How to Set Chatbot Push Messages in Chatbot Creator

Product updates, promotional materials, inspirational content – you can send all of these in push notifications on Messenger to keep clients up to date and increase engagement. I can’t stress enough on how important this is. If you are reading this article you are probably already aware of this. I will show you how to create push notifications in the Chatbot Creator platform – how to add messages, how to set a target group and what kind of materials can work for your users. Ready?

What is a push notification – a quick intro for beginners

Let’s briefly explain what a push notification is and how it works. 

A push notification is a message sent to chatbot users on Messenger from a chatbot platform like Chatbot Creator. It works as an email newsletter but is sent in the communicator. With a significant difference – it’s much more effective. The proof is statistics showing a much higher Open Rate and CTR of chatbot pushes in comparison to newsletter emails. 

What’s more, it enables to build a different type of relationship with your audience. To let you keep them updated on important facts in a more dialogue-like and closer style. 

How to set a push notification in Chatbot Creator – 6 simple steps

In Chatbot Creator you set push notification in just one place – the Broadcast panel. Here you create your message, add interactive materials, choose a type of message and your target group.

We are taking you on a small journey to show you 6 simple steps that will guide you in how to send your very own pushletter with Chatbot Creator. Come along 🙂 

Step 1: Set a Type of Push Notification in Chatbot Creator

The first step is choosing what kind of message you want to create. You can choose from: 

• instant messages that are sent immediately after saving →  you can use this if you want to inform people about something at the same time;
• scheduled messages – here we can determine which day and at what time they should be sent → it works great if you want to plan messages in advance;
• cyclic messages: for example, if the message should be sent once a week or twice a week at a specific time → you can use this to automate your cyclic shipment; like product updates, or reminders
• event-triggered message – this is it sent after a specific time after the first interaction. For example, 3 hours after the first integration with chatbot → the system automates your messages so you reach chatbot users after a conversation; you can ask them, for example, if they are satisfied with chatbot responses or ask them if they want to get regular notifications;

Step 2: Choose How you want to Create your Message in Chatbot Creator

Now you should decide if you want to create your push from scratch – add completely different elements, graphics etc. Or perhaps you want to make it out of something that is already within the chatbot’s structure? 

What’s the difference?

• Push created from a blank message

You can create a message in a block – as you do in the “build a bot” bookmark, with available elements.

And it works exactly the same as creating a bot – you add messages with buttons, images, actions, quick responses and whatever you please.

• Push created from a block

The second option when you create a push message is “create from the block”. This is really useful and time-saving when you want to add a block that already exists in the chatbot’s structure. Like a carousel which takes more time to create.

You choose from blocks that you create in a chatbot structure. You can duplicate them, go back to them and modify them however you want.

Step 3: Set a Sending Time of Push Messages in Chatbot

If you’ve chosen planned, cyclic or event-triggered message, you can set all the time settings on the left upper corner of the Broadcast dashboard. If you change your mind, you can go back here and change it anytime – at least until your message is sent.

• You have planned push notification where you set the date and time.
• You also have the cyclical option. Here you can choose that, for example, messages are sent on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12. 
• When it’s event triggered – it is to be set after a specific time after the first interaction. For example- 3 hours after the first integration.

Step 4: Choose a Type of Campaign sent in Chatbot Creator

Messenger has increasingly more restrictive rules when it comes to sending push messages to users. That’s why you can see the window called type of campaign in the Chatbot Creator platform. You can choose if you want to send free non-promotional messages or those promotional messages that are paid.

In short, the following message types are available: 

1) Promotional pushes 

At present, since Facebook introduced Messenger Ads, these types of promotional messages have to be sent from the Ad Manager.

2) “Follow up” pushes

Facebook gives chatbot makers the option to contact chatbot users, even those who didn’t sign up for a subscription, up to 24 hours + 1 from the last interaction (so-called 24+1 rule). 

This means that during this time you have the right to send any kind of message, even a promotional one. 

