drive consistency.

For example, if a customer browses your product on your website but doesn’t purchase, identity resolution helps you retarget them with a tailored ad on social media. Then, perhaps, follows up with a personalized email, creating a seamless journey that moves them closer to conversion, each step of the way.

Strategic Placement and Timing: The ROAS Multiplier

Here’s where it gets fun. 

With identity resolution, you can really dig in to understand the best time and place to engage with your audience. Is it the sponsored Instagram post they see first thing in the morning? Or the email they open during their lunch break? Identity resolution gives you these insights.

This strategic placement and timing means that your ad spend is not just efficient; it’s laser-focused. You’re investing in touchpoints that have the highest likelihood of engagement and conversion. This is crucial in boosting your ROAS.

The Unification Advantage

One of the biggest challenges in multi-channel marketing is fragmentation. Different channels, different data sets, different user behaviors. 

Identity resolution is the glue that binds these fragmented pieces into a single, unified view of your customer.

By having a holistic view, you can align your messages, optimize your campaigns, and ensure that every channel is working not just hard, but smart. 

4. Optimized Retargeting Efforts

We’ve talked a lot about retargeting. Actually, we’ve talked a lot about the problems with retargeting (you can check those posts out here and here).

With the reduction of audience size and Google and Facebook pushing advertisers to their AI-based audiences, advertisers are moving their money elsewhere. 

This is where identity resolution can help. 

Bigger Audiences Without Cookies

With identity resolution solutions, you are collecting and creating first-party data. 

With an identity resolution tool like Customers.ai, you can take that first-party data and push it to your remarketing campaigns. The result? Bigger audiences and better targeting. 

Whether you are using custom audiences, Facebook’s Advantage+ audience, or creating lookalike audiences, you are building audiences based on real data and real users. 

Identity resolution tools help you overcome audience shrinkage and get back to the heydays of retargeting. 

Retargeting with Relevance

All retargeting is not created equal. We are not trying to chase after users with a one-size-fits-all message. 

Instead, we want to create tailored messages that speak to their specific interactions and interests. For example, if a user lingers on a page about luxury watches but doesn’t make a purchase, the retargeted ad isn’t just a generic watch ad; it’s an ad about luxury watches, maybe even with a CTA like a limited-time offer.

The more relevant your ad, the better the conversion rate. 

Users are more likely to engage with ads that reflect their past behaviors and preferences. It’s like walking into a store where the salesperson remembers you and knows exactly what you need. That level of personal attention is hard to ignore and even harder not to appreciate.

From Impressions to Conversions

It’s important to remember that it’s not just about getting back in front of your audience. 

It’s about coming back with something better – something that speaks directly to their needs and desires. Identity resolution equips you with that ‘something better.’

By targeting users based on their specific behaviors and history, every dollar spent on retargeting is optimized. It’s not just another impression; it’s a meaningful interaction. And in the world of digital marketing, meaningful interactions are what lead to conversions.

5. Better Measurement and Attribution

We’ve already mentioned the loss of cookies but it’s kind of a big deal. It’s especially a big deal in terms of measurement and attribution.

With cookies, clickIDs, and other identifiable tracking parameters being removed, attribution has become really challenging.

For marketers, we have to understand how our campaigns are performing. 

This is where identity resolution steps in, turning what could be a guessing game into an actual science. 

Decoding the Customer Journey

Let’s break it down. 

With identity resolution, we’re not just tracking clicks and impressions; we’re mapping out the entire customer journey. From the first ad they see to the last click before purchase, every touchpoint is an insight. This holistic view is crucial because it tells us not just what works, but why it works.

Think of it as having a high-resolution map of your customer’s journey. You see where they paused, where they turned back, and where they sprinted ahead. 

This level of detail transforms how we measure the effectiveness of each campaign. No more attributing a sale to the last click just because that’s ‘how we do things’. 

Now, we can understand the role of each channel in the sales process.

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Smarter Decisions with Enhanced Analytics

With good data, every decision we make is informed and intentional. We can pinpoint which channels are driving conversions and adjust our ad spend accordingly. 

For example, if we see that social media ads are great at starting the journey but email marketing seals the deal, we can allocate our budget to strengthen these touchpoints. 

Optimizing Ad Spend 

The beauty of improved measurement and attribution is that it takes the guesswork out of ROAS. 

We’re not just hoping for the best, we’re creating campaigns with a clear understanding of their impact. This means our ad spend isn’t just a number – it’s a truly educated decision. 

Identity Resolution is the Future of Ads

The major ad platforms continue to make changes in the name of privacy. That isn’t going to stop.

Each platform is trying to figure out how to make the most money and the only real loser is advertisers.

With identity resolution, advertisers get their power back. 

They get first-party data and the ability to target better than ever, despite platform limitations. 

By understanding who your visitors are, segmenting them, and giving them ads that resonate, you can improve ROAS and improve sales performance.

See how Customers.ai can help you start identifying your visitors today!

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Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

The post 5 Ways Identity Resolution Can Help Maximize ROAS appeared first on Customers.ai.

Enter lead enrichment. 

Lead enrichment helps you refine and enhance the data you have on your leads, allowing you to personalize your outreach with precision, and build those personal connections.

While it may sound simple, good lead enrichment requires having the right technology in place. From CRM systems to marketing automation platforms, lead enrichment is circular. The more interactions you have with your customers, the more data you can extrapolate.

So let’s dive into the world of lead enrichment – what it is, its significance to businesses, and how AI is helping “lead” the charge for better data.

• What is Lead Enrichment?
• The Importance of Lead Enrichment in Modern Marketing and Sales
• Common Lead Enrichment Challenges
• The Role of AI in Lead Enrichment
• Benefits of AI-Driven Lead Enrichment
• How to Implement AI-Powered Lead Enrichment
• How Customers.ai Helps with Lead Enrichment
• Lead Enrichment FAQs

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Understanding Lead Enrichment

To get everyone on the same page, let’s start by laying a solid foundation of what lead enrichment is. We’ll define lead enrichment, unravel the intricacies of the process, and highlight its crucial role in modern marketing and sales strategies.

What is Lead Enrichment?

Lead enrichment is the practice of refining and enhancing the information about potential customers or ‘leads.’ 

It involves augmenting existing lead data (think name, email, phone number) with additional insights, such as demographics, firmographics, and behavioral data, to better understand and engage with prospects in sales and marketing efforts.

The Importance of Lead Enrichment in Modern Marketing and Sales

Lead enrichment used to be a nice-to-have but in today’s modern world, it’s a must. By infusing lead data with valuable insights, businesses not only gain a significant competitive advantage, but they gain a direct connection to their customers. 

Let’s delve into why lead enrichment is nothing short of essential:

• Tailored Personalization: Lead enrichment enables businesses to craft highly personalized and meaningful marketing campaigns, increasing the likelihood of capturing a lead’s attention and converting them into valued customers.

• Sharper Lead Prioritization: With enriched data, accurate lead scoring comes into play. This ensures sales teams are investing their time and efforts wisely by focusing on the most promising leads, boosting efficiency, and helping close deals faster.

• Pinpoint Targeting: The enriched lead data enables companies to identify and target precisely the right audience segments. Why not give individuals or organizations the information they are genuinely interested in?

• Refined Segmentation: Businesses can effectively categorize their leads based on criteria like industry, location, or behavior. This capability allows you to tailor your messaging and offers to specific audience segments.

• Informed Decision-Making: With more information on hand, marketing and sales teams can make better-informed decisions, fine-tune strategies, and stay agile.

At the end of the day, lead enrichment transcends mere data collection; it is the key to growth in today’s modern landscape.

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Common Lead Enrichment Challenges

While lead enrichment brings valuable advantages, it’s not without its share of intricate challenges. These include:

• Data Accuracy and Quality
• Data Privacy and Compliance
• Integration Complexities
• Scalability
• Budget Allocation
• Data Freshness
• Human Touch vs. Automation

Let’s dig into each lead enrichment challenge.

Data Accuracy and Quality

Ensuring the accuracy and quality of lead data is a top priority. No customer wants to be called the wrong name or sent the wrong message. 

Mistakes lead to misguided marketing efforts and wasted resources. 

To tackle this, companies must implement rigorous data validation procedures, conduct regular audits, and set up data governance policies. They also must rely on data enrichment tools that continuously verify and update information, ensuring data accuracy over time.

Data Privacy and Compliance

At this point, it feels like there are new data privacy regulations rolling out every day. Striking the right balance between enriching data and complying with these regulations has become a complex task. 

On top of it, consumers care about their privacy. 76% of customers won’t buy from a company they don’t trust with their data. 

To ensure you are staying on top of these regulations, businesses must develop comprehensive data protection strategies, employ consent management systems, and maintain transparent communication with their audience regarding data usage and rights.

Integration Complexities

Integrating lead enrichment tools and platforms with existing CRM systems and databases is no small feat. 

Anyone who has ever tried to integrate any marketing technology into their tech stack knows compatibility issues are common. 

In some cases, companies can rely on their team of skilled IT professionals to get things working properly. Others may need to invest in middleware solutions that bridge the gap between different systems and simplify the integration process. Either way, it’s not always easy.

Scalability

One of the hardest parts about growing a business is scaling it. As businesses expand, the volume of leads they handle can grow significantly. 

Scaling lead enrichment processes while preserving data quality and accuracy requires meticulous planning. This means allocating additional resources, adopting scalable AI solutions, and designing flexible workflows capable of adapting to evolving demands. 

Scaling is one of the hardest challenges businesses face and lead enrichment is no different.

Budget Allocation

Isn’t budget always the challenge? Implementing AI-powered lead enrichment tools can pose financial challenges, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Managing costs while maximizing the benefits of data enrichment requires a well-defined strategy and flexibility. 

This may entail evaluating various pricing models, optimizing tool usage, and periodically assessing the return on investment for enrichment efforts. Make sure you do your research to find the solution that is right for you. 

Data Freshness

Acquiring fresh and relevant data remains an ongoing challenge. People change all the time and lead data can quickly become outdated. 

You must have reliable data sources, maintain partnerships with data providers, and implement automated procedures for updating your database to ensure that lead data remains current and correct.

Human Touch vs. Automation

Striking the right balance between human intervention and automation is a nuanced challenge. 

While AI streamlines lead enrichment, there are situations where a human touch is needed. For example, AI may be able to help you process the data quickly but complex data interpretation may require human expertise. 

Crafting workflows that seamlessly integrate AI and human involvement is essential to effective lead enrichment strategies.

Like anything, lead enrichment comes with its own set of challenges. Effectively managing these challenges is key for businesses looking to unlock the full potential of lead enrichment.

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The Role of AI in Lead Enrichment

In recent years, AI has emerged as a game-changer in lead enrichment, thanks to its impressive capabilities in machine learning and natural language processing. 

Let’s explore how AI is transforming this crucial aspect of modern marketing and sales:

• Data Processing at Scale: AI comes to the rescue when we’re dealing with massive volumes of data. It’s particularly useful in lead enrichment, where we need to sift through extensive datasets containing demographics, firmographics, and online behaviors. AI swiftly analyzes this vast information, extracting valuable insights that would be overwhelming for human efforts alone.

• Predictive Lead Scoring: Machine learning algorithms use historical data to predict which leads are most likely to convert into customers. This predictive lead scoring allows sales teams to work smarter, focusing their attention on leads with the highest conversion potential. It’s a time-saver that also boosts the likelihood of closing deals successfully.

• Natural Language Processing (NLP): AI-powered NLP is a game-changer for understanding unstructured data, like social media posts, reviews, and comments. NLP helps us decipher customer sentiments, preferences, and trends by analyzing text data. This precious insight helps tailor marketing campaigns to genuinely resonate with the target audience.

• Automated Data Enhancement: AI-driven lead enrichment tools automatically enrich lead data with additional information from various sources. For example, AI can beef up lead profiles with updates from social media, job changes, or mentions in the news, providing a more comprehensive and up-to-date view of potential customers.

• Personalization at Scale: AI empowers businesses to create highly personalized marketing messages and product recommendations for every lead, even when dealing with large numbers. By analyzing lead data and behaviors, AI algorithms identify the most relevant content and offers, boosting engagement and conversion rates.

• Continuous Learning and Adaptation: AI systems learn and adapt continuously. They get better over time as they process more data and receive feedback. This means that AI-powered lead enrichment becomes more accurate and efficient as it evolves, making it a priceless asset for long-term marketing and sales strategies.

AI isn’t just about automation; it’s about making data-driven decisions, engaging with leads effectively, and ultimately achieving higher conversion rates. 

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5 Benefits of AI-Driven Lead Enrichment for Sales and Marketing

Integrating AI into the lead enrichment processes can truly transform marketing and sales efforts. Let’s dive into the specific benefits:

1. Improved Targeting

AI gives us the power to zero in on our ideal customers with exceptional precision. By analyzing extensive data and customer behavior patterns, we can identify which prospects are the best fit for our business.

This also means we can focus our marketing campaigns and sales outreach on individuals or organizations most likely to convert. It saves time and resources but also significantly boosts our chances of success.

2. Better Lead Scoring

With AI in the lead enrichment process, lead scoring gets a major upgrade. Machine learning algorithms take into account a broader spectrum of factors and real-time data than humans might. They delve into historical lead interactions, spotting patterns and behaviors that signal buying intent.

The result? Much more accurate lead scoring. Our sales teams can then laser-focus their efforts on leads that are most likely to convert, driving higher conversion rates, shorter sales cycles, and creating a happier sales team.

3. Increased Conversion Rates

AI-driven lead enrichment is the key to personalization. And we know that personalized content and recommendations resonate far better with our leads, sparking greater engagement and trust.

When we deliver the right message to the right person at the right time, we experience significantly higher conversion rates. Whether it’s getting leads to sign up for a newsletter, make a purchase, or request a demo, AI makes it happen.

4. Enhanced Customer Engagement

AI tools can help us create communication that’s highly personalized and relevant to our leads. Whether it’s through email campaigns, website interactions, or social media, AI can help ensure our content matches each lead’s interests and behavior.

This personal touch helps our leads feel understood and valued and lays the foundation for stronger relationships and more meaningful interactions.

5. Streamlined Sales Processes

AI takes care of the heavy lifting in the lead enrichment and nurturing process. 

It handles everything from data collection to validation, freeing up our sales teams to focus on what they do best: building relationships and closing deals.

The result is a more efficient and productive sales process, with fewer manual errors and greater capacity for our teams to nurture leads effectively.

In a nutshell, AI-driven lead enrichment helps us elevate our marketing and sales efforts. It makes our targeting sharper, our lead scoring more precise, our conversion rates higher, our customer engagement deeper, our sales processes more efficient, and our decisions more data-backed. 

How to Implement AI-Powered Lead Enrichment

We already noted the challenges that lie ahead so you know that integrating AI-driven lead enrichment into your operations requires thoughtful planning and consideration. 

Here’s a practical guide to help you get started:

Choose the Right AI Tools for Lead Enrichment

As we noted earlier, it’s important to have the right tools that fit your business objectives. When choosing an AI-powered lead enrichment tool, you need to consider the following:

• Assess Your Needs: Begin by evaluating your specific lead enrichment needs and objectives. Consider factors such as the volume of leads you handle, your budget, and the level of customization required.

• Research and Compare: Explore various AI-powered lead enrichment tools and platforms available in the market. Pay attention to features, user reviews, and case studies to gauge their effectiveness.

• Demo and Trial: Whenever possible, request demos or trial periods to test the tools firsthand. This hands-on experience will help you determine which solution aligns best with your business goals.

Don’t Forget About Data Privacy and Compliance

When implementing lead enrichment into your marketing and sales strategies, pay attention to data privacy regulations in your area and always be aware of compliance. Ignorance is not bliss in the case of data and you don’t want to be fined.

• Understand Regulations: Familiarize yourself with data privacy regulations that apply to your region and industry, such as GDPR, CCPA, or HIPAA. Ensure your lead enrichment practices align with these regulations.

• Select Compliant Tools: Choose AI tools and platforms that prioritize data privacy and compliance. Look for vendors that provide transparent data handling processes and adhere to industry standards.

• Implement Consent Management: Implement robust consent management practices. Clearly communicate to leads how their data will be used, and provide options for them to control their data.

Be Practical About Implementation

When it comes to the actual implementation, know that you will need time and you will need the right resources in place. Do your homework to ensure you are setting yourself up for success.

• Data Quality: Start with clean and accurate data. Ensure your existing lead data is of high quality before using AI-powered tools for enrichment. Data quality is the foundation of effective lead enrichment.

• Integration: Seamlessly integrate the selected AI tools with your existing CRM and marketing systems. Compatibility and smooth data flow are crucial to avoid disruptions in your operations.

• User Training: Provide training to your team members who will be using the AI-powered lead enrichment tools. Ensure they understand how to use the tools effectively and make the most of the data they provide.

• Continuous Monitoring: Regularly monitor the AI-driven lead enrichment process to verify data accuracy and quality. Implement ongoing data validation to maintain data integrity.

Definite Budget and Understand Scalability Needs

We mentioned earlier these are two of the biggest challenges when it comes to implementing a lead enrichment tool. We weren’t joking. Make sure you have these defined.

• Budget Allocation: Allocate your budget wisely. Consider the cost of AI tools, ongoing subscription fees, and potential training expenses. Ensure your budget aligns with your expected return on investment.

• Scalability: Think about scalability. As your business grows, will the AI solution you choose be able to accommodate larger volumes of leads and data without sacrificing performance? Scalability is essential for long-term success.

Develop a Feedback and Optimization Loop

Success requires feed and it requires optimization. Make sure these are accounted for in your processes.

• Gather Feedback: Encourage feedback from your teams and customers. Their insights can help you identify areas for improvement in your lead enrichment strategies.

• Optimize Continuously: Continuously optimize your lead enrichment process. AI algorithms improve with more data and feedback, so regularly fine-tune your strategies for better results.

By factoring in each of these steps, you can effectively implement AI-powered lead enrichment into your business.

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How Customers.ai Helps with Lead Enrichment

When we introduced our groundbreaking Website Visitor ID X-ray pixel, we knew how powerful it would be in transforming the way businesses gather and utilize lead data.

With website visitor information like names, emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn profiles, business emails, domains, referral source, and so much more, businesses can not only capture more of their audience than ever before, they can start building profiles!

Here are a few ways Customers.ai is helping with lead enrichment: 

• Precision Data Collection: The X-ray pixel is designed to operate discreetly, tracking and collecting valuable data on leads as they interact with your digital touchpoints. It captures key information without intrusiveness, allowing you to gather insights seamlessly.

• Real-Time Lead Insights: What sets the X-ray pixel apart is its ability to provide real-time lead insights. As leads visit your website or engage with your content, you can instantly capture data on their behaviors, interests, and preferences. The real-time aspect is a game-changer as it empowers your marketing and sales teams to respond promptly.

• Enhanced Personalization: With the X-ray pixel’s data collection capabilities, you can start tracking website browsing patterns, pages visited, and more. Armed with this rich data, you can craft hyper-personalized marketing messages and offers that speak directly to each lead’s interests and needs. 

• Improved Lead Scoring: The X-ray pixel’s data insights are a goldmine for lead scoring. By analyzing lead behaviors in real-time, it contributes to more accurate lead-scoring models. Your sales teams benefit from a clearer understanding of lead intent and engagement, allowing them to prioritize their efforts effectively and close deals more efficiently.

• Streamlined Lead Enrichment: Customers.ai simplifies the lead enrichment process. The X-ray pixel automatically gathers comprehensive lead data, reducing the manual effort required for data collection and email validation, saving time, and enhancing data accuracy. 

Customers.ai helps businesses collect real-time insights, improve lead targeting, and enhance engagement, driving higher conversion rates and building stronger customer relationships. 

Getting Started with Lead Enrichment

First and foremost, if you haven’t installed the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-ray Pixel, do that now. It takes 90-seconds, it’s FREE, and you can start enriching your leads data instantly. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Now, let’s wrap things up.

We know that data reigns supreme these days and AI-powered lead enrichment is a must for marketing and sales teams. It is not just the future, but the present, allowing your business to stay competitive, achieve sustainable growth, and unlock new avenues for success.
At Customers.ai, we are helping businesses grow, expand, and build better customer relationships every day. Sign up for free or contact us for a free demo!

Important Next Steps

• See what targeted outbound marketing is all about. Capture and engage your first 500 website visitor leads with Customers.ai X-Ray website visitor identification for free.
• Talk and learn about sales outreach automation with other growth enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, our Facebook group of 40K marketers and entrepreneurs who are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Sales Outreach School, a free tutorial and training area for sales pros and marketers.

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Lead Enrichment FAQs

Q. How does lead enrichment work?

Lead enrichment typically involves using data sources and AI-powered tools to validate, update, and supplement lead data, ensuring its accuracy and completeness.

Q. Why is lead enrichment important for businesses?

Lead enrichment is crucial for businesses as it helps them target the right prospects, personalize marketing efforts, prioritize leads effectively, and ultimately increase conversion rates.

Q. What are the benefits of lead enrichment?

Benefits include improved targeting, better lead scoring, increased conversion rates, enhanced customer engagement, streamlined sales processes, and data-driven decision-making.

Q. What is AI-driven lead enrichment?

AI-driven lead enrichment involves using Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to automate and optimize the lead enrichment process, making it more efficient and accurate.

Q. How does AI improve lead enrichment?

AI improves lead enrichment by processing data at scale, providing predictive lead scoring, enabling natural language processing for better data interpretation, and automating data enhancement.

Q. What are some popular AI-powered lead enrichment tools?

Along with Customers.ai, common lead enrichment tools included Clearbit, ZoomInfo, InsideView, and Apollo, among others.

Q. What should businesses consider when selecting AI tools for lead enrichment?

They should consider factors like their specific needs, budget, scalability, data privacy and compliance, integration capabilities, and user-friendliness.

Q. How can businesses ensure data privacy and compliance when using AI for lead enrichment?

By adhering to data privacy regulations, selecting compliant tools, implementing robust consent management, and maintaining transparent data handling practices.

Q. What is the role of data quality in lead enrichment?

Data quality is foundational. It ensures that the enriched lead data is accurate and reliable, preventing wasted efforts and misguided marketing.

Q. What is real-time lead enrichment?

Real-time lead enrichment is the process of enriching lead data as it is collected or immediately after an interaction with a prospect, providing up-to-the-minute insights.

Q. How can businesses leverage lead enrichment for personalization?

Lead enrichment data allows businesses to tailor marketing messages and offers based on lead preferences, behaviors, and demographics, resulting in highly personalized experiences.

Q. What is the impact of lead enrichment on sales teams?

Lead enrichment equips sales teams with more information about leads, helping them prioritize and engage effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles.

Q. What challenges are associated with lead enrichment?

Challenges include data accuracy, privacy, integration complexities, scalability, cost considerations, data sourcing, and balancing automation with the human touch.

Q. How does lead enrichment contribute to marketing ROI?

Lead enrichment improves targeting and lead quality, leading to more efficient marketing spend and a higher return on investment.

Q. What is predictive lead scoring, and how does AI support it?

Predictive lead scoring uses AI to analyze historical data and predict which leads are most likely to convert. AI helps by continuously refining scoring models based on lead behaviors.

Q. How can businesses implement AI-driven lead enrichment successfully?

By assessing needs, researching tools, ensuring data privacy, integrating tools seamlessly, training teams, and continuously monitoring and optimizing the process.

Q. What is consent management in the context of lead enrichment?

Consent management involves obtaining explicit consent from leads regarding data collection and usage, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations.

Q. What is the role of AI in lead enrichment for e-commerce businesses?

AI helps e-commerce businesses personalize product recommendations, track online behaviors, and segment leads effectively for targeted marketing.

Q. How does AI help in data validation during lead enrichment?

AI algorithms can validate lead data by cross-referencing it with multiple data sources, ensuring its accuracy and completeness.

Q. What are the differences between lead enrichment and lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of acquiring new leads, while lead enrichment focuses on enhancing existing lead data with additional information.

Q. What is real-time lead enrichment?

Real-time lead enrichment is the process of enriching lead data as it is collected or immediately after an interaction with a prospect, providing up-to-the-minute insights.

Q. How can businesses leverage lead enrichment for personalization?

Lead enrichment data allows businesses to tailor marketing messages and offers based on lead preferences, behaviors, and demographics, resulting in highly personalized experiences.

Q. What is the impact of lead enrichment on sales teams?

Lead enrichment equips sales teams with more information about leads, helping them prioritize and engage effectively, resulting in higher conversion rates and shorter sales cycles.

Q. What challenges are associated with lead enrichment?

Challenges include data accuracy, privacy, integration complexities, scalability, cost considerations, data sourcing, and balancing automation with the human touch.

Q. How does lead enrichment contribute to marketing ROI?

Lead enrichment improves targeting and lead quality, leading to more efficient marketing spend and a higher return on investment.

Q. What is predictive lead scoring, and how does AI support it?

Predictive lead scoring uses AI to analyze historical data and predict which leads are most likely to convert. AI helps by continuously refining scoring models based on lead behaviors.

Q. How can businesses implement AI-driven lead enrichment successfully?

By assessing needs, researching tools, ensuring data privacy, integrating tools seamlessly, training teams, and continuously monitoring and optimizing the process.

Q. What is consent management in the context of lead enrichment?

Consent management involves obtaining explicit consent from leads regarding data collection and usage, ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations.

Q. What is the role of AI in lead enrichment for e-commerce businesses?

AI helps e-commerce businesses personalize product recommendations, track online behaviors, and segment leads effectively for targeted marketing.

Q. How does AI help in data validation during lead enrichment?

AI algorithms can validate lead data by cross-referencing it with multiple data sources, ensuring its accuracy and completeness.

Q. What are the differences between lead enrichment and lead generation?

Lead generation is the process of acquiring new leads, while lead enrichment focuses on enhancing existing lead data with additional information.

The post What is Lead Enrichment and How Can AI Help? appeared first on Customers.ai.

Hosted by our friends at Justuno, eight industry pros spilled the tea on CRO, reviews, loyalty, and more. Each expert dished out their standout BFCM tips, turning this AMA into a goldmine for businesses hustling for success.

Dive into the recap, catch the highlights, and gear up for ecommerce greatness!

Tip 1: Expand Email Captures with Website ID Pixel

Expand your email captures by identifying anonymous website visitors. Install the Customers.ai Website Visitor ID X-Ray pixel on your site to gather contact information from visitors and capture 15% to 20% of website visitors’ contact details. To manage the influx of leads, implement filters based on factors like scroll depth, time on site, or engagement with specific pages.

Tip 2: Recover Retargeting Audience Reach

Recent iOS 14 and Google Chrome cookie policy changes have resulted in new retargeting challenges. To overcome these limitations and expand your retargeting audiences, leverage customer IDs gathered from website visits. Extracting additional information, such as phone numbers and secondary emails, can enhance the targeting capabilities and potentially double or triple the size of remarketing audiences.

Tip 3: Maximize Revenue Recovery from Abandoned Carts

Leverage the customer ID data and synchronize with platforms like Shopify or Klaviyo to enhance cart abandonment sequences. By sending more leads into these sequences, including those who didn’t log in or add items to their cart, you can maximize revenue recovery efforts.

Tip 4: (Bonus Tip!)

Install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel on your site and start identifying who your visitors are. 

To install the Website Visitor ID X-Ray Pixel, sign up (for FREE!), go to your dashboard, and navigate to My Automations. 

Select + New Automation and get your pixel. We have easy install options for Google Tag Manager, WordPress, and Shopify, or you can install the pixel manually.

Back to the recap and all of the great Black Friday Cyber Monday tips from our presenters.

SJ Carcamo, Partner Marketing Manager at Justuno

Tip 5: Curate Experiences with Source Data Precision

Understanding your audience begins with identified and anonymous visitors. Whether they’re in your email list or entirely new, tailor experiences based on source data. Pinpoint your top traffic sources and invest where it matters. Focus on key touchpoints such as welcome pop-ups, exit intents, cart abandonment, banners, and post-purchase prompts. 

Tip 6: Incorporate Last Touch Scenarios with Exit and Cart Abandonment Popups

Incorporate a last-touch scenario using behavioral triggers to deliver the right message at the right time. Plus, with behavioral segmentation, you already have the creative. Use existing creative from other channels and adapt them for onsite pop-ups. 

Tip 7: Free Gifts and Redemption Offers

Engage your customers at the pinnacle of their intent—add to cart and post-purchase. Offer a free gift or redemption. It’s not just about discounts; it’s a strategic move to increase average order value (AOV) and foster repeat purchases.

Andrew Christison, Co-Founder Retencity

Tip 8: Create a Detailed Segment By Segment Email Strategy

Sending to your entire list during this high-traffic period can lead to deliverability issues. Don’t do it. Tailor your segments to ensure relevance, steering clear of the risk of being blacklisted. 

Tip 9: Leverage Email Intimacy Effectively

Lean into the unique intimacy of email. People subscribe to fewer brands on email than on other channels. Coordinate your email and SMS strategies to create a cohesive experience and connect with your audience during the festive season.

Tip 10: Align the Lifecycle Customer Experience

Maintain consistency across all customer touchpoints. Ensure that pop-ups, automations, and emails align with the brand’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions. Have backup assignments and email layouts ready in case of out-of-stock situations to avoid last-minute panic.

Stephanie Charon, Senior Customer Success Manager at Postscript

Tip 11: Craft Irresistible Black Friday Specials

Start by addressing your Black Friday specials strategically. Avoid conflicting offers that may lead customers to double-stack coupons. Inject a sense of urgency into your cart abandonment messages, emphasizing that this is the best sale of the year. 

Tip 12: Strategic SMS Reminders for Maximum Impact

Send strategic reminders. A staggering 80% of SMS-attributed orders occur within the first 20 minutes of receiving a message. Don’t underestimate the power of same-day follow-ups.

Tip 13: Ensure Maximum Deliverability

When sending multiple-day campaigns, include an opt-out option to maintain compliance and build trust with carriers. Schedule messages off the hour and prioritize SMS over MMS during this intense period.

Virgil Ghic, Co-Founder WeSupply

Tip 14: Proactive Shipment Monitoring and Notification

The key is to control the controllables and maintain customer trust and proactive shipment monitoring is a must. By automatically notifying customers about delays and offering compensation or discounts strategically, you can turn a potentially negative experience into a positive one.

Tip 15: Elevate Customer Experience with Personalized Tracking

Elevate the customer experience by sending personalized emails with embedded tracking information. This approach ensures customers are informed about delays, out-for-delivery status, and delivery, all through SMS or integrated scripts. 

Tip 16: Turn Exchanges into Upselling Opportunities

Exchanges aren’t just about replacing products; they’re an opportunity to upsell. Converting a return into an exchange, especially for a more expensive item, can lead to additional revenue.

Erik Swanson, Director of Customer Success at Refersion

Tip 17: Bulletproof Tracking and Testing

Nothing dampens a Black Friday campaign like tracking issues. Beyond adopting a reliable tracking solution, ensure every link, landing page, and checkout flow is meticulously tested. 

Tip 18: Incentivize Effectively

Standing out in the affiliate and influencer crowd requires proactive communication and compelling incentives. Gamifying campaigns. A gamified approach, coupled with unique rewards, sets your brand apart. 

Tip 19: Make it Fun and Valuable for Affiliates

Affiliates are bombarded with promotions during Black Friday. Make it fun and valuable and think outside the box. Create exclusive bundles, limited-time offers, or unique products available only through affiliate links. The goal is to make the promotion enticing for both affiliates and customers.

Oren Charnoff, Co-Founder & CEO Fondue

Tip 20: Ditch Default Coupons for Exotic Discounts

Rather than defaulting to conventional discounts, get creative with exotic and diverse discount types. From cashback to BOGO offers and free gifts, an engaging discount strategy can combat coupon blindness.

Tip 21: Resist the “FML” Mindset

Don’t succumb to the “FML” (Forget My List) mindset during the Black Friday rush. Instead, use this as an opportune moment to leverage the increased traffic and convert first-time shoppers into long-term customers. 

Tip 22: Make Discounts an Ongoing Engagement, Not a Holiday Fling

Don’t use discounts solely for first-time purchases. Instead, utilize discounts that encourage ongoing engagement, ensuring customers return for more.

Teala Beischer, Product Marketing Manager at Stamped

Tip 23: Elevate Customer Reviews with Context

Contextualized reviews enhance the customer experience. Whether it’s apparel, wellness, or any product, incorporate photo reviews. Ensure that the widget showcasing photo reviews on product detail pages (PDPs) is enabled and optimized for Black Friday.

