Instagram Bots – How Can They Help You Improve CX

If you are a marketer who has ever tried looking for Instagram bots to automate engagements that could help you make your life easier, we are sure you must have been warned with statements like – “Instagram bots are not credible”, “they are spammy in nature” and that “they don’t yield actual results”. While in the past these statements were true given the kind of Instagram bots available so far were focused on increasing likes, shares and follows with fraudulent activities, the advancement in technology has given birth to a new generation of Instagram bots which can help your business genuinely increase engagement, followership and customer satisfaction by  driving one-on-one  conversations with customers on Instagram, whenever your customers initiate one. Made possible by the official launch of – the Messenger API for Instagram in 2021 from Meta, the new age Instagram bots are going to be the tools of Titans when it comes to crafting a truly engaging customer experience on the channel.

Let’s take a look at what these Instagram bots are and how it can help you improve your customer experience while of course bringing-in efficiency to your marketing and social media processes.

What Is An Instagram Bot, And How Do They Operate?

Bots by definition are an autonomous program on the internet or another network that can interact with systems or users. The Instagram bots which we are talking about here are bots which upgrade the Instagram Direct Messenger of Instagram business accounts with Automation. This makes it possible for brands to interact with customers and users on Instagram at scale, whenever users initiate a conversation with a brand.

With a touch of conversational AI the conversations delivered by these Instagram bots are as seamless as talking to a human and when developed with the vision to build a 360 degree conversational experience, these Instagram Direct Messenger Bots can help brands maintain a personal connect with customers throughout their customer journey on Instagram. Instagram Messenger API is the key that enables brands to develop these bots and with partners like Gupshup – brands can make these bots tailored as per their business, industry and customer requirements.

Note: As a brand it is best practice to stay away from bots which promise to increase likes, shares followers of your Instagram page. Since these bots are deceptive in nature they violate Instagram policies and in the longer run don’t help in attracting genuine customers or followers.

6 Things Instagram DM Bots Can Do To Improve Customer Experience

• Helps you have a 2~way conversation with your customers

  The Instagram Direct Messenger bot empowers your business to have two~way conversations with your customers and users on Instagram. It automates your Instagram DM to send quick replies to messages your users might be sending to your business on the channel, which otherwise would have required a human intervention. Conversations are the building blocks of a successful relationship. With the help from Instagram bots, your business can now have conversations with customers at scale whenever they reach out to you on the channel. The point to note here is that In order to make the conversations healthy for users, the Instagram messenger API allows Instagram bots to engage with customers only when they choose to initiate a conversation. The bot itself won’t be able to send the first message, unless your customers have responded to your brand via story mention/story reply which we will look at in the following points.

  

• Allows you to make conversations richer with rich messaging

  In the age of multimedia, rich messages are crucial for driving higher engagement. The Instagram messenger API therefore enables you to build Instagram bots which helps your brand converse with your customers not only via text messages but also via images, stickers, product templates, carousels etc. This makes the conversations exciting and attractive for your customers. The structured product templates also lures them to buy your product/services.

  

• Helps you reply to Post Comments, Story Mentions & Story Replies with Automation

  As a brand, you might be receiving hundreds of comments and replies on your Instagram posts and stories. And we are sure it must be a struggle for your social media team to keep up with them. Even if the scale is managenle today, you would still want to set some automations for this in the near future. Now with Instagram Messenger API, your brand can develop Instagram bots that can send responses to these comments, story mentions and story replies via your Instagram Direct Messenger. This brings efficiency into the ORM process of your brand. Furthermore, with keyword triggers and Gupshup’s conversational AI and Sentiment Analysis solutions, your Instagram DM bots can send appropriate replies as per the intent of the messaging thereby making the interaction more human-like.

  

• Helps you increase your Return on Ad spends with Click to Chat Instagram Ads

  Once you build an Instagram bot with the Instagram Messenger API, you can integrate it with your Instagram Ads and offer a conversational experience to your target audience right from your Instagram Ads. This enables your customers to see your ads, connect your Instagram bot and check out the details of the product/service being advertised in a conversational manner. The Instagram bot at this stage becomes a personal assistant for your prospect, answering their queries, concerns and nurturing them towards conversion.

  

  Check out our E-book: 6 Ways to Boost Product Discovery via Conversations on Instagram
• Helps your generate leads and Increase sales from Instagram DMs

  Instagram bots are not only good because they automate conversations with your customers and users on Instagram. They also help you close deals by enabling users to buy products and services right from Instagram DMs. They are like your sales force on the channel, who can answer customer queries, recommend solutions/products, collect the details and facilitate placing orders too. With one click payment solutions from Gupshup and 3rd party integrations the process is really seamless for your customers and your team.

  

• Enables you to offer customer support 24*7 on Instagram

  In this digital word, your business is open 24*7. Even when your actual physical store is closed your customers can still go to your Instagram page, interact with it and buy products and services at any hour of the day. Then why shouldn’t your customer support be available on Instagram all the time?

  While it might not be possible for your customer support agents to be available for your customers throughout the day, Instagram bots now help you fill that gap by assisting your customers in the hour of their need. While the bots can be configured to take care of any customer support related queries, any critical queries can be transferred to the agents in real-time once they are available. Gupshup’s social reputation bot solution here comes in very handy, which enables your Instagram bots to raise tickets in your CRM as well, along with many more features.

  

Take Away

Conversations have become the preferred mode of communication for customers. According to a survey conducted by OpenMarket, when given a choice between being able to text versus calling on their mobile phone, a whopping 75% of millennials chose to text over talking. Instagram bots here help brands fulfill this expectation by enabling customers to engage in conversations from post comments, story mentions, story replies and direct messages. This enables brands to not only offer an interactive CX but to scale engagement and returns from Instagram in a very organic fashion. Gupshup, a leading player in the conversational commerce space, has been helping brands get started with customized Instagram bots as per business and industry requirements.

Get your Instagram bot today with Gupshup and automate conversations with your customers on Instagram