 It’s really useful if we have a campaign that brought a lot of people to our chatbot. We can choose to follow up to turn them into our chatbot subscribers 

3) Subscription campaigns

This is the basic, and the most popular, type of Messenger push message. Subscribers are users who agreed to receive push notifications from your chatbot and are saved in chatbot variables. (If you want to know how to set variables, scroll down and read our “Quick reminder”). Here you also choose a specific type of notification that is to be sent to your customers. You set them according to the content you want to set. Due to the Facebook recommendation, your possibilities in the Chatbot Creator platform are:

• Non-promotional subscriptions
  
• Alerts
• Participation in the event
• Match
• Application status
• User’s account
• Shopping
• Finances
• Delivery of the order
• Reservations
• Answer
• Visits and meetings
• Live sport, games
• Transport
• Changes in chatbot
• Ticket events

Step 5: Set Recipients of Push Notifications in Chatbot Creator

And now, the final step. You decide, who will receive the message from your chatbot. This is a place where you will finally use our user data boxes called variables. 

•  You can use variables which are in the platform by default and are gathered automatically by the system.  Like {{platform}}=fb which groups all the people that contacted your Messenger chatbot on Facebook.
•  If you want to use a specific group of people you can also use variables saved in chatbots actions. Those are variables that group people who performed a specific action in the chatbot structure. 

•  You can also add other conditions and combine them. Like set one variable, or exclude some variable etc. You can also determine whether the user has to fulfil all the conditions or just one. 

Example

We want to send a message to all people who have the name Mark and John – we know that this is impossible, one person cannot have both names so: we set “first name” Mark “first name” John and “at least one”. 

Quick reminder – how you collect users in variables

In the beginning, we simply ask the user, in a message, if they want to receive such subscription messages or not and then (in Action) note it down to the “pushes” variable. This is the basis that users should meet to receive messages because we do not want to SPAM people with messages they do not want.” They will block the conversation, block the company on Messenger, which may later result in a warning from Facebook, and even blocking the company.

You collect variables in different places in Actions that are placed 1) straight as a block element 2) as additional option while adding buttons. You save variables of people who agreed to receive materials by clicking a button you go to the create a bot panel, choose a button —> You simply open menu in a button → click “actions” and enter name, for example “pushes” yes or “pushes” no. Then while sending your push, just choose a name for this specific box. ]

Step 6: Save your Chatbot Push Message

Remember to save your push messages as a sketch during the entire creation process. You’ll be surprised how easy you can lose all your work. This hurts especially when you were making a special carousel or spending a lot of time on connecting messages with buttons and so on.

When you save the message as a sketch it’s still flagged by the platform as unfinished so it won’t be sent nor scheduled. 

The second option is save which works as send or schedule your message. So if you press save your message it will be sent to your target group at the time you set. You can, of course, still change your message’s structure and settings until the time the message is sent. 

All messages you planned or save as a sketch appear in a upper table in the Broadcast panel. You can go back to them and change them whenever you want.

Checking Push Messages results in Chabot Creator

All the messages you’ve sent show up in the archive table on the lower main view of the Broadcast panel. You can find such information as:

• status – where you see if the message was sent or if the process is still in progress – the larger the user base, the longer it takes to send it and you can see it all here, the name of the campaign, 
• the date when the message was sent, 
• the type (whether immediate, planned), 
• the number of messages sent (how many people our message reaches), 

• how many people read (number and percentage Open Rate),
• how many people clicked (CTR).

The last 3 points are the most important when it comes to analyzing your pushletter effects.

A lump appears next to each campaign in the table. After clicking it, you will be able to see more detailed information about your pushletter. You can also filter all your campaigns to search for a specific one.

How to make your subscribers more engaged

We have come to the end of the technical side of sending pushes. Now we’ll introduce you a few tips to make your subscribers more interested in opening your messages, and not tired of your chatbot.

• Firstly, make sure that the messages are interesting for the target group. If you send news, let people choose what interests them. You can mix informational and inspirational materials, depending on your industry and audience. The quality of content can be one of deciding factors influencing CTR – if it remains high or decreases.
• Secondly, you shouldn’t send too many messages – stick to an optimal number of sending messages – which on the one hand allows you to keep in touch with users and provide them with strategically important news, and on the other hand, does not deter and discourages further subscription.
• In the messages you send to users, add the “Unsubscribe” / “Do not send more messages” option to give the user a chance to resign from receiving new messages in the same way as “unsubscribe” in the mailings. This will let you keep users satisfied as they see that you are giving them a choice– don’t decide for them.