How Bots Can Help Grow Your eCommerce Business | Fara Rosenzweig

Matt Edmundson

Well, hello, and welcome to the eCommerce podcast with me, your host, Matt Edmundson, it is great that you could join us, it's great that you're here. Now, whether you are just starting out, or if you're, you know, like me and have been around a while. My goal is to help you grow your e-commerce and digital businesses. Every week, I get to talk to amazing people from the world of digital from the world of e commerce. And I get to ask them all kinds of questions about what they know, and how it's going to help us develop our own online businesses, I kind of try and have the conversation that you would have with them, if you got to sit down with them, you know, for a coffee or something like that. I'm really keen that we dig into their story, and learn the principles that can help us start and grow our own online businesses, you know, and adapt, especially in the crazy world in which we live, right. So if you enjoy the show, if you enjoyed this episode, I would appreciate it. If you are watching the live stream. If you just give us a like or a share, subscribe on YouTube or Facebook. Or if you're listening to the audio podcast, obviously, you know, do that whole rating thing that would be amazing. And tell your friends about it too. Now today, we are asking the question, how can bots help us grow our e-commerce business? And I'm really, really looking forward to this. Oh, yes. I mean, doesn't that sound a bit kind of Well, I don't know, a bit technical, a bit kind of AI, you know, maybe even a bit mystical, a bit of the Black Arts, as they say, Well, this is your chance to find out everything you need to know about chatbots and decide whether they're going to be right for you and your own online business. Manychat is a great platform for all things bought, and their head of content, content, their head of content. You know, when you record these live, you can't go back and change things, but their head of content Fara Rosenzweig is going to join us on the eCommerce podcast to talk about how we can successfully use the bots to tie content campaigns together and how to drive more engagement and sales. Like I say this is just I'm looking forward to this one. And here's another really cool fact about Fara that I really want to get into this. I read it in her bio. Her love for storytelling has earned her an Emmy Award. This is a first for our show, we have an Emmy Award winner I guess you would say on the show. So if you are watching on the live stream, please feel free. Please feel free to, I've lost my ability to talk now. I have no idea what's going on. But please feel free to throw your questions into the comments, grab your notebooks, you're definitely gonna want to take notes as we get into this. But if you can't if you're listening to this in the car or at work or whatever, you will be pleased to note that all of the notes from today's show will be available on our website, just head on over to eCommercepodcast.net/57.

Matt Edmundson

Fara it's great that you could join us really appreciate you being here and taking the time out of your schedule. You are dialling in from a rainy San Francisco is what you told me earlier. Is that right?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, it's finally raining here. So that's great. But it's not sunny California today. It's it's cloudy and rain.

Matt Edmundson

I like that when you say it's finally raining here. This is my daily occurrence in life. And it's always strange to hear people say, Oh, yes, it's raining. Finally we'll do this. Okay. Does it not do that on a regular basis? It's funny what you get used to, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

Fara Rosenzweig

No, here it's a drought. So yeah, yeah, we get rain. Hopefully the drought goes away. We're used to sunshine.

Matt Edmundson

Hey, listen. Now, we said in the intro, and I want to get into this straightaway. You have an Emmy Award? Is that correct?

Fara Rosenzweig

I do I have an Emmy. You found out about it. Um, yeah, I got it, beginning of my career, I worked on a documentary. And I'm fortunate enough to have a great topic to dive into and work with an excellent team that we put together this incredible story about an athlete. And you know, we worked hard and we showed and we received a really prestigious award that I'm very proud of.

Matt Edmundson

So do you actually, on the mantelpiece at home?

Fara Rosenzweig

It's, it's sitting next to my desk at home. I'm not at home today. But yeah, I have it next to me. And it's always a nice reminder of the hard work. The hard work you put in you can you know, it pays off in some way.

Matt Edmundson

So that's awesome. Yeah. And so when people come around to your house, do they actually think it's real? Or do

Fara Rosenzweig

They go, what's that? Like? We didn't know you had an Emmy. And then and then it's usually you know, they grab it and do the thank you speech. You know, I want to thank so and so, so it's pretty, it's pretty funny. People joke that like you should, you know, carry it around with you everywhere you go or put it in the bathroom so people can just like take pictures with it in the bathroom.

Matt Edmundson

Oh, that's amazing. So, I mean, I I'm curious, did you do the whole award ceremony thing? The posh dress? I mean, was that all glitz and glamour?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, I forget, I knew I had. I think it was the year I've been nominated for a few other programmes that I worked on. Um, I think one year I can't remember that was the year where I wore like, my, my junior prom dress or something. It was sitting in my mom's closet, I needed a dress. She shipped it out to me. I still fit in. I was like, I only wore it once. Why not? So I think that was weird. But yeah, you wear a gown, get dolled up, have some nice, had some nice cocktails, drinks. It was great. So it's a nice evening. And it was nice to celebrate with other people who are in the industry doing storytelling, and all specs, I get all types of content that people are creating. So it's nice to be part of that community.