Tip 24: Tap into Your Existing Audience for Loyalty

Explore the untapped potential within your existing customer base. Leverage loyalty programs and VIP initiatives for existing customers or create exclusive pre-sale campaigns for VIP customers. 

Tip 25: Maximize Post-Purchase Strategies

Offer special rewards, such as bonus points, to customers making purchases during the holiday season. This not only encourages loyalty program enrollment but also sets the stage for collecting valuable reviews from this newly engaged segment.

Let’s “Wrap it Up”

And that’s a wrap on our BFCM AMA adventure! From engaging CRO tips to the secrets of digital gifting experiences, we’ve unlocked a treasure trove of wisdom for the ecommerce world. 

As the BFCM weekend approaches, let these actionable takeaways guide your journey to success. Cheers to the thriving ecommerce community and the boundless possibilities ahead!

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The post 25 Black Friday Cyber Monday Tips for 2023 and Beyond appeared first on Customers.ai.

If you own a business or are part of a growing startup, you’ve probably asked yourself this.

Just before my first company, WordStream, was acquired for $150 million by Gannett Co, I observed 21 signs that your company is on its way to success — or maybe has already made it.

#1) Hiring employee #1. Every journey begins with a single step. (We’re at around 40 today!!)

#2) Series A Funding. Validation of your vision.

#3) Consistent Sales & Revenue! 

I’m elated to share that Customers.ai made the 2023 Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America.

We ranked 1286 on the 2023 Inc 5000 list and 69 among technology companies, including AI tools! 

The Inc 5000 is a revenue-growth based ranking industry award system – we send them our financials and that’s how they compute the fastest growing companies.

On one level, it’s always a surprise to get an honor like this. On the other hand, the signs were there all along. 

This past year has felt like I’ve been riding a unicorn with a jet engine strapped to its belly. 

We’ve rebranded and rolled out so many new totally game-changing features. We moved into an office. We’ve doubled our team. We decreased one company’s customer acquisition cost by 93%. We increased another company’s email engagement by 5.5x. We outgrew our office. We helped B2C businesses find millions of customers. And it feels like it’s just the beginning. 

So, how did we do it? 

Here are 5 critical things that helped us along our journey to a fastest-growing company.

1. Obsess over understanding your customers.

What happened to catapult our growth in the last 12 months? Laser focus on refining our Ideal Customer Profile. This is an iterative process.

From day 1, you have an ICP in mind. You will almost certainly be wrong, and that’s okay. Look at the data. Which customers are most successful? Which customers are struggling? Which customers get the value immediately? Which customers are dropping like flies? 

Often, this reveals that your product isn’t exactly what you thought it was and your product isn’t for exactly who you thought it was. That’s okay! 

What matters is making strategic changes when you identify inefficiencies and constantly doing this. Your product changes. Your customers change. The economy changes. All of this means you have to pay constant, close attention to who your ICP is.

2. Fanatically listen to your customers

We were having success generating buckets of leads for our customers and our outreach automations were working great. But I thought we could do better than just offering two great services, so we listened really closely when our customers talked about what they needed. 

Customers need better or different data? We built analytics right into the outreach automations. 

Customers need more integrations? We partnered with Microsoft and Klaviyo. Customers need to write better emails? We added AI email composition. 

Your customers know what they need from you. You just have to listen.

3. Go Boldly Outbound

One of the main benefits of knowing who your customers are and what they want? Marketing becomes way more focused and efficient. 

In the last year we pressed hard on the gas of targeted outbound marketing to grow our leads and sales — unlocking our growth potential.

Inbound marketing is like fishing with a pole, waiting for your ideal prospect to swim by. Targeted outbound marketing is like hunting with a laser scope, your sights trained on your ideal prospect.

Because outbound outreach campaigns go directly to your target audience, they are 10-100X more cost effective than digital ads (where you may be spending thousands of dollars per lead).

Outbound email marketing, done in an intentional way that protects your domain and optimizes for email deliverability, is the most direct and cost effective tool for finding new customers.

4. Make noise about your progress.

If a company creates an exceptional product or service in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Either way, they won’t get any new customers. 

So, make a sound! 

When we add product features (or just think it’s been a while since we’ve highlighted core features), we make a point of telling everyone who will listen. From every microphone we’ve got.

We’re excited to tell our customers’ success stories, too. This helps future customers understand how their lives can be transformed and their goals achieved through our partnership.

5. Believe in your product.

The best way to get people to continue buying your product is to demonstrate how well it can work for them. The best way to do that? Give it to them for free.

Nobody likes giving valuable stuff away for free. But we give customers 50 free leads for a reason…because (to paraphrase the marketing team at FritoLay) we bet they can’t get just 50! Once they’ve seen how great your product is, they know they need it. 

Experience is the most powerful tool in your belt, don’t be afraid to use it! 

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What’s next for us? Well I’m still looking out for one of my favorite signs of success…

The post How Customers.ai Became a Fastest-Growing Inc. 5000 Company: 5 Things You Can Do appeared first on Customers.ai.

We truly appreciate everyone’s support and a special thank you to Hiten Shah for “hunting” InstaChamp today!

Please, let us know what you think about InstaChamp, or if you have any questions at all in the comments section. We will be answering questions in real-time today, so now’s your chance!

Back to how to get your own product to the #1 spot on Product Hunt…

So, you’ve spent months or maybe even years taking an idea and turning it into a useful product for the masses. The time to launch has arrived and you’ve turned to Product Hunt for a big boost.

Lucky for you, I’ve been there a number of times and have helped multiple products reach the #1 spot for the day. And I’m about to share my Product Hunt launch strategy with you!

Follow these six best practices to give your new product its best chance at success!

6 Best Practices for your Product Hunt Launch Strategy

Here’s what we’ll cover in Part 1 of our Product Hunt launch strategy guide for 2021:

1. The Product Hunt Maker Checklist.
2. Best time to launch on Product Hunt.
3. Create a list of questions and answers about your product.
4. Build a landing page dedicated to your launch on Product Hunt.
5. Read Product Hunt’s own tips on how to launch on Product Hunt!
6. Know what not to do on Product Hunt.

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#1. Product Hunt Launch Strategy: Product Hunt Maker Checklist

After a handful of successful Product Hunt launches, I’ve compiled a checklist of things to do before, during, and after your Product Hunt launch. 

Follow this checklist and I guarantee you’ll be well on your way to that #1 spot!

Before Launch: How to prepare for your Product Hunt Launch

Before you launch on Product Hunt, here’s a list of action items that I always recommend before going live:

1. Content: Have an email, social media posts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn), and a blog post ready to go the day of your launch.
2. One social media friendly image or GIF: When uploading your images, GIFs, and/or videos, make sure to add at least one image or GIF that’s easily “Tweetable” and shows up well on social media. The recommended image size for this is 635 x 380 pixels.
3. List of Questions and Answers: Create a list of questions for your trusted contacts to ask on the day of your launch. More details on this task can be found in Product Hunt launch tip #3.
4. Landing page: Build a landing page dedicated to your launch on Product Hunt that highlights an exclusive deal, only available to those who found your product on Product Hunt.
5. Product Hunt Collections – Step 1: Create a few Product Hunt Collections and fill them up with products you find complimentary to your own product, such as a tools roundup like “Instagram Marketing Tools” or “Meditation Tools.”

6. Start spreading the news: Start mentioning your Product Hunt launch to people you talk to. Chances are they’ll be willing to help you out with an upvote or a comment the day of your launch. 
7. Find the right person to submit your product on Product Hunt: Ideally you want your “Hunter” to be someone who has submitted multiple products previously, has a large follower base on social media, and has a successful track record of products that finished in the Top 5 on Product Hunt the day of launch. For example, we were lucky enough to get Hiten Shah to be our Hunter. Check out those Product Hunt stats!

During Launch: What to do on the day your product is Live on Product Hunt

1. Invite your Team Members and Others: If you haven’t done so already, be sure to invite your team members with the most social media followers to be a Maker on your Product Hunt page.

2. Product Hunt Collections – Step 2:  Add your product to all of the Product Hunt Collections that you created, as well as to the existing Product Hunt Collections that your product matches up well with.
3. Add the first Comment to your Product Hunt page: Once you’ve been granted permissions as a “Maker” on Product Hunt, post the first comment. Explain your vision and mission for the product, your best use cases, and get people excited. Remember, most of the people on Product Hunt are fellow entrepreneurs and startup savvy, so be sure to tell your own personal story (in one or two sentences) and why your product is so important to you. The Product Hunt audience will definitely be able to relate!
4. Notify your Company: Tell everyone to drop what they’re doing for a few minutes and to share the news on their own personal social media pages. There’s no excuse for people to not share your product launch!
5. Promote! Every asset you’ve created for your Product Hunt launch strategy, whether that’s an email, an SMS text message, boosting a post on Instagram, or all of the above, now is the time to fire on all cylinders.

After Launch: You’ve executed your Product Hunt launch strategy, now what?

Just because your launch day on Product Hunt is over, doesn’t mean your Product Hunt launch strategy is over.

People visit Product Hunt every day to find the latest and greatest tools out there. 

So, be sure to write a blog post about your experience on Product Hunt and what you’ve learned. Ideally, target a keyword that you know you can rank for over time and if you’re lucky, your product will continue to get upvotes for years to come. 

If you haven’t already, be sure to add your product to every Collections list on Product that makes sense. Don’t get carried away though, your additions will be removed if they do not fit the category descriptions.

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#2. Product Hunt Launch Strategy: Best Time to Launch on Product Hunt

While it’s a good idea to know when to launch on Product Hunt, it’s just as important to know when to not launch on Product Hunt.

Ideally, the best time to launch on Product Hunt is 12:01 am on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. 

However, avoid Mondays and Fridays if you want to get the most eyes on your product! 

#3. Product Hunt Launch Strategy: Create a List of Questions and Answers About your Product

One of the best ways to get to the top of the Product Hunt leaderboard is to get engagement on your product page.

Most people only think about Upvotes when it comes to Product Hunt engagement, but equally as important is to get comments and questions from the Product Hunt audience.

Every Maker on Product Hunt is going to reach out to their network to ask for support on launch day, right? 

So, in order to make helping you as easy as possible, create a list of questions you’d prefer to answer, and send 2 or 3 of them to your most trusted contacts to ask on your product page the day of the launch.

For example, “Hey Bob, we’re live on Product Hunt today! Can you do me a huge favor by upvoting and then asking one of the following questions on our product page?”

Then provide them with a few questions to choose from. It’s that simple.

Trust me, you don’t want to skip this step because each question or comment your Product Hunt page receives carries the weight of at least 10 upvotes!

#4. Product Hunt Launch Strategy: Build a Landing Page Dedicated to your Launch on Product Hunt

Product Hunt users love a good deal. Feel free to include a special promotion or offer in your opening comment.

Exclusive launch day offers can increase engagement, help capture people’s attention, and encourage people to try what you’re working on (e.g. 20% off for 6 months). P.S. Giving community members early access by distributing promo codes via the comments can work wonders.

Let visitors to your website know that you’ve been posted on Product Hunt. You can include an embedded Product Hunt badge on your other web pages to directly link visitors to your post on Product Hunt.

#5. Read Through Product Hunt’s Own Tips for How to Launch on Product Hunt!

Number five on our Product Hunt launch strategy list is short and sweet:

Yes, it exists: Read this blog post and follow everything you can that makes sense for your own product launch! 

If you follow Product Hunt’s advice, you’ll give yourself the maximum probability of doing well with your launch. 

We took the best practices to heart, from the texts to visual assets and launch video, as we wanted to leave as little as possible up for a chance.

#6. Product Hunt Launch Strategy: What Not To Do on Product Hunt

Do not ask for upvotes anywhere: Feel free to ask for feedback, but asking for upvotes is a big no-no. People should upvote the product because they like it, not because they’re peer pressured into doing so.

Don’t spam people: Mass-tweeting/emailing people unsolicited, asking for feedback or upvotes, even if they’ve upvoted similar products in the past isn’t effective. If your timeline is filled with dozens of identical messages, that is not the way to go about it. Be authentic.

Linking to “producthunt.com”: Contrary to popular belief, Product Hunt wants you to link directly to your product page. Linking to “producthunt.com” only makes it harder for people to find you and doesn’t have any effect on the algorithm at all.

It seems to be “common knowledge” that you’re punished for linking directly to your product page — it’s simply not true. Focus on communicating what your product does. P.S. Linking to producthunt.com is one of the clearest indications you may be “over-optimizing” your launch (gaming the system).

It seems to be “common knowledge” that you’re punished for linking directly to your product page — it’s simply not true.

Product Hunt (straight from the horse’s mouth!)

Product Hunt Launch Strategy: Next Steps

We’ll be updating this post soon with our results and what we learned from our Product Hunt launch of InstaChamp!

Want to get started with InstaChamp and new Instagram DM automation tools?

Learn how to:

• Increase the reach of your posts on Instagram using Comment Auto-Responders.
• How to get more Instagram Story Mentions, from Neil Patel on how to use his new favorite tool for Instagram!
• Boost conversions on Instagram with these 15 brilliant Instagram auto DM examples.

Are you an affiliate? Get in on the madness that is InstaChamp while it’s still brand new and become a Customers.ai affiliate partner, today!

Instagram accounts that use InstaChamp by MoibileMonkey will generate automated activity and interactions which are perceived as entirely organic. And because you’re able to generate organic engagement at scale, this translates into a huge increase in genuine followers.

Best of all, with Customers.ai, you’ll be working with 100% Instagram-approved engagement tools.

The proof is in the numbers. 75% of consumers also prefer to engage with brands using private messaging channels vs traditional channels.

Get early access to Instagram messaging tools for free!

This is just the tip of the iceberge for InstaChamp. Check out all of the tools and features you get with InstaChamp, here!

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Frequently Asked Questions about Product Hunt Launch Strategy

What is Product Hunt?

Product Hunt is an online platform where users can discover and share new products and services.

Why is a Product Hunt launch strategy important?

A well-planned Product Hunt launch strategy can help you gain visibility, attract early adopters, and generate buzz for your product or service.

What are some key tips for a successful Product Hunt launch?

Some key tips for a successful Product Hunt launch include preparing a compelling product description, engaging with the Product Hunt community, leveraging your network, and promoting your launch through various channels.

How can I optimize my Product Hunt listing?

To optimize your Product Hunt listing, make sure to include high-quality visuals, an engaging title, a clear and concise description, relevant tags, and a link to your website or landing page.

Should I promote my Product Hunt launch on social media?

Yes, promoting your Product Hunt launch on social media can help increase visibility and attract more attention to your product or service. Share updates, ask for support, and encourage your followers to check out your Product Hunt listing.

The post The Best Product Hunt Launch Strategy to be #1 for the Day in 2023 appeared first on Customers.ai.

At last, you can join in! Clubhouse for Android launched on May 21, which means that all of us Android users can finally try out the coolest new app on the block. 

In case you didn’t know, Clubhouse is the audio-only, invitation-only social media app that’s taken the world by storm. It launched in March 2020, and in only two months, it received a $12 million investment. 

By the time Clubhouse had 1500 users, it was already worth $100 million. 

Not just anyone could join, though. Clubhouse expanded its user base slowly. First, only a select few users were invited to try the app. Each of those users received two invites that they could gift to friends or colleagues. 

As if needing an invite wasn’t enough, Clubhouse launched as an iOS-only app, meaning that Android users had no chance of making it inside.

That is, until now. 

You can now download Clubhouse for Android from Google Play. But what next? Now that the app has over 10 million users, how can you make sure you stand out?

Just because Android users are late to the game doesn’t mean they can’t make a splash. Here are 7 things you can do right away to jumpstart your following on Clubhouse…and join your iOS friends in the big leagues.

You’ll learn how to…

• Get an invite
• Choose topics to follow
• Turn your profile photo into a CTA
• Write a strong bio
• Set up a lead gen funnel
• Find thought leaders & influencers to follow
• Make a splash by sharing your knowledge

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How do I get an invite to Clubhouse for Android?

Getting an invite to Clubhouse for Android is easier than it sounds.

Since Clubhouse has a user base of over 10 million, odds are that someone in your inner circle can invite you. Ask your friends and colleagues for invites first.

If you have a substantial following on another social media platform, like Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn, you can let your audience know that you’re stoked to finally get Clubhouse for Android, and you’re looking for an invite! Someone will likely be happy to let you in.

If that fails, or if you’re afraid of asking people you know for invitations because of residual trauma from middle school (I hear you), there’s another option.

Go to LinkedIn and type “clubhouse invite” in the search bar. Make sure to include the quotation marks (“ ”), as that will narrow down your search.  

Then, sort by “Posts.” You’ll see a list of recent posts where people have used the words “Clubhouse” or “invite.” 

A lot of companies want to grow their Clubhouse rooms, so they’re offering invites in return for joining their room or attending an event. You can comment on their posts to ask for an invite.

And sometimes, people give out invites without any strings attached — probably because everyone they know is already using Clubhouse. That’s great news for new Android users!

Once you have your invite, you’re in! Here’s what to do next. 

What topics should I follow on Clubhouse for Android?

The short answer? Any topics that interest you and make sense for your brand.

Once you’re inside the app, you’ll be offered a ton of topics to follow. It’s super exciting! And distracting.

Resist the temptation to select every single topic that catches your eye…that’ll clog up your feed, which will make it hard for you to find relevant rooms.

Instead, stick to your niche. Good topics could include Marketing, SaaS, AI, and/or anything else that speaks to your brand expertise.

How many photos do I get on Clubhouse for Android?

Just one — your profile photo. Since it’s the only photo you have, make the most of it by turning it into a call-to-action (CTA).

Customers.ai CEO Larry Kim did this with his profile photo to encourage people to DM him on Instagram. (More on that later.) 

Since your profile photo is what people see when you’re speaking in rooms, you want to make sure it’s something they remember. 

If there’s an action you want them to take that you can express in two or three words, your profile photo is the best place to put that.

Why Instagram, you may ask? That’s because there are no direct messages (DMs) on Clubhouse for Android or iOS. To create a good lead gen funnel, you need to let people know where they can contact you…and Instagram is an ideal place for that.

After you select a profile photo, Clubhouse will ask you to write a bio. Here’s how to optimize it. 

How do I write a good Clubhouse bio?

When you’re writing your bio, there’s a few optimization tips to keep front of mind.

First, when people search for you, they’ll see the first line of your bio. You’ve got to make that count.

For example, this is what comes up when you search Larry Kim on Clubhouse for Android:

And, when you’re inside a room, anyone who clicks on your profile photo will only see the first two to three lines. 

This means that you must use the first three lines of your Clubhouse bio to state what you do and highlight your most impressive achievements. 

This will be what makes other Clubhouse users decide whether or not to click the Follow button.

After your first three lines, go more in-depth about who you help, how you do it, and what you’ve accomplished in the past. 

Also — and this is important — make sure you include a CTA that users can see without having to scroll down.

For example, here’s what Larry Kim’s profile looks like when you click into it:

The CTA “DM ‘clubhouse’ to my Instagram for more info” is positioned very strategically. It comes after Larry builds trust by saying what he does and listing his achievements — but before you have to scroll down. 

Clubhouse bios can be much longer than Twitter or Instagram bios, so you have plenty of room after this to write as much as you think is necessary.

Just make sure to include another CTA at the end. Here’s where Instagram comes in.

On Clubhouse for Android and iOS, you can link two social media accounts: Twitter and Instagram. 

When you use a CTA that says, “DM me [keyword] on Instagram for [benefit],” you’re making it super easy for curious users to click on your Instagram link and DM you right away.

So, to put the finishing touch on your bio, make sure to link your Instagram account! It’s absolutely crucial that you give people an easy way to contact you.

A great bio is the start of a strong funnel. With the next step on our list, you can make it even stronger. 

How can I use Clubhouse for Android to build a lead generation funnel?

Once you’ve set up your profile photo and bio with CTAs that direct people to your Instagram DMs, you can imagine what will happen next.

That’s right. Messages. And a lot of them.

If you deliver great value in other people’s Clubhouse rooms and in your own, it won’t be long before your Instagram inbox looks something like this:

And to prepare for this deluge of engagement, you’ll want a system in place so you don’t have to answer each message one by one.

With Customers.ai’s Instagram-approved tools, you can set up an auto-responder sequence that immediately converts these messages into leads.

To try it out yourself, go to Larry Kim’s Instagram profile @kim_larry and DM him the word “Clubhouse.” (Mobile devices only.)

Imagine you choose the CTA “DM me ‘SPECIAL’ on Instagram for a free ebook.”

You’ll end up with an inbox full of the word “SPECIAL.” You could spend hours answering hundreds of the exact same message…or, you could use Customers.ai to automatically respond with the landing page link every time the keyword is triggered.

From the lead’s perspective, they message you, get an instant response, trade their email for the ebook, and boom! They have your special offer.

You, on the other hand, have a brand-new lead, complete with an email address. Everyone’s happy.

To learn more about this strategy, check out Larry Kim’s first-hand account of how he used an Instagram lead generation funnel to gain over 10,000 leads on Clubhouse — practically overnight. 

Who should I follow on Clubhouse?

You should follow any and all thought leaders and influencers in your niche.

The best thing about Clubhouse is that it allows you to speak on the same stage as industry thought leaders who you admire. You can pop into their rooms to hear more of what they have to say — and then you can also respond to them in real time by raising your hand and waiting for a chance to speak.

Not only will this help you learn more about your industry, it’ll also expose you to future clients and customers who follow the same thought leaders as you.

If you’re in the digital marketing space, here are a few high-value accounts to get you started: 

Dennis Yu: @digitalceo 

Neil Patel: @neilpatel 

Eric Siu: @marketingschool 

Larry Kim: @marketingceo

What should I talk about on Clubhouse?

With your lead generation funnel in place, all that’s left to do is share your knowledge!

We’ve put together a primer on promoting your brand via Clubhouse that you should definitely check out if you’re looking to grow on that platform. 

The long and short of it is: Clubhouse is like an eternal, virtual conference. So, you should treat the conversations there the same way you’d treat any conversations at an in-person business event. (Remember those?) 

Put your best foot forward, but don’t promote your brand at the cost of listening to others. Take a few minutes to get a feel for the conversation. Especially after you’ve just entered a new room, take time to figure out what people are talking about, what they’ve already said, and what they might want to know. 

Once you’ve gathered your thoughts, put up your digital hand and wait for your turn to speak. When the hosts bring you to the stage, share your wisdom as clearly and briefly as you can.

Then — and this is important — make sure to let the room know who you are before you step down.

This should only take a few moments, so it’s a good idea to script your lines ahead of time (and rehearse them so they sound natural).

To give you a feel for what we mean, this is how our CEO Larry Kim signs off:

“Hey, I’m Larry. The ‘insurance ninja.’ If you need help getting the right plan for your business, I can help. Go to my Clubhouse bio and find my Instagram link. Send me a DM (direct message) using the word NINJA and I’ll send you my best information and a time to chat.”

By doing this, you’re putting the final touches on your lead gen funnel. Now, people who loved what you had to share know exactly how to get in touch with you. It’ll only take a few clicks.

If you’re excited to grow your brand with Clubhouse for Android, our InstaChamp suite of Instagram-approved tools has everything you need to automate your first funnel. 

And hey, now that you’ve joined the club…let’s hang out! Follow Larry @marketingceo, or search “Larry Kim.” We’d love to hear what you have to say.

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As it turns out, you can promote on Clubhouse even without recorded content, ads, or DMs. Our CEO Larry Kim used a brand-new strategy to get over 10K new leads on Clubhouse, all without spending a dime.

We’re here to break down how he did it. Take notes, and get started soon…because with plans in the works to open the app to the public, who knows how long the FOMO-fueled frenzy will last?

We’ll cover:

• What is Clubhouse? 
• Why you should promote on Clubhouse 
• The fastest way to get your business on Clubhouse 
• How to build a Clubhouse lead gen funnel in 10 simple steps
• The Clubhouse bio template our CEO used to get 10k+ leads in under a week

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What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is somewhere between a podcast and a livestream. Experts discuss industry news, hot tips, and “knowledge bombs.” Anyone can join these rooms in real-time.

If you want to add to the conversation, raise your virtual hand and wait for a moderator to bring you onto the stage. Then, wow the room with your expertise! By delivering value to everyone there, you can snag at least a few followers. (More on that later.)

The kicker here is that none of these conversations are recorded. If you’re not in a room, you don’t get to hear what’s being said, period. It’s actually against Clubhouse’s terms of service to record conversations without the consent of everyone present.

Without a record of your conversations, you can’t rely on a content backlog to bring in followers like you can on…well, on every other social media app ever. So is promoting on Clubhouse even worth it?

Why should you promote on Clubhouse?

To make it brief — over 1,000,000 weekly active users. 

That said, some industries are more suited to Clubhouse than others. Clubhouse is all about sharing expertise, so industry experts, small business owners, startup CEOs, etc. will easily fit in with the app’s user base.

When deciding whether or not to promote on Clubhouse, figure out if Clubhouse is home to your ideal prospects. For example, if your business sells shoes for babies, you may have less of an audience on Clubhouse than, say, a tech-savvy entrepreneur.

Then again, 1,000,000+ weekly active users is a lot of people. Rooms exist for topics anywhere from bitcoin to self help. Besides, having a smaller audience can actually help you gain traction. That’s because you have a lot better chance of getting called to the stage in a 50-user room than in a room of 5,000.  

So, get your business on Clubhouse, find where your audience hangs out, and start listening!

How can you get your business on Clubhouse?

Before we jump into how you can promote your business on Clubhouse, first let’s lay out exactly what you can — and can’t — do over on the app itself.

If you haven’t received an invite yet, there’s a couple things you can do. First, download the app and reserve your username. Next, reach out to your network. Odds are, someone you know can invite you.

If no one in your inner circle has an invite, reach out to larger communities until you find someone. And if all else fails, there are people out there selling invites…but as with everything sold online, be very careful to make sure you don’t get scammed.

Once you’re in, it’s finally time to start building that funnel. It all starts with your bio.

How to build a Clubhouse lead gen funnel in 10 simple steps

Step 1: Optimize your Clubhouse bio…then optimize it again

Your Clubhouse bio is beyond important. This is why: when someone inside a Clubhouse room clicks on your profile, all they see is your profile photo and the first three lines of your bio.

Compared to apps like Twitter and Instagram, your Clubhouse bio can actually be pretty long. But, you have to make those first three lines count. Use them to spark curiosity and inspire people to visit your full profile.

For inspiration, check out Larry Kim’s Clubhouse bio: 

The first line three lines — “Sold my 1st business for $150 Million,” “#8th Most Popular Author on Medium,” and “Founder of Customers.ai!” — highlight Larry’s achievements and build his credibility. 

After that, Larry goes in-depth about Customers.ai’s OmniChat messaging platform and how it can help small businesses. By this point, curious digital marketers will realize that this is someone they can trust for solid advice. So, they scroll through to read Larry’s full profile.

That’s where the next step comes in. 

Step 2: Link to Instagram from your Clubhouse bio

What? Instagram? What’s that doing here?

Yes, Instagram, and here’s why. Clubhouse does not allow you to direct message (DM) anyone within the app. That means that if you want to gather leads, you’ll have to direct people to an app where they can actually, you know…ask you for more information.

Linking to Instagram is far more effective than just linking your website. That’s because Clubhouse bio links aren’t clickable, and users can’t copy and paste them. 

Thankfully, Clubhouse does let you link your Twitter and Instagram accounts in your bio. It’s easy to start a conversation in your Instagram DMs, so include multiple calls to action (CTAs) to make sure people know where to find you.

Larry uses CTAs twice: 

In addition to using multiple CTAs in your bio, use emojis like to show visitors exactly where they can contact you. You want to make this funnel flow as smoothly as possible!

Step 3: Include a CTA in your profile photo

You only get one photo on Clubhouse — your profile photo. To make your Clubhouse lead gen funnel run even more smoothly, use this real estate to include yet another CTA!

Larry does it like this: 

Adapting this for your own business is simple. 

First, use the Instagram logo to let people know where to DM you (since they can’t on Clubhouse).

Then, choose a one-word code.

Finally, put it all together on your profile!

There’s a lot that goes into making a good profile on Clubhouse. To keep it all in one place, we’ve included a simple Clubhouse bio template at the end of this blog post. 

But remember — a good profile is only the first step. After you’ve put that together, you’ll need to create real value on Clubhouse by doing the following:

Step 4: Join rooms with relevant experts and influencers

From here on out, your job is to create value on Clubhouse by joining relevant rooms and sharing your knowledge.

Think about what your audience wants to know. What keywords will they search? What rooms will they join? Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and search for what they’re looking for.

Hopefully, you have a good idea of what your audience wants to know from existing market research. Questions your audience have on Instagram and Google are likely similar to the questions they have on Clubhouse. 

Also, think about if there are any influencers your audience is likely to follow, and follow them as well.

By doing this, you’ll build a relevant feed full of rooms that interest both you AND your audience. That means they’re perfect for you to swoop in and drop some knowledge bombs.

But before you do…

Step 5: Remember to listen as well as speak

As excited as you are to start sharing your knowledge and showcasing your business to new prospects, you’ve got to remember that Clubhouse is a two-way street. 

Think of it like an in-person conversation. If you were at a conference, you wouldn’t barge into a room and immediately start shouting about your business, right? (At least, we hope you wouldn’t.)

In the same way, take the time to listen to what’s going on in a room before you raise your hand to speak. Get a feel for what the conversation’s about, what material has already been covered, and what the room already knows (or doesn’t)! 

With hundreds of thousands of experts on Clubhouse every day, it’s very likely you’ll learn something valuable as well! Follow people who drop hot tips and really engage with this community.

Then, once you’ve settled in, put your digital hand up and wait for your time to shine.

Step 6: Use Engagement Pods to showcase your expertise

“Engagement Pods” are another term for starting rooms of your own. When you create a room about a topic you’re both passionate about and expert in, you can quickly establish yourself as an industry expert.

So, open a room and start engaging with like-minded experts!

When you create a room in Clubhouse, your followers will get a push notification to join in. The more rooms you host, the bigger your audience gets!

After you create a room, you automatically become a moderator. That means you get to pick who speaks and when. You can also appoint more moderators who have the same power. Use this platform to keep the conversation running smoothly!

As host, it’s your job to make sure to figure out in advance what your audience needs. If the conversation has been going on for awhile, try taking a 5-minute break. Prompt your audience to follow your moderators, and when you start up again, ask them to ping someone else into the room.

Hosting Engagement Pods like this is a great way to establish your expertise and build your following. It sets you up perfectly for the next step:

Step 7: Drop knowledge bombs in big Clubhouse rooms

Being an expert in your field is one thing. Getting comfortable speaking live on Clubhouse is another. So, after you’ve built your confidence in smaller rooms, get ready to make a splash in the big leagues!

One of the appeals of Clubhouse is that anyone can speak with anyone. So if you’re a digital marketing guru and you join a big room hosted by Neil Patel, nothing’s stopping you from raising your hand and waiting for your turn.

And once your turn is up, make it count! Drop a few highly valuable knowledge bombs…then watch your follower count blow up. As long as you’re contributing real value, you should see a near instant return.

So, to make the most of your brief moments alongside the stars, make absolutely sure to complete Step #8 before your speaking time ends!

Step 8: Tell your listeners who you are

This is crucial. If you want people to actually be able to follow up on your knowledge bombs, they have to know who you are.

A few people might be interested enough to click on your profile photo without this step, but don’t count on that! As always, people respond best to a strong CTA. So, give them one!

When you’re done sharing your expertise, you can say something like this: “Hey, I’m Paul, the customer retention cowboy! If you’re having problems with runaway customers, I can help. Go to my Clubhouse bio and find my Instagram link. Then DM me using the code ‘YEEHAW’ and I’ll send you my information and a time to chat!”

After that, you can sit back, let the conversation resume, and watch the leads flow in. 

Step 9: Sign up for Customers.ai and the Instagram beta

Now, unless you like spending hours answering hundreds upon hundreds of Instagram DMs, you’ll need a tool to instantly send each new lead into your marketing funnel.

Sign up for a free Customers.ai account to let our multi-channel chatbots reply to all your Instagram DMs and send your Clubhouse leads into your marketing funnels!

This is why that keyword you included in your Clubhouse bio and knowledge bomb signoff is so important. You can use it as a trigger word to start an autoresponder sequence every time that word is used in your inbox.

