Is Facebook Messenger the New Email? #1: Using Facebook Messenger as a Content Delivery Channel Our demand gen team sends out emails on a regular basis featuring new content offers our audience might be interested in. These content offers are typically gated behind a lead form. We wanted to cut out one of these email touchpoints, so we decided to send the following offer promotion email as a test: We gave readers two options: to submit the form and receive the content immediately and via email -- the traditional way -- or to skip the form and get immediate access to the content in Facebook Messenger instead. Takeaway for marketers: As a content delivery and consumption channel, Facebook Messenger delivers in terms of engagement. #2: Getting Event Attendees to Participate Through Facebook Messenger Have you ever tried to send an email to event attendees with important information? The results for this use case on the day of the event: The raw number of meetings booked isn’t astronomical, but the percentage by enrolled attendees is significantly higher than similar messaging via email. When someone clicked the ad, a bot would ask them the questions usually contained in our form: Once the questions had all been answered, the bot then provided a link to the content within the message. Takeaway for marketers: It might take a little muscle to build a Facebook Messenger bot to collect lead information, but the effort is well worth it. Have you been testing Facebook Messenger in your marketing?
Let’s just come out with it: Email is becoming less effective for marketers. It might not be dead yet, but it’s not exactly the shiny new channel it used to be. Just think about your own inbox — how many marketing emails are you subscribed to that you delete without opening? We thought so.
It was with this in mind that we started experimenting with messenger apps. Facebook Messenger boasts 1.2 billion monthly users — clearly there’s appetite for the channel. Could this be a replacement for email? We decided to find out.
Here are three ways we’ve experimented with using Facebook Messenger instead of email in our marketing, along with early results (Spoiler: Get excited).
#1: Using Facebook Messenger as a Content Delivery Channel
Our demand gen team sends out emails on a regular basis featuring new content offers our audience might be interested in. These content offers are typically gated behind a lead form. After completing the form, the prospect is able to access the content immediately, and we also send an email with a PDF copy attached for easy reference later on.
For those keeping track, email is used twice here: first to promote the offer, second to deliver the content. We wanted to cut out one of these email touchpoints, so we decided to send the following offer promotion email as a test:
We gave readers two options: to submit the form and receive the content immediately and via email — the traditional way — or to skip the form and get immediate access to the content in Facebook Messenger instead. Approximately 20% chose this latter option.
We then sent regular Messenger broadcasts to the people who had opted in, suppressed them from email sends, and studied their behavior.
After four weeks, the engagement metrics of the two channels showed a clear winner.
The Facebook Messenger broadcasts had an average open rate of 80% and average CTR of 13%. That was 242% and 609% better than our email controls, respectively.
Takeaway for marketers: As a content delivery and consumption channel, Facebook Messenger delivers in terms of engagement.
#2: Getting Event Attendees to Participate Through Facebook Messenger
Have you ever tried to send an email to event attendees with important information? If so, I’m guessing you didn’t see great open or clickthrough rates. When people attend a conference or another type of in-person event, they’re typically off email and in learning and networking mode.
But they do have their phones on them — to check the agenda, answer…
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