Matt Edmundson

Well, that's I mean, that's amazing. I guess. Are you bored talking about this now is just one of those. We just move on?

Fara Rosenzweig

Well, you know, you do your homework, because I don't really talk about it much. So when people say oh, I see that you have an Emmy Award. It's like, oh, you did your due diligence.

Matt Edmundson

I wish I could take credit for that. But it's the team. I really can't take the credit for that. But that's amazing. I mean, congratulations. That's a heck of a thing. Yeah. So yeah. So have you always had this fascination then with storytelling?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, I have, um, I guess, you know, my mom always told me you're a great writer, you know how to tell stories. And I didn't really believe that until later on. I went to college, studied the industry, film, television, theatre, new media. So I knew I wanted to do something with storytelling. I didn't know exactly what that was, I thought it would be living the Hollywood, LA lifestyle. You know, being in the movie scene. I spent like two months in LA working on projects was like, This is not for me. But I always knew I wanted to do something with storytelling, for sure. So it started at a very young age, I was always writing. And then and in college, I studied it. And it's just ricocheted or domino effect in to where I am today, being in the cool tech space and creating awesome stories there. So it's been a whirlwind. But I enjoy it a lot. And that there's always any topic, there's a story to find a new topic. So yeah, it's exciting.

Matt Edmundson

So you say that you say that any any topic, there's a story to find? How do you go about doing that? I mean, we'll tie this back into eCommerce at some point. But yeah, I mean, there are some general principles here I feel like are important to investigate. How do you how do you go about doing that, in terms of finding the story?

Fara Rosenzweig

Just curiosity, asking questions, you know, I tell people, you know, you can give me a fork, and there's going to be a story in that fork, like the metal is made of, or who made the fork is, what country did it come from, or even the history of a fork? And then once you start asking those questions, then you go down that rabbit hole on you find more topics, more questions and curiosity. So it's just asking the basic questions that we all learn at a very young age that who, what, when, where, why, and add that how in there. So when you find you start asking those questions, and you start getting really interesting information from that, then that's when you pull out more, that's when you start pulling out that story. And you're like, Oh, that's cool. So I'm going to go down that rabbit hole, and I'm going to repeat those questions again, and try to find more information, more fun facts. And eventually you have this huge story that is beyond just the surface level. You know, just it's more than a fork that you eat a salad with it's something completely different. And maybe that story eventually turns into the material made or the the woman who's in the factory, putting stuff in a shipping box and then there's your story, you know, so it just it all depends, but it just that curiosity of I in the story and then letting your imagination kind of go with that too.

Matt Edmundson

Well, and this is great because for me, you know, I'm gonna tie this in nicely with eCommerce now for those who are tuned in thinking, is this a storytelling podcast? Or is this an eCommerce? I found over the years, one of the best things that you can do when it comes to your site. And the one of the best ways that you can differentiate your website, certainly differentiate your products and differentiate your company, is how you tell your story, right? And how you tell the story of that product in a way that engages the customer in a way that they care about, right? Not in the way that you know, you care about, necessarily, but in a way that engages the customer. And some of the best eCommerce websites I've ever seen, have got great stories. And they're telling stories really well behind them. And so this is why I'm intrigued by it, because it just fascinates me this whole topic of storytelling, and the fact that I have an Emmy Award winning storyteller on the show. I wasn't, I wasn't gonna let that one go. Sorry. So how did you get right from that night at the Oscars to head of content at Manychat? I mean, give me the abridged version. It's just kind of like how did that happen?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, you know, is just, as I mentioned, before, I realised I didn't want to be in Hollywood, like, I didn't want to, I wanted to maintain a lifestyle of I want to afford the roof over my head and be able to have food in my fridge and pay rent and be able to provide for a good life. So I realised, maybe being in the film industry was not for me, because the first handful of years you're making crap, you're gonna have to work a handful of jobs just to get by. And I, when I saw when I started in my career, it was before social media, digital media took off. And I saw a trend that there's something there and I need to learn that space, because I can take my craft, and then put it on to a digital platform. And so I just tried to understand the digital world, went back to school, studied it. And it's opened up so many doors, not only for myself, but for other creators, you have Netflix and Amazon now, people can make shows, even on YouTube, people can make stories and be able to share their story without going through all these production companies and getting denied and all that stuff. So I went down that path, that there's something in the digital space, and I'm it. The door was open for me to be in the wellness space as well and creating content. And I was like, Oh, this is a cool career path, I get to work for a really neat tech company, talking about fitness and healthy living, and then also doing storytelling. And I get to meet really cool athletes, like Olympian runners, that Olympic runners, doing interviews with them. And I was like, there's no way I would have been able to do this, if I, you know, went down the original path idea I had. So that's what started me in this direction. And I love the tech space. I love being around people that are very innovative. And so my career has just kept me going in this on this path. And so that's where I'm in where I'm at now, it's pretty, I guess, I want to say it's pretty cool. I've met some really great people. I get to take different stories from different companies and help them share that to the world. And then at the end of the day, at the same time, help other people just figure out how I craft a story? How do I do this? So it's neat. And then I'm also learning different technologies and stuff. But there's, I don't think I would ever been able to learn all this tech stuff. If I stayed with my original idea of I'm gonna work on a movie set.