So, when Larry Kim used this strategy and woke up to an inbox full of messages like these…

…he could rest easy knowing every single lead was taken care of. 

Step 10: Use Instagram messaging automation to manage your new leads 

To put the finishing touches on your funnel, you’ll need a messaging automation tool to answer your leads’ questions, gather their data, and follow up with them automatically.

When you build a messaging automation funnel with Customers.ai, it’ll look a little something like this:

And voila! You’re ready to run your marketing funnel on autopilot. 

If you want to see what this looks like in action, head to our Instagram profile (on your mobile device), click “Message,” and say hi!

What’s that? You didn’t test it out? Here’s a photo of what the interaction looks like (last chance to click the link to our profile now before we spoil it for you!)

As of May 2021, our Instagram tools are still in beta, but you can apply now to try them out! If you qualify, we’ll work with Facebook to grant you early access. 

With that, you’ve made it all the way to the end! As a reward, here’s the Clubhouse bio template we promised. Use it well, and soon you’ll experience lead gen like you’ve never known before.

Customers.ai’s Clubhouse Bio Template

Your Profile Photo (with a CTA!)

@yourusername

• Eye-catching achievement #1
• Eye-catching achievement #2
• Eye-catching achievement #3 (Make sure this one is brand-related!)

Briefly explain what your product/service is, what it does, and why it’s awesome.

Put social proof here

CTA #1 (Need help with X? DM “code” to my Instagram for more info. )

More details about yourself and your business

List your relevant interests

CTA #2 (Need help with X? DM “code” to my Instagram for more info. )

Social media links!

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The audio chat app has gained notoriety for its exclusivity and has quickly become unofficially known as the “chat with celebrities app.” 

The Clubhouse app is an audio communication platform. Imagine a live podcast where you are in an audience that can actively participate. It’s not as complicated or intimidating as it may first appear. 

But why are the likes of Elon Musk, Oprah, Gary Vee, and Larry Kim spending their late nights mingling on the Clubhouse platform? 

With a waitlist of:

• 6 million people deep,
• 300,000 “successful” rooms per day,
• And the average user spending appx. 60 mins per day listening (reported by Alex Heath, The Information).

You might be wondering what all the hype is about. Why are celebrities in Clubhouse? What is Clubhouse anyways?

Three words: Engagement and Explosive Growth. More on that to come, but first, a little background.

The launch of the invite-only Clubhouse social media app was at the right place at the right time in April 2020. 

Meet the Clubhouse App, the Quarantine Social Media Debut

The Clubhouse app is a live audio app with no records, cultivating an intense FOMO and inspiring authentic conversations. The techie tool of course has its roots in Silicon Valley. 

Who created Clubhouse? In March 2020, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth of Alpha Exploration Co. created Clubhouse.

The Clubhouse app gained momentum during the pandemic when cabin fever hit all-time highs for many, and even the most introverted among us were reminiscing an awkward in-person mixer event. 

The Clubhouse app is super simple. Yet, many creative uses make it highly dynamic and engaging. 

It’s like inviting a group of friends over for dinner and discussing a project you’re excited about.

It’s just a conversation. 

Visual people will have to articulate what is on their minds.

It’s kind of like sales. People tend to complicate it with lots of methods and tools, which are all helpful and have their place. But essentially, making sales and being a good salesperson is just having a conversation. 

Clubhouse is a great place to start improving your social and communication skills. It’s less intimidating than Speech 101, and you can always bail if you choke or start rambling incoherently. 

But, don’t I need a Clubhouse invitation?

The first rule of Clubhouse is… you do not join Clubhouse. 

This was a manipulative and psychological mastermind ploy to drive our FOMO minds mad. 

It worked. 

Clubhouse has 10 million downloads as of Feb. 2021 and appx. 2 million weekly active users. 

Remember, those numbers are condensed — this is where the exclusivity with Clubhouse invites comes into play. 

Not to mention that celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg and Kanye West are dropping exclusive unrecorded once-in-a-lifetime knowledge and info bombs left and right. 

Clubhouse App Tip: You cannot record audio on the Clubhouse app and will be suspended indefinitely. Not to mention, it’s generally frowned upon in the community. 

You’re ready to join the VIP party, but first, you will have to find out how to get a Clubhouse invite. No problem! 

Android Disclaimer: Clubhouse is only for iPhone at the moment, sorry Bill Gates.

However, the Clubhouse app for Android is on the horizon.

Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davison mentioned during a weekly Townhall event that the Clubhouse app will come to Android in late Spring or Summer of 2021. 

How to Get Clubhouse Invite

• Ask a friend who already has Clubhouse. Every new user account is granted at least 2 Clubhouse invite codes. Just make sure they have your phone number saved in their phone.
• Head to the Clubhouse app website and sign up. If you’re lucky, any of your contacts who are already members might receive a notification that you signed up and can invite you. 
• Crowdsource invite codes from social media. Check hashtags like #Clubhouse for resources. Highly active users are awarded additional Clubhouse invites.

How to Use Clubhouse

You’re in! Congrats! Now what? Don’t worry. We’re going to break it down for you.

From the main Clubhouse screen:

– You can tap the envelope icon for your invites.

– The calendar for various rooms and daily schedules of happenings on topics you’ve expressed interest in. 

– The bell icon is for activity or notifications. This is where you’ll see who has followed you and when. 

Also on this home screen is what rooms are popular and happening live right now, in order of popularity. 

Jump into a room, get your feet wet and see what’s happening! 

You can easily leave a room, just one quick tap away. 

Once inside a room, you will see the Clubhouse speakers listed first and the person currently speaking outlined. In the above screenshot, Todd is currently speaking. 

The muted microphone next to a person’s name means that person can speak and be a part of the conversation. 

All of the people below without a muted microphone are the people followed by the speakers. And further down is everyone else in the room. 

If you tap the plus sign on the bottom of the screen, you can invite or ping someone into the room. 

Raise your hand!   

The raised hand icon does what you might expect. It alerts the speakers that you have a question or even moves you right into the speakers section. 

This is your time to shine! Be prepared to share your thoughts with the room. 

If you get nervous, just imagine everyone in their underwear, right? (They might be, you never know!)

That old saying is terrible advice. What you need to do is see everyone in the room as equals, put your shoulders back, and speak your mind. You can add value to any conversation. 

Or just be a listener. It’s equally valuable and entertaining! 

How to Create a Room in the Clubhouse App 

Next up in our exploration of how does Clubhouse work is how to create your own room. 

You’ve joined, you’ve listened, and now you’re ready to partake and conquer Clubhouse!

To create a Clubhouse room, tap on “Start a Room.” 

Choose your privacy options: 

1. Open – public and available to all. 
2. Social – only for people you follow. 
3. Closed – only people you select can join. 

You can always change this mid-course if you started with a “Closed” or “Social” and want to open it up to more people.

Then you can pick a topic, which is totally up to you.

Set the tone for the room to be serious or silly, professional or casual, etc. 

Tap “Set Topic” and then “Let’s Go!” 

Why Is Everyone So Obsessed With the Clubhouse App? 

Now that we’ve covered “what is Clubhouse and how does it work?” are you still wondering “what is Clubhouse used for anyways?” Or perhaps, “is Clubhouse a dating app?”

Let’s dissect what’s happening on the audio-only Clubhouse social media app. 

There is more intrinsic value than being “exclusive” or the FOMO effect.

Clubhouse has become a place of mythic legend business deals. It’s becoming a new version of Shark Tank.

With enough conversational swagger, you can easily rub shoulders with angel investors and raise capital. 

Startups are getting funding, partnerships are being made, and Larry Kim has hacked it into a lead generation machine! 

Check out Larry’s Top 10 Instagram Marketing Growth Hacks video for a surprising and highly effective way to send Clubhouse traffic to your Instagram pages and other marketing funnels.

On top of all the unicorn networking stories is the Clubhouse app’s newness. Right now is a prime digital marketing land grab for establishing your brand or business on Clubhouse.

If you are a marketer, then you might be curious how to leverage Clubhouse for lead gen. Or perhaps thinking, “how can I make money with Clubhouse?”

With no paid advertising on the Clubhouse platform, no DMs, and no clickable links, it seems far-fetched, but Customers.ai has cracked the Clubhouse code for you! 

Clubhouse Growth Hacks

There are many ways to grow your Clubhouse account, but how about driving that growth towards a more lucrative lead magnet? 

First, define your goals.

Do you want to drive traffic to your website or Instagram, or any other social pages?

Next, sign up for Customers.ai Instagram Tools. It’s still free!

Next, start building your following on Clubhouse. 

There are many different ways to build your following, but here are some surefire methods to build a following on Clubhouse. 

• Optimize your Clubhouse bio. You want to include the what, why, and who with a CTA lead magnet. An entire article could be dedicated to this, similarly to a business bio for Instagram. But for our “what is Clubhouse” purposes, we will stick to the basics.

• Target and follow people, rooms, and groups.
• Add CTAs to your Clubhouse bio.
• Engage with people that are interesting or knowledgeable in your industry. 

Easier said than done, I know, but you will naturally become more comfortable and conversational as you start participating in more rooms. 

Perhaps even host a room, be proactive, and you will quickly gain followers.

What is Clubhouse? Explosive Growth Hack #1: Link to Instagram From Your Clubhouse Bio

Larry Kim found a way that generated over 50,000 leads from Clubhouse in just one month, and you can use his same method!

There aren’t many options for a clickable link on Clubhouse, so make use of that Instagram page link! 

Verbally ask in rooms to drive Instagram traffic and spell it out in your bio for Clubhouse users to DM you on Instagram.

Here’s the golden ticket, you can ask Clubhouse users to DM you a specific keyword for a free deliverable, such as “Clubhouse”. 

Set up the Customers.ai Instagram Auto DM and sit back and watch the lead capture and convert magic happen. 

What is Clubhouse? Growth Hack #2: Use Multiple CTAs in Your Clubhouse Bio

There are a few different creative ways to direct traffic to your Instagram page to kickstart your conversational lead gen drip sequence. 

Here’s another example of sneaking in a CTA in your profile photo: 

Don’t be afraid to be a bit repetitive with CTAs – you want to make it clear to message you on Instagram to tie in with your other marketing funnels. 

What is Clubhouse? Growth Hack #3: Automatically Manage Your Clubhouse Leads With Customers.ai

Now that you are inundated with leads due to your well-crafted Clubhouse bio with a link to your Instagram and CTAs, you’ll want to manage those leads automatically. 

For the longest time, influencers and brands have suffered the consequences of Insta fame with a deluge of DMs. 

The DM inbox was a sorely outdated tool until Facebook updated its API to merge Instagram DM and Messenger. 

As a 100% Instagram-approved automation solution, you can now harness the power of Customers.ai on Instagram. 

With Customers.ai, all of your incoming leads, DMs, SMS, and other messages are all pulled into one convenient, user-friendly dashboard. 

Respond to and sort through your DMs and lead nurturing the efficient way. 

What is Clubhouse? Growth Hack #4: Follow Larry Kim @marketingceo

Don’t forget to keep a tab on some of the best digital marketers to follow for the latest growth tips and to grow your network. 

If you want the best growth hacks for Clubhouse or Instagram, of course, follow the OG Unicorn Marketer!

See you on Clubhouse! 

Important Next Steps

The post What is Clubhouse? And How to Use it for Explosive Growth! appeared first on Customers.ai.

Furthermore, none of the tools on this list haven’t been used repeatedly by either myself or close team members. So, I can guarantee you that all the tools on my list come highly recommended for entrepreneurs, startups, and companies ready for real growth.

Growth hacking tools are meant to save you time via automation and unique feature sets that provide engaging experiences for your audience. To qualify as a true growth marketing tool, you can’t be like everyone else.

So, I’ve broken down our absolute best growth hacking tools to use in 2021 across the following 16 use cases and categories:

1. Instagram Automated Messages
2. Facebook Messenger Bots
3. Running Growth Tests
4. Social Media Automation
5. LinkedIn Growth Hacking
6. Get More Social Shares
7. SMS Text Message Marketing
8. Landing Page Conversions
9. Site Traffic Lead Generation
10. Lead Form Generator
11. Email Finding Tools
12. Workflow Automation
13. Content Automation
14. Gathering Feedback
15. Influencer Marketing
16. Chatbot Marketing

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#1. Growth Hacking Tool of 2021: New Instagram Auto-Reply Tools

The #1 secret weapon for growth hackers in 2021 is the new suite of Instagram DM auto-reply tools by Customers.ai.

In fact, Customers.ai’s new tools for Instagram, which just dropped in February 2021, make the top of our list because there’s never been a chatbot that’s 100% Instagram-approved.

As far as using a chatbot to get instagram followers goes, Customers.ai is atop the leaderboard because there’s only one way to get the ‘right’ followers on Instagram: Organic engagement.

Not only will Customers.ai’s Instagram tools get you more of the followers that you actually want, Customers.ai has Instagram tools that allow marketers to:

• Finally! Manage your DMs like a pro with multi-user inbox management tools.
• Instantly reply to comments on your posts.
• Turn Instagram traffic into website traffic.
• Run a contest or do a giveaway on Instagram that incentivizes comments, shares, and mentions of your brand by your followers using auto-reply tools. 
• Automatically engage with the people who share your content in Instagram Stories.

Customers.ai Founder, Larry Kim, who is has been an influencer in the digital marketing space for over a decade now, can’t believe what he’s seeing: 

“It’s crazy, we have accounts that are doing nearly 100,000 messages per week and they are growing by tens of thousands more followers than normal!”

Larry Kim, Founder, Customers.ai

The results of using Larry’s own software has convinced him that Instagram is the place to be for influencers in 2021.

Want to start using Instagram Tools right away? To get started with Instagram bot automation tools, here’s what to do:

Get early access to Instagram messaging tools.

#2. Growth Hacking Tools for Facebook Messenger: Customers.ai

More than 1.5 billion people actively use Facebook Messenger chat. However, less than 1% of companies know how to use Facebook Messenger for business.

Customers.ai has more than 10 Facebook growth hacking tools that you can implement quickly for Messenger.

Therefore, Messenger presents an opportunity to engage with consumers on an untapped and highly engaging marketing channel.

Even better, Messenger is trending because it’s compatible with another proven marketing strategy – chatbots.

Customers.ai Facebook Messenger chatbots allow you to proactively engage with your audience via automation such as:

• Chat blasting: Just like email, but for chat
• One-time notifications: Invite users to get updates and promotional messages
• Drip campaigns: Sequenced messages across Facebook, SMS, and web chat
• Facebook post autoresponders: Capture leads and subscribers from organic Facebook posts

Best of all, all the Messenger contacts you capture from your Facebook marketing tactics can then be added to your other Customers.ai marketing channels. This includes SMS text messaging, native live chat for your website, and other web chat apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.

That way, if they visit your website, you’ll be able to view that data, send automated and targeted messages based on your previous interaction, and opt them into other campaigns. And you can do this all from one chat inbox, on one platform.

Learn how to create a Facebook Messenger funnel that drives conversions.

#3. Growth Hacking Tools for Running Growth Tests: GrowthHackers Experiments

Before we get too carried away with our list of growth hacking tools, let’s make sure we have a system in place to manage our growth tests.

GrowthHackers tool called Experiments allows you to run tests across the entire customer journey and connect your growth KPIs with company strategy in a systemized way.

Experiments is specially made for growth marketing teams running high-tempo testing experiments across the whole customer journey.

Here’s how GrowthHackers Experiments works. It provides a number of capabilities that mirror the platform founder’s growth hacking strategy called ICE (Impact – Confidence – Ease) scoring. The features are also part of the process, which consists of the following:

• Document your strategy
• Define your objectives and KPIs
• Generate an idea backlog
• Prioritize your growth tests
• Run growth meetings
• Execute your tests
• Share progress and reports
• Build a growth hacking knowledge base

#4. Growth Hacking Tools for Social Media Automation: Phantombuster

With all the growth hacking strategies that have become popular in recent years, one tool emerged as a new favorite of mine. And that’s Phantombuster.

Phantombuster provides over 200 code-free automation and data extraction tools for LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Zapier, Medium, Quora, and others.

Each tool in Phantombuster can be used individually or combined with others to create full workflows.

For example, you can automate lead generation on LinkedIn, be noticed by Instagram users, hire developers from GitHub, receive follows from your competitor’s Twitter followers, or acquire the Instagram accounts of all the restaurants in a neighborhood.

Use Phantombuster on your social media channels to automate the following:

• Lead generation
• Audience building
• Increasing social reach and engagement

#5. Growth Hacking Tools for LinkedIn: Expandi.io

Expandi is a growth hacking tool built specifically to automate lead generation from LinkedIn.

The platform has a handful of key features that consist of targeted audience search tools, marketing automation tools, and campaign insights. With Expandi, you can also do the following:

• Integrate your CRM
• Send drip campaigns
• Schedule campaigns
• Personalize messages
• Import and export via CSV

Expandi.io is designed mostly for agencies and growth marketers running multiple accounts.

#6. Growth Hacking Tools for More Social Media Shares: Quuu 

Quuu has two fantastic tools for getting more social media shares on your posts:

1. QuuuPromote
2. QuuuPods

I’ve used Quuu multiple times to curate and promote content for social media accounts.

Quuu’s promotion tool gets real profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to click and share your content.

Recently, Quuu introduced a new feature called Pods, which is really interesting. 

It allows you to automate social media sharing of content between your accounts and your friends, colleagues, and business partners accounts.

Use Quuu to curate content that your social media audiences will find value in, and then promote your company’s best performing content to increase traffic to your blog.

#7. Growth Hacking Tools for SMS Text Message Marketing: Customers.ai

SMS/MMS marketing is rapidly growing in popularity in 2020. And that’s because it’s instant, convenient, and universal. Most importantly, it’s producing results that are hard to believe.

Take a look at the performance of SMS marketing vs other marketing channels to see for yourself.

Outdated mobile-targeting tactics are costing you conversions, clients, and revenue. Meanwhile, SMS marketing is lurking in the background, waiting for you to capitalize on it.

Using Customers.ai SMS marketing tools, digital marketers can set themselves apart from the competition by dramatically increasing open, response, and conversion rates.

Text message marketing empowers businesses to send customers both bulk and personalized text messages at scale.

And you can have your audience opt-in to text message marketing campaigns easily with Customers.ai because there are multiple opt-in tools, such as its website chat SMS opt-in widget, web page popup forms for desktop and mobile, as well as SMS keyword opt-in tools.

Some SMS marketing examples you can put into action with Customers.ai:

• Bulk text messaging
• SMS drip campaign automation
• Automated responses and proactive messaging
• Send GIFs, emojis, and images in text blasts
• Trigger workflows through Zapier and the Customers.ai API

If you’re still skeptical of SMS marketing, check out these 60 SMS marketing statistics, and you’ll quickly change your mind.

#8. Growth Hacking Tools for Landing Page Conversions: Unbounce

Unbounce is one of the most popular landing page builders for digital marketers because there are no coding skills required, and they have some of the best tools for lead generation.

The platform’s ‘Conversion Intelligence’ and ‘Smart Traffic’ features help to set Unbounce apart from the competition.

When you’re running highly-targeted campaigns, such as account-based marketing campaigns, you need your entire funnel to be tailored to its audience. This is why custom-built landing pages are so important.

Think about it…

If you click on an ad that’s promoting chatbots for marketing agencies and you landed on a homepage that isn’t marketing agency-specific, the chances of converting that traffic drops. However, if you were redirected to a landing page that says in big bold letters, “The Best Chatbot Platform For Marketing Agencies”, you’ve found exactly what you were looking for.

So, when you build your marketing funnels, use a tool like Unbounce to quickly create multiple, campaigns specific landing pages. Conversion rates are guaranteed to go up, and search engines will reward you for it.

With Unbounce, you can duplicate your most successful landing pages to save time and build high converting pages in bulk. Furthermore, you can A/B test variations of landing pages to see which messaging and designs perform best.

#9. Growth Hacking Tools for Site Traffic Leads: GetEmails

Did you know you can get the email addresses of people that visit your website without a lead form?

GetEmails can identify up to 35% of your anonymous site traffic, and all you need to do is install a snippet of code on your site.

You can use the data you capture from GetEmails for:

• Email marketing and retargeting
• Creating Facebook ad lookalike audiences
• Triggering direct mail to be sent

#10. Growth Hacking Tools for Lead Form Generator: Leadformly

With Leadformly you can embed lead forms just about anywhere. Its lead forms work on almost any CMS, including WordPress, Squarespace, and Magento.

Leadformly has many lead generation tools and features, such as:

• 58+ lead form templates
• Customize the look and feel to match your branding
• Multi-step forms and conditional logic to create conversational lead forms 
• Data segmentation to qualify, and convert leads into customers

Lead forms can be embedded on your website and linked to your CRM. Then, you can use Leadformly’s analytics & A/B testing tools to increase your conversion rates.

#11. Growth Hacking Tools for Finding Emails: Dropcontact.io

Dropcontact finds emails, enriches, deduplicates, and updates your contacts automatically in popular CRM platforms. The tool is meant to save your marketing and sales teams time by automating its key features while working seamlessly with your CRM.

Dropcontact is known mostly for its ability to find and verify emails at a higher success rate than most other email finding tools.

Additionally, if your growth marketing team doesn’t have the budget for a tool like Clearbit, Dropcontact is your next best option and is easier to use.

#12. Growth Hacking Tools for Workflow Automation: Zapier

Zapier is a great tool for marketers on a low budget because you can create automated workflows across tools in your mar-tech stack. And it’s compatible with thousands of tools, which you can easily chain commands together with an “If X happens, do Y” structure. 

For example, the Customers.ai Zapier integration allows you to easily send information that’s stored to customer profiles in Customers.ai to other applications. 

Here are just some of the most popular “Zaps” for Customers.ai users: 

• Add all new leads to your CRM, such as Salesforce
• Send SMS messages or Slack notifications to new contacts
• Subscribe new Customers.ai contacts to MailChimp
• Register Customers.ai contacts to Zoom Webinars

Automation allows you to combine multiple actions and apps together in a single Zap.

Zapier will save you lots of time by automating repetitive tasks and please your clients when you’re able to work with their tech stack.

#13. Growth Hacking Tools for Content Automation: MeetEdgar

MeetEdgar is a content recycler that can be used to automate the sharing of all your evergreen content across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

The time MeetEdgar will save you, along with the results it delivers, makes it one of my personal favorite social media marketing tools.

Unlike other content schedulers such as Hootsuite or Buffer, you can load MeetEdgar up with your most important content once, and then have that evergreen content shared as many times as you wish.

You can use MeetEdgar across your social media channels to do the following:

• Promote your best content, on repeat.
• Save time scheduling the same content over and over again.
• Auto-generate and test variations of posts linking to the same content.
• Schedule how many times per day you want your content posted to each channel.

#14. Growth Hacking Tools for Gathering Feedback: Feedier

Feedier is a unique survey and feedback gathering tool that growth marketers can use to measure real-time satisfaction, get visual data-insights, and engage different audiences with cool experiences.

Most notably, Feedier has engagement forms that use gamification. Gamification is an amazing viral marketing tool and mechanism, so I always appreciate marketing platforms that include it.

Above all, Feedier allows you to create highly interactive forms and digital experiences quickly. From there, you can measure satisfaction, ask interactive questions, create loyalty with rewards, and push an action to close the loop.

The goal of using Feedier is to get more responses, turn those responses into insights, and provide tools that make it easy for you and your team to take action.

#15. Growth Hacking Tools for Influencer Marketing: Traackr

While influencer marketing has received a lot of criticism in recent years, marketers that target the right influencers to push their products continue to realize superstar ROIs.

In a recent study by MediaKix, it was shown that every 89% of marketers said their ROI from influencer marketing was either comparable to or better than other marketing channels.

Traackr is one of the top influencer marketing tools available. It’s a data-driven platform that marketers can use to optimize investments, streamline campaigns, and scale programs.

Traackr provides rich insights for more than 6 million vetted influencer profiles including audience demographics, fraud detection, brand affinity, and historical performance indicators.

Use Tracker’s platform to find influencers and filter out the best for your company. It includes:

• Search bios, captions, and content on 13 social platforms
• Discover influencers in 43 countries and 19 languages
• Top-performing influencers by tiers
• 22 different audience and influencer criteria

Lastly, Traackr allows you to run impactful campaigns with customizable workflows and influencer insights for organic advocacy, events, product gifting, and paid partnerships.

#16. Growth Hacking Tool for Social Monitoring: Syften

Syften will let you know when someone mentions you or a keyword you’re interested in on Reddit, Twitter, Hacker News, Indie Hackers, Slack and other communities.

This allows you to thank people for sharing your stuff, establish yourself as an expert in a given area, or pitch your product when someone asks for recommendations.

Unlike other social monitoring tools, Syften is optimized for people who want to participate in online conversations as they happen, by automatically and quickly identifying promising opportunities.

#17. Growth Hacking Tools for Chatbot Marketing: Customers.ai

The top trending growth hacking tool since 2018 has been chatbots. In 2020, chatbots have reached a new level with omnichannel capabilities.

What is omnichannel marketing? In short, omnichannel marketing is a cross-channel marketing strategy that allows you to deliver content across multiple marketing channels from one platform. In doing so, you provide a seamless and consistent brand experience throughout the customer journey.

Customers.ai is an omnichannel chatbot that enables companies to proactively engage with audiences on their website, Facebook Messenger, SMS text messaging, and other popular web chat applications. 

Using OmniChatⓇ technology and chatbot marketing automation, Customers.ai instantly connects customers and prospects to businesses in order to generate leads, re-engage customers, and offer real-time support.

This enables you to create campaigns such as chat blasts, conversational drip campaigns, as well as website chat dialogues one time, and then execute them across multiple marketing channels.

Need More Marketing Tools?

If you’re looking for even more marketing tools, look no further. Browse through hundreds of more marketing tools in the following lists:

• Free marketing software
• Tools for digital marketing agencies,
• Marketing automation tools
• Trending digital marketing tools
• Social media marketing tools
• Ecommerce marketing tools
• Instagram marketing tools
• B2B marketing tools
• Viral marketing tools
• Marketing tools for small business
• Lead generation tools

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Growth Hacking Tools: Important Next Steps

The post 17 Growth Hacking Tools Used By The Best Digital Marketing Startups in 2021 appeared first on Customers.ai.

Let me guess, on your search for great growth hacking ideas, you keep finding articles that start with a section titled, “What is Growth Hacking?” 

Then, when you get to the actual list of growth hacking strategies, you either find the same 10 to 20 “growth hacks” that you found in the last article you breezed through, or 100+ little tips that leave you confused as to which ones you should actually use.

Sound familiar?

In this article, we’ll focus on providing more comprehensive growth hacking strategies that produce great results over long periods of time. 

Because that’s what you really want, right?

So, let’s get straight to it. Here are 9 growth hacking strategies that will work for you right now, and for the foreseeable future:

1. New Instagram automated messages.
2. Be Data-Driven: The Growth Hacking Mindset.
3. Send SMS blasts to your audience.
4. Run viral contests online.
5. Grow your social media presence with automation.
6. Make a free tool: Engineering as marketing.
7. Get bloggers to review your product.
8. Run more retargeting ads.
9. Start using multichannel chatbots ASAP.

#1. Growth Hacking Strategy of 2021: New Instagram Automated Messages

The #1 secret weapon for growth hackers in 2021 is the new suite of Instagram DM auto-reply tools by Customers.ai.

In fact, Customers.ai’s new tools for Instagram, which just dropped in February 2021, make the top of our list because there’s never been a chatbot that’s 100% Instagram-approved.

As far as using a chatbot to get instagram followers goes, Customers.ai is atop the leaderboard because there’s only one way to get the ‘right’ followers on Instagram: Organic engagement.

Not only will Customers.ai’s Instagram tools get you more of the followers that you actually want, Customers.ai has Instagram tools that allow marketers to:

• Finally! Manage your DMs like a pro with multi-user inbox management tools.
• Instantly reply to comments on your posts.
• Turn Instagram traffic into website traffic.
• Run a contest or do a giveaway on Instagram that incentivizes comments, shares, and mentions of your brand by your followers using auto-reply tools. 
• Automatically engage with the people who share your content in Instagram Stories.

Customers.ai Founder, Larry Kim, who is has been an influencer in the digital marketing space for over a decade now, can’t believe what he’s seeing: 

“It’s crazy, we have accounts that are doing nearly 100,000 messages per week and they are growing by tens of thousands more followers than normal!”

Larry Kim, Founder, Customers.ai

The results of using Larry’s own software has convinced him that Instagram is the place to be for influencers in 2021.

Want to start using Instagram Tools right away? To get started with Instagram bot automation tools, here’s what to do:

Get early access to Instagram messaging tools.

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

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#2. Be Data-Driven: The Growth Hacking Mindset

57% of marketers who use data-driven marketing tactics see revenue increases. 

Truly thinking like a data-driven digital marketer means thinking systematically.

So, if you remember the scientific method from school, it’s a good time to recognize its merits, because it’s very similar to what it means to be data-driven as a marketer.

As a marketer, here’s how to apply the scientific method to your own efforts.

Explore different marketing channels

If you look at examples of how many of the most successful companies found their path to growth, you won’t find a story about how they just did what everyone else was doing.

Instead, they identified a channel that was working for them through trial and error and then exploited it for all it was worth.

Before jumping into any marketing campaigns, you need to give serious consideration to all marketing channels – especially if you’re a young company/startup.

Even if you have zero data to go on, there are multiple frameworks to determine your best marketing channels.

And growing a customer base from nothing requires methods which are:

• Analytical
• Inexpensive
• Creative, and
• Innovative

Take a look at these two frameworks to determine your quickest path to growth.

• The Bullseye Framework
• ICE – Impact Confidence Ease

Pay attention to your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Before you start trying to make sense of all of your data, you should first identify your company’s primary metrics.

These are commonly referred to as key performance indicators (KPIs).

Marketing metrics and KPIs are measurable values used by marketing teams to demonstrate the effectiveness of campaigns across all marketing channels.

The top KPIs for modern marketing teams consist of the following:

• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)
• Funnel Conversion Rates
• Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)
• Customer engagement
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

The next step is to map your metrics to each stage of your marketing funnel.

#3. Send SMS Blasts to Your Audience

There are a number of reasons to add SMS blasts to your growth marketing mix.

At least 5 billion people worldwide can send and receive text messages. And 95% of texts are read within 3 minutes of being sent.

In the U.S., text messaging is the favorite way of the 20 to 40-year-old crowd to stay in touch with service providers.

SMS marketing can be used for:

• Growing your contact lists.
• Sending triggered text messages based on behaviors and interactions.
• Promoting discounts, events, exclusive offers, etc.
• Sending text message drip campaigns.

To learn how to get started sending text message blasts to your audiences, check out this article: How To Send SMS Text Message Blasts

When your customers want to get in touch or have a question, more reach for chat than email or phone because chat is 1-on-1, convenient and real-time.

More and more, customers expect to be able to go to a business’s website and start chatting from a website chat widget should they need to be in touch with a business.

Using SMS chat blasts has the ability to reach audiences with whatever business information or promotional material you have to offer, as long as you’re using the right platform.

Customers.ai’s SMS opt-in and text message blasting tools are as good as it gets.

#4. Run Viral Contests Online

Contests or reward-based campaigns naturally have the ability to go viral.

Online contests are an opportunity for lots of innovative ideas regarding the rewards, prizes, and incentives you decide to offer – which by the way might be very cheap…or better yet, free.

Something free might be as simple as assigning a status or giving recognition, partnering with other companies for some cross-promotion, getting to meet with the CEO, etc.

What’s important here, is to focus on aligning the rewards with your brand and the contest you’re running. Giving away an Amazon gift card only provides the person an incentive to get the gift card, which has nothing to do with your brand. 

So, let’s say you’re Harley Davidson. Maybe you give away a custom bike as the top prize and then custom helmets or seats as the lower-tiered prizes. This assures that you’re attracting the right people, who naturally will want to spread the word about your campaign.

How to make a campaign go viral

Okay, so how do you get a contest or giveaway to go viral?

There’s no one way to go viral. There’s content virality (e.g. an article, video, meme), product virality (e.g. Google “will it blend”), systematic virality (which is more campaign-based) and so on.

When we’re talking about a contest or giveaway, we need to leverage systematic virality and run a campaign that gains a lot of velocity (traction + speed) with the right audience.

For anything to go viral however, there are some common factors that contribute to that velocity.

Viral advocacy has and always will be the most effective growth engine for your product, brand or cause. This is because it is based on word of mouth, authentic evangelism, and community activism.