Matt Edmundson

Well, you never know. I mean, you never know. You never know. It's intriguing. So what so you're now the head of content ManyChat. And for those that aren't familiar with ManyChat, just give us a brief explanation of what ManyChat is.

Fara Rosenzweig

Sure. So Manychat is a chat marketing platform that helps what we're doing is we're helping business owners create conversations with their audiences through automation. So it's really just instantly connecting with someone and then engaging and creating it in an automated way so that the business owner can still go on and run their business without being bogged down by answering emails or anything like that. So, we're trying to humanise the bot so that a shopper feels like they're actually getting that true shopping experience in a digital in a digital widget type thing.

Matt Edmundson

So yeah. And your role there at ManyChat is your head of content, right? So what do you do specifically for ManyChat? Or do you not know yet? I mean, are we still figuring it out?

Fara Rosenzweig

We get to tell stories. We provide all the great content, articles, videos, imagery, that just that is the ManyChat story and we provide that out to the world. So one of my favourite parts about the job is that I get to meet our customers, and learn about their success stories, and then interview them and find the inspiration that, you know, from their story. And then I get to share that story with the world. And that's and we do it in different, you know, blog articles, or we do it in like on live Facebook, live chat, fireside chats. We also do it in different videos, too. So it's neat. One, one person. One of my favourite stories is there was a woman who she was this brilliant scientist, kind of we joke with her like, oh, you're a mad scientist, but she had this very prestigious career where she was in a lab, doing all this science research and all that stuff. And then just one day, she was like, I was sick of it. I was working six days a week, not with my family, and I wanted to change. So she was trying to find something to do. She found like digital ads and eventually found ManyChat and she said that that was the end of it. She didn't have to be in the lab anymore. She, she said she wrote her boss a sympathy card, and said, like, thank you, I'm out. Like, that's the end of tech thing. And it was like to help them grieve with the loss of her and she parted ways. She started her own agency. And she's been, you know, she took off. She runs her own business now and helps other people helps her clients have successful businesses by building bots. And I think like, that is so cool. You, you took your own career in your hands, and you have the flexibility to spend time with your family. And here's this woman that was this brilliant scientist, and she just was done with it. And she wanted to have run her own business and have have a better work life balance. So like those type of stories are really inspirational to me. Interesting. Yeah.

Matt Edmundson

Yeah. reminds me a little bit a slight side-track here, but it reminds me a little bit of one of the ladies that works in our team. There's a lady called Jen, right. And Jen works for us in the company. And one of the things that I've discovered over the years for it is when I need to hire people, if it's a part time role, mums who are returning back to work, you know, they've taken a few years out of the workforce, they've had a few kids that are now looking to get back into it. These are the most amazing people to hire, right? If anyone's looking for people to hire, go and find yourself a mom who's wanting to get back to work, right? There's a whole bunch of reasons why I think they're amazing. But they're just amazing. And so Jen starts working for us, and she's starting to do a little bit of marketing, and so on and so forth. Anyway, one day, we, you know, one of the products that we sell on one of our websites is beauty products. And I can't remember how it happened. I just remember watching Jen, or listening to Jen being able to pronounce the ingredients on the back of the skincare bottle, right? This is not normal human behaviour. If you've. Yeah, yeah, you've got it. I can't pronounce those things, right. And so Jen is like, this is whatever this is. And I'm like, how are you doing that? Anyway, it turns out Jen has a PhD in biochemistry or something like that. And she's like, one of the cleverest people on the planet. And here she is, you know, in our office doing amazing things. And you kind of like, this is totally cool. And, you know, she's still part of the team. And yeah, the mad scientist that was very much Jen. And still is in a lot of respects. So this lady that you're talking about, she quits her job as a scientist, she sets up an agency doing chatbots for people, and then you get to interview her and find out her story, right. Which I think is a fantastic job. I mean, I can see why you like it, and I can see why you're smiling. And what are some of the things then that if we're going to emulate the success of using chatbots right, let's let's get into chatbots a little bit. I guess. What are some of the latest? What are some of the lessons? The Mad Science lady has learned? Right? If I can put it that way? What are some of the things that we need to appropriate for our business? I guess, where do we start?

Fara Rosenzweig

Right. So she, you know, her story was meant to help people get the inspiration to start their business. And so she gave us advice to all of our agency experts, or those even thinking about starting their own business or even for eCommerce, people, owners who are starting out, it's what you need to do. And she said, you just have to test things out. She said that, like her first customer, or client, excuse me was, um, I believe a Mexican restaurant, she was like, I'll just do digital ads for free for you for free. Like, I just need to test things out. And it's just to really believe in yourself her advice was, believe in yourself, test things out and know that the bots are going to make your work your world a lot easier, because it's going to work for you eventually. So that's, those were the main key takeaways that she shared with us to let others know and for, like eCommerce owners that are starting their business. She's she just is like, her advice was just just do it. Because you have so many other things on your plate, that why not use a bot. It's not it's, it's more affordable than maybe hiring someone on your team to answer emails or customer service calls or anything like that. So everything's automated. And most of the time, when you're starting a business out, you don't have the funding to do everything. You can't hire people to help you run the business. So why not use the tools that can help you be effective? And so that was her big takeaway to to those that are trying to figure out do I use a bot? Do I not? How do I start my business? She was like, just go out there and try it. Put like, a few dollars in your ads and watch the leads come in and watch your business grow. I was like seems like a simple formula.

Matt Edmundson

Seems like a really sensible formula, actually. And there's a lot of wisdom in that just jump in have a go. I think you're because what you're starting out there actually is with the assumption that bots are good. It's almost like a t-shirt slogan, isn't it, bots are good. And so you know, the technology has been around for a while. There's a lot of success stories out there online. So you know that this technology can work. I guess the challenge then is let's just get started and how do we implement this, you know, for our own business. So. So to be clear, then a bot, as you're talking about it is an automation in messaging to your customer. So the customer is going to contact you via email, or maybe via Facebook Messenger or, you know, all the other methods via SMS or whatever. And you're using technology to automate that response, at least initially, to solve probably 90% of the problems 90% of the questions, and then they're going to use the way I think ManyChat works. Is it kind of uses interactions drilled down to what it is that you need? Have I understood that right?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, pretty much. It's, you know, people come in, let's say a messenger, you're, you get that conversation going. And you as the business owner should know the top 10 questions, common questions that are getting asked, and usually it's maybe like, what, what are your hours, or I need customer support help or tracking my shipment? You know, just common questions, and you set those keywords up. And the cool part is, is with our product, you're creating that sentence, it's not just a generic, we're not providing the generic sentence or statement, you get to write it. So if you're if you like to talk with emojis or if you like to talk with slang and like exclamation marks and however your voice is, you're creating that in this, but essentially, it's just automated so you're not having to answer the same question 20 times because that would get old very quickly.

Matt Edmundson

Yeah, yeah, totally. So this process of automating communication, this was actually gonna be my next voice is how do you get it to stop sounding like a robot right so how do I stop? How do I not hack off the customer who has contacted me through that system going oh, this is an automated system. They don't care about me a bit like you know, the phone systems press one if you want to to press two, or three if this is really annoying you. Yeah, I want to talk to a human. That's that kind of thing. Right? And how do I, how do I make sure that with our bots, we're not creating that same sense of? Well, hacking off the client, really?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah. So, you know, what sets us apart is that you're creating that conversation. So you do have to do a little bit of work before. So instead of saying, hello, you could say, Hey, how's it going? Or? Hey, I'm Matt, I'm in the UK today. It's actually sunny. You know, you are, you could say, Where are you from, you know, you can create whatever conversation starter you want. And then from there, the conversation keeps going, you can offer them buttons, or just based off of the, their answer if you set up your keywords that will trigger the response. So probably like a lot of stuff going over your head right now. But it's very humanised because you're creating the script. So we're part of my job in the content world is to help our users feel comfortable creating that script in that copy so it's, we just say, create your conversation, like you're talking to someone, one of your friends on the phone. So you're not robotic, you're not very stiff, saying hello, how are you? It's Hey, how's it going? Tell me about your day! So we try to encourage people when they're setting up their conversations, to have that voice and make it your own. So a lot of people love putting in gifts and emojis. We encourage it. We're all for it. I like grammar, but I tell people to throw grammar out because that's not how you usually talk.

Matt Edmundson

It's Fara it's music to my ears. Throw the grammar away. Just throw it away. We don't need it.

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, so you know, you, maybe you're maybe you have a couple typos in there. But that's your brand. And that's how you want to have the language. Totally cool. But that's what's going to make, that's what is going to make that conversation not feel like a bot, it's going to feel very human like and you can let people know this is an automated conversation at anytime you want to talk to someone feel free to just say the word like human, and we'll get you in touch with someone as soon as possible. Yeah, so you just you just let them know. But you create a friendly conversation.

Matt Edmundson

Yeah, I think that's super important. I mean, I, my impression is that most people know they're talking to a bot. Right? When they're going through these kind of systems they know people know. And so, yeah, which is fine. You know, it is what it is. And you've got to like what you say like that, use your voice, use your tone, and people generally are okay with that, you know, bring a bit of humour into it, tell a joke, play a video, don't do whatever you want to do. That's your brand voice. I like that. Okay. So. So you say there's a bit of work in setting up the bots, I suppose the work is figuring out what the questions are, and then figuring out how you want to answer them in a way that makes sense for your customers, right?