Going viral requires a dynamic formula with both qualitative and quantitative aspects.

For example, in dynamic marketing campaigns, each of your assets takes on specialized roles (as illustrated in the rocket ship themed image below):

• Owned media assets ignite the initial launch sequence to activate early advocate participation. These are your customers, your SEO traffic, your email lists, social channels etc.
• Paid media is the rocket booster thrusting the growth velocity into overdrive in order to accelerate user activation and engagement. This is made up of your digital advertising, paid influencers, sponsorships, etc.
• Your Owned and Paid assets are what propel your Earned Advocacy, which consists of public media and word of mouth.

When you execute the release of this sequence of events (owned > paid > earned), with enough “fuel” this lifts what’s known as a viral loop cycle into a state of perpetual amplification.

Example of a viral online contest using a Facebook Messenger chatbot

This example is just about the easiest way to run an online contest, as you can set it up quite quickly. 

The goal of this contest was to get as many FB Messenger bot opt-ins as possible, and the best way to get tons of people to opt-in to receiving messages is a giveaway.

What’s really great about this strategy, is it normally costs about 10X less than capturing leads with regular Facebook ad campaigns.

Here’s how it was executed:

Step 1: Imagine you’re trying to sell a muscle growth supplement in Australia.

A good attention grabber might be to find the best bodybuilding conference you could find in Australia, like this one: The Arnold Sports Festival Australia.

Step 2: Choose the most awesome tickets you can afford for the campaign and do a giveaway.

Here, the cost was $995 for the tickets, which include a photo with Arnold himself!

Step 3: Start blasting out Facebook ads  –  “Meet Arnold for your own photoshoot! Tag your gym buddies to enter!”

To take this campaign to the next level, tell entrants that they can enter the contest as many times as they want. All they need to do is tag a friend on Facebook in the comments.

One tag = one entry.

This tagging will greatly increase the chances of the contest going viral.

Step 4: The final step would be to have an omnichannel chatbot (I recommend using Customers.ai) send each commenter one sentence:

“To confirm your entrance into the Arnold Sports Festival Australia giveaway, please click ‘Confirm.”

Once they opt-in, you can message them all you want.

Lastly, now you can use these same viral marketing tools to run a contest or giveaway on Instagram!

#5. Grow Your Social Media Presence With Automation

Although you won’t find too many worthwhile ways to get organic growth from your social media channels anymore, you must have a strong social media presence, no matter who you are.

The good news is, in 2020 you can reliably automate a whole lot more of your social media processes than you once could. 

Two of the best tools to do this with, are Phantombuster and MeetEdgar.

Social Media Automation Tool #1 – Phantombuster

Phantombuster provides over 200 code-free automation and data extraction tools that you can use individually or create full workflows for your marketing, sales and HR teams.

Workflows exist for LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Zapier, Medium, Quora, and others.  

For example, here’s a workflow that uses three different Phantombuster tools to generate leads on LinkedIn, completely automated.

Use Phantombuster on your social media channels to:

• Generate leads
• Save time
• Build audiences
• Increase reach and engagement

Social Media Automation Tool #2 – MeetEdgar

MeetEdgar is a content recycler which you can use to automate the sharing of all your evergreen content across most major social media channels.

You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Content is king” a hundred times. However, it’s evergreen content that truly is king, because evergreen content holds its value and relevance to your target audience over long periods of time.

So, what’s great about this tool, unlike content schedulers such as Hootsuite, you can create the posts that are most important to your content strategy one time, and then have them post on a recurring schedule over time.

This ensures that your followers and page visitors are most likely to find the content that converts and attracts a wider audience.

Use MeetEdgar on your social channels to:

• Promote your best content, on repeat.
• Save time scheduling the same content over and over again.
• Auto-generate and test variations of posts linking to the same content.
• Schedule how many times per day you want your evergreen content posted to each channel, and at what times.

#6. Make a Free Tool – Engineering As Marketing

Building a free tool as a growth hacking strategy is also known as “engineering as marketing.” 

Customers.ai’s CEO, Larry Kim, has his own “engineering as marketing” growth hack from his days as a Founder of WordStream, a PPC advertising platform.

Here’s what it was: The people who were signing up for pay per click (PPC) management software were not interested in spending three hours of their lives learning how to use WordStream.

What they really wanted to know was whether their advertising budget was being misallocated somehow, or not employed effectively.

With that in mind, they built the AdWords Grader to do just that.

It took three engineers just three months to build the AdWords Grader, which is a really clever invention.

The software grades your AdWords account and gives you a report to the effect of something like: “Hey Johnny. We looked at your AdWords account and it’s in the worst 4% of AdWords accounts we’ve ever seen in your city in your industry.”

Results of WordStream building a free AdWords grading tool

This created a tremendous amount of urgency on the part of the buyer, and in turn, it reduced their sales cycles and improved sales efficiency.

WordStream also made it so that it was practically idiot-proof to see the value of the product without having to spend tons of time and energy to learn all the tips and tricks in the tool.

They would also out a villain — part of the report card would say, “You know that agency that’s managing your account? They haven’t logged into the account for four months, and they haven’t really done anything.”

That would really get people worked up.

So, when talking about finding your unicorn growth hack, we’re not talking about getting a slightly better B2B white paper offering.

We’re talking about finding a truly remarkable, differentiated offer that drives insanely high conversion rates.

For WordStream, they went from a 2% conversion rate to a 40% demo-to-close rate because this growth hack was so effective.

Additionally, they were able to tighten the sales cycle from 30 days to less than 7 days, and millions of AdWord report cards have been generated by customers on their own volition over the last few years.

There were dozens and dozens of venture-backed companies vying for the same space, but they were able to crush them all because no company could have come close to competing with what they were offering.

#7. Get Bloggers To Review Your Product

Offering free accounts in exchange for reviews from influential bloggers can be another way to get the word out about your product or service.

Many companies have added this to their list of growth hacking strategies. For example, from our own efforts in the early days of Customers.ai, we’re lucky enough that some of the best digital marketers on earth, including Neil Patel, have reviewed Customers.ai.

Consider providing a free basic hosting plan for life in exchange for an honest review, or maybe offer a premium account for six months in exchange for a review, for example.

This is a smart growth hacking tactic because it lets people get to know your product or service, increasing the chance of them wanting to promote it even more. 

In addition to getting bloggers to review your product on their site, or even on Medium, you can always invite people to contribute to your blog in exchange for a free account. This is an excellent way to get content, as well as free promotion.

Some tips to get started with adding this to your growth hacking strategies:

• Do a Google search for bloggers that commonly perform reviews and lists of products and services similar to yours.
• Use tools like MozBar and Klear to see how influential they are. 
• Grab the URLs you’re interested in analyzing, and place them in Buzzsumo to see if their content gets shared.

• Connect on LinkedIn, try to find a common connection that can make an introduction, and/or reach out to them via email. 
• Always provide and demonstrate the value you’re bringing to the table (e.g. a free account) before asking them for anything.

#8. Run Retargeting Campaigns

There are tons of different retargeting growth hacking strategies. In 2021, however, retargeting continues to gain importance due to the price of serving ads on Facebook. In fact, in if you check out Larry Kim’s best Facebook retargeting strategy for 2021, the ratio of retargeting vs regular “vanilla” Facebook ads, has shifted in recent years.

Here are some more retargeting growth hacks that have proven results:

Hide retargeting cookies for 45 seconds

Retargeting users who bounce immediately from your website (like in the first few seconds) is a waste of money for you, and annoying for those visitors.

Try hiding your retargeting cookies for 45 seconds to stop targeting users who bounce from your site in the first few moments. This way you can ensure that your budget is spent retargeting audiences who actually take the time to stay on your page and consume your content.

A simple strategy for this is to add a small piece of code to your website that unhides your retargeting cookies after a set amount of time.

Convert abandoned cart visitors with retargeting coupons

Use coupons when retargeting visitors who leave your checkout page.

Lots of people make it all the way down your funnel and leave just before deciding to buy. Many times, the decision to leave was due to the price, which is emotional by nature.

Segment this audience, and use a coupon to bring them back. Be sure to demonstrate urgency by using a time limit on the CTA (i.e. 24 hours).

If you can, tie the coupon offer back to some event or brand promotion you have going on and the potential buyer won’t necessarily connect the ad to the fact that they were on your checkout page, which causes even less friction.

For more retargeting tips, see this post from Rebrandly – “Retargeting Campaigns: 25 tips from marketing experts”

#9. Take Advantage of Chatbots ASAP

There’s a reason why chatbots are all the talk surrounding growth hacking tools. 

• Significantly higher engagement and open rates
• End-to-end automation
• Virtually endless use cases

Here are just a few examples of how to use chatbots in your growth hacking strategies.

Increase Reach and Decrease Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) of Facebook Ads

You can use chatbots to broaden the reach and decrease the cost of lead acquisition with Facebook ads. The chatbot tool used to do this is called a Facebook Click-To-Messenger Ad.

Facebook ads with chatbots have a conversion rate of 3x-5x higher than traditional Facebook ads. 

And that’s because Click-to-Messenger ads are:

• Super engaging
• Always mobile-friendly, and
• The conversion rate is 100%. as

Wait, 100% conversion rates? Yes, you automatically get everyone’s contact info and can message them back via Facebook Messenger. All it takes is for someone to interact with your ad.

With Facebook Messenger Ads, you’ll see your contact list skyrocket, guaranteeing a solid ROI on your next Facebook Ad campaign.

Take a look at this case study we conducted ourselves, which resulted in a cost per acquisition (CPA) decrease of 97%.

How to generate leads using chatbot auto-responders

There’s a lot of ways to generate leads using chatbots.

Chatbots are already replacing email for communication with customers, because chatbot apps regularly get:

• 80% to 90% open rates
• 20–50% clickthrough rates

Compare that to emails at 21.8% open rates and 2–3% clickthrough rates.

So, clearly things are changing.

When it comes to acquiring new customers via chatbots, Facebook Messenger bots are at the top of the list. Messenger bots are the only bots that instantly capture lead info automatically.

That means you can explode your lead volume simply by capturing name, location and the ability to send future messages before your bot even says “Hi.”

Here’s one example using Customers.ai Facebook post comment guards (aka Facebook post auto-replies or private replies). These are a highly engaging way to get new contacts.

What you do is take ordinary Facebook posts and turn them into lead-capturing tools.

If someone comments on your Facebook post, you can program a chatbot to send a private reply in Messenger.

This is just one of many ways to generate new leads using chatbots.

So, if acquiring customers with chatbots interests you and you want to learn more, here are: 12 examples of how to get tons more qualified leads using a Facebook Messenger Chatbot.

Use chatbot forms to increase sign-ups and registrations

Let’s say you have an upcoming webinar and you’re trying to get as many registrations as possible. 

Typically, marketers use email marketing to drive webinar registrations. However, relying on email alone to get sign-ups requires a great drip sequence and time to get results.

So what’s missing from webinar sign-ups via email?

• Forms are clunky on mobile.
• Emails get trapped in spam filters.
• Email open rate is around 5-25%.

Instead, jump on a rocket-powered unicorn and get more sign-ups using chatbots, which have:

• Higher engagement than email.
• Interactive and conversational user experiences.
• Messenger forms that are always mobile-optimized.
• Automated follow-up messaging to audience segments.

Learn more about using chatbot forms to increase sign-ups and registrations for your brand.

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

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Time To Put these Growth Hacking Strategies to Work!

We hope you learned a ton from these tried and true growth hacking strategies.

What to do next?

The post 9 Growth Hacking Strategies To Try in 2021 and Beyond appeared first on Customers.ai.

You’ve likely wondered about the best ways to follow up with customers as well as prospective clients. But maybe you’re tired of making follow-up calls to customers. 

Maybe you’re even wondering, “How do I follow up with a customer on the phone?”

This little aspect of “following up” happens to be crucial in running a business successfully. 

The best ways to follow up with customers has to do with CRM (Customer Relationship Management). But maybe you’re perplexed and it’s daunting when you hear about things like Facebook messenger contact integrations.

CRM And How It Relates To Best Ways To Follow Up With Customers

Customer Relationship Management is about a lot more than CRM software. 

Managing relationships can be tedious and challenging work, both in our personal lives and in our professional lives. 

It’s doubly hard to keep all of our relationships healthy and fruitful in our professional lives, especially as our business grows. 

However, as your business continues to scale, it’s going to be harder and harder to follow up and stay connected with your customers and clients.

The good news is that there are excellent tools for the best ways to follow up with customers online. 

Whether you need help responding to incoming messages or replies on your posts, Customers.ai has a free autoresponder chatbot that drastically improves customer relations.

Plus, you get the attractive green “Very responsive to messages” badge of honor. 

Defining Your Follow Up Strategy

Do you have sufficient follow up strategies? Or more like haphazard emails, messages, and phone calls that never seem to convert. 

Let us quickly define exactly what is a follow up strategy. 

An effective follow-up strategy happens to be whatever your plan is for the communication required to establish a relationship with a customer or potential customer. 

The entire purpose of establishing strategies for following up is for you and your business to set in place a sales process that can incorporate into your business’s everyday practices, all with one intention: CONVERTING LEADS AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS.

So, for those who were wondering, “What is a follow up strategy?” — we went ahead and answered that crucial question.

Continue Reading For 10 Quick And Effective Follow Up Strategies

Every successful business knows about the need to follow up with customers and prospective clients, but this is one of the easiest things to put off, especially for busy people. 

You might start to make excuses like “I already called them,” or “it can wait until I finish all of these other pressing matters.” 

But you’re just showing that you tend to neglect the best ways to follow up with customers and shy away from best business practices. 

This will surely come back to haunt you and stand in the way of growing your business.

Here are some at-a-glance follow-up strategies that will help you figure out the best ways to follow up with customers

1. Be available… always. One way to do this is by utilizing a customer service chatbot across your Facebook, Website, Instagram, and SMS. This is easy to do with the multichannel magic of Customers.ai! 

2. If you can’t personally respond to every inquiry or lead from a Facebook group, then it’s high time to learn how to use Messenger chatbot for Facebook groups.

3. There are a number of best ways to follow up with customers. You’re not just limited to online efforts or direct response marketing tactics, even though the internet and various social media channels make it extremely easy. 

4. You can follow up with clients, customers, and prospects via handwritten letters, which always stands out, especially in the technology-fueled times we live in. 

5. You can also use other effective follow-up strategies like showing up in-person to a (socially-distanced) event you know your customer, client, or prospect in question will be attending. Face-to-face follow-ups will help you stand out! Even more so these days! 

6. Follow up over coffee, a cocktail (if you partake, that is), or even lunch. If your goal is to #StayHome, then try a Zoom happy hour.

Unicorn Tip: Provide useful materials when following up, such as news, articles, and top-shelf information. You will want this information to speak to your client and be relevant to their desires and goals.

7. Send birthday cards or appropriate holiday greetings with a personal touch, if you have such information. It’s always a great idea to let a client, customer, or prospect know that you’re thinking about them. People like to feel seen and heard!

8. Send happy and funny non-business-related materials, like jokes, emails, etc. But, as always, stay appropriate! This will help you build a more personal connection and drive up engagement. Chatbot drip campaigns are perfect for touching base in a non-invasive and conversational way. 

9. Offer free samples when it comes to your product or service. This speaks volumes!

10. Send your customers or clients prospective referrals if you have the ability. This will show customers/clients/prospects that you are a valuable asset.

11. Craft informative white papers and case studies. Send them around, which will show in detail the sort of results you can achieve. You can also learn how to answer FAQs with chatbots.

Fighting Your Resistance To Effective Follow Up Strategies

We don’t blame you for being resistant to effective follow up strategies. 

Hopefully, you are not still asking, “what is a follow up strategy?!” 

It’s just a plan! A plan for how you’re going to continue to keep the lines of communication open with your customers, clients, and prospects. 

(pssst… Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion active monthly users! As of November 2020.)

It’s incredibly natural to resist the best ways to follow up with customers. 

Maybe a potential or existing customer didn’t return your last phone call or email. Perhaps a client never seems to be available or has expressed hesitance or lack of interest altogether. 

In such cases, it’s good to fight your resistance. With so many best ways to follow up with customers, you can mount a multi-faceted strategy to successfully get in touch with those with who you desire to get in touch.

So Many Channels To Follow Up On And So Little Time

You have the power to call prospects via phone, text, or you can also email your clients to keep in touch and follow up.

Go ahead and send them a letter! Take advantage of our tried and true postal mail system. How good is this lead? Maybe consider sending a little care package or free sample via overnight delivery. 

Even a simple text message follow up will let your client or customer know that they’re on your mind. Better yet, go ahead and text them an entirely automated conversation with a Customers.ai SMS text chatbot drip campaign. 

Facebook message a prospective customer online! You don’t even have to do it yourself. With intuitive conversational chatbots available, there are no excuses!

Keep the flywheel spinning and the funnel flowing with automation!

These are only some of the various communication avenues you can explore for effective CRM. 

Remember that the types of messages you send your customers and prospects can (and should) be much more varied. Instead of simply asking customers to do more business with you or prospects to do business with you for the first time.

Stay away from sounding salesy and stale.

One great way to master CRM is with an effective Facebook post autoresponder, which will help you successfully add engagement to your Facebook business page. 

Turn your Facebook Business page commenters into leads and prospects and, ultimately, help you engage in the best ways to follow up with customers.

Your After Sales Follow Up Efforts Are Important, Too

How you respond to your customers with who you’re currently doing business is crucial and should never be overlooked. 

Sure, finding new customers is one important aspect of running a successful operation, but so is tending to your list of current customers and clients. 

The Harvard Business Review reports that it can cost between 5-25 times more to sell or provide services to a new client than to service an existing client. 

Aim to continue to provide excellent existing services, not to mention new services and products to an existing customer or client. Such measures will always help boost your sales and revenue. 

Make sure to send your gratitude to existing customers. Check in with them when it’s appropriate and timely to do so. 

Keep your communication materials concise out of respect for everyone’s time. 

Keep The Second Sale in mind as you continue to preserve and strengthen your lines of communication with those who are currently doing business with you.

It never hurts to request referrals from your clients and customers. Especially if you’re giving your current business associates an amazing return on their investment. 

Often, current clients will be happy to spread the word for you. It’s called “Word of Mouth Advertising,” and it may seem old-school, but this is extremely effective in helping you grow your business. The sky’s the limit!

Best Practices In Sales Follow Up Content

Maybe you’re wondering about other ways to follow-up with customers, such as how to write a follow-up sales email? Or you’re looking to get a sample follow-up email to a client after sending a proposal. 

The same is true in your Facebook chat follow up efforts. Read on for a few Unicorn marketing for business tips when it comes to creating successful follow-up content.

First, try to avoid using old and tired expressions and phrases. For instance, avoid anything similar to these:

“Hello, just wanted to check in with you…”

“I’d just like to follow up on our previous conversation…”

“Hey, just circling back to follow up with you…”

Sure, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this type of wording. However, you will want to make sure that your words do not come across as uninspired, impersonal, and, essentially, lacking in the value department. 

The last thing you want to do is sound robotic.

Remember to keep things brief, but try to include a personal touch in the message you craft. Or use our free Facebook Messenger templates for easy peasy chatbot conversation design.

Study your customers as well as your competitors. 

Differentiate yourself with your message body, not to mention take the time to craft a unique and grabbing subject line. 

Get to your point quickly, and always demonstrate value to your clients and customers. 

Use concrete data to back up any claims you make while executing your follow up strategies.

Customers.ai, THE Easiest And Best Way To Follow Up With Customers

Customers.ai makes becoming a CRM wizard incredibly easy to do, and you can customize and change-up your messaging styles to fit your mood, not to mention the distinct circumstances you currently operate under with a current or prospective customer.

Getting in front of problems (or even ahead of issues before they transpire), well, that’s just effective CRM. Knowing Facebook Messenger rules and best practices will also help you avoid unwanted problems down the road.

Sign up for your free edition of Customers.ai today! One chatbot with a single user-friendly dashboard can make your multi-channel CRM efforts effectively incorporate the very best follow up strategies into your growing business.

Important Next Steps

The post The Ultimate Crash Course for Best Ways to Follow Up with Customers appeared first on Customers.ai.

Using a website form to collect emails usually results in a conversion rate between 1% to 10%, and the average website conversion rate is roughly 4%.

However, with a chatbot, your email capture conversion rate can skyrocket. In fact, the website chatbot I’m about to show you increased our website conversion rate by over 100%.

And this is why we love digital marketing, right? Because there’s always a better way to do what’s already been done thousands of times already. 

So, what’s the secret to building a live chat widget that’s great at capturing emails? Let’s take the web chat widget on the Customers.ai homepage for example.

This live chat example from the Customers.ai homepage has generated absolutely amazing results!

In the first month of launching this new welcome message bot, we captured 1,627 new contacts from our website visitors.

The results have been incredible. We were able to:

• Increase the number of chat sessions on our website by 4X
• We’re collecting twice as many emails as we had previously, and 
• Our website traffic is converting 107% higher than it was previously.

So, want to learn how to more than double the number of emails you’re capturing on your website?

In this article, I’m going to show you:

• Example of how to capture emails from your website visitors.
• How to create an email generating website chatbot in 5 minutes.
• 3 ways to build an email list with a website chatbot.

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

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Example of How To Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot

You’ll notice that the greeting message (in our example above) presents a menu of options for the website visitor to choose from. So it makes sense that this particular type of live chat bot is commonly referred to as a menu-based chatbot. 

Menu-based chatbots work great because you can build custom user journeys for each of your target customer user personas.

Follow the steps below to place a chat widget on your website and build an email generating machine!

How To Build an Email List with Your Website Chatbot

Let’s walk through how to build an email generating machine with your website chatbot, step-by-step, in roughly 5 minutes! 

Just like our example website chatbot, the bot we’re about to build together also sends a follow-up email drip campaign using our Zapier integration with MailChimp. However, you can also make this work with Constant Contact, iContact, AWeber, and other email marketing tools.

With Customers.ai you can automate everything to ensure you don’t manually copy/paste each new contact into your email platform.

• Step #1: Get a free Customers.ai account (do it now to follow along ????) and add live chat to your website.
• Step #2: Create a website chat widget
• Step #3: Customize your website chat widget & greeting
• Step #4: Use the chatbot builder to create your chatbot dialogue
• Step #5: Add multiple chat widgets to your chatbot dialogue
• Step #6: Create Zapier integration with Customers.ai and email client
• Step #7: Test your chatbot and workflow before launching

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #1: Create a free Customers.ai account and add live chat to your website

First things first, we need a chatbot builder to add live chat widgets to our website.

You can create a free Customers.ai account here.

Then, here’s how to add live chat to your website in just 5 minutes!

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #2: Create a Website Chat Widget

In Customers.ai, click on Chatbot > Chat Starters > Website Chat Widgets > + Create Website Chat Widget.

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #3: Customize Website Chat Widget & Greeting

Let’s make your website chat widget look awesome and match your brand!

Customers.ai allows users to fully customize the website chat widget icon and greeting. You can customize:

• Chat icon color, shape, and position on the page.
• Use both Facebook Messenger chat and live chat simultaneously! More on the amazing benefits of combining Facebook live chat with your website live chat here.  
• The appearance of your web chat widget can have buttons, a unique image for each page, and more.

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #4: Build Chatbot Dialogue

It’s time to build the chatbot dialogue that website visitors are going to interact with.

We’ve kept this example dialogue simple, but if you want to see how we built our menu-based chatbot step-by-step, you can find those details here.

You can interact with this email capture dialogue and see how the bot will also send you a follow-up email by using the chat widget at the bottom-right of this page, or you can use this link. 

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #5: Add multiple chat widgets to your chatbot dialogue

Customers.ai has over a dozen chatbot widget types available for you to include in your dialogues. Some of the most popular include Quick Questions, Images, GIFs, Opt-Ins for Messenger and SMS, and Videos.

For this email capture bot, we’ll be using the Quick Question, GIF, and Zapier Connection widgets.

Start with a Quick Question widget. Here you can provide multiple choice answers that lead to different dialogue paths.

Next, we’ll use another Quick Question widget. However, this time instead of multiple choice answers, we need to specify that the user should reply with an email address.

Fill it out with some catchy copy, and then select EMAIL as the user’s input type and the “EMAIL” attribute to save the input value to the user’s lead profile.

Using the email input type is crucial here.

When you use email as input type, Facebook will auto-populate a button for the user to tap with the email address connected to their Facebook account.

Here’s where things get slightly tricky. In order to send an email drip campaign to the people who provide their email address, we’re going to use the Zapier Connection widget and connect a MailChimp account.

The “Zap” will add the new contact to both your Customers.ai contacts, as well as your MailChimp contacts list.

For now, just add the widget. And Don’t worry about finding the Zapier Trigger Name for now, because you haven’t yet created it ????. We’ll need to come back to this after Step #6.

The last widget we’re going to add is a GIF. After you select the GIF widget, search for a term that works within context of what’s happening in the chatbot dialogue.

In this example, we’re letting the person know that an email is on the way, so we’ve chosen a USPS truck driving down the street ????.

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #6: Create Zapier Integration with Customers.ai and Email Client

We’re going to use MailChimp in this walk-through, but remember, you can replace MailChimp with any email marketing platform.

Helpful resource: Getting Started with Customers.ai + Zapier Chatbot Integrations

A Zapier connection has two parts — the trigger and the action.

Start by going to the Integrations tab in Customers.ai and finding the Customers.ai + MailChimp integration called “Subscribe new Customers.ai contacts to MailChimp.”

If this is your first time connecting Customers.ai to Zapier, you’ll need to use the API key provided above the list of Zapier integrations to connect your Customers.ai account.

Then, create a Zapier account or log into your Zapier account to connect the workflow between MailChimp and Customers.ai. 

Now you’ll have the option to assign a custom name to your Zap, and you’ll want to choose the trigger event “Connection Widget Reached.” Hit Continue.

Time to create the name of the Zap connection widget you’ll add to your chatbot dialogue:

Moving on to the action portion of the Zap, MailChimp is already the action app because that’s the formula we started within Customers.ai. We’ve named everything the same way on all three platforms, so the action events will be easier to find.

After you hook up your MailChimp account, you’ll have your choice of attributes in your Customers.ai customer profiles to choose from. Then, in the last Action step choose the action event to add Subscriber to Tag in MailChimp and hit Continue.

Turn on the Zap – and we’re in business!

Now, remember the Zapier Connection widget we added in Step #5? Finish up the connection by going to your chatbot dialogue and adding the Zapier connection you named above to the right point in the conversation funnel.

Lastly, create your follow-up email, or an email drip campaign sequence in MailChimp (or your preferred email client) and give it a name. 

Grow an Email List with a Website Chatbot Step #7: Test your chatbot and workflow before launching

Now go ahead and test the dialogue to see your email capture chatbot in action. You should end up subscribed to the MailChimp list you connected to your bot with Zapier.

In fact, you can test it out yourself right now! Go for it!

Your email subscribers are now automatically pulled from Customers.ai and sent to MailChimp, which means you can start sending those emails immediately.

If you need additional help, have no fear! Customers.ai has tons of step-by-step help docs and videos to make building an email list with your website chatbot a breeze. 

The following documentation will helpful for how to grow an email list via web chat!

• Connecting Customers.ai to Any App with Zapier Integrations.
• Email list building starter template. 
• Customers.ai Integrations Help Docs.
• Using the website chat widget to generate more leads.

3 Ways to Build an Email List With a Website Chatbot

When you embed this chatbot on your site and take the extra steps from this tutorial to automatically send this lead data to MailChimp, Constant Contact, iContact, AWeber, or your email platform, you’re working with a unicorn of list building.

Chatbots are an excellent tool for email capture because they’re interactive, convenient, and instant. Additionally, bots can be connected directly to an email marketing platform to send contact data, including email addresses automatically.

Here are 5 more web chat examples to build an email list fast using live chat on your website!

Email List Building with Webchat Tactic #1: Chatbot Surveys

A fantastic way to engage your audience on chat is to ask them to complete a small survey.

Use short and entertaining surveys as an opportunity to obtain more email opt-ins and useful information from prospects.

Pre-chat surveys automatically ask your visitors some questions before the conversation starts.

If you don’t already have the customer data, use your survey to ask for a name, email address, and/or telephone number.

Regardless of how the conversation ends, you already have your visitor’s contact details and you can use it later for marketing and sales purposes.

The best part about using your live chatbot to conduct a survey is that you’re adding to a customer’s profile. Additionally, you can use that data to create audiences and inform future chatbot marketing follow-ups.

Email List Building with Webchat Tactic #2: Add Facebook Messenger Chat to Website Chatbot

Web chat powered by Facebook Messenger automation has its advantages to plain live chat. 

For the purposes of building an email list, the number one advantage is clear: If a website visitor is one of the 1.3 billion Facebook Messenger users out there, and they’re logged in, you can instantly capture that person as a lead.

Additionally, with Customers.ai’s OmniChat technology, you get the best of both worlds. If users are signed into Facebook, you get that instant lead capture. If they aren’t signed in to Facebook, you can still accommodate them with all of the same capabilities.

Capturing emails is even easier when you’re using live chat and Messenger in tandem. When a user is one of the many Facebook Messenger users, they’ll automatically be provided an easy-to-tap button with their email address. This reduces the friction associated with lead capture and helps to increase your conversion rate.

Here’s what this looks like in your user’s Messenger app. Note the clickable email:

The power of a Facebook chatbot makes it super easy to collect email addresses.

And if they opt to give it to you, Customers.ai will automatically save it for later use.

Other amazing benefits to having an omnichannel chatbot with Messenger automation on your website include:

• Persistent conversations that track customer history.
• Default contact data from Facebook including name, location, language.
• The ability to send follow-up messaging and retargeting ads to Facebook chat visitors.

To add Facebook live chat to a website, all you have to do is install the Customers.ai

Email List Building with Webchat Tactic #3: Opt-in your new contacts for SMS, Messenger, and Email Updates

Website visitors engaging in live chat are good prospects.

So it makes sense to invite them to sign up for marketing updates via SMS, Facebook Messenger, email and more, during a chat conversation.

There are a ton of awesome opt-in strategies to consider for your live chat for lead generation campaigns, such as offering VIP access or running a contest/giveaway. 

And if you’re looking to take on a channel to get a leg up on the competition, SMS marketing tools such as SMS Keyword opt-ins are the way to go.

Learn how to get more SMS subscribers with these 15 SMS opt-in strategies.

How To Build an Email List via Live Chat: Final Thoughts

Adding a live chat widget to your website will allow you to automate engagement with your website visitors by answering FAQs, providing options to find what they’re looking for quickly, gather feedback with chatbot surveys, and more. 

Most importantly, you can use Customers.ai live chat to capture website visitors contact information in order to reengage with your new contacts on other channels, with chat marketing tools for: 

• Facebook Messenger 
• Instagram Messenger  
• Facebook Messenger Retargeting Ads
• SMS text message marketing
• And other popular chat messaging channels.

All of which is fully facilitated via chatbot software included in the Customers.ai OmniChatⓇ platform.  

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

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Important Next Steps

The post How To Build an Email List Via Live Web Chat and Automated Messaging appeared first on Customers.ai.

And like most things we do at Customers.ai, we used one of our favorite marketing tools to decide which of our 300+ new articles created in 2020 would make the list. To break it down, we used a combination score made up of both the number of social media shares an article received, plus the number of backlinks that were gained by each article.

Luckily, we were quite pleased with the articles that made the list. So, let’s jump right in. Here are Customers.ai’s 10 top growth marketing articles of 2020!

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You can use the following links to skip to the top growth marketing articles that pique your interest:

1. Top 7 Chat Marketing Tactics of 2020: How to Use Live Chat, SMS, and Messenger for Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support.
2. 7 Direct Response Marketing Examples to Instantly Drive Engagement & Sales.
3. 20 Best Lead Generation Tools for Growth Marketers in 2021.
4. 14 Instagram Marketing Tips from the Best Digital Agencies.
5. 3 Money-Making Tactics for Selling with Chatbots: How to Sell Products Online Using Chatbots.
6. 10 Tactics Guaranteed to Increase Engagement on Facebook.
7. 11 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Agencies to Impress Clients & Differentiate Your Agency.
8. 60 SMS Marketing Statistics That Will Change Your Mind About Text Message Marketing.
9. 5 Digital Marketing Agency Growth Hacks & 4 Ways to Reduce Customer Churn.
10. How To Create a High-Converting Messenger Greeting for Your Facebook Page.