Fara Rosenzweig

Right. And it's so we provide you know, ways to help you get started, if you ever come into the product, and you're like, what do I do we provide the templates and the resources to help you get started. But what I like to do when I'm creating my own bots, and trying to figure out what I want to say, it's like a script, I go on to my word doc, and I just I write out the story first, you know, so it's, what is the topic someone's coming in, they want to buy shoes. Okay, so what is that story going to look like? They're gonna click get started, or they're gonna say, Hi, I need help, or whatever that initial question is. And it's like, Hey, how's it going? Oh, I see. You want some shoes. You know, think about when at one point when we were allowed to go into stores ... What does that person that what is the sales clerk say when you go into the store, right? So you can treat that you can kind of think about that experience when you're in person shopping. And those questions like, Hi, how's it going? If there's anything you need help with, I'm over here, just holler. So it's a similar experience, like Hey, how's it going? What Can I interest you in today? And you can provide different photos and buttons saying like Shopping for Shoes, t shirts, whatever. And it's like, Sure, no problem. Here you go. We have these, these these. We have, you're able to have a catalogue so they can swipe through the photos. But that's what I tell people when they're getting started. Just write it down, get a piece of paper, think about your experience and write it down on a piece of paper. Then you can copy and paste it into the template that's in our product. But don't be scared. Don't don't let the boxes and the arrows and the dots like, scare you.

Matt Edmundson

Yeah, this is gonna be my next question is it is it pretty easy to set this up? Because you we use words like chatbots and bots and AI. And I, I can understand why people are instantly gonna go, that's just beyond me. There's technology that I haven't got a clue about. Is this pretty straightforward that anybody could do it? You know, do you have to be a mad crazy scientist to to be able to use? You know, chatbots? Do you know what I mean?

Fara Rosenzweig

No, I mean, it is, it's very easy to do you just can't be scared in you think about. This is a new technology, a new world for everyone. But think about when email first came out, we were like, wait, what, how do I do email or when text messages first, started on a phone, we had to press like the one letter four times to get the letter we wanted or, you know, it just takes some time to get used to that, that new technology and platform. But if you're if you're not scared to try anything out, you're going to figure it out within an hour or less time. And I mean, you just click around play figure, just, you know, type in your own messages. You don't have to publish anything. But just like, I'm going to type this. I'm going to press this button, see what it goes. I'll press preview. I'll you know, let me just play around first. Because I think back I think back when I first started email, I was like, what is this? People can get a letter from me instantly. This is weird. Oh, it's really cool. But really weird. You know? So it's, it's the same thing and everyone now, it's like you don't have email? What's wrong with you? Same thing with

Matt Edmundson

Or maybe what's right with you?

Fara Rosenzweig

Now, right, when people, when people don't have social media stuff, you're like, wow, that's impressive. But same thing with like Facebook, when it first launched, people were like, what's a status update? What why do we need to tell people I'm eating a sandwich right now, you know, just everything is new. But now, everything is so second language to us when it comes to different technologies. So it's the same with a bot like and don't let the word bot scare you. It's just think of it as like your concierge to help other people get what they need. So it's, I wouldn't be scared, just be open minded to testing out new technology, and not be scared of just creating different conversations in the platform. And probably like under an hour, you have like 20 different conversations going on. You know, like, when I say different conversations, like different flows, you've created so many different scenarios at that point, because you've played around with so many different things. But it's, it's really easy, because it's not there's no coding, everything is colour coded. It's very pretty. You're like, Oh,

Matt Edmundson

That's one of the key sales points, right? It is very pretty with a little checkmark next to it on the website. I like that. That's great. So it's, it's pretty straightforward, then to get get up and running. It's pretty straightforward to get going. But I guess the next question in my head is, Well, okay, well, should I, right? I'm running an eCommerce business, or I'm starting an eCommerce business? Should I be really thinking about chatbots, I get the benefit in terms of automated communication. But I can hear in a lot of people's heads going, it's just another thing that I've got to learn, I've got to understand, I'm too busy trying to get the business running, or we've just started and when you know, so what out what else is, is? What else should I be thinking about? Why, what else should I What else is there to persuade me if that makes sense? So this is a good idea?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, that's a great question. So immediately, I had like 20 different thoughts come through my head. But my first question is, well, what does your time mean to you? Do you want to spend three, four hours in the evening time answering really easy questions like, what time are you open? Or, like, just common questions like, Where do I find my shipping information? You know, you get so many emails, then when you're an owner or business owner, do you have the time? Do you want to spend the time answering these common questions? Or would you rather spend your time with your family or friends? Or you know, whatever your hobby is? Or would you rather spend your time on another part of the business? I'd say 99% of the time, people are gonna say, Yeah, I would I dread doing these emails or it's the same thing over and over. Yeah, I would much rather spend the three hours with my family opposed to working, you know, like, so if time equals money. And you could figure out a way to drive in money while you're sleeping or spending time with your family? Doesn't that seem pretty awesome? So that would be my first question is what does your time mean to you? Do you want to spend it doing the tedious tasks? Or do you want to spend it doing something else? Sure. You know, and if your answer is yes, then well, what do you have to lose? Here, it'll take you a little bit of time to set up this bot get, you know, once you log in and play around with stuff, give yourself an hour to set some stuff up. And you know, and then you'll be able to automate the questions that you have a huge list of emails with. My next question to them, if that doesn't persuade someone. Okay, great. How much does it cost you to bring, get someone get a lead, you know, or how much are you spending? What's great about a bot is that you could spend a little bit of money say in Facebook ads, offer a click to messenger link, and it starts the conversation in messenger. And there's an instant response. So it's not click a link, go to a form, fill out the form, wait a day or two because you have to spend a few hours every night going through those forms answering it right. It's that person goes to the link, clicks the link, goes to the messenger starts a conversation. What if they make that purchase right then in there for whatever? Or what if they schedule a consult for your services? Right then in there that just saved you so much time? And you just drove in a sale, right? So to me that that's also the, the the time and cost, right? What are you? What are you losing?

Matt Edmundson

It's a fair point. I remember the first time I ever heard of a bot or ManyChat I, I was I think it's I saw a Facebook ad. I clicked on it to go to the messenger. This was a few years ago, can't remember, maybe five, six years ago, and clicked on it. And it felt like I was in a conversation with the guy running the Facebook page. Turns out he was using the ManyChat system. And at the end of that conversation, just you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I bought his product, right? And it was just like, and I and then I realised what I'd done. And I was like, wow, that's bloody clever that, right? I mean, it's just that that was genius to me, the fact that I could feel like I was having a conversation that I could get my questions answered and before I'd finished the conversation, I'd bought his product. And it was it wasn't a cheap product was like 100 bucks or something, you know, I can't remember the exact figure. And it was really, really clever. And I thought, well, you know, good on you. And I can see how you're, you're hearing phrases a lot now in eCommerce like quiz funnels gentlemen, in other words, we're trying to now build into the website interaction to help the customer feel like they've got some kind of say in what it is that they're doing, other than just clicking navigation links, do you know what I mean, they're kind of engaging in a different way. And I wonder, I mean, I don't know if you've thought about that, maybe, maybe this is just me thinking off the off the plane somewhere, but it seems that every time you interact with one of these chat boxes, like a micro kind of nod, isn't it what they call a micro nod? It's like, it's another engagement from me with your company, which just helps build the whole trust credibility thing.

Fara Rosenzweig

Right. Yeah. It's just like, again, is just keeping that whole conversation going. The whole point is you, well, you want to have the conversation, but you want to build that relationship and that trust and if you're able to personalise it, and you let them know, Hey, this is a bot, but we're just speeding up things. You're building that trust right now. But if the customer is satisfied, they're getting their questions answered right away, or they're having this experience a fun experience, like you've mentioned the quizzes and stuff. They're building that trust, and they're going to make a purchase, they're going to share it with people and it's just going to come back to you with more sales. So I think it's a win win. Yeah, I don't think anyone should be scared to engage with the bots either. Like it's it's pretty fun to see these questions that the creators are coming up with to to to entice you to get you down this rabbit hole and eventually buy something and if you're if anyone's like me, half the time you're buying stuff that you didn't even anticipate to buy it was just like I was going to ask for something else. Oh, I didn't know I bought three pairs of shoes whoops!

Matt Edmundson

You're like the ideal customer. You know what's gonna be happening? People are listening to this show. If they selling shoes on there. Our eCommerce website that I'm gonna reach out to Fara, I'm gonna tell her what my website is, I'm gonna be like sending photos in. You check this dress out for your next Emmy Award winning time, you know, you could use this one. Yeah, we're gonna be getting all kinds of spam emails now. So, so I get that we can use bots for customer service, right? And I an answering very straightforward emails, how would I go about integrating bots into eCommerce? Like, how would I go about integrating them to help me sell products? What are some of the things that you've seen that actually really quite, quite effective there?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, so first of all, just starting a conversation, it's just doesn't have to necessarily be for customer service, just being there to start the conversation with, Hey, how's it going? That's like, step number one, just getting someone into the door, learning about the brand, feeling comfortable, instant connection. So you can just start with that, hey, how's it going, maybe they don't make that purchase, right then and there. But you could do a quick follow up as long as you're within the Facebook rule or messenger rules, you do a follow up, and it's like, hey, just wanted to see how you're doing. If you're interested still in this shirt, or, you know, did you know we have an event, a trunk show coming up? Maybe you're interested, we have this new designer, showcasing some of their new stuff. So it's just like starting the conversation and engagement that way, one of the one of I guess two things that I think is really neat about a bot is that A) if you're doing ads, you can do the click to messenger ads. So you're building leads very quickly and instantly, because you invest a little bit of money into whatever ad on Facebook ads, or Instagram ads, really any type of ad because then you can put a link into the call to action, and it will drive them to the messenger. And so all of a sudden you started instantly a conversation. Oh, so you're interested in let's, let's not use the example shoes. But oh, you're interested in an ebook. Cool. Before we get started, before I hand it over to you, can I just get your phone number and email just in case we get loss of connection, or I want to continue the conversation elsewhere? They and that's your you're capturing their lead information right then and there. And you're giving them the ebook. And it's like, great. Do you mind if we follow up the conversation via text message? Or email? Or do you want to keep the message in messenger, so you're giving the option to the user, they're creating the it's like they're in control of how they want to have that conversation. It's not that they're telling you, I want to keep talking to you, but I want to talk via text messaging, or email or messenger or other chat applications, when at once we're able to work with them. So it's, you're capturing lead, and not only having the conversation messenger, but now you're getting their phone numbers so that you can text them, you know, like, great, we can have a conversation via text message, now, do you mind if I text you about deals? Cool! Great, you know, so you're just it's beyond the click to messenger hot lead, you're now having a conversation on multiple areas. So think about your any of your friends, you have their contact information in a few different ways. You can contact them on WhatsApp Messenger, text message, email. Now this lead, you have all their information. And in it, it wasn't, you didn't have to give them a form to fill out. It's they literally in the click of two buttons gave it to you. And you're like, Great, let's have the conversation somewhere else if you're cool with that, and then you get them to opt in. And for compliance reasons, you need to get them to opt in. But then you have other opportunities. And if anyone's like me, you get a lot of email. And people are just kind of over getting a Deal of the Day emails. So why not send them a text message right there, send a link in there. Hey, 15% off today. Cool. You click the link, you have the link automatically with that 15% off deal and you make a purchase within five seconds. And at all. You're able to nowadays integrate all of your product pages with like stripe or PayPal or Shopify pay Amazon pay Google pay. So really, nowadays, the shopper doesn't even need to get their credit card out. Everything's integrated. So you can do a lot of damage under a few seconds.