#1. Top 7 Chat Marketing Tactics of 2020: How to Use Live Chat, SMS, and Messenger for Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support

Let’s get tacticle with our first of 10 top growth marketing articles of 2020!

50% of customers would rather communicate with a business using messaging than email. 

75% of your customers would rather use web chat and text instead of calling a service provider. 

Messaging is more widely and frequently used than even social media. Yet less than 1% of businesses have the tools to automatically stay in touch with customers in messaging.

Businesses that are using messaging are able to reach customers across all interactions and touchpoints to get real work done.

So what’s a growth marketer to do in 2020 and beyond? 

Well, you can start here, with the top 7 chat marketing tactics of 2020!

#2. 7 Direct Response Marketing Examples to Instantly Drive Engagement & Sales

Many people ask what the difference is between brand marketing and direct response marketing.

And the reason for that is when most people think of advertising, they think of massive campaigns by brands like Nike, Microsoft, or Starbucks. Those campaigns are very creative, emotional, and larger than life. Most of all, those brands pull customers in and leave a lasting impression.

If that’s your idea of marketing, as a small business, it can be a bit overwhelming.

So, instead of trying to take on the big brands, you need a different approach. You need to create marketing that drives action today.

Instantly drive engagement and sales with these 7 direct response marketing examples.

#3. 20 Best Lead Generation Tools for Growth Marketers in 2021

The best lead generation tools make it easy to capture quality leads with as little manual outreach and follow-ups as possible. However, building a scalable lead generation machine is quite a challenge. So, when you get that machine rolling, it’s extremely rewarding.

In 2021, there are hundreds of lead generation tools to choose from, and naturally, some are built better than others. Furthermore, many of them no longer provide the same ROI as they once did due to overused strategies and a lack of further innovation.

Add as many of these 20 lead generation tools to your marketing toolbox as you can in order to grow your business in 2021.

#4. 14 Instagram Marketing Tips from the Best Digital Agencies

The best Instagram marketing tips come from top-performing digital agencies. As an agency, you need to produce results in order to retain, grow, and deliver high-profit margins for clients.

And the benefits of having a strong Instagram marketing game for attracting new agency clients are undeniable.

Instagram has over 1 billion active users, 500 million of which use features like Stories every day to quickly update their followers.

So, how can you best use Instagram to make money for both your clients and your agency? Start with these 14 Instagram marketing tips from top digital agencies.

#5. 3 Money-Making Tactics for Selling with Chatbots: How to Sell Products Online Using Chatbots

Chatbots are the hot marketing tool in online business because a well-programmed chatbot is a 24/7 sales assistant for your business.

Engagement is the name of the game in today’s world of fast-paced digital marketing, and selling with chatbots can give you an edge, as there is nothing more engaging for your customers than having a live chat.

Selling with chatbots can also help you gain extra insight into consumer behavior, as your chatbots can store the responses it gets so that you can enhance your ecommerce success.

In this article, we’ll review the super-effective secrets to selling with chatbots with digital agency founder Isaac Rudansky of AdVenture Media. Isaac’s agency uses paid advertising, conversion optimization, content marketing and chat marketing to help clients sell more online.

Learn specifically how to sell products online using chatbots like Isaac’s agency does for clients like Forbes Magazine and Sofamania.

#6. 10 Tactics Guaranteed to Increase Engagement on Facebook

Organic posts reach just 5.5% of Page followers, a drop of 2.2% in the last year. This has caused an increased motivation to use tools like Stories, groups, Messenger, and ads to make your content more visible.

Luckily, plenty of marketing professionals continue to keep up with Facebook and have found new ways of maintaining and increasing engagement rates with their audience.

So, if you’re looking for the best tactics to increase engagement on Facebook in 2021, check out these ten actionable ways to get the job done.

#7. 11 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Agencies to Impress Clients & Differentiate Your Agency

Marketing automation for agencies is a key differentiator to impressing clients, winning new business, and scaling your agency.

In fact, 79% of top-performing agency leaders reported using marketing automation tools for 3-years or more.

There are many marketing functions that can be automated, such as sending automated messages, lead scoring, lead qualification, or publishing content on social media.

Check out the 15 different marketing automation software platforms in this article in order to save time, reduce overhead, and increase marketing ROI for both you and your clients.

#8. 60 SMS Marketing Statistics That Will Change Your Mind About Text Message Marketing

When compiling the 60 absolute best SMS marketing statistics we could find, we didn’t cut any corners. Meaning we zeroed in on why SMS marketing is a rapidly growing channel, as opposed to boring you with stats about how many people have a mobile phone, or how many texts get sent every day – it’s a lot, and we already knew that.

In this article, we focus on the text message marketing statistics that matter most to businesses and their marketing, sales, and customer support teams. Additionally, we cover why your customers want companies to text them, as well as how effective and efficient SMS marketing really is.

By the time you’re done reading through all 60 SMS marketing statistics, you should either be asking yourself why your company isn’t already engaging with your audiences via SMS/MMS, or why you’re not sending more SMS text messages to customers.

#9. 5 Digital Marketing Agency Growth Hacks & 4 Ways to Reduce Customer Churn

Most marketing agencies go nowhere. Even fewer achieve scale. So should you be leveraging growth hacks for your digital agency?

The answer should be: Why wouldn’t you be trying to grow your digital agency?

The number one excuse that holds Donkey agencies back from the wonderful world of Unicorn Agency Land is that they “don’t want to be a big agency.” Some marketing agencies will claim that they are a boutique agency. This typically translates to: “My marketing agency is stuck, and I don’t know how to scale it.”

Scale your agency and learn from the best with these marketing agency growth hacks and how to reduce customer churn in 2021.

#10. How To Create a High-Converting Messenger Greeting for Your Facebook Page

And last, but not least, is our top growth marketing article with the most social shares in 2020!

Also known as a Welcome Message, your Facebook Messenger greeting is an automated welcome message that works as a way to ‘break the ice’ and start a conversation.

You can create a custom Messenger greeting for your Facebook Page that will appear in messages and in the Messenger app for iPhone, iPad, and Android. 

Your Messenger greeting appears when someone begins a conversation with your Page for the first time. Also, note that your Messenger greeting will appear before any messages are sent.

In other words, your Messenger greeting is automatically sent when Facebook Page visitors initiate a chat in Messenger. 

Read this article to learn how to create a great Messenger greeting for your Facebook Page.

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Important Next Steps

Looking for more of the top growth marketing articles of 2020? Earlier this year we released our top 10 best digital marketing articles of the Summer for 2020. None of which were included on this list, so there’s plenty more great content to choose from!

The post Customers.ai’s Top 10 Growth Marketing Articles of 2020 appeared first on Customers.ai.

On the other hand, one thing that did happen with all the extra time spent indoors is that digital marketers everywhere were able to produce tons of top-quality content.

In our case at Customers.ai, it took a while to decide which 10 out of 250+ articles we produced so far this year that we found to be the most valuable to our audience.

But we’ve narrowed it down, and we know you’ll love this list as much as we do by the time you’re done.

So, let’s jump right in. Here are Customers.ai’s 10 best digital marketing articles of 2020!

#1. Top 7 Facebook Ad Hacks of All Time

These 7 Facebook ad hacks aren’t your average “test your email subject line” suggestions. Customers.ai Founder, Larry Kim provides crazy shortcuts that you can copy to great effect in your own campaigns.

The best part of these Facebook ad hacks is that they require little effort and yield a high ROI if you can successfully clone these ideas.

#2. 10 Best Customer Support Chat Tools

Customer support chat has incredible benefits, such as:

• Increased customer loyalty, sales, and revenue as a result of live chat, according to 79% of businesses surveyed.  (Kayako)
• A 10% lift in AOV (average order value) when a buyer’s journey includes customer support chat. (ICMI)
• Chat support (41%) is preferred to phone support (32%), email support (23%), and support via social media (3% ). (Kayako)

Learn how live chat support tools + automation workflows can help your business grow!

#3. Top 10 SMS Marketing Hacks of All Time

SMS marketing is a unicorn marketing channel if we ever saw one.

• At least 5 billion people worldwide can send and receive text messages.
• 95% of texts are read within 3 minutes of being sent.
• SMS averages +90% open rates and +30% response rates.
• In the U.S., text messaging is hands-down the favorite way of 20- to 40-year-olds to stay in touch with businesses.

Use these 10 SMS marketing hacks to automatically grow a contact database, follow up with contacts in SMS, set exact delivery times, and send text messages triggered by behaviors or intent.

#4. How To Get More Leads on Facebook + Infographic

Dwindling organic Facebook News Feed reach and decreasing post engagement rates has been the trend for marketers on Facebook.

So how do you maintain or increase the ROI of your Facebook marketing campaigns?

Here’s a 5-minute Facebook page marketing hack you can use that can result in a constant flow of free leads. ????

#5. 31 Best Marketing Tools for Small Business

For small businesses, their tech stack is among the top 5 most cited success factors by entrepreneurs in 2020.

And if you don’t want to be part of the 80% of companies that fail within 18 months, you need to choose the tools that will give you a competitive edge.

So, if you’re looking for the best marketing tools for small businesses that are both affordable and necessary for rapid-growth, this is the post you’ve been looking for.

#6. How To Boost a Post on Facebook with Dennis Yu

In this post, we walk-through how to use Facebook’s Boost Post feature like advertising pros to get top-notch results.

With the help of Dennis Yu, founder of digital agency BlitzMetrics, you’ll learn how to boost a post on Facebook using his infamous Dollar-a-Day strategy!

#7. How To Send a Text Message Blast

In the U.S., text messaging is the favorite way of the 20-to 40-year-old crowd to stay in touch with service providers.

Learn how to send mass SMS messages (AKA text message blasts) using Customers.ai in one of our top value-added services of 2020!

#8. Complete Guide To Facebook Messenger Rules + Infographic

This guide is designed to help marketers get to know Facebook’s policies for business communications on the Messenger chat platform.

Once you know these rules you’ll understand how to use Facebook Messenger as a customer communication channel that generates leads and drives revenue.

Plus, you’ll find a super handy infographic that you can refer to quickly for all future Messenger marketing campaigns!

#9. 8 Growth Hacking Strategies To Try ASAP

Finding good growth hacking strategies through a Google Search in 2020 is hard given how saturated this topic has become since Sean Ellis coined the term over ten years ago.

In this article, we focus on providing more comprehensive growth hacking strategies that produce great results over long periods of time. 

Because that’s what you really want, right?

#10. How To Add Live Chat to Your Website in 10min

Have you been considering adding live chat to your website?

If you have, that’s smart. Because adding live chat to your website continues to produce results that cannot be ignored:

• Increase conversion rates by 45% on average
• Bost website engagement rates by 3X
• Consumers 63% more likely to return to your website

Learn how to add live chat to your website in just 10min with this step-by-step guide!

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

Or Register for the Free Replay

Learn all about NEW 100% Meta-Approved Automation Tools from Customers.ai with a spotlight on features to 10X Instagram & Facebook Engagement and turn social media into a revenue driver for your business.

Save my Free Seat!

Important Next Steps

• Get started with chat marketing campaigns by building a free Customers.ai OmniChat chatbot. Get Customers.ai for free today.
• Talk and learn about chatbots with other enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, a Facebook group of over 35k marketers and entrepreneurs that are ready to support you.
• Advance your marketing performance with Chatbot University, a free chatbot tutorial and training area for chat marketers.

The post Customers.ai’s 10 Best Digital Marketing Articles of 2020 appeared first on Customers.ai.

Last week I shared my social media hacks with my friend Michael Stelzner on his show, Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Mike is the founder of Social Media Examiner, brains behind one of my favorite digital marketing industry events, Social Media Marketing World, and host of the insight-packed Social Media Marketing Podcast.

So why did Mike invite me on his podcast?

Over the last few years Customers.ai has grown from literally nothing to the fastest growing Facebook Messenger marketing platform, provider of web chat and SMS marketing tools, and pioneers of OmniChat. 

Today Customers.ai has over a million users!

How do you fuel this kind of growth? 

My Secrets to Hacking the Organic Algos of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & Medium

Listen to the episode and read the full write-up of our conversation on Social Media Examiner.

I talked to Mike about how I generate:

• 20-30 million organic impressions/month on Twitter
• 2 million views/month on Medium
• 10K/month LinkedIn profile views

And you can listen to our interview here:

Here are a few more behind-the-scenes resources you might find interesting.

What’s the ROI of Social Media Impressions?

It’s hard to quantify the value of social media marketing.

But social media visibility has led to some amazing opportunities for me and my businesses including mainstream media interviews like this one:

And this one:

As well as countless opportunities for fundraising and networking.

Social Media Hacks for Twitter

Listen to the show to hear about how I get 20-30 million organic impressions/month on Twitter.

Twitter is one of the social media channels where I find the greatest marketing leverage. 

I post to Twitter to audition content for LinkedIn. Learn more about that on the podcast.

Social Media Hacks for LinkedIn

Here are a couple of screenshots from my LinkedIn Premium insights. 

Lately my content has generated +8K profile views a week on LinkedIn.

And popular posts have seen more than 280K views on LinkedIn:

One of the best content marketing techniques I use on LinkedIn is like short-form business/work-life poetry. 

This post that I wrote in 15 minutes generated 850K views on LinkedIn and drove 25K visitors to my website.

Social Media Hacks for Facebook 

Facebook Groups are the most engaged area of Facebook. Get engagement from groups by posting icebreakers like this one on my Facebook group Customers.ai Island:

We also generate engagement on Facebook by restreaming our video content in syndication. 

There’s software that will simulate a livestream on Facebook Groups, Facebook Business Pages, Periscope and other social media platforms. 

Social Media Hacks for Medium

I get between 1 million to 3 million views a month from my Medium blog.

Want to know how I’ve climbed the ranks to the top 10 Medium authors?

And over half-a-million views per article?

Then check out the interview!

Thank you, Mike, for having me on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Remember it’s not the goal of marketing to do everything but to do a few things like a unicorn in a sea of donkeys!

Marketing Tools for Customer Engagement

Customers.ai is the world’s best platform for engaging with customers in real-time through Facebook Messenger, webchat and SMS.

And now you can leverage instant chat and messaging to drive engagement, leads and sales for free.

Claim your account with the new We’re In This Together Free Forever special edition of Customers.ai.

• Generate 5X more free leads directly from your Facebook page.
• Start more webchat sessions that convert 3X better than static webpages.
• Automatically capture leads from Facebook post comments.

And now back to our regularly scheduled web chat and messaging programming…

Important Next Steps

• Sign up for Customers.ai’s OmniChat chatbot builder to connect with customers automatically in real-time via Facebook Messenger and web chat.
• Advance your marketing performance with Chatbot University, a free chatbot tutorial and training area for marketers.
• Learn about webchat marketing with other enthusiasts. Join Customers.ai Island, a Facebook Group of 35k marketers and entrepreneurs

The post Organic Social Media Hacks: How I Get 20-30 Million Views a Month on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn & Medium appeared first on Customers.ai.

A healthy, engaged, growing list is one of a business’s greatest marketing assets. That’s why we always remember to clean your email list with any of the best email checker before sending any emails. Email subscribers are people who have opted-in to receive updates from a business directly to their inbox.

What a business does within the hallowed pixels of the email inbox is up to them. Convert leads into loyal customers, and even brand evangelists!

Of course, before a business can get that far, they have to grow that email subscriber database.

Which leads us to…

50 Ways to Grow an Email List Fast

Implement even a handful of these contact list tactics and you’ll be multiplying your contact database in no time.

1. Make spectacular, useful content.
2. Make your emails irresistible from subject line to body content and design.
3. Create content consistently to make email subscription essential.
4. Ask subscribers to share and forward emails.
5. Keep form fields to a minimum.
6. Use a website pop-up on-exit.
7. Gamify your website pop-up (e.g., different offers on a wheel spin).
8. Include a subscribe form in a webpage sidebar.
9. Pop the CTA in-line on educational content.
10. Do a Facebook comment guard to an email capture bot.
11. Connect your Facebook page to an email capture chatbot.
12. Ask for email in a web chat.
13. Do gated content (all or bonus content).
14. Create a PDF download version of web content.
15. Offer an ebook download.
16. Comment on blogs, with a link to more info on your site.
17. Answer questions on Quora, with a link to more info on your site.
18. Run a survey, and offer survey results in email.
19. Run a quiz, and offer quiz results in email.
20. Run a contest.
21. Run a giveaway or sweepstakes.
22. Create a free tool, requiring email submission.
23. Host a webinar, requiring email signup.
24. Offer a promo code or discount.
25. Use social proof and testimonials.
26. Use trust badges to demonstrate security or top quality.
27. Link to a privacy or anti-spam policy.
28. Use employee email signatures to link to subscription bot, form or special offers.
29. Link to a lead capture bot from a scan code on a business card.
30. Link to a bot from a scan code on a sign in a store or office.
31. Do interviews and offer bonus material.
32. Write guest posts with bonus content or work with a guest posting service.
33. Do an email promotion for a partner and vice versa (aka list swap).
34. Submit to expert roundups, mention gated content offers.
35. Speak at local industry events, and promote gated content.
36. Join or host in-person meetups.
37. Speak at online industry events.
38. Sponsor in-person conferences and events.
39. Lead a live training.
40. Cross-post content to social.
41. Generate site traffic through SEO.
42. Run click-to-Messenger Facebook ads 
43. Run Facebook lead ads.
44. Run Google ads to email capture landing pages.
45. Run Pinterest ads or post email capture content in Pinterest teasers.
46. Run Twitter lead generation ads.
47. Run YouTube ads or add CTAs to YouTube videos.
48. Run LinkedIn ads.
49. Ask your LinkedIn network to share gated content.
50. Rally employees to like content and share it with their networks.

Did any of those tactics for growing an email list look totally new to you?

There were probably some you’ve never thought of before. Especially those involving the use of chatbots for email capture.

How to Use Chatbots as a Secret Weapon for Email List Growth

Below we’re going to explain the super powerful tactic of using chatbots to capture emails and then automatically send those emails into your email software.

We’ll cover:

1. Why using chatbots and email amplifies your marketing and customer communication
2. How chatbots and email marketing work together for expanded reach
3. How to start growing your email subscriber list in 10 simple steps using chatbots.

Traditionally, marketers have viewed traffic-driving sources as channels.

While it’s often still the case, this kind of thinking doesn’t promote omnichannel marketing. It doesn’t encourage individual marketing channel owners to work together effectively.

That’s GOT to change.

For instance, chatbots can be so much more when worked in conjunction with email. And email can be so much more when worked in conjunction with chatbots. It’s not one versus the other. 1+1 really does make 3 in this instance!

In this article, let’s explore how chatbots and email can work more effectively together; alongside how to grow your email list a lot faster, leveraging the power of chatbots.

Note: In this instance we’re not just talking about our email notifications or our email capture chatbot, although you should check out those resources too.

Communication via email vs. communication via chat

One of the reasons why chat and email aren’t competitors is the distinctly different communications style of each medium.

As Mary Lister shared on the Wordstream blog, it’s important that you stick with consistent branding for your email campaigns.

Email is a super-personal way to speak to your audience; make sure you’re leveraging your brand voice consistently. It can be endlessly confusing if you’re sending serious email updates and fun promotions from the same branded template, so try to designate colors, typefaces, and email signatories to each.

Mary Lister | Wordstream

Chat isn’t like that. It’s more informal. You can stretch what’s acceptable and expect real-time interaction.

Chatbots complement your email strategy

Whether you’re a chat marketing pro or just getting started, your chatbots should complement your email strategy.

Chat marketing is not meant to replace your email marketing, especially if you’re just getting started with chat.

A great way to “get your feet wet” building chatbots is to use them for lead generation for your existing email campaigns.

After a few weeks or months of using Customers.ai and getting used to chatbots and seeing how they all work, you can use chat to create great end-to-end strategies.

But if you’re just getting started with chat and you already have an email drip campaign up-and-running, why not just use your chatbot to funnel leads into that?

After you’ve done that, you can also set up a chatbot drip campaign.

When prospects or customers are chatting with a brand’s chatbot, they’re engaging with the brand. This is a great time to invite someone to create a connection with the brand in email as well.

Chatbots, it just happens, are a great tool for email capture because they’re interactive, convenient and instant, and can be connected directly to an email marketing platform to automatically send contact data, including email address.

How to grow your email subscriber list using chatbots

Chatbots are a novel way to grow your email subscriber list. However, it’s your responsibility to avoid any bad email address.

Web forms, the way you probably grow your list at the moment [as opposed to chat forms] aren’t working as well as they used to. They have really bad conversion rates. Most of your audience don’t want to deal with email sign-up forms.

However, chat still has this sort of sense of newness and your audience are more likely to engage in chat versus filling out an email opt-in form. If you ask somebody for their email address or their phone number on chat, they’re more likely to provide it to you.

In order for you to set up a system that works, you’ll need to transport subscriber email addresses from Customers.ai to your email software. That’s where Zapier comes in.

Use Zapier to link Customers.ai with your email software

Zapier is a great tool. Essentially it sits as a middleman in-between loads of MarTech software tools and lets you integrate any of them together.

When you integrate Customers.ai with Zapier, you immediately have access to over 2000 other applications, such as Google Sheets, MailChimp, and other email platforms.

Next up, we’re going to show you a quick little demo of how you can set up one of those workflows to build an email list using chatbots.

Pro-tip for chat vs. email communications: Adjust your brand voice

You possibly have an existing brand voice. Even so, you should be tailoring that for chat communication.

Chat is shorter and it’s more interactive. Chat is more engaging. It catches your subscriber wherever they are. Email is more likely to be ready in front of a computer or at set times during the day.

Users are more likely to swipe email notifications away on my phone. With chat, they’re a little bit less inclined to do that because they can read so quickly.

It’s important that you consider chat to be a different type of communication versus email.

Where you might use a more corporate, formal voice in your email, chat is a little different.

Chat is a less formal than email. And chat is more interactive than email.

In chat marketing, feel free to ask questions, and include lots of visually interesting elements like images, GIFs and emojis in chat.

Pro Tip for Email Capture Chatbots: Use email and chatbots in tandem

If you’re actively using a chatbot on Facebook, you’ll be aware that Facebook only lets you send promotional messages within 24 hours of the last time somebody interacted with you.

A great way to get your prospect back into that 24-hour fold is to include a link to your chatbot in the emails you send out.

This way, once they click on the link, they’ve engaged with your chatbot. This means that you’re open for you to reach out to them again.

Next-level pro tip for email capture chatbots: Use custom fields

Also, a next-level pro tip would be for you to determine if someone has signed up using your chatbot in addition to being an email subscriber and if so, provide them with that chat link in your email.

However, for people who aren’t chat subscribers, you just provide them with a link to the same information on your website (where they can be driven towards your website chat widget).

Including a chat link for certain email subscribers is possible if your email system lets you create custom fields. Most of them do. Just tag email subscribers who happen to be chat subscribers too. Most of them do. Just tag email subscribers who happen to be chat subscribers too. Additionally, enhance your email communication strategy by incorporating a free email verifier to ensure the accuracy and validity of subscriber email addresses.

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How to grow your email subscriber list using chatbots in 10 steps

These 10 steps to using a chatbot to grow an email list are broken down to their essential parts and only take a few minutes to set up.

Step 1: Create a “start bot”

We’ve navigated to the “Facebook page welcomer” section in Customers.ai on the screenshot below.

Here are the messages that will be sent to users who go to your Facebook page and click on the “send message” button.

At the bottom of the screenshot we can create what we call a “start bot”, which is just a quick conversation using our trusty widgets.

[In this “start bot”, our main goal is going to be to ask users for their email address. Then we’re going to take that email address and send it over to our email provider, MailChimp using Zapier.]

Step 2: Initiate the conversation

Rather than asking for someone’s email address straight away, it’s important to initiate a conversation in a way that interests people and helps to demonstrate to us that they’re our target audience.

If they respond to our initial query, they’re going to become a Customers.ai contact (even if they don’t provide their email address as part of the conversation.) , so it’s important to make it engaging.

For this example, the first question we’ll ask is, “Hi there. Are you looking to plan an event?”

(Note: This particular example uses a test Facebook page called “Hosts, Etc.” which is a fictitious event planning service.).

Step 3: Set up your user’s answer options as quick replies

We’ll then set multiple choice answer options for our question. In this case, just “Yes” or “No”, but you can get more creative than that – and creativity fosters engagement!

The two answers that we set up may have different paths that we want to send the contacts down. We’ll create a new path for the “yes” answer for our example.

Step 4: Ask for their email address

This is where we’ll ask for their email. Whenever you’re asking for an email address, what you want to do is, in the “user replies with” field, choose “email”.

This is going to ensure that we’re validating that the user types in a real email address. You should also automatically save the answer as an email attribute in Customers.ai.

To obtain the email address, we’ll comment: “Great. What’s your email address so we can get started?”

As it’s part of a conversation and we don’t lead with the email request, it’s much more likely that the user will respond favourably.

If the user types in “No” this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the end of the conversation. We can still say something like: “Understood. Mind if we ask for your email so we can stay in touch?”

If they then provide their email, make sure you thank them, say when and why you might be in touch and leave a pleasant parting response.

Step 5: Connect your Customers.ai account with your email provider using a Zapier connection

The next thing we have to do is send this data over to MailChimp in our example (or you can send it to a selection of other email providers), via Zapier.

To set that up, we actually want to switch over to the Zapier section of Customers.ai as per the screenshot below.

Here, in the Zapier section, you’re going to see a couple of things. At the top, you’re going to see your API key. (The API key is just something you’re going to plug into Zapier so it knows which Customers.ai user you are.).

You need to copy your Customers.ai API key and enter this in Zapier.

Step 6: Select a connection type

We’ve actually created a selection of Customers.ai Zapier templates, allowing you to quickly and easily set up the connection that’s right for you. You can either select one of these chatbot templates or build the connection that’s right for you inside Zapier.

Inside Zapier the big shiny “Make a Zap” button is what you’re looking for if you’re setting the connection up yourself.

Let’s do this for our example.

If you’ve never used Zapier before, the basic format is every single “Zap” starts with a trigger, and the trigger is going to be the thing that happens that causes the Zap to fire.

When it fires, it’s going to generally do an action for you. (There’s a lot that you can do with Zapier, but for our example, we’re focusing on actions.)

Step 7: Select a trigger in the chatbot dialogue

Now we choose a trigger that fires the connection. In this case, our trigger is going to be when somebody provides us their email address in Customers.ai.

The action is going to be sending that contact over to a MailChimp list.

Under the “When this happens …” headline inside Zapier we select out trigger. In this case it’s the action of an email address being provided to Customers.ai.

At this point in Zapier we can select one of three different options:

1. New Contact
2. New or Updated Contact Attribute.
3. Connection Widget Reached

A ‘New Contact’ is self-explanatory. A ‘ New or Updated Contact Attribute’ keeps a contact in sync, ensuring that your contacts’ attributes are kept up-to-date in your other martech platforms. Finally, ‘Connection Widget Reached’ is triggered every time you put a little widget in your start bot or in your dialogue. We’ll use this one as it happens to be the most popular.

Back in our Customers.ai account we’re going to select “Edit Accounts”. Now we’re going to choose our Facebook page that we want to build the Zap on.

Next you’ll see a pop-up window from Zapier. This is where you need to paste your Customers.ai API key that we copied from Customers.ai.

After that we select “Customised Connection Widget Trigger”.

We’re going to call the trigger name “Emails to MailChimp”. The name is important because it’s also going to be what you select in your connection widget inside Customers.ai.

It would be a good idea to give the same name to your Zap.

Step 8: Test your connection

Under the “Find Data” section Zapier will run a test where it’ll pull in contacts from our Facebook page via Customers.ai.

Let’s select “Test & Continue”.

We can see from this screenshot that the test worked and that the Zap successfully pulled email addresses from 2 of our contacts.

Step 9: Select an action to complete the zap connection

We now have our trigger all set up. Every time a connection widget is reached in Customers.ai, we’re going to do be able to sync our contact’s data with our email list.

Next we need to focus on “actions”.

For our action we need to select the most appropriate action for Customers.ai inside of Zapier. We’re going to select “Add or update a subscriber”.

Next, you’re going to match your fields. This is where you ensure that your contact’s email address gets saved in the correct place in your email provider.

Step 10: Run the final test

After that when you have your action selected and your fields matched up, you need to do a final test to ensure that everything is working as intended.

As well as testing this in Customers.ai, Zapier and your email software provider, you should also test your sequence fully with your Facebook Messenger, just to ensure that the end user receives the experience that you intend to provide.

Once you start to make full use of obtaining email opt-ins directly from chat, you’ll be doubling your list growth in no time!!

7 ways to grow your email list in 2020 using chat marketing automation

Once you’ve got everything up-and-running, you’re bound do want to keep on growing your email list using chatbots.

Here are 7 different ways that you can continue to grow your email list in the year 2020 and beyond using chat…

1) Grow your email list using webchat

You may currently use or are planning to use webchat on your website to answer web visitors’ questions or get them answers fast.

If so, start incorporating “Can we just have your email address in case we get disconnected?” into your conversation to ensure that the communication loop isn’t unexpectedly closed.

2) Incorporate asking for an email at the end of mini-surveys

A wonderful way to engage your audience on chat is to ask them to complete mini-surveys, keeping you top-of-mind and also re-engaging your contacts.

However, at the same time, also use this as an opportunity to obtain more email opt-ins.

3) Register for online and in-person events with a chatbot

If you’re hosting a webinar or an online summit, it’s a great idea to sign people up for events with a chatbot, and send attendees calendar invites or event reminders through the bot as well.

Why not do everything inside of chat, including the sending of calendar links after you ask for the email address?

4) Offer discount coupons to grow your email list

Next, try growing your email list while you give away discount coupons? (i.e. if a chat user demonstrates that they’re interested in receiving a discount coupon, ask them for their email address so that you can send it there.

5) Use a Facebook Comment Guard (Facebook post autoresponder) to capture emails

There are a number of tactics when it comes to how to get email addresses from Facebook.

Using a Facebook Comment Guard is another wonderful way of building an email list using chat. Essentially, this lets you grow your Messenger contacts and grow your email list just by continuing to do what you’re currently doing (sharing great content on social media).

6) Capture emails from click-to-Messenger ad audiences

Click-to-Messenger ads can supercharge your email list growth. Not only will click-to-Messenger ads radically reduce your lead capture cost, but you can also use this paid traffic source as a predictable way to grow your email list.

7) Link to an email capture chatbot from a QR scan code on a business card or sign

We all know that people won’t remember and type in URLs. A great way of sharing a link to your email capture Messenger bot from a physical location is using a QR code generator and then including the QR code on a business card or sign.

Final Thoughts on How to Incorporate Chatbots to Grow Your Email List Fast(er)

There is almost an infinite amount of ways that you can use chat to obtain email addresses and grow your email list fast. The limit is your imagination!

The key is to get started by connecting your chatbot with your email provider.

As soon as you do that, start with these suggestions and then brainstorm further ways of encouraging your chat users to share their email addresses.

Remember, chatbots and email aren’t competitors. They’re 2 very different ways of communicating that complement one another when done well.

We hope that you enjoyed this episode of the Chat Marketing Train! How are you currently growing your email list using chat?

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

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Learn all about NEW 100% Meta-Approved Automation Tools from Customers.ai with a spotlight on features to 10X Instagram & Facebook Engagement and turn social media into a revenue driver for your business.

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Important Next Steps

• Sign up for Customers.ai’s OmniChat free chatbot builder to begin to grow your email list using the power of chat marketing.
• Subscribe to Customers.ai’s Bot Training for Marketers YouTube channel to get notified when new chat marketing tutorials and stories are added each week.
• Want to talk to other chatbot enthusiasts about chatbot marketing? Join Customers.ai Island on Facebook!

The post How to Grow an Email List Fast: 50 Easy & Effective Ways appeared first on Customers.ai.

There’s a 5-minute hack that you can use on your Facebook Page that can result in a flow of free leads. ????

I’m talking about using the “Send Message” button on your Facebook Page and hooking that up to your Customers.ai chatbot.

In this article we’re going to cover how to get more leads from Facebook…

• Overview: Turn your Facebook Page into a lead generation machine!
• Background: How long have we been able to generate Facebook leads through the “Send Message” button?
• How does the “Send Message” button work?
• What would be a good question to ask your users, so that you can provoke more engagement and generate more Facebook leads?
• Can any type of business use the “Send Message” call-to-action to generate leads from their Facebook Page?
• The Facebook Page Welcomer in action: Step-by-step setup in Customers.ai
  • The StartBot editor
  • Designing a conversation
  • Adding the “Quick question” widget
  • Using an email response field
  • Inserting a light-hearted GIF
  • Adding a phone number
  • Testing your sequence

Overview: Turn your Facebook Page into a lead generation machine!