Matt Edmundson

You sound like you're talking from experience. So. So you mentioned something there about getting the text message and stuff. In my head, I'm thinking, well, if I did an ad, for example, which was sending people to messenger, and I'm connecting with people via messenger, am I as a company building my messenger list as as like I'm building an email list. And are there any rules that I need to be aware of is it as simple as that, like, I can go get 1000 people to subscribe to my messenger bot, can I just contact those 1000 people, whenever I want to like an account on email?

Fara Rosenzweig

Well, you need to get them to opt in. There are some compliance rules. So you should make sure whatever region you live in, like the US is different than EU. And so you do need to make sure that everything is compliant in whatever region that you're in. But as long as you have them opt in, and you have the option for them to opt out at any time, you're good to go. So I always say, when you start the whatever message you send them, say, like, if you don't want us to contact you, if you want to opt out, just say like no thinks or whatever the key word is opt out anything that you have that keyword in the message, and give them that option. So it builds trust, right? It's like the person knows, okay, if I ever want to exit this relationship that we just built, I can easily push a button and say, No, thanks, bye. And that's fine, no questions asked. So you're giving them the option. And it's, it's building that trust, because everyone wants to have an option to either stay in the conversation or stay or exit the conversation. So it's really that easy. But yeah, you're essentially, it is similar to building an email list, collecting phone numbers, you just have to, you know, not, with email we got used to spamming is a harsh word, but we just got used to sending emails really, whenever we wanted, as long as the person was opted in. With SMS, remember that this is in the palm of their hands most of the time, so you don't want to bombard them. So really think about what type of conversation you want to have via SMS. And if it's is that going to be like the last call message, maybe you sent them a messenger message, you sent them an email. Now your last resort is text message. And maybe that's how you draw them back in. So you have to, you want to think strategically, so you don't scare them. And they're like, Oh, it's this annoying person texting me again, I think we've all have that person, a friend that sends 20 texts in a row, your phone just buzzes all the time, it gets annoying. So you know, think through that you don't want to annoy them and spam them. But it is an opportunity to have either a special deal or to capture them and bring them back in. Another cool thing, there's a company out here that uses text message for activity ideas. And so they captured my contact information. And they said, they text me I think it's like Thursdays, hey, it's gonna be a rainy weekend this weekend. Um, press one, if you want to have a day in and press two, if you want to still explore in the in the rain, press three for something else. So I could press one, and then they send a whole itinerary of things that I can do indoors, like, order takeout from this place, they're gonna have a deal, use this coupon code, new movies being released on Netflix this weekend. And try this cool recipe for brownies. You know, so it's, you could, it's beyond just trying to make a sale, this company that sends these activities, they're building a relationship, they're giving me value. And and then usually, like three weeks after they send me all the stuff then they're like, Oh, we have T shirts, we have this, you know, then they do the upsell type thing. But I've built a relationship with them that they're giving me so much stuff that I'm a valued customer to them because I constantly using their ideas and coupon codes. So they get a little bit of a percentage if they send me to a restaurant. So when you can use that same experience in a messenger format, you know, in a Facebook Messenger conversation, text message conversation. We're on Instagram, we're working with Instagram right now in a beta format. So once that opens up, like our users will be able to do something very similar to that too. So it's it's, I guess what I'm trying to say is, there's a really a lot of different unique ways besides customer service, where you're building conversations building that trust, you're giving them value and giving them a really neat experience.

Matt Edmundson

Yeah, that's awesome. Listen Fara, I, I think I could go all night talking about this. I've got so many questions, but I'm aware that maybe not everyone shares the same willingness to go on about this. And how do people connect with you? How do people reach out to you if they want to get a hold of you if they've got more questions? Because obviously, I can't cover everything in the show. But you know, people may want to know more, what's the best way to reach out to you?

Fara Rosenzweig

Yeah, so all the goods, um, I'm on LinkedIn. So you can contact me on LinkedIn, Instagram, fjrose, contact at ManyChat at manychatHQ on Instagram, ManyChat on Facebook. And those are the best ways to get in touch with us, you know, or chat with our bot, also.

Matt Edmundson

You know, what, I'm gonna challenge the listeners of the show. If you're not, if you've never come across a bot, you're not quite sure, go to mini chat and try that. But because surely, surely, that's got to be a good example of what you can do with a bot, right? Somebody somewhere would have put a little bit of time into that. But no listen, we'll put all of those links that you mentioned Fara in the show notes. So if people want to reach out to you they can of course. It's been an absolute treat to talk to you. And you've sort of reignited my desire and questioning about bots. In fact, I had a conversation with them with some guys yesterday that were talking to me about how do we get this kind of questionnaire thing they wanted on their website, you know, if you're this, and then ask him this question, then ask him this question. I'm like, Well, yeah, you know, we can now solve this with a bot. And so I'm gonna go talk to them about this. I think it'd be very, very good. So listen, I genuinely appreciate it. Thanks for sticking with us through the initial technology issues that we had at the start. We're glad you made it on. It's been thoroughly enjoyable.

Fara Rosenzweig

Thank you for having me. I enjoyed speaking with you.

Matt Edmundson

Well, thank you guys. Very kind. I don't believe you for a minute, but thank you. Listen, let me just where's my, here it is. So Fara, thank you very much. I really appreciate it. And we need to get you back on again at some point I'm there's a whole lot of storytelling questions I'm going to have for you. There's no Yeah, but really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Wasn't Fara fantastic. Now, here's the thing about all of this ManyChat is the company that Fara works for. I was stoked to get her on the show, because we have, like, I think a number of listeners have we we have a ManyChat bot, okay. And our ManyChat bot is not doing what it should be doing. I think it was one of those things that was set up a while ago, and we just forgot about it, right? And then Fara is coming on the show and I'm like, ManyChat, how are we getting on with that? Oh, okay. We're not really doing a whole great deal with that. And so I've kind of gone, yeah, I need to get that working properly. Because I'm like, super inspired by some of the things that Fara's saying. And I can see totally the benefits of it. So that's going to be my conversation with the team tomorrow. If you are regular to the show, you will hear me at the end of each podcast going. I'm going to talk to our team about this tomorrow. I've deliberately scheduled a team meeting the day after we do the podcast because of all the good stuff I get from the guests on the podcast. I just go to the get the team about it to my go right guys, how do we implement this? So we're going to be reviewing our chatbot tomorrow? What about you, if you want to get in touch with for as I'm sure you do. Like I said, all of the contact information will be in the show notes just head on over to eCommercepodcast.net/57. And you can get all of those. My thanks again to Fara, I genuinely really enjoyed that show. And I've I have so many more questions about storytelling. I'm going to we're going to get into the bot thing I'm going to have a few more questions about that so Fara is going to be sick of me very soon. I'm no debt. You know what it's my aim whenever we do these shows, whenever we get a guest to find some real practical nuggets that can help you grow your online business. And for me, the thing that I've taken away is actually when you do these bots, do them in your voice. Do them in your voice. Don't hack off the customer. Don't be automated, you know bland, beige and boring. Just do them in your voice, how you would write them with the emojis and all that sort of stuff that fits with you and your business and just see what happens. Have a go. I mean, why not? Right? Why not? So that's that's our plan tomorrow. If you enjoyed the show as much as I did, then please head on over to iTunes or wherever you listen to your podcast. Do rate it and do give us a you know a thumbs up if You're watching on Facebook or a thumbs up. If you're watching it on YouTube be great. And make sure you subscribe. It would be great to connect with you as we bring these weekly podcast to you. I was just going to say as we bring these weekly podcast to you weekly as we bring these podcasts to you weekly, every week. And we hope you enjoyed we'd love the feedback Actually, I love the comments that we get back from you. And we know so many of you guys enjoy what we're doing. So thank you so much for being with us. As I've said a couple of times and I said it start of the show. All of the notes, links and transcript from today's show will be on our website, eCommercepodcast.net/57 to take you straight to the notes from today with Fara on episode 57. We're asked you there, check out some of the back catalogue and some of the other episodes that we've done. You never know. There could be a whole bunch of amazing stuff for you to listen to and really enjoy. So that's all from me. Thanks for listening. It's been great to connect with you. Great to talk to Fara. Have a safe week. Have a blessed week, wherever you are. And I'll be back again next Thursday with some more guests. All that said, bye for now.