Donkey organic reach for Facebook Pages has left marketers with a challenge to directly draw a return on investment to organic social media activities.

However, it’s possible to get more leads from your Facebook Page with the Send Message button that connects to a lead capturing Facebook bot.

Thanks to Facebook embracing the use of bots and allowing you to add a “Send Message” button as your primary call-to-action on your Facebook page, this provides you with a wonderful new way to generate leads through Facebook, without paying a penny!

And you can use the Facebook Page Welcomer sequence inside of Customers.ai to control the messaging that people receive whenever they click the “Send Message” button on your Facebook Page.

A pre-programmed chatbot dialogue sequence that delights the user and collects lead information is the key when you’re looking to get more leads from Facebook.

After that, you can either add users to other messaging sequences, or you can initiate a live takeover when your users identify their interest in a particular product or service.

Background: How long have we been able to get Facebook leads through the “Send Message” button?

Businesses have had multiple call-to-action options for their Facebook Pages for several years now.

i.e. If you’ve got a Facebook business page (an official Facebook Page as opposed to a personal profile), this means that you can personalise or customise the call-to-action area at the top of the page.

Options include “Book Now”, “Contact Us”, “Send Email” and “Learn More”, giving you an opportunity to direct users to your website, email you or telephone you.

However, in 2016 Facebook announced that they were going to allow developers to build chatbots in the Facebook Messenger platform.

This resulted in the “Send Message” button becoming much more useful as you would now turn it into a method to get leads from Facebook.

Automating the conversation when somebody hits the “Send Message” button on your Facebook Page is powerful, but an even more powerful way to get leads from Facebook now thanks to the Page Welcomer sequence that you can personalise using Customers.ai.

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

Or Register for the Free Replay

Learn all about NEW 100% Meta-Approved Automation Tools from Customers.ai with a spotlight on features to 10X Instagram & Facebook Engagement and turn social media into a revenue driver for your business.

Save my Free Seat!

How does the “Send Message” button work?

When the “Send Message” button is linked to Customers.ai, does that directly initiate the chatbot or does a user have say something after clicking the button before the chatbot is engaged?

If a person clicks a Facebook Page “Send Message” button that is powered by the Customers.ai Page Welcomer, they’ll receive an initial message that’s been set up by you.

Once the user responds to that initial message, they are automatically a lead and you can engage with them.

What YOU can do as a business owner, advertiser or marketer is to help make that conversation very easy to engage with, with something called “quick reply buttons”, so that rather than an open ended question for your initial message, you can say something like, “Would you like to talk to us here?” And then the quick reply is “yes.”

Naturally it’s this psychological thing where rather than letting an open ended question potentially stop a conversation, if you give somebody an easy pass to entry into that conversation to engage, then you’re going to be able to collect the ability to send follow-up messaging and receive a lot of great lead info that Facebook can provide to you as a business.

What would be a good question to ask your users, so that you can provoke more engagement and generate more Facebook leads?

To generate more leads from Facebook, create something clever that ties into your brand, that creates engagement and requires a fairly obvious answer. For something like e-commerce, it might be like, “Get a 10% discount. Would you like to sign-up for our list and get 10% off your next order?”

If you’re targeting a fan page of a sports team, you might ask an obvious Q&A trigger like, “Are the Seahawks your favourite?”

Think about your business in terms of what your obvious engagements are, what ties your audience together or what’s a fun way to get people to sign-up to your list.

You can learn these skills by researching website popups (not website chatbots in this instance), these psychological hooks that marketers use across the other digital marketing channels.

Can any type of business use this “Send Message” call-to-action on their Facebook Page?

There’s a couple of options that Facebook gives in their buttons. One of them is “Book Now” and one of them is the “Send Message” button. You might want to test out which of these performs better for your business because you can also set up appointments through the “Message” button if you have a chatbot connected to it.

Know whether or not your audience is responding to this. Whether you’re actually getting any more appointments and signups. Remember, different calls-to-action might work differently for different businesses. You can test and see which CTA generates the most Facebook leads.

The Facebook Page Welcomer in action: Step-by-step setup in Customers.ai

The Facebook Page Welcomer section inside Customers.ai

You’ll find the Facebook Page Welcomer inside the tools area of your Customers.ai platform, which collects all of the different Facebook specific tools like click to Messenger ads, Facebook post comment guards, and of course this Page Welcomer tool.

As you can see in the screenshot above, we’ve mocked up what it looks like when people will go to your Facebook Page and hit that Send Message button. Here you can create the conversation that follows after they’ve messaged your page.

What we’re going to do is we’re going to create a conversation flow, and then we’ll go ahead and take a look at what that looks like from the Customers.ai Facebook Page.

The StartBot editor

Above, what you’re looking at is called the StartBot editor. There’s two kind of chatbot editors in Customers.ai. One of them is your advanced conversation builder, and simpler one is called the StartBot editor. It is a visual conversation builder that’s easy to get started with.

Already set up is the default message that somebody will get when they hit that send message button on your page.

Right now in our example we have the default set up (see more chatbot examples here), so even if you were to do nothing, even if you were to just hook up your Facebook Page to Customers.ai, anyone who hits that send message button would get this message:

“Hi, {{first name}}, thanks for your interest. In case we get disconnected, can I have your email?”

Then the bot will collect the user’s email. Not only will the bot collect the user’s email, but because we’re using our “user replies with email” button, it will actually pull the user’s Facebook email that’s connected to their Facebook account as a quick-response answer. This is how you can collect emails for leads from Facebook!

Designing a conversation

Let’s go ahead and design a conversation that’s specifically intended to engage people who have found us on Facebook. I like:

“Hi, {{first name}}. Can we send you messages here?”

What we’re doing with this question is making that first engagement super-easy. With Facebook, if somebody is opting into your business sending them messages, that’s a good thing. So we’re just going to collect a little opt-in right here.

I’m going to use the multiple choice answer which gives us the ability to set up quick responses so that I can make an emoji thumbs up here. That keeps it nice and conversational.

The first question that somebody will see when they hit the “send message” button is “Hi, First Name, can we send you messages here?” And then they can respond thumbs up. After that simple sequence we’ve now collected the opt-in to say that it’s okay to send messages to this user.

Let’s follow up and see if we can get them to engage with us by providing us with a Facebook lead for our email list. We can add another couple pieces of dialogue here. I’m going to use the quick question widget which is the same as the widget that we used above.

Adding the “Quick question” widget

“Quick question” and “text” widgets are the two pieces of content that you’re going to probably use the most alongside GIFS and images.

What “quick questions” and “text” messages have in common is that they both just look like a little bit of text. However, what the “quick question” does that the “text” widget does not do is allow somebody to save an answer to their user profile. (This is an attribute that you can use with our audience segmentation tools further down the line.)

Let’s go ahead and add a “quick question”. Let’s ask for that email address because what you can do is sign them up for your email marketing list and from there continue to deepen your relationship with your brand new Facebook lead.

Using an email response field to get leads from Facebook bot convos

Along with being able to send follow up messages with your Facebook Messenger contacts, getting that emails means that you’re now connected on a few different channels. Building that loyalty and affinity with your brand.

I’ve crafted this question that’s going to ask folks if they want to sign up for email updates from Customers.ai and I’m going to make this one an email response.

The user replies with their email – and again this is going to pull the email that the person has signed-up with or connected to their Facebook account. In this case I’m going to save the response so that now it’s going to add this information to their user profile.

At this point we can give the user a little menu of options. We know that they’re interested in updates from us. We’ve also used our email capture chatbot so we can connect this info straight into our other marketing system such as MailChimp or Constant Contact. Remember, if you’re using bots, a Facebook lead integrates to your other business systems!

Inserting a light-hearted GIF

To wrap it up here, we’ll just do a little GIF, and maybe we’ll search for something like a monkey, to be ‘on brand’!

The best practice here would be to send them to some content where they can engage deeper with you or learn a little bit more about you. But we’re just going to wrap it up here with a little GIF and add a link to a phone number, just in case they want to call us.

Adding a phone number

We’ve added the comment “Let us know if you need anything” and the option to give us a call. As you can see, when you use the text widget, you’ve got a few different options for what a button might link to. You just put in the phone number here and hit ‘create’. A lovely, easy way to generate leads through Facebook.

Testing the sequence in Facebook Messenger

It’s key to test what your conversation actually looks like on your Facebook Page. The screenshot above shows us testing the sequence that we’ve just set up.

Let’s go ahead and test the button. The message just popped up and it’s that opening question that we asked. “Hi First Name, can we send you messages here?” And when I tap on the ‘thumbs up’, the next part of the conversation happens…

“Would you like to sign up for Customers.ai’s growth marketing updates? We only send the fire digital marketing hacks each week,” and we should get an email address that populates here.

Yep. It’s pulling our Facebook email address. Go ahead and hit that button to provide the email address, and there’s a little swinging monkey.

“Let us know if you need anything.” If I was on my phone in Messenger hitting that call us button would go ahead and open up the phone call, so it all works perfectly.

Closing thoughts on how to get more leads through Facebook

That is how easy it is to set up the Facebook Page Welcomer and create new leads from everybody who’s messaging you on your Facebook Page from visiting the Facebook Page and hitting that send message button!

We hope that you enjoyed episode 3 of the Chat Marketing Train! Are you currently using a “Send Message” button to create leads from Facebook?

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Important Next Steps

• Sign up for Customers.ai’s OmniChat free chatbot builder to create your own Facebook Messenger, web chat and SMS chatbots that assist businesses in automating FAQs.
• Subscribe to Customers.ai’s Bot Training for Marketers YouTube channel to get notified when new chat marketing tutorials and stories are added each week.
• Want to talk to other chatbot enthusiasts about chatbot marketing? Join Customers.ai Island on Facebook!

The post How to Get More Leads from Facebook for Free Using This 5-Minute Hack appeared first on Customers.ai.

I cover all sorts of growth marketing topics including Facebook Ads, SEO, PPC, chatbots, LinkedIn marketing, social media marketing.

Tens of thousands of marketers have subscribed to my unicorn updates, and you can sign up yourself here.

And now, here are the top 7 articles you read and shared from Customers.ai‘s growth marketing blog in 2018.

#1) RIP Facebook News Feed for Publishers

2018 saw the end of the Facebook News Feed as we knew it. Posts by businesses, brands and media get less visibility than posts by a user’s friends and family connections.

While Facebook Ads weren’t directly affected by the News Feed change, as predicted, the cost of ads rose since businesses, brands and media turned to ads to gain reach on the social network. Read about the news that shook the Facebook marketing world in January 2018.

#2) How to Apply — & Get Approved! — for Facebook Subscription Messaging

Facebook’s chat application is being used more than Facebook’s social network. Businesses and brands can see 10x engagement on Facebook Messenger than Facebook. To tap into the Facebook Messenger engagement well, a business should apply for subscription messaging permission to send free updates to contacts

Learn about the Facebook marketing super power for organic reach – what subscription messaging is and how to apply in two simple steps. And get tips for getting your Facebook bots for business approved for subscription messaging.

#3) How to Build a Chatbot for Facebook Messenger in 5 Minutes

2018 was a milestone year for marketers who started building profit-driving Facebook bots with less than 5 minutes investment time using Customers.ai’s free chatbot builder for Facebook Messenger.

See the four-step guide to getting more sign-ups and sales by building bots that automate lead gen, lead qualification and lead nurturing.

#4) How We Cut the Cost of Lead Acquisition from $150 to $5: A Facebook Messenger Ad Campaign Case Study

The average cost of Facebook Ads is about $3 to $4 per click to a website. If you’ve got the average 4% website conversion rate, then by the math, you’re paying about $200 per lead using traditional Facebook Ads.

That makes Facebook Ads big donkeys — until you learn about this hack that will cut the cost per lead 30X to 50X. See the case study and learn how to set up Facebook Messenger ads with chatbots in this top article from 2018.

#5) 12 Ready-Made Facebook Messenger Chatbots You Can Clone Today

Facebook bot templates were a top request of Facebook marketers in 2018. So we delivered 12 ready-made Messenger chatbots that you can clone for instant bots.

See the foundational elements that make up bots for agencies, real estate pros, lead gen businesses, ecommerce, and 8 other businesses like restaurants, salons and specialty services.

#6) Neil Patel Reveals His Top 7 Growth Marketing Tools for 2019

Neil Patel knows growth. His wizardry with SEO, content, video, and social generate over a million sessions on his site each month.

He shares 7 tools and the key reports within them that give him the data and insight he credits to his success. Some are free, some are paid, and all are critical to marketing in 2019.

Neil’s presentation was part of the Customers.ai virtual summit series, a series of free, online conferences we launched in 2018 to serve up top-flight speakers sharing the secrets to their growth and success. Sign up for the free Facebook Ads Virtual Summit: Advanced Strategies for Facebook Advertising in 2019 on Jan. 24.

#7) 3 Unusual Hacks to Dramatically Up Your LinkedIn Game

LinkedIn is a unicorn social network in that you can still get crazy organic reach if you know what to do. It takes knowing how the LinkedIn algorithm works to surface content and it takes you posting content to a network you invest in growing. Worth it when a single LinkedIn post can generate 800k views!

This post isn’t your usual LinkedIn optimization instructional; it’s got new hacks that work for LinkedIn traffic generation,  like how to get Twitter involved as a testing ground for your LinkedIn posts.

Wishing you crazy happiness and success this year!

Be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys!

Important Next Steps

• Get your free ticket to the Facebook Ads Virtual Summit on Jan .24, 2019 and learn genius ad hacks for the new year!
• Sign up for occasional chatbot marketing and Facebook Messenger news updates via Facebook Messenger.
• Get Customers.ai, Facebook Messenger marketing platform and chatbot builder for FREE.

The post 7 Top Growth Marketing Articles of 2018 appeared first on Customers.ai.

The summit was Customers.ai’s second digital marketing conference, which brought together expert marketers and entrepreneurs.

It had experts from all over the online marketing field sharing their strategies and secrets.

Neil opened the summit with expert tips on how to grow a brand into a unicorn.

He also shared a breakdown of the online marketing tools and Facebook tools he relies on.

Discover how he uses Ubersuggest, Customers.ai, Buzzsumo and more to drive traffic.

1. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a free keyword suggestion tool (created by Neil himself).

It’s good for a lot of things: finding keywords,

Try combining Ubersuggest with Google Search Console.

Identify your most popular keywords in GSC and then take your top keywords and put them into Ubersuggest.

That will show you long-tail variations that are popular.

Modify your content to address these long-tail keywords.

(Don’t just add them in without merit — actually add a section that provides useful content surrounding the long-tail keyword.)

Now you’ll rank for the head term and the associated long-tail phrases.

2. Customers.ai

I was happy, of course, to see my own tool on Neil’s list.

Customers.ai is my free chatbot building software, and Neil captured how powerful they can be.

If you use a Facebook Messenger chatbot to deliver your content, you can earn sky-high engagement.

“The click-through rates are insane: 80% open rates and at least 20% click-through rates — that’s huge,” Neil said.

He also noted how easy it is to get opt-ins and emails using Messenger chatbots, because no one has to put in their name and email address — when someone interacts with you on Messenger, that key data is automatically given to you.

With Messenger, you have a new channel where you can deliver messages that won’t get ignored (or blocked by spam filters).

You can automate and scale the process with a chatbot, which is easy to build and use with Customers.ai.

3. Google Search Console

Getting the most amount of clicks it’s not just about where you rank it’s about creating attractive title tags.

Neil uses Google Search Console is to run SEO split tests on title tags.

By looking at the average CTR within performance inside of Google Search Console, you can identify which keywords you’re ranking for that also have a low CTR.

Since you’re ranking, you already have the impressions — now the goal is to get the clicks with optimized title tags.

Using GSC, Neil tracks which pages get the most clicks, then switches up the title tag, let’s them run for a month, assess their performance and then adjusts accordingly.

4. Ahrefs

Neil uses Ahrefs’ Link Intersect tool to build links.

Put in your website and your competitors, and you’ll quickly see who links to your competition.

If you identify a site that is linking to several of your competitors, but not to your site, there’s a good chance you could get them to link to yours, as well, if you reach out.

Link Intersect gives you a targeted list of people who are receptive to linking to other players within your space.

5. ClickFunnels

As their name suggests, Click Funnels help you create a funnel.

With the costs of Google and Facebook ads rising, the best thing to do is to create a funnel.

A funnel lets you get more upsells, downsells, and cross-sells, and you can create a funnel in minutes.

ClickFunnels lets you create templates and other tools to create one and track your progress.

6. Buzzsumo

One of the things you can do to up your social media game is to generate social shares without ads.

My hack for doing this is using Buzzsumo to find articles similar to my own that are already being shared significantly on Twitter.

From there, I’ll reach out to those people with a quick email with something along the lines of:

I noticed you tweeted one of my favorite blog posts “How to double your search traffic in 30 days” by John Smith. I actually have a content marketing guide that I’m sending out next week. It’s very comprehensive and provides actionable tips.

Wanna heads up when it goes live?

Cheers, Neil Patel

P.S. Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with!

Once they reply, I follow up with a link to the article, and this tactic generates a lot of social shares without any ad spend.

Using Buzzsumo as a starting point to identify people likely to share my content makes all the difference with this strategy.

7. Google Trends

Google loves brands.

Google Trends lets you monitor how your brand is doing.

As your brand increases, so does your search traffic.

That’s why it’s important to stay on top of how your brand is performing in terms of marketing and PR.

Google Trends is helps you monitor that performance.

Now that you know the 7 top growth marketing tools that Neil relies on, try them out for yourself. These tools are all free or have free trial periods you can make use of. Happy marketing!

This article originally appeared in Inc.com on Dec. 12, 2018.

Important Next Steps

• Get Customers.ai, Facebook Messenger marketing platform and chatbot builder, for FREE.
• Sign up for occasional chatbot marketing and Facebook Messenger news updates via Facebook Messenger.
• Download the Facebook Messenger Subscription Messaging Cheat Sheet and get ready to apply for subscription messaging before the Dec. 31, 2018, deadline.

The post Neil Patel Reveals the Top 7 Growth Marketing Tools for 2019 appeared first on Customers.ai.

Me too.

I believe in taking big risks, reaping epic rewards, and constantly adapting my strategies to increase conversions and engage customers.

I’ve experimented with tons of hacks and strategies to rapidly grow both my first company WordStream (which was acquired this year for $150 million) and my new company, Customers.ai.

I’ve been at it for more than a decade, and along the way, I’ve discovered three key principles that make all the difference:

1. Be Somewhat Delusional
2. Find Your Unicorn Growth Hack
3. Make Unicorn Babies

I recently had the privilege of sharing these principles with the massive audience at Web Summit in Lisbon (literally the biggest conference crowd I ever spoke in front of — there were 70,000 attendees!).

Keep reading to take a deep dive into each of these growth marketing strategies, complete with real examples from my own trials and triumphs spanning the last decade.

1. Be Somewhat Delusional

Be somewhat delusional.

There is tremendous power in intentionally projecting a somewhat delusional plan or proposal.

Here, for example, is a screenshot of the actual business plan that I created a decade ago for WordStream.   

It was a crazy plan.

I was basically saying: I’m going to create this business with nothing and we’re going to run this thing up to tens of millions of dollars within just a few years.

And just to give you a sense for how crazy and delusional this plan was, this was all in the middle of a global economic recession.

I had zero prior startup experience, and very little traction in terms of product and customers.

And yet, the plan worked.

WordStream does much more revenues and earnings than I ever modeled in that crazy plan.

And the question is how is that possible?

One of the key things that helped out early on was being delusional.

It paints your whole project with a powerful unicorn filter effect and ends up bringing you employees, partners and investors that truly believe in your vision.

If I pitch you a crazy plan, 99 percent of people are going to look at it, scratch their heads and say “This is crazy. I’m not going to quit my job and join you on this stupid thing.”

And 99 percent of investors will say the same thing.

But one percent of people will look at the plan and be inspired.

And those are the believers — those are the one percent of people that you actually need, and they are the only people that are capable of helping you turn your crazy vision into a reality.

Getting Delusional All Over Again with Customers.ai

I started a new business last year, Customers.ai.

It’s a Facebook Messenger marketing platform that helps businesses create chatbots for free without writing a single line of code.

Since this is my second company, I wanted to be a little bit more ambitious in the delusional projection.

So I just dusted out the old business plan from 10 years ago and created a revenue ramp that generated twice the revenues in half the time.

Delusion Forces Epic Change

Another crazy benefit of this delusional projection is that it actually forces the epic change that is required to be successful.

Let me just give you another example of this.

When I started WordStream, the product that we were offering was basically a glorified keyword research tool.

This business model had a couple of small problems like a very low average selling point and ridiculously high churn.

My original bold plan called for a price point of $1,500 a month per customer and retaining these customers for four years.

The reality fell short by about 30,000%.

Things were not going to plan.

How do you convert this donkey into a unicorn?

You don’t have years to do it, especially if you only have six months of funding in the bank.

I can tell you this with certainty: small, conservative tweaks won’t solve your problems.

A lot of marketers believe that you can fix these kinds of situations by stringing together a bunch of little donkey improvements, like maybe some conversion rate optimization on the buy page or a sales promo or trust buttons or better stock photography.

This will never work.

There’s a huge difference between the big delusional changes and little conservative tweaks.

Little conservative tweaks usually amount to just noise.

Here’s what I have determined to be the reality of A/B testing donkey changes.

The new contender takes an early lead in terms of conversion rate, but over time the contender becomes fatigued and an inversion happens where the winner becomes the loser.

The early lead always disappears, and you’re left where you started.

What you really want to have a better product or a bolder strategy.

How I Turned My Donkey into a Unicorn

Taking my own advice, we embraced this concept of epic change and actually got rid of WordStream’s original keyword research tool that was falling so catastrophically short of our goals.

This was a really difficult decision.

We had spent two or three years building this keyword research tool, and millions of dollars in research and development.

But we forked the code and started building a new thing.

My customers thought I was nuts at the time for engaging in this change, but it was the right decision.

The new idea was to build a pay-per-click management platform.

It was totally the right decision because this new product had the value to sustain higher average selling prices and longer customer lifetime values that were required to meet the original plan.

Let’s say your CEO tells you guys, “Hey, 2019 I need you to double or triple the leads.”

If you’re getting tasked with these crazy suicide missions, then you are better off making epic changes by jumping on entirely new marketing channels rather than making small tweaks to the existing channels that you are engaging in.

That’s exactly how I doubled and tripled the lead volume for my own business.

Every two or three years we would jump on new emerging growth marketing channels, every year or two switching it up a little bit to get a first-mover advantage, and that’s how we made it to unicorn land.

2. Find Your Unicorn Growth Hack

Find your unicorn growth hack.

There is a huge variation in terms of the conversion rates for different offers on the internet.

The average product or service sold on the internet converts at roughly 2.35 percent conversion rates — these are donkeys.

The top 10 percent of products and offers, on the other hand, convert 11.45 percent — or roughly five times better than the donkeys.

How I Hacked WordStream as a PPC Advertising Platform

I’m ashamed to say that even after successfully executing this pivot from a keyword research tool to a pay-per-click advertising platform, I still had a donkey on my hands because I hadn’t (yet) discovered my unicorn growth hack.

Our big offer was a free product trial.

How original: a software product with a free trial.

Just like every other software company, ever.

I spent two years A/B testing our stupid signup page, changing the video, tightening the copy, improving the benefits, increasing or decreasing the size of that form and nothing that I did over two years would ever materially change the outcome.

Until one day I had this crazy epiphany.

Here’s what it was: The people who were signing up for PPC management software are not interested in spending three hours of their lives learning how to use my software.

What they really want to know is whether their advertising budget is being misallocated somehow, or not employed effectively.

With that in mind, I built the AdWords Grader to do just that.

It took three engineers just three months to build the AdWords Grader, and let me tell you, it was a really clever invention.

The software grades your AdWords account and gives you a report to the effect of something like: “Hey Johnny. We looked at your AdWords account and it’s in the worst four percent of AdWords accounts we’ve ever seen in your city in your industry.”

This created a tremendous amount of urgency on the part of the buyer, and in turn, it reduces our sales cycles and improved sales efficiency.

We also made it so that it was really idiot-proof to see the value of this product without having to spend tons of time and energy to learn all the tips and tricks in the tool.

We would also out a villain — part of the report card would say, “You know that agency that’s managing your account? They haven’t logged into the account for four months, and they haven’t really done anything.”

That would really get people pretty worked up.

Guys when I’m talking about finding your unicorn growth hack, I’m not talking about getting a slightly better B2B white paper offering.

I’m talking about finding a truly remarkable, differentiated offer that drives insanely high conversion rates.

We went from a 2 percent conversion rate to a 40 percent demo-to-close rate because our unicorn growth hack was so effective.

We tightened the sales cycle from 30 days to less than 7 days.

This thing was a lead generation bonanza.

Millions of report cards have been generated by customers on their own volition over the last few years.

There were dozens and dozens of venture-backed companies vying for the same Unicorn Hill that I was trying to summit — but we crushed them all because no company could have come close to competing with what they were offering.

So, if your offer is a donkey, try something else.

PR Stunts as Growth Hacks

Another crazy unicorn hack that worked really great for us at WordStream were these insane PR stunts relating to globally trending news events.

Three days before Facebook’s IPO in 2012, I published some research benchmarks showing that Facebook ads were terrible compared to Google ads.

This was such a controversial topic it created its own news cycle.

Tens of thousands of news outlets around the world wrote about my study comparing Google ads to Facebook ads.

It generated literally millions of high-value links to my website — which in turn made the free AdWords grader rank competitively for words like “AdWords,” which is tremendously valuable.

How to Find Your Own Unicorn

You can find your unicorn hack by just looking at the top three percent of your existing campaigns and seeing what three percent is outperforming the rest of your campaigns.

It’s a well-known fact that a small number of your blog content actually produces the majority of your blog traffic.

It’s the same thing with social media.

A few of your social media updates will generate most of the engagement.

It’s also the same thing with email marketing — a few subject lines will generate the most opens and clicks.

Most of the value you create in marketing is coming from a tiny fraction of the campaigns.

So when it comes to finding your unicorn, your unicorn growth hack, look to the past.

It’s probably related to something that did well previously.

Everyone has a unicorn.

No matter how crappy your marketing is, some of it will have done slightly less crappily/

Start there, innovate there.

It’ll be obvious in hindsight.

Take, for example, for my AdWords grader — after we created that, my response was “why didn’t we do this two or three years ago?”

3. Make Unicorn Babies

Once you find your unicorn growth hack, work to replicate that same successful idea.

Remember that crazy keyword research tool that I started up building back in the day that I killed?

Based on the success of the free AdWords grader, I resurrected it and turned it into a free keyword research tool.

We turned it into a free tool that collects emails.

This thing has been used by millions of people every year.

Or, remember that Facebook publicity stunt when they went public?

Two years later Twitter went public.

So three days before the Twitter IPO I did the same silly thing: I came up with a research paper comparing Twitter and Facebook ads saying that Twitter ads were terrible.

This story was so controversial, it generated thousands of press pickup and acquired millions of links (and ranks for valuable terms like “keyword tool”).

It was so predictable.

If something worked in the past, it will probably work again in the future.

This may seem like a pretty obvious statement, but I have found that 95 percent of marketers tend to favor new, unproven ideas over older, proven ideas — and I think it’s totally the wrong way of thinking.

Ready to Find Your Unicorns?

To sum up, making your way to unicorn land is about projecting a bold and somewhat delusional vision to find your unicorn growth marketing hack — and then, after it’s found, making unicorn babies.

There are so many unremarkable companies and so many unremarkable campaigns out there playing it safe with conservative, uninteresting ideas — this is an express ticket to an unremarkable outcome.

Instead of doing this, take a chance, stick your neck out there a little bit, come up with something a little bit more kooky, and be a unicorn in a sea of donkeys.

This article originally appeared in Inc.com on Dec. 4, 2018.

Important Next Steps

• Get Customers.ai, Facebook Messenger marketing platform and chatbot builder, for FREE.
• Sign up for occasional chatbot marketing and Facebook Messenger news updates via Facebook Messenger.
• Download the Facebook Messenger Subscription Messaging Cheat Sheet and get ready to apply for subscription messaging before the Dec. 31, 2018, deadline.

The post 3 Growth Marketing Principles You Need to Create Your Unicorn appeared first on Customers.ai.

unicorn (finance): A unicorn is a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion. The term was coined in 2013 by venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of such successful ventures. (Source)

True story: Customers.ai‘s founder and my boss, Larry Kim, has been obsessed with unicorns at least since I first saw him speak at a search marketing conference in 2010.

There are some people who just get it. They’re ahead of the curve. They see it coming a mile away.

I want to learn from those people. I want to hear everything they share, try it myself and grow.

Not to toot my own horn, but since I joined Customers.ai less than 6 months ago, Larry and I have:

• Increased monthly unique website visitors 3x

• Grown our email list 3x
• Increased our Messenger contacts 1000%

• Grown our user base 50% quarter to quarter!

I share this not because I did anything awesome — although I’m very proud. But because there’s an incredible potential for every marketer to nail numbers you never imagined by learning the magical ways of Freakin’. Geniuses. 

So here’s the deal. If you invest your time in this growth marketing conference online next Thursday, you’ll be leveraging one of those rare professional opportunities to learn the marketing and sales strategies and tools used by the geniuses driving growth at the world’s fastest growing companies.

What You Get from the Growth Marketing Summit

Surbhi from Amazon, Neil from Neil Patel Digital, Joyce from DocuSign, Jeff from Pinterest, Marcela from SEMrush, and Nir, author of “Hooked,” are just a few of the speakers who will share their secrets at the Growth Marketing Virtual Summit.

More than 20 product managers, growth marketers, and CEOs at the fastest growing B2Cs and B2Bs in the world are spilling their secrets. I’ll be there taking notes and planning campaigns for 2019 and beyond. 

I’ll be presenting as well, sharing everything I’ve done in the last 6 months to grow our email list 3x, increase our website traffic 3x, and grow our user base 50% each quarter! I’ll tell you everything I know. This could be the stuff of a startup marketers dream.

This conference is free. 

It’s online.

And there’s nothing stopping you from taking advantage of this front-row seat to unicorn school.

Join me at the Global Growth Marketing Virtual Summit in just one week. The countdown has begun, the anticipation is building and I can’t wait to soak it all in with you.

via GIPHY

Important Next Steps

• ? Get your free ticket to the Growth Marketing Virtual Summit on Nov. 8.
• ? Subscribe to summit updates via Messenger here.

The post Unicorn School in Session: How to Grow Your Business 20%-30% Next Year appeared first on Customers.ai.

This is going to be the FREE conference of the year focused on advanced lead generation strategies proven to radically grow businesses.

The event is designed to share the tools, reveal the strategies and deconstruct the case studies of the fastest growing companies in the world.

And today I’m excited to announce the agenda and incredible new speakers for the Growth Marketing Virtual Summit. These experts are going to teach you:

• How to retool your essential digital channels to drive more leads in 2019
• How to drive bottom-of-funnel results from your blog
• How to drive activation, adoption and retention at scale
• How to align marketing, sales and customer success as the winning formula
• Case studies from astronomical growing businesses including Amazon Web Services, Pinterest, Uber and DocuSign

Get ready for the summit by reviewing the agenda for topics and speakers that you want to see. 

Then mark your calendar for Thursday, November 8 at 10 am Eastern / 7 am Pacific when the live summit starts.

Virtual Growth Marketing Conference Speakers & Sessions

Here’s the agenda — the first half of the day is devoted to B2C businesses and the second half of the day is all B2B:

Neil Patel’s Top 7 Growth Marketing Toolbox Picks for 2019
Keynote: Neil Patel, Neil Patel Digital – 10 am ET / 7 am PT

How to Improve Your Brand and Product with AI-Powered Social Listening
Joie Chat, Linkfluence – 10:30 am ET – 7:30 am PT

Funnel Optimization Growth Lessons from Silicon Valley’s Unicorns
Keynote Panel: B2C Growth with Pinterest & Uber – 11 am ET / 8 am PT

How to Fill Your Funnel with High Quality Leads from Search
Marcela De Vivo, SEMrush – 12 pm ET / 9 am PT

How to Use Consumer Psychology and Neuroscience to Influence Buyers
Nir Eyal, Author of “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” – 12:30 pm ET / 9:30 am PT

5 Non-Obvious, Data-Backed Ways to Get More Leads with Facebook Ads
Massimo Chieruzzi, AdEspresso – 1 pm ET / 10 am PT

Nail a Product Launch Like Alibaba & Amazon Web Services
Surbhi Dangi, Amazon – 1:30 pm ET / 10: 30 am PT

The Winning Growth Formula: Aligning Marketing & Sales
Melissa Matlins, The Muse – 2 pm ET / 11 am PT

Virtual Lunch Break 2:30 pm ET / 11:30 am PT

Top 3 B2B Growth Marketing Lead Generation Hacks
Keynote: Larry Kim, Customers.ai – 3 pm ET / 12 pm PT

The Ultimate B2B Growth Playbook: Everything You Need to Know to Hit Your Numbers in 2019
Panel: B2B Growth SaaStr/DocuSign/HipLead – 4 pm ET / 1 pm PT

Growth Hacking the B2B Big 4: Email, Webinars, Ads & Content Updated for Lead Gen in 2019
Virginia Nussey, Customers.ai – 5 pm ET / 2 pm PT

Achieving 10x Growth: Best Practices for Building an A-Team
Nadya Khoja: Venngage – 5:30 pm ET / 2:30 pm PT

Setting up a Scalable Sales Machine: A Step-by-Step Guide
Ali Tajsekandar, Wishpond – 6 pm ET / 3 pm PT

Incredible Growth-Focused Bonus Sessions 

As a virtual conference, this summit has a secret super power — bonus sessions pre-recorded for the event.

So while these headliners aren’t able to join us live on Nov. 8, they’ve recorded their presentations so we can all access them and their on-point lessons.

The bonus sessions include optimizations for your content, your social and influencer strategy, and mind-blowing playbooks of growth-obsessed CEOs.

​AMA: The CEO’s Playbook For Hiring, Growth Marketing & Growth Channels – Steli Efti

​Why 98% Of Your Blog Visitors Aren’t Taking Action (And How To Make Sure They Do) – Lindsey Morando

​How To 10X Revenue From Influencers & Brand Advocates – Mark Organ

​The 1% Content Strategy: How To Beat 99% of the Content Strategies – Andy Crestodina

​Top Linkedin Growth Hacks for Customer Acquisition in 2019 and Beyond – ​Braulio Medina

We’re honored to host the world’s biggest conference of the year focused on advanced lead generation strategies proven to radically grow businesses.

Please join us from your favorite desktop or mobile device for free, online Nov. 8. Get your free ticket today.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys!

Important next steps:

• Get your free ticket to the Growth Marketing Virtual Summit on Nov. 8.
• Subscribe to my summit updates via Messenger here.

The post ??? Grow Your Business with Proven B2B & B2C Playbooks! New Speakers + Agenda for the World’s Largest, FREE Growth Marketing Conference appeared first on Customers.ai.

We’re thrilled to announce the Customers.ai Growth Marketing Virtual Summit: Advanced Lead Generation Strategies for 2019!

Nov. 8 will be the opportunity of the year to learn the advanced lead gen tactics used by some of the fastest growing B2B and B2C companies — AWS, DocuSign, Uber, Pinterest and more!

✓ It’s FREE for a limited time.
✓ It’s online so you can join from anywhere.
✓ This is the fastest way to advance your marketing performance and your career with advanced growth marketing tactics and strategies from 20+ top experts.

B2C Acquisition and Retention Strategies & Secret Growth Hacks Revealed

✓ Abhishek Kumar, Driver Growth Lead at Uber
✓ Jeff Chang, Growth Tech Lead at Pinterest
✓ Melissa Matlins, VP Marketing at The Muse
✓ Nir Eyal, Author of “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products”
✓ Isaac Rudansky, CEO & Founder, AdVenture Media

Top-flight growth marketing experts are being added all the time.

Opportunities to Win Big at the Growth Marketing Summit

Growth Marketing Virtual Summit attendees will get access to a contest with free software and prizes up for grabs, including a free subscription to Customers.ai Pro.

The Growth Marketing Virtual Summit is the second of three events hosted by Customers.ai focused on the real-life strategies used to scale businesses around the world.

Earlier this year we hosted the Facebook Messenger & Chatbot Marketing Virtual Summit and saw nearly tripled the number of expected attendees. Early next year we’re hosting the Facebook Ads Summit.

Growing your toolbox, skillset and strategy playbook is a must for a high-performing marketer. Join us and an expected 15,000 digital marketers, growth hackers, founders and entrepreneurs for the lead-gen driving online marketing conference of the year!

Admission is FREE for a limited time! Hope to see you at the summit!

Important Next Steps

• Get your FREE ticket to the growth marketing virtual conference happening live Nov. 8.
• Get Customers.ai for FREE. Before the event begins you’ll be ready to learn advanced strategies used to execute lead-driving Facebook Messenger automations.
• Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger updates on the growth marketing conference, like announcing new speakers and contest winners!

The post [Free Virtual Summit] Advanced Lead Generation Strategies for B2B & B2C appeared first on Customers.ai.

Not only because of its unmatched, unprecedented engagement potential.

Facebook Messenger is a new governing body and Messenger is a new medium for customer engagement.

But even though it’s new, there are already battle-tested methods that will help you get maximum engagement on Facebook Messenger.

This week I shared the lessons learned from a million Messenger messages to come away with how to be successful with mass messages to your Messenger contacts — aka chat blasts.

The webinar was part of the Facebook Messenger & Chatbot Marketing Virtual Summit, a day-long online conference with all the experts in the Messenger marketing field.

If you like this session, get on-demand replays of 8 more insight-rich summit sessions featuring speakers like Mari Smith, Larry Kim, Isaac Rudansky, and Dennis Yu, for the low price of an all-access pass. The all-access pass includes 12 months of Customers.ai Pro for unlimited contacts. Deal. Of. The. Year.

I shared by 9-point guide to becoming a master blaster using a Customers.ai free chatbot to reach your Messenger contacts.

You can watch the video replay, and here’s the agenda we cover:

1. Subscription messaging, what it is, and how to get it
2. Fundamentals of signing up subscribers
3. Advanced segmentation pro moves
4. Art of Messenger handbook
5. Engagement hacks
6. It’s nothing totally personal
7. All-time worst chat blasts
8. Sponsored messages for promotional messages
9. How to benchmark your campaigns

Chatbot marketing automation is the most exciting marketing opportunity out there right now.

To-date I’ve sent Messenger chats to millions of people and since this technology is so new, I’m probably one of the few people who has this level of experience!

So I’m demonstrating actual chat blast campaigns and their real-world results. Follow along to learn the top tips for mass messaging success in Messenger.

1. Opening Moves: How to Apply for Subscription Messaging

Before you can get started with how to chat blast, there are a few things you’ll need to understand and do. First, get acquainted with the three messaging types defined by Facebook Messenger.

What Is Facebook Messenger Standard Messaging?

Standard messaging is essentially what we commonly call the 24+1 policy.

There’s a 24-hour window where you can send any type of message after someone sends your bot a message.

These messages can be promotional or non-promotional, and you can send as many as you want.

And it’s important to distinguish between promotional or non-promotional, as that’s where most of Facebook’s restrictions come in.

After the first 24 hours, you can only send one additional message, which is the plus one in the 24+1 equation.

What Is Facebook Messenger Subscription Messaging?

Subscription messaging permissions enable businesses to do chat blasting in an “unlimited” way provided users adhere to restrictions for purpose categories. Or in other words, you can send any messaging of a non-promotional nature.

In order to send subscription messages you have to apply to Facebook for subscription messaging status. And you need to apply as soon as possible because there’s a deadline.

Previously, Customers.ai’s subscription messaging status applied to all users.

After December 31, 2018, Facebook Messenger is requiring subscription messaging status on a page-level.

Page managers can apply for subscription messaging for each page that they manage.

This feature is vital if you want to use the very powerful variety of subscription messaging chat blasts.

Here’s an example chat blast we sent to our subscribers regarding the Facebook Messenger subscription messaging policy update.

It got really incredible responses. 18% of people who opened it, clicked through to the blog post!

So what did we do? The fact that this article is about a news update is one important factor.

You can’t beat critical, need-to-know news. People who are interested in learning more are more likely to click, which we used in the formula to create it.

How do you apply for subscription messaging status?

It’s two pretty easy steps that shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes of your time.

Start by going to your Page > Settings > Messenger Platform > Hit Request for Subscription Messaging.

Then, there are three categories that you can apply for, but the vast majority of brands are going to be applying in the News category. The other two are more geared toward mobile apps that provide user updates like heart rate or upcoming events.

Then, you give a few examples of the chat blasts that you’re going to be sending for your business.

And remember that when you’re applying for subscription messaging, you agree not to send promotional blasts.

It’s crucial that you don’t do this, as it’s outside of Facebook’s rules and we’ve seen warnings about potentially being banned from using this platform.

You should also avoid abusing the non-promotional label and sending promotions anyway. That will end up with your page getting reviewed, which may not be good.

Keep in mind that if you’re not approved, you always have the option to send sponsored messages. You’ll be paying for the messages, but this gives you the ability to send messages of a promotional nature outside of the 24+1 rule.

Quick note, if you don’t get approved for subscription messaging the first time you apply, apply again! We see brands getting approved within two to three tries.

When you create a new chat blast, you tell Customers.ai whether the purpose of the message is promotional or non-promotional.

That’s how you set up a blast, and you won’t have to do anything other than select the best option in the drop-down menu in our platform.

2. Fundamentals of Signing Up Subscribers

When you’re approved for subscription messaging, the next step is to start signing up subscribers.

Basics of Opt-In for Messenger Contacts

You do this by first building a Facebook Messenger opt-in page. On the right, take a look at what Customers.ai’s opt-in page looks like:

I like to use this as a chance to send an opportunity to say yes or no, and usually send a funny GIF if they opt out to keep it light and invite them back later.

Whichever answer they choose, if you use the Quick Question widget in Customers.ai, we will save the attribute they select and then allow you to build a custom audience that you can send hyper-relevant follow-up messaging to later.

Let’s look at a quick example of how this works. In this example, we got a 73% open rate and a 16.4% response rate. That’s pretty awesome!

What did we do right? For one thing, it went to a Customers.ai audience that was opted in and interested in the platform. We matched the content with the message.

And, our CTA was also very enticing and exciting to click on: “Get the secret”! That makes a huge difference in how many people interact.

Basic Opt-Out with Customers.ai Chatbots

So how about the opting-out process? Customers.ai handles all the technical back-end stuff.

All you have to do is let people know in your chat blast that they can unsubscribe by typing “stop”.

The key is to let people know in every subscription-based blast that they can unsubscribe any time.

To that point, here’s another example chat blast that wasn’t so great. The open rate was phenomenal while the response was totally in the garbage.

What’s the disconnect here? Usually, an open rate like that lets you assume that your response will be pretty good.

So there are a few problems here… First of all, the message was sent as many single lines of text. This was in my early days of chat blasting and I basically blew up people’s phones for one blog post. To be avoided!

The other problem was that there was no indication for how to unsubscribe. I didn’t include an explicit “stop to unsubscribe” message.

True story, this very nearly got us banned from Facebook and resulted in our publishing these Facebook Messenger marketing rules.

So take a leaf out of our book and remember to give your audience the power to control the messaging they receive by informing them how they can opt out.

3. Audience Segmentation Pro Moves

Here I’m going to break down how to segment Facebook Messenger contacts into custom audiences and find the exact people that you want to send a message to based on the content of the message.

Audiences are like email marketing lists. You add filters to your contacts, which narrows down your audience significantly.

For example, you can pinpoint whether an audience member came from an opt-in page, your website chatbot, or your Facebook page.

You can also segment based on their input, and layer filters to create a specific audience.

In the example in the webinar, we pinpointed a source, date, and an excluded audience to create a very defined audience.

By combining all of these layers, we were able to build a highly defined audience of new contacts to send a nurturing drip campaign.

With such a highly specific audience, we’re able to match them with a message that will resonate with them.

4. Art of Messenger Handbook: What Facebook Says

Facebook’s actual documentation says to do short messages, and try to separate longer messages into shorter messages. Just remember you don’t want to blow up people’s phones, like in the mistake I showed earlier.

They also say to add color, which is why I love the GIF widget in Customers.ai.

Another rule to think about from Facebook is the “One Free Reply” rule. This says that when someone messages your bot, you can respond. But you can only respond if they message your bot, and you only get one free reply.

This rule applies to the Customers.ai lead magnet, the Comment Guard. Comment Guard delivers an autoresponder from your chatbot when someone comments on your Facebook post.

The One Free Reply rule allows you to send that autoresponder message. They will become a contact if they respond to that autoresponder with a message to your bot.

The key is that someone has to send a message to your bot first. So in your Comment Guard, ask a question and make it clear that someone needs to reply with a word or phrase.

If they do send a reply, they’re messaging your bot and they’ll be added as a new Messenger contact in Customers.ai. This officially starts the 24-hour messaging window (24+1 rule) that you can use to invite them to opt in to your subscription messaging.

In any discussion around Facebook Messenger rules, we have to cover the 24+1 rule. The critical thing to keep in mind is that every new interaction you get on a message is a reset of the 24-hour clock. So when you send a non-promotional message, your window resets if your contact replies.

I recommend that you use this opportunity to invite them to your subscription messaging. Make it exclusive and exciting, offers them the inside track of updates and info.

One more recommendation from Facebook is to introduce yourself to new contacts.

Mitigate confusion of the new connection by sending a nurturing and welcoming drip campaign. 

Give a “handshake” to new contacts and give value with awesome content. This confirmation message or “welcome to the club” is an important start.

Here’s another real-life example of how effective Messenger drip campaigns can be. This example is Larry’s autoresponder sent to new contacts from Larry’s Facebook page.

We give introductions and informs them that they’ll be getting messages about Messenger marketing. It also gives clear opt out messaging. Everything you want to do in an opening message is right here.

5. Engagement Hacks for Open Rate Optimization

Everyone wants to know how to be engaging and interactive when they start to send chat blasts.

Here we’ll look at some engagement hacks that will help you get users to open and read your messages.

To start things off, here’s an example blast, an update of a new blog post about how to get more messenger contacts. Larry sent it to his subscribers, and it got both excellent open and response rates.

The key here was the CTA button. What you include in your CTAs makes a difference in how people respond.

To get results like this, combine the Quick Question widget with an engaging and enticing CTA like “Send me the secrets.”

The Quick Question widget is my personal favorite widget, as they’re low friction and a single click from a user counts as an engagement, restarting that 24-hour clock.

The Quick Question widget also saves as an attribute to your contacts, which allows for audience segmentation.

Another engagement tip is to front-load your drip campaigns when you’re creating them. These are designed to be in quicker succession at first with a rate that slows down.

When you’re building a drip campaign for Facebook Messenger, the best design is the Fibonacci sequence. Every number doubles, gets bigger, so the amount of time passing between each next message is longer.

This sequence emulates the way we text our friends: fast at first and dropping off. It helps your messages feel more natural and optimizes your engagement.

Another of the most effective engagement tips for Facebook Messenger is to watch your language. What I mean by that is to consider how unique this channel is.

You don’t want to just copy and paste your emails or blogs. You want to talk like you’re talking to a friend.

A big way to do this is with emojis:

Emojis are an awesome way to keep things informal and conversational, which helps boost engagement.

You can look up which emojis are going to boost your engagement, and there are even some recent studies that show which emojis are correlated with more clicks.

6. How to Personalize Your Chatbot Messages

You know how your name is the sweetest sound you ever hear? You can create that spark in your Messenger blasts with personalization and customization.

A common question related to chatbot marketing is how to make chatbots personal. In Customers.ai, you can use dynamic parameters to include your audience’s first name just like you would in an email.

And that’s only one of the ways you can customize your messaging. Facebook provides a ton of info when someone opts in, and then you also get information from responses to your messages over time.

There are three flavors of personalization that you can do with Messenger marketing. Flavor one is Messenger system attributes include user name and other basic info.

Flavor two is the custom variables that you create in Customers.ai. You can save these attributes via a Quick Question and forms. These are bits of info that you gather over time which you can use to personalize your responses and messages.

In the example, we’re showing how you can use a survey to build further segmentation based on the replies. This survey creates a customized response and saves the attribute for later use.

And once you’ve created and saved the attributes, you just add it to your later chatbots using the {{ input. The menu will show up, and you can pick from all of the attributes you’ve ever created.

The third and final flavor is to allow Facebook to auto-populate a phone number or email in your form buttons.

This is the same way a browser populates a web form with answers from other forms. It’s going to save people time from not having to fill out info again.

Facebook already has an email address and phone number for all their users, so they can auto-populate a button with that info.

Those are three ways you can personalize your chat blasts and make them even more engaging for your audience.

7. All-Time Worst Blasts: What Not to Do

Now, let’s take a look at some of the mistakes that I’ve made to help prevent your brand from misstepping.

Here’s an example of a blast that did really poorly. The open rate was under 40%, and the response rate was only 6%. Yikes.

Sent to Customers.ai subscriber, it was an invitation to read an article on the rules for Facebook messaging in line with GDPR regulations.

What did we do wrong here? People didn’t like the greeting “hey babe” here.

We got complaints about the bot calling people “babe,” and we took the lesson to heart.

We followed up with a survey to get more data around people’s reaction to the phrase.

It was close to 50/50 on whether people thought it was cool or funny and whether people thought it was not cool.

The takeaway is that casual is good but too casual can backfire.

What’s interesting is that we had a better response rate to the poll as people wanted to chime in. It’s another example of how engaging Messenger marketing with Customers.ai is.

The other big mistake that you’re always going to run into is if you forget to include unsubscribe language in a chat blast. This can lead to lots of complaints and a high block rate.

Facebook recommends that if you want to mitigate this, you should test your messages on a small sample size, and focus on recent messages and subs. But the biggest factor that helps you manage your block rate is to give people control over the messages they receive.

That comes back to the opt-in and unsubscribe options with every blast you send.

8. Sponsored Messages, Messenger’s Skeleton Key

I initially said there were three messaging types, and the third one is the sponsored message.

While it’s nice to get organic engagement, there’s always a time when you need to send a sponsored message for promotional purposes.

You can create this in Facebook Ads Manager, but instead of the Click to Messenger option, you’ll click the Sponsored Messages as your Messages destination.

And this has two huge advantages. First of all, you get an open door to send a message at any time.

And the second great perk is that you’ll get to use all of Facebook Ads targeting abilities on top of your contacts.

You can add on demographics, interests, and other audience defining data points on top of our pre-existent audience. So this means you can send a message to a highly targeted segment of your contacts to get the best results possible.

For example, we pulled the info of how many people in the Facebook audience like cats vs. unicorns. The results were pretty interesting! Over 224 million people like cats, and only 50 million like unicorns.

(I guess a webinar starring cats is a good choice, right? :P)

9. Track Attack: Statistics Central

You’ll want to know where you can get all of the data that tells you if your campaigns are working.

There are two places that everyone can look for to get this data. First up is the one in Customers.ai’s chat blaster.

Every time you create a new chat blast, you’ll be able to see the open rate and response rate. This lets you benchmark campaigns and see what’s working. Just keep in mind that list fatigue does happen, just like with email.

A brand new list may get an 80% open rate, but as things normalize, you’ll typically see it drop to around 50%.

The other place to go for data is Facebook Insights.

This lets you see active conversations, spam reports, and how many blocks you’re getting from a message.

Those are the basic but essential places to go to make sure your messages are performing.

Facebook Messenger’s First Mover Advantage

Big picture time, this is a chance to jump in and leverage Facebook Messenger with first-mover advantage.

Larry built his whole career on being first to a channel, and you have the chance to jump in on something new yourself.

Facebook Ad costs have gone up. Same for search ads. And can you become a Twitter influencer today? You missed that boat.

Just imagine if I shared my space cats presentation 15 years ago! I would probably be selling the icanhascheezburger network for $30 million.

This is the time to start building your audience and your Messenger influence.

Start forging new frontiers with Facebook Messenger marketing, and I will catch you on Messenger!

Don’t forget that this was just one of 9 sessions from the Facebook Messenger & Chatbot Marketing Summit and there are 8 more session replays where this came from. Get all the replays on-demand and a 12-month subscription to Customers.ai Pro!

The post The 9-Point Guide to Chat Blasting Like a Master Blaster appeared first on Customers.ai.

It’s kind of like the days when companies were trying to get people to like their Page, but this number really matters because Messenger contacts have 60-80% open rates.

Today I’m highlighting the top 5 high impact Facebook Messenger hacks and Facebook tools you can use right now to grow your Facebook Messenger contacts. Use these tools to grow your contact list like crazy.

I cover all sorts of growth marketing topics including Facebook Ads, SEO, PPC, chatbots, LinkedIn marketing, Social Media Marketing, etc.

You can sign up for email updates and unicorn updates in Messenger here.

What are messenger ads? 

#5) Connect your website chat to Facebook Messenger

When you use a Facebook Messenger customer chatbot your customers have no wait times to get answers to FAQs.

And you make new contacts who can opt-in to follow-up marketing messages. Bazinga.

See what acting like a Facebook Messenger website customer chatbot is like. Click the “Chat Now” button in the bottom right of this page or any page on Customers.ai and type “webinar”.

#4) Share links to your Facebook Messenger chatbot

Creating a link to any mobile-friendly Facebook Messenger chat page is the easiest thing to do.

Link someone straight to a Messenger chat page like this. 

Share that link anywhere you get eyes, like your email CTAs.

#3) Build landing pages for Facebook Messenger chatbots

Customers.ai landing pages simultaneously grow your campaign leads and your Facebook Messenger contact list.

We built a landing page for my webinar tomorrow, “The Top 10 Facebook Messenger Hacks of All Time – NEW & IMPROVED!” using Customers.ai. Check it out.

#2) Create new contacts using Facebook send-to-Messenger ad campaigns

No one’s using Messages ads in Facebook but it’s a marketer’s secret weapon.

Promote your content while getting new Messenger contacts in Customers.ai.

#1) Use Facebook post autoresponders — now with customizable frequency cap!

There are 3 crazy hacks you can use to grow your Facebook Messenger contacts with a Customers.ai autoresponder.

Better than ever, Comment Guard now features a frequency cap feature.

Set a maximum number of times users can see the Facebook post autoresponder — hourly, daily, weekly — for ultimate automation tuning.

See a comment guard with a 1 hour frequency cap here.

Want more actionable Facebook Messenger marketing tips? Get them sent to your Messenger inbox each week to learn more about how I use Customers.ai’s chatbot tools for maximum engagement.

What are your most successful contact growth tactics?

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Important next steps:

• Get Customers.ai for FREE (non-expiring, UNLIMITED contacts).
• Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing tips via Facebook Messenger.
• Join the Customers.ai group on Facebook and share your ideas and questions.

The post How I Got 1 Million Facebook Messenger Contacts Using Customers.ai appeared first on Customers.ai.

Right after the offer comes the offer landing page.

Unfortunately, too often the landing page has at least four critical problems. It’s:

✗ Often outside of the marketer’s control, when or if it can be launched or updated.
✗ A real clunk-fest on mobile.
✗ Easy for a user to abandon.
✗ Takes a real effort to make the page engaging.

So while we’re totally dependent on them, traditional landing pages are donkeys.

What are messenger ads? 

Today I’m going to show you how to take back the power of landing pages through Facebook Messenger marketing.

Here are some Facebook Messenger templates. 

Customers.ai landing pages are golden, shining unicorns with magical powers!

Sends users to Facebook Messenger.
Enables opt-in to follow-up messaging.
Gives businesses rich customer data you keep!
Always the ultimate in mobile-friendly.
Sends users to a familiar chat interface.
Visual content builder, no coding required!

Customers.ai landing pages for Facebook Messenger give you everything you need from a landing page in an interactive chat interface, while simultaneously growing your contact list.

That’s double the benefits from one landing page.

Introducing Customers.ai Landing Pages for Facebook Messenger Chatbots

Landing pages are the newest addition to the arsenal of lead magnets for your Messenger chatbot.

Lead magnets are ways to connect with more customers in Facebook Messenger. Here are a few chatbot templates.

The lead magnets that come out of the box from Customers.ai are:

• Link URLs
• Facebook Messenger website chat
• Opt-in checkboxes for Facebook Messenger
• Facebook post autoresponders
• Facebook Messenger ads
• Chatbot Builder 
• And introducing, landing pages

Use Customers.ai hosted landing pages to drive more people to your chatbot — a mobile-friendly, conversational, lead-generating interface.

See a Customers.ai landing page for yourself. Visit this Customers.ai landing page and sign up for my webinar next week where I’m sharing 10 new Facebook Messenger marketing tactics for advanced chatbot marketers.

This is how you can build a landing page for your chatbot without coding in Customers.ai.

How to Build a Landing Page to a Facebook Messenger Chatbot

This new feature is easy to implement without any coding. No need to ask for help from others to develop or launch!

Build your own landing page and share it in three quick steps:

1. Set up your chatbot.
2. Create a new landing page.
   • Choose the chatbot the button links to.
   • Upload an image.
   • Write a headline.
   • Insert text copy.
3. Share the link.

Step 1: Set up the chatbot

Use the chatbot builder with drag-and-drop widgets to create the chat page you’re sending visitors to.

I detail building a chatbot in “How to Build a Facebook Messenger Chatbot in 5 Minutes“.

Building a chat page in Customers.ai has a few basic steps:

1. Go to “Pages” in the chatbot builder.
2. Create a group to hold all the pages of this chatbot.
3. Create a new page with a descriptive name.
4. Add content to the page with widgets, like text, images, attribute-saving quick questions and forms, and animated GIFs.
5. Add Q&A keyword triggers for your chatbot if you want to serve this page when someone uses a specific word with your bot.
6. Use the “Test this page” button to send the page to yourself and see how it works.

Then, if you’re sending customer data from Customers.ai to another application, create a connection with Zapier.

Read “How to Do Webinar Sign-ups with a Messenger Chatbot” for exactly how we created the webinar sign-up chatbot with webinar platform integration.

Step 2: Create a Customers.ai landing page

The landing pages builder in Customers.ai will be the easiest landing page creator you’ve ever used.

You just name the page, pick the chatbot you built in Step 1 for the button, upload your image, insert your text, specify the URL slug you want and you’re done.

One more time in slow-mo.

Select “Landing Pages” from MobileMoney lead magnets and click the yellow button to create a “New Landing Page”:

Before you’ve customized the page, the default will look like this:

There are two areas you’ll edit for landing pages: page details and page design.

Within landing page details:

1. Give the page a descriptive name.
2. Customize the link slug for the page. You’ll see this in the landing page URL.
3. Choose the chat page the blue “Learn more in Messenger” button will link to using the page drop-down selector.

You’ll find the landing page URL link here.

After you save your changes, go to the landing page design.

Within landing page design you can:

1. Choose a custom color for the background field.
2. Upload a logo or image for the top of the page.
3. Update the heading text.
4. Customize the body text.

And that’s how you build a Customers.ai landing page that sends people to interact with you on Facebook Messenger. All that’s left to do is share and promote the page with the URL.

See what the finished landing page looks like here.

Clicking the blue button brings the reader to the chatbot to sign up for our best-ever Facebook Messenger marketing webinar.

Step 3: Share the link

The link to this landing page is a URL like any other.

Are you announcing and inviting folks to sign up a webinar like we are?

Are you inviting users to subscribe to newsletter updates in Messenger or email

Are you announcing a special promotion or sale ?

Are you inviting people to take a customer survey?

Never again be dependent on someone else to get your landing page up on the site!

Not only do you have the Customers.ai landing page to share, but you also have control of the landing page, its URL, image assets, copy and conversion elements.

Customers.ai landing pages are the easiest way to send people to interact with you on Messenger.

Give a Facebook Messenger chatbot landing page a spin for yourself. 

Then create your own landing page with Customers.ai and link to it from anywhere.

From emails, ads, social and blog posts, give users the opportunity to sign-up for your offer as well as opt-in to updates from your page.

When you master these advanced marketing moves, you’ll be eating unicorn growth hacks for breakfast.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Important next steps:

• Get Customers.ai for FREE (non-expiring, UNLIMITED contacts).
• Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing tips via Facebook Messenger.
• Join the Customers.ai group on Facebook and share your ideas and questions.

The post How to Do Landing Pages for Chatbots to Simultaneously Grow Your Leads & Facebook Messenger Contact List appeared first on Customers.ai.

We’ve walked through how to do auto-drip campaigns in Facebook Messenger to chat blast an audience in a timed series, nurturing leads from “How do you do?” to “I love you.”

I’ve shared my own personal open rates that show 50% and higher open rates and 10-20% click rates in chat blasts — a 4x to 10x gain in engagement.

Are you and your chat blaster doing the jig on unicorn mountain yet?

Today I’m going to show you my top 9 tips for getting the max engagement from your Facebook Messenger marketing blasts with Customers.ai.

We analyzed 1,000 chat blasts to find the best and worst Facebook Messenger chat blasts — the ones with unicorn open rates, the ones with the most complaints, and the one that almost got us banned!

Interact with the sample bots for each tactic to experience the power of Customers.ai chatbots yourself and prepare to become a master blaster.

Chat Blast Tip 1) Be Clear with the Opt-in

The tips for successful chat blast campaigns might sound familiar.

That’s because chat blasting is like email blasting but instead of designing your blasts in something like MailChimp you build them in Customers.ai.

The first key tactic to mastering chat blasting is to secure opt-in permissions to blast. Make it obvious when someone’s signed up for updates.

The best way to do that is to let them know quickly after contact that they’re in the list with a context appropriate autoresponder.

Experience the easy opt-in process in a Messenger chatbot here.

You should make the opt-in confirmation message a high-value connection by including relevant, useful content.

Definitely let them know what they’re signing up for.

Chat Blast Tip 2) Be Clear with the Opt-out

Just as you want to be clear with opt-in, let people know how to opt out.

Be explicit about how they control receipt of messages with a clear and simple statement in your chat blasts so they can stop the messaging any time.

If you’re subscribed to Customers.ai Messenger updates, you’ll see our opt-out statement in every chat blast and at the beginning of drip campaigns.

What happened when we were new to chat blasting and didn’t think to do this?

We got enough complaints from users who didn’t realize they could stop the messages that we almost got banned from Facebook Messenger.

Customers.ai’s Facebook Messenger marketing rules are here for your perusal.

Let your subscribers know they can unsubscribe at any time.

Include the opt-out statement in each periodic blast as well as in the first blast of a auto-drip sequence.

See how I clearly include the opt-out clause in my chat blasts here.

Chat Blast Tip 3) Combine Quick Questions with the CTA “Show Me the Secrets”

The Quick Question widget quickly becomes the favorite chatbot widget of Customers.ai users.

Why?

• Quick Questions are answered by the user with a button tap or click — low-friction, easy to engage with.
• A user’s click on Quick Question buttons counts as an engagement and resets the 24 hour clock (see Facebook Messenger’s 24+1 Rule).
• Quick Questions save custom attributes to your contacts.
• Custom attributes are used to create audience segments you use to target blasts and auto-drips.

I’ve done a lot of Facebook Messenger ads and the best thing to do is use the QQ to ask obvious questions, like “do you like cookies?” Button says: “Yes.”

Make it easy to engage. Don’t even give two options. Just use a Quick Question with a single answer button.

To experience this bot, add my ad to your news feed for 24 hours and click “Send Message” to get the secrets.

Learn more about Facebook Messenger ad secrets here.

Are you hungry for more secrets?

Chat Blast Tip 4) Front-Load Autoresponders for a Tight-to-Trailing Drip

The next two tips will maximize your engagement in Facebook Messenger drip campaigns.

First, when you’re designing the timeline, use the Fibonacci sequence as inspiration.

You know the Fibonacci sequence, a series of numbers where each next number is double the number before it?

Use the Fibonacci sequence as your cadence — 5 minutes, then 10, then 20, 30, 50, 80, you get it.

Drip a lot of messages in the first 24 hours to adhere to the Facebook Messenger 24+ 1 Rule.

Here’s our new Customers.ai Messenger contact drip campaign timeline:

Notice how it starts off with frequent messages (1 minute, 2 minutes) and tails off?

Try this quick 5-minute drip to see the power of a drip campaign in chat featuring audience segments and timed auto-responders. 

Read all about how to do drip campaigns in Facebook Messenger with Customers.ai here.

If you think about how you chat with people, its a ton of chats back and forth initially which then dies off.

Try to emulate that pattern.

Chat Blast Tip 5) Never Use Quick Question Buttons in Drips in a Tight Sequence

You know how I said Quick Questions are the greatest?

There’s actually a time when you don’t want to use them.

In your drip campaigns, when you have a series of messages coming in a short time-frame, the Quick Question button content will be lost when the next message happens if the user hasn’t engaged yet.

Use the QQ button for periodic chat blasts. Don’t use it for drip campaigns where the time between chat blasts is short, like less than 6 hours.

Here’s the confusion it could cause if you use a QQ during a drip where messages are spaced less than 6 hours apart:

Instead, include your link within the text field or as a button in a Text widget because those don’t disappear.

Chat Blast Tip 6) Don’t Machine-Gun Blast

Here’s another lesson learned the fun way (read: through complaints).

Facebook Messenger suggests sending short messages. You’re designing like natural chat, after all.

But there’s a caveat! Don’t send more than a few chat messages in one blast.

Each chat message is a ping with a notification on the user’s phone.

Notification overload could get you in report territory.

Here’s the message we blasted that helped us see the light!

Fewer messages at one time is better. Don’t blow up their phone.

Chat Blast Tip 7) Use Emojis

Emojis up engagement like no joke!

We find it across channels:

• 25% higher engagement in tweets
• 57% increase in Facebook post likes
• 33% more comments and shares

Which emojis are most effective at increasing engagement and clicks?

Customers.ai’s chat blasts use emojis in text, questions, and within buttons. 

Emojis are just a fun, visual element you can add within the text of your messaging to add surprise, delight and meaning.

Chat Blast Tip 8) Use Dynamic Parameters to Customize Messages

There’s nothing like a personal hello. Even when we know it’s from an automated system, we like to be called by name.

In fact, Facebook suggests you personalize messages with a user’s name in your chatbot messaging.

Customers.ai makes it easy to say “Hi, {{firstname}}!” with dynamic parameters.

In your chatbot builder, refer to a person by name by typing two left-curly-brackets and choosing {{firstname}} from the drop-down of all your customer variables:

{{firstname}} includes the user’s Facebook profile first name in your message.

Now you can start your blasts by greeting your subscribers: “Hi, <first name>!”

That’s what we did in our chat blast announcing a quick game showcasing the ease of chatbot interactions, Monkey or Unicorn. Test it out yourself.

Chat Blast Tip 9) Benchmark Your Chat Blast Results

Remember when I shared my open rate? Be sure you’re benchmarking yours.

Pay attention to your chat blast performance metrics available in the Customers.ai chat blaster.

Benchmark your campaigns and know which blasts are getting the best results and the overall engagement level of your contacts.

When you start marketing to a new list, you can expect 80% read rate and 20% click-through rate.

Like anything there’s fatigue and you’ll see the engagement normalize.

We target a steady state of 50% open rate and 15% response rate.

Speaking of numbers, what’s my number one tip for Facebook Messenger chat blasting?

Grab your free Customers.ai account and just get started.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Important next steps:

• Get Customers.ai for FREE (non-expiring, UNLIMITED contacts).
• Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing tips via Facebook Messenger.
• Join the Customers.ai group on Facebook and share your ideas and questions.

The post 9 Facebook Messenger Chat Blast Tactics for 70%+ Engagement in Customers.ai appeared first on Customers.ai.

You know how to chat blast for unprecedented visibility and engagement.

Now you’re in growth mode, executing tactics to build your Messenger contact list.

You could watch the number of Messenger contacts plod along at the speed of a donkey, user by user over time. Or you could unleash unicorn growth hacks.

Today I’ll show you 2 ways you can convert thousands of email subscribers into Messenger subscribers you can chat blast:

• Link to Messenger in email
• Send to Messenger ads

See this Messenger subscription opt-in page in action and sign up for my updates here.

Create a Messenger Subscription Opt-In Page

First, use the uber-easy chatbot builder to create an opt-in page.

With the bot builder, drag and drop content widgets to build your page with images, text, questions, forms, you get the idea.

Use the Quick Question widget and ask if they want to subscribe:

Use multiple choice buttons to let them confirm their subscription, and importantly, save their subscription status to the contact profile as a custom variable.

It’s the custom attributes that let you segment the list as an audience you can blast later.

Attach each multiple choice answer to the appropriate confirmation pages for “yes” and “no”:

Test the page to see what it looks like in Messenger with the “Send to bot” button. It’ll push this exact chat page to you in Messenger so you can tweak the content, formatting or flow.

When your subscription opt-in page is ready, add keyword triggers that will bring up this page when someone’s looking to sign up for updates:

Your triggers for the subscription sign-up page might include words like:

• Newsletter
• Tips
• Subscribe

Now that you’ve got a page that’s ready to sign up Messenger subscribers, the next step is putting this page in front of people.

Share the Opt-In Page as a Link

How do you convert email contacts to Messenger subscribers?

Link to your Messenger opt-in page from your email, naturally.

There’s a call to action to subscribe to my tips and updates in Messenger in my email updates.

And I list Facebook Messenger in my email signature alongside Twitter and LinkedIn.

How to Create a Link to Messenger

To create a link to a Messenger chat page, go to HTML elements and “Add HTML Element”:

Choose the Link to Messenger option:

Name the link, choose the landing page from the drop-down:

Copy the link and paste it anywhere you’d paste any URL:

Target Your Email Subscribers in Click-to-Messenger Ads

Hack No. 2 for converting your email contacts into Messenger subscribers: Messenger ads laser targeted to your email list.

All you do is:

• Create a custom audience in Facebook Ads Manager made up of your email list.
• Run a Facebook Ad click-to-Messenger campaign with your custom chat page as the landing page.
• Get 100% conversion rate as clicks on your ad send a message to your bot!

How to Create Messenger Ads

Here’s how to run an ad campaign inviting your email mailing list to subscribe to your Messenger mailing list.

Create a custom audience from a customer file:

Use a .csv or .txt file to upload your contacts in bulk or copy and paste customer data. Facebook matches emails and phone numbers to deliver your ad to this custom audience.

In Facebook Ads Manager, create a new campaign with “Messages” as the ad objective:

Select your custom audience of email subscribers when you’re defining the ad targeting:

In Customers.ai, create a Messenger Ad. Name it, pick the landing page from the drop-down, and hit the “Copy” button to save the code to your clipboard.

Back in the Facebook Ads Manager, choose the JSON tab in the message setup screen:

Copy and paste the code you just copied into the JSON field here:

And like that, you’ve created an ad campaign sending email subscribers to your Messenger opt-in page.

Further reading? Explore Facebook’s click-to-Messenger ads documentation.

Remember when we used to send emails with a call to action to “join us on facebook”? Both of these Messenger contact growth hacks are updated versions of that.

Get the same people who signed up for your updates in email onto your Messenger list.

Leverage existing assets to build your list faster.

Unicorns, upward!

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Important next steps:

• Get Customers.ai for FREE (non-expiring, UNLIMITED contacts).
• Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing tips via Facebook Messenger.

The post These Hacks Convert Email Contacts into Facebook Messenger Subscribers You Can Chat Blast appeared first on Customers.ai.

Last week I spoke to Search Engine Journal founding partner Brent Csutoras as a guest of the SEJ Summit #BOSSwebinar series. We reviewed the top 10 Facebook Messenger hacks of all time — GOAT hacks if you will. You can watch the webinar here.

I’d definitely recommend this webinar to get my pro tips for building more and better Facebook Messenger chatbots for your business.

But real quick, why should you care?

Here are 4 reasons why Facebook Messenger marketing with chatbots is the GOAT digital marketing opportunity happening today.

4 Reasons the Time for Facebook Messenger Marketing Is Now

1. There are more daily active users on messaging applications than there are social media users. And yet less than 1% of companies are engaging automatically with messaging users!

BTW, there are 1.3 billion Facebook Messenger users, and the number is growing. Your customers are using messaging, and marketers can reach them there.

2. Facebook Messenger marketing has the best engagement rate of any marketing channel right now.

Facebook Messenger averages 70-80% open rate in the first hour because people are obsessed with their phones. Who knew?

3. Online chat has been around for a while. But Messenger chatbots are better for the customer because you don’t have to wait and better for the business because you don’t have to staff a customer service line with human operators.

Combine chatbot automation with live operator takeover for a true GOAT maneuver.

4. If you’re spending money on mobile PPC ads, you know the pain of high costs per click and low conversion rates.

So consider which of these customer experiences sound better? Send the visitor to a clunky contact form where you might get back to them next week.

Or, use a Facebook Messenger chatbot as your mobile landing page experience; automatically convert them in real-time in a mobile-friendly and engaging format.

Bonus reason to build your first Facebook Messenger chatbot today: Building a chatbot is FREE and easy with Customers.ai. 

Since acquiring ChattyPeople, Customers.ai has even more power to bring your stupid-simple tools for building chatbots.

Check out all 10 game-changing GOAT Facebook Messenger marketing hacks and more in my chat with SEJ. Then sign up for your free Customers.ai chatbot builder and start building.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best unicorn marketing and entrepreneurship growth hacks.

• Sign up to get tips sent to your email.
• And sign up for occasional updates on Facebook Messenger Marketing sent to you in Facebook chat.

The post Top 10 Facebook Messenger Marketing Hacks of All Time: SEJ #BOSSwebinar appeared first on Customers.ai.

What’s so exciting about Facebook post comment auto-responders? Just everything. 

When someone comments on your post, you can chat them directly through Facebook Messenger. 

And you can add them to your Messenger opt-in list so you can message them more.

Using post comment auto-responders is a Facebook Messenger hack that grows your Messenger opt-in list.

This matters because engagement in chat is outperforming email, social and search.

Why Facebook Messenger Is a Big Deal for Marketing

Engagement is the huge but often overlooked opportunity at the heart of digital marketing.

Engagement is email open rates.

Engagement is comments, likes and shares on social.

And engagement is clicks to our site from search.

Now the sad truth is that engagement rates are generally terrible:

• The average email open rate is in the 10-15% range.
• The top search ad might get 7% of clicks.
• Maybe 1% of Facebook followers see Page content in the News Feed.

Talk about a load of donkeys.

It’s not all bad news. There’s some largely uncharted unicorn territory that’s seeing 70-80% engagement. Crazy, right?!

It’s Facebook Messenger Marketing and it gets 10-80x better engagement than email and the Facebook News Feed.

Businesses are using Messenger to reach subscribers with chat blasts, schedule appointments, process orders, send reminders and do customer service.

Today I’m going to show you three easy hacks to grow your Messenger subscription base with an auto-responder chatbot called a Comment Guard.

How to Set Up a Facebook Post Comment Guard

To get started with this Facebook Messenger lead magnet, check out how easy it is to add a Comment Guard to your Facebook post.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Go to “FB Comment Guard” under Lead Magnets and create a new Comment Guard.
2. Give your Comment Guard a helpfully descriptive name and add the text a new contact will see when they comment on your post.
3. Pick the Facebook Messenger chat page a user will go to from there to essentially funnel them through your selected content experience.

We’ve got a quick and simple Customers.ai Comment Guard video tutorial if you want to see how it’s done live. 

And just like that you’ve set up a Facebook Messenger contact list growth marketing hack!

Use one of Customers.ai’s quick-load chatbot templates and these top 3 hacks for getting loads more opt-ins for your effort with a Comment Guard. 

How to Use a Comment Auto-Responder to Grow Your Opt-In List

Hack 1: Share comment-worthy content.

Step 1 is sharing content that provokes comments. Here’s an example.

What’s the ANSWER? ???? pic.twitter.com/S3TcT1Xsua

— Larry Kim (@larrykim) April 12, 2018

This tweet got over 400 comments so I knew it was a unicorn with a shot at getting a bunch of comments on Facebook.

So I made a Facebook post with the same riddle and asked people to guess in the comments.

With the comment-worthy content in place on Facebook, create the auto-responder that sends them the answer.

Go to Customers.ai and under Lead Magnets, create a new Post Comment Guard.

Hack 2: Get them to engage with the bot before you give them the answer.

For people who have never interacted with you in Messenger, send them an auto-responder asking a question they’re likely to reply to.

It doesn’t really matter what you ask. The goal here is to get them to engage.

Once someone messages you in Messenger, they’re opted in to your list.

In my example, someone who hasn’t interacted with the page before gets this message:

Would you like to know the answer to the English vs. Math? Type YES for the explanation!

Now select the Facebook post to hook up to the auto-responder and then create the landing page.

Use an image and text for the answer. Once you’ve got them engaged a little bit, follow-up with a quick question.

You can create different experiences for people depending on their answer.

Go ahead and test it out on my post to see how the comment autoresponder works.

Hack 3: If it’s working, boost the post to your target audience to get a ton more responses and sign-ups.

You know how I like to blast-off unicorns into space with a paid boost.

If a post with Comment Guard is working, shoot that unicorn to the moon to keep your list growing.

With these three unicorn growth hacks you can increase your Facebook Messenger subscriptions.

The value is that when someone engages with your lead magnet, they’re opting in to messaging with you. And now you have a direct line to interact with your customers on a channel that sees up to 80% open rates.

See why you’d want to build your Facebook Messenger opt-in list?

Check out the Comment Guard we just built in action here.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best unicorn marketing and entrepreneurship growth hacks.

Sign up to get tips sent to your email.

And sign up for occasional updates on Facebook Messenger Marketing sent to you in Facebook chat.

The post 3 Stupid Simple Hacks to Grow Your Facebook Messenger Opt-Ins with an Auto-Responder appeared first on Customers.ai.

Today it’s being acquired for $150,000,000 by Gannett. 

Here are my top 4 lessons I learned over the last decade from making a baby unicorn.

1. Project a Bold Vision

I pitched the boldest vision I could possibly imagine at the time –

A $100M marketing software company!

Believers found my vision in time –

Talent and investors who in turn helped make my dream a reality.

You ask, “What could you have done differently?”

I should have projected an even bolder vision

2. Embrace Epic Change

First we made keyword research tools but prices and retention were awful.

Instead of making small tweaks, we pivoted to a selling a PPC management platform.

We changed the entire product.

Big changes = big impact.

3. Find Your Unicorn Growth Hack

My most spectacular growth hack is the AdWords Grader.

We showcase the product by grading AdWords account performance.

It took me and 3 engineers just 4 months to create this.

Yet it made the company a success.

Double down on your unicorn projects. Kill your donkey projects.

4. Make Unicorn Babies

You learn so much when building a startup.

Even when they don’t work out.

Don’t let hard-earned lessons go to waste.

I’m building my next unicorn, Customers.ai – The World’s Best Facebook Messenger Marketing Platform.

It’s that time again. I’m looking for believers. Talent & investor inquiries welcome!

Most startups don’t end with a big IPO or acquisition.

But they’re always an adventure.

And sometimes, can turn out better than you ever imagined.

I hope to make more unicorn babies.

You can too!

Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, we will return to our regularly scheduled Facebook Messenger marketing blog content.

Important Next Steps:

• Sign Up for Customers.ai for FREE (non-expiring, UNLIMITED contacts)
• Watch a Video Demo of Customers.ai
• Sign Up for Facebook Messenger Marketing Tips via Facebook Messenger

The post 4-Point Guide to Manufacturing Startup Unicorn Magic appeared first on Customers.ai.

Why marketers need chatbots

1. More people use messaging apps than social networks, yet hardly any companies are participating in Facebook Messenger marketing.
2. Facebook Messenger marketing also blows away email marketing and Facebook News Feed engagement.
3. Dinosaur, or donkey, live chats that most companies use take forever and need constant staffing. With Facebook Messenger marketing, you can automate customer responses.
4. Mobile conversion rates are pretty low at 1-2%. Get to 80% conversion with chatbot marketing.

See Who Is On Your Site Right Now!

Turn anonymous visitors into genuine contacts.

Try it Free, No Credit Card Required

Get The X-Ray Pixel

Getting Started with Facebook Messenger marketing

Facebook has its own API for building chatbots, but it requires programming.

With Customers.ai, you can build powerful chatbots without any coding, and I give you Facebook Messenger hacks at about 15:00 in the webinar.

You’ll be able to grow your facebook messenger contact list like crazy and blast your Facebook Messenger contacts in seconds by creating audience lists and campaigns within the platform.

It’s like MailChimp in chat.

7 Unicorn Facebook Messenger marketing hacks

There’s so much more that you can do in chat, but my seven top hacks are:

1. Live operator takeover: Take over the conversation at any time!
2. Facebook ads: 3-5x higher conversion rates on your Facebook ads
3. Contact manager: Collect extensive data on all contacts, including name, location and more.
4. Website plugins: Add features like an opt-in checkbox on forms and website popups.
5. Chat blasting: Like email blasting but through chat, so email marketing on steroids!
6. Contact hack: Get user information for all bot users.
7. Q&A: Automatically answer common business questions.

Basically, it’s super easy to build bots and the benefits of Facebook Messenger marketing make it a necessary next step for any marketer at companies of all sizes.

Join Today’s Webinar with Larry Kim!

Or Register for the Free Replay

Learn all about NEW 100% Meta-Approved Automation Tools from Customers.ai with a spotlight on features to 10X Instagram & Facebook Engagement and turn social media into a revenue driver for your business.

Save my Free Seat!

Chatbot Hacks: Next Steps

The post Discover 7 Top Chatbot Hacks in this Facebook Messenger Marketing Tutorial appeared first on Customers.ai.

When you think of the types of super successful start-ups raking in almost a million in revenue, knit socks, scarves and headbands may not be top of mind. Yet one Livermore, California mom has turned her crafty hobby into an $80,000 a month powerhouse.

Alicia Shaffer’s unique perspective and unusual business strategy has certainly contributed to the astonishing success of her business, ThreeBirdNest.

In fact, it’s made her online Etsy store the second-most successful business on the incredibly popular site, with its over 1.9 million active sellers.

Shaffer launched ThreeBirdNest in 2011, when her handcrafted headbands became a local hit. She told Co.Design recently, “I opened an Etsy shop, figuring I’d help pay for my kids’ soccer and dance lessons to supplement the boutique’s sales. I was recovering from the failure of a business I’d run selling baby products–handmade slings, carriers, and blankets.” She’s lost confidence in her entrepreneurial abilities after that business had gone bust during the recession, she said.

From the 90 sales she made in her first few weeks on Etsy, Shaffer has grown her business to an average of 150 orders a day, resulting in $960,000 in annual revenue. She now has a team of 15 sewing moms to help meet the demand for her now 58-product catalog of handcrafted and embellished women’s wear items.

Her experience on Etsy definitely isn’t the norm.

Late in 2013, the online network of crafters released a report that revealed 65% of its sellers make less than $100 a year from their Etsy sales. Eighty-three percent of sellers at that time ran their business alone and of the remaining 17% who had help, only one-quarter had any paid staff. Most had recruited unpaid family and friends to help out.

So just what is about Alicia Shaffer that sets her apart from her fellow Etsy entrepreneurs?

It’s her customer-centricity and social PR prowess.

Sure, a lot of brands pay lip service to stellar customer service, but few nail responsiveness, online user experience and loyalty to the extent ThreeBirdNest has.

Consider this: her company has no advertising budget. None. Yet Shaffer’s business has amassed over 172,000 Facebook fans and almost 13,000 Etsy reviews in approximately 99,000 sales through that platform. She’s also active on Twitter and Pinterest. Her social networks are active not only with product postings, but with conversation and responses to customer inquiries.

Shaffer also understands the power of influencer outreach, pitching her company to friends and industry contacts with blogs. She makes it a priority to ask her followers for input on designs, to find out what they really like and want. Customers receive coupons for their next purchase with each order. Responding to emails is a priority.

Even before she gets a chance to interact with a potential customer, Shaffer carefully considers the user shopping experience and tries to break down potential roadblocks to people discovering and enjoying her products. She’s been quoted as saying, “A huge mistake I see is lots of shop owners list products by the name they’ve given it, like ‘Juicy Frutti Tutti Garland.’ No one’s going to search for that.” Instead, she’s descriptive and uses languages people can understand, but Etsy’s search engine can, as well.

These aren’t crazy things, right? Yet they’re unusual in that small businesses and entrepreneurs are often so busy trying to stay alive, they fail to prioritize user experience and customer service.

It may be difficult to justify your investment in social media and online PR, but Shaffer’s incredible success is proof you should make the effort. She’s learned to think like her customer–this isn’t something people are just born knowing. She’s actively listening and responding to their needs, across platforms, with almost Herculean effort for a sole proprietor.

It’s an unusual strategy, to invest heavily in areas where it’s typically difficult to properly attribute conversions and real revenue, but it’s worked wonders for this knitting California mompreneur.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best Unicorn marketing & entrepreneurship growth hacks:

1. Sign up to have them sent to your email directly
2. Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing news & tips via Facebook Messenger.

Originally posted on Inc.com

The post This Mom Built a Million-Dollar Knitting Online Store with This Weird but Effective Business Strategy appeared first on Customers.ai.

I cover all sorts of Growth Marketing topics including Facebook Ads, SEO, PPC, chatbots, LinkedIn marketing, Social Media Marketing, etc.

Thousands of marketers have subscribed to my daily unicorn updates, and you can sign up yourself here.

#7) Facebook News Feed Armageddon Survival Guide: 6 Loopholes to Stay Alive

RIP Facebook News Feed for Marketers (2004-2018). Here’s what to do next.

#6) The Inverted Unicorn Ad Targeting Strategy that Doubles Facebook Relevance Score

A crazy way to double your click-through rates on Facebook Ads.

#5) Video: My Top 10 Chatbot Marketing Hacks of All Time

Create your own chatbot for Facebook Messenger in just minutes with no coding.

#4) Attention search marketers: ALL keywords are branded keywords!

How to make your “non-branded” keywords perform as though they were “branded” terms.

#3) The Cost of Influencing an Election through Fake News and Facebook Ads is Cheaper than You Think

I set up a fake news site and promoted fake news content. Hilarity ensues.

#2) Three Unusual Hacks to Dramatically Up Your LinkedIn Game

I’m getting gazillions of views from LinkedIn every month. Learn how.

#1) 5 Brilliant Headline Hacks for Crazy High Organic Click-through Rates

Higher CTR = Higher Organic Search Results. Turn your donkeys into unicorns!

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best Unicorn marketing & entrepreneurship growth hacks:

1. Sign up to have them sent to your email directly
2. Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing news & tips via Facebook Messenger.

PS – I’m in Munich, Stockholm and Warsaw this week. If you’re in the area, hope you can stop by!

The post My Top Growth Marketing Hacks of 2018: Facebook Ad Loopholes, Crazy SEO Experiments, Unicorns, Chatbots & More appeared first on Customers.ai.

In today’s blog post I’m doing a deep-dive into the tactical details of how to do chatbot marketing on Facebook Messenger.

In this chatbots tutorial video, I’ll cover:

• How to build a chatbot in 20 minutes with zero coding.
• How to chat blast all your Facebook Messenger contacts with customized chat blasts.
• How to use chatbots for lead generation, appointment booking, content promotion, etc.
• How to train your bot to answer common customer service questions.
• How to grow your list of Facebook Messenger contacts.
• Advanced chatbot strategies and tactics.

Watch it here: 

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best Unicorn marketing & entrepreneurship growth hacks:

1. Sign up to have updates sent to your email directly.
2. Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing news & tips via Facebook Messenger.

The post Video: The Top 10 Chatbot Marketing Hacks of All Time appeared first on Customers.ai.

But, side hustling isn’t always a majestic unicorn full of wonder and opportunity. They are also a lot of work and, just like starting a company, require a substantial amount of time to get off the ground and sustain.

If you’re considering diving into the world of side hustles, here’s what you need to know.

Expanding Your Horizons through Side Hustles

At some point in nearly everyone’s career, you end up at a job that doesn’t make full use of your skills. Maybe you are a software developer who works for a donkey of a company that isn’t interested in embracing the latest technology or would like to branch out into a new programming language. Maybe your a seasoned professional who wants to try your hand at content creation in your niche, allowing you to establish yourself as a thought leader.

Regardless of the precise circumstances, a side hustle gives you the chance to dig in and get your hands dirty in a new arena, and that is very enticing to pros who don’t necessarily want to abandon their current employment arrangement.

Often, you get to pick and choose which gigs you pick up, so you have significantly more control over the direction of your side hustle than you may have in your day-to-day. Plus, it can provide substantially more value than paying for classes as a means of professional development, as those scenarios aren’t always based on the real-world and they can cost you a boatload of cash.

If you want to grow your skills, and get paid for doing it, side hustling might be right for you.

Grow Your Network

Any connection you make while side hustling gives you a chance to expand your network. You’ll enter into discussions with a range of professionals representing their companies, and, if you meet or exceed their expectations, you can likely count on them as a connection.

Since so many jobs (both traditional and gig-oriented) can be found through word-of-mouth, a strong professional network is essential. A side hustle can be a great vehicle for growing yours, giving you access to more opportunities for years to come.

Diversify Your Employment

Nearly everyone has heard why it’s best to diversify your investments, ensuring that, if one thing crashes, you don’t lose everything.

Starting a side hustle can act similarly, giving you the ability to diversify your employment and create a safety net.

No matter how good you are at your job, or how amazing your employer seems, things go wrong (we all remember what happened at Enron, right?). By starting a side hustle, you can give yourself some level of protection against sudden unemployment or other career-related catastrophes.

While a side hustle along might not replace all of your income during extreme situations (though it certainly can, if that’s your goal), it’s usually a lot better to have some money coming in the door than none at all.

Get Paid for Your Side Hustle

By nature, a side hustle involves trading access to your skills for cold hard cash. That means you can supplement your income while doing something that excites you.

There are already a number of platforms available that connect professionals with gigs, like Gigster, Upwork, and WriterAccess. Some are incredibly niche while others support large networks of companies looking for individuals to accomplish specific tasks.

As a bonus, many of the platforms coordinate the payment side of the house, so you don’t have to worry about tasks like invoicing or credit card processing.

Now, you can certainly coordinate things on your own, but you may need to make some investments to get started. For example, if you don’t have invoicing and payment tracking software, then you may need to pony up some funds before you even land your first gig. Luckily, there are a lot of options out there, and some, like QuickBooks, can even be learned for free online.

Should Everyone Have a Side Hustle?

While side hustling represents an exceptional unicorn of an opportunity for many, that doesn’t mean it is right for everyone.

First and foremost, keeping a side hustle up and going is hard work. It takes time, energy, and other resources to accomplish any task you take on, so don’t underestimate this part of the equation.

Plus, you need to make sure that a side hustle doesn’t detract from your primary job. When you are working for your employer, they deserve your full attention (after all, that is what they are paying you for) during your shift. If a side hustle is going to distract you from your obligations, forcing you to discretely try to multitask to keep up, it’s better to say no to joining the gig economy.

Similarly, if your current position is already incredibly demanding, and you feel stretched to the brink more often than not, then adding something else to your plate isn’t a wise move. While a side hustle takes work, it shouldn’t solely represent another stressor in your life. If working more than you already do (even if the tasks intrigues you) would leave you screaming for mercy, back away slowly and only revisit the idea if you’re in a better position to manage a workload increase.

You may also need to consider whether any non-competes your current (or previous, depending on the amount of time has passed) employer has in place. In some cases, your barred from performing certain kinds of work for others for a specific duration, and violating a non-compete carries serious consequences.

Ultimately, side hustles represent great opportunities, but you have to make sure they fit into your life before you take one on. But, if you can jump into the gig economy, it’s certainly worth exploring.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys

Get my very best Unicorn marketing & entrepreneurship growth hacks:

1. Sign up to have them sent to your email directly
2. Sign up for occasional Facebook Messenger Marketing news & tips via Facebook Messenger.

Originally posted on Inc.com

The post Good Reasons to Start (or Not Start) a Side Hustle appeared first on Customers.ai.

I’d like to invite you to my exciting live webinar on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 on The Top 10 Chatbot Marketing Hacks of All Time, where I’ll do a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of building useful Facebook messenger bots.

I’ll talk about various use cases like:

• Sneeky ways to build a HUGE contact list on Facebook Messenger
• How to your Facebook Messenger contacts via chat blasts
• Using Facebook Messenger to Promote Content
• Appointment booking
• Customer service: How to train your bot to answer common questions.
• How to drive people into these messenger funnels
• How to ultimately profit from them.

In 45 mins, you’ll learn:

1. How to Build a Facebook Messenger Bot from Scratch in 15 minutes.
2. How to Get People To Use Your Bot
3. Advanced Strategies engaging with messenger contacts, including blasting chat messages, etc.

You can join me next Wednesday, 14 March at either:

• 9AM EST, or
• 1PM EST

There are over a billion people using Facebook Messenger every day: can your business interact with them automatically, via chat?

I hope to see you there!

Best,

Larry Kim,
CEO, Customers.ai, Inc.

The post Chatbot Marketing Webinar: The Top 10 Chatbot Marketing Hacks of All Time appeared first on Customers.ai.

Here are seven insights from BuzzSumo’s research that can help you create viral facebook videos that will be shared more frequently and attract more likes and comments on Facebook.

1. Video Rules Engagement

When it comes to reaching your audience, video is the way to go. Based on data from April 2017, the average video post caught the attention of 12.05 percent of the total page audience. Photos grabbed 11.63 percent, while links and status updates only captured 7.81 and 4.56 percent respectively.

Even for publishers who reach their core audience through other forms of content (like text articles) on their own sites still see the highest rate of engagement with videos when it comes to their Facebook page.

2. Time to Get Topical

The number one video category (by far) on Facebook is food. In fact, it gets twice the number of average interactions than the second topic on the list, Fashion & Beauty. Rounding out the top five are Animals (Pets), DIY, and Humor.

So, which categories garner the least engagement? The bottom five on the list are Education, Cars, Marketing, Real Estate, and Finance/Stocks.

 

 

(source: Buzzsumo)

3. How Long Will They Watch a Video?

Typically, shorter Facebook videos are more likely to attract attention from viewers than longer ones. The highest rated duration includes clips that fall from 60 to 90 seconds.

After 90 seconds, engagement falls consistently until you reach the 6-minute point, where it remains fairly constant.

But hitting the 31-second mark is especially critical, as videos below 30 seconds performed worse than any other category.

4. What About Facebook Live Feeds?

The popularity of Facebook Live video is growing, with around 20 percent of all Facebook video content coming from the source based on April 2017 data.

Most people interact with live feeds longer than regular videos, with around 15+ minutes being the sweet spot. In fact, the top 10,000 Facebook Live videos came in at an average of about 20 minutes long.

5. Average Number of Interactions

In general, the difference between the average engagement levels for Facebook and Facebook Live videos was fairly small. Traditional videos reach an average audience of 928 while live videos saw 1,043.

But, it’s important to note that users report a higher level of engagement with Live videos, and about 25 percent more comments tend to be left on these when compared to regular clips.

The disparity in the comments could be that Facebook Live may be used for Q&A sessions, with viewers posting questions in the comments section during the event.

6. Emoji Time — Popular Viewer Reactions

After analyzing the most common reactions to Facebook videos, laughter is distinctly number one and love is number two.

Many videos use humor and joy to convey their message, regardless of the selected topic and show that people often want to enjoy themselves when viewing videos.

Facebook Live had different results, with love taking the top spot and sad coming in second.

7. Text Introductions

It appears that, when people are interested in a video, they don’t want a long, written headline.

In fact, the best performing videos average a mere 84 characters, and the median was a shocking 61.

What This All Means for You

If you want to create engaging Facebook and Facebook Live videos, there are a few key takeaways that can help you improve your content.

First, keep your videos short, aiming between 60 and 90 seconds. Your Live videos need to be longer, falling above the 15-minute mark.

When it comes to the intro text, get to the point quickly. Be concise and give users just enough information to entice them to view the clip.

Choose the right topic for your video. When in doubt, how-tos, hacks, and tips often perform well, along with anything that is humorous or inspirational.

Ultimately, you want your content to be shareable. People enjoy telling others about videos that are entertaining or provide value, so keep that as your overall goal when you create your videos.

So, when you’re creating viral facebook videos that full of magic, wonder, and spectacular rainbows, try to make sure it speaks to the masses. That way, you can give your unicorn the biggest chance to be shared with the world.

Originally published in: Inc.com

The post 7 Things You Need to Know about Creating Viral Facebook Videos According to Research appeared first on Customers.ai.