First impressions are usually lasting. Any physical store will ensure that a customer service representative will greet you with a warm welcome before getting down to business. Chatbots do the same with welcome messages.
A simple, customized, and empathetic welcome message can have a great impact on how customers view the chatbot experience and make your business more human and approachable. The main purpose of this welcome message is to give customers the assurance that there is someone to help them and answer their questions 24×7 as they browse your website.
What is a Chatbot Welcome Message?
A welcome message is the first point of contact from your business to a new or returning customer on your chatbot widget. The entire flow of the conversation is initiated by this simple message. In addition to greeting the customer, it can be crafted to also serve other purposes like lead generation, progressing customers down the sales funnel, providing better customer support, and onboarding new customers. A welcome or greeting message is like your website’s homepage or a high-value business page ― if used right, their high open rate can be the deciding factor between whether or not a visitor chooses to engage further with your offerings.
Read more: 6 Must-Have Characteristics for an Effective Chatbot Script
Best Practices for Chatbot Welcome Messages
1. Know your audience
You can say the right things only if you know who is on the other side and you know what they might want to achieve with their action. Your welcome message must be crafted based on the relevant and carefully constructed user personas. The information you include and the language you use must try to address and fulfill what they might be looking for.
2. Personalize the message
Personalization and quality of support are often keys to getting new users and retaining existing ones. Make your customers feel valued by using their name in your welcome message if you can, make references to their location if they are repeat customers, or introduce first-time customers to your products or services that they might find useful. You can also personalize the welcome message depending on which page the customer is on like a product landing page or a general page like a pricing page.
3. Keep it simple and clear
While you must try to include the most important message in your welcome text, ensure that it is simple and doesn’t confuse the customer. People turn to chatbots because they want quick, errorless responses. So, using short but effective sentences that are devoid of technical jargon and have a low reading time can help you convert potential leads into paying customers.
4. Emphasize a clear call-to-action
Your welcome message should introduce the function of the chatbot is. Will it help customers find appropriate products and services? Does it make booking a demo easier? Can it help customers with their shopping experience? Whatever it is, it benefits everyone to make it clear from the get-go, especially when the value you want customers to derive from your chatbot solution is speedy solutions.
5. Name your chatbot
When approaching a chatbot, customers know that they will not be engaging with a human. However, using a humanized name can make your chatbot more relatable and easier to converse with. A memorable name that adds to your brand messaging can have a positive impact on the user experience.
Read more: How to Name Your Chatbot in 5 Simple Steps
6. Maintain engagement
It is important to grab a user’s attention by maintaining the flow of conversation with a bot welcome message. You can do this by including vital CTA buttons or quick reply buttons that cater to your customer’s FAQs or urgent needs and requests. This will help you construct a concrete and effective conversation script from the get-go.
7. Add your unique personality
Using a chatbot to provide customer service can help you introduce your personality to your customers and also improve the customer experience. You can leverage this in your welcome message by using emojis or appropriate and relevant humor. These give the conversation a welcome visual break and add a friendly and welcoming tone to the communication.
8. Set expectations
You must clearly communicate with your users that they are not talking to a real person, but to a bot. The communication following your welcome message must also clearly convey the abilities, functionalities, and limitations of your chatbot to the customers in addition to other basic information. This will help you reduce the chances of potential disappointment.
Create A Great First Impression with your Chatbot Welcome Message
Welcome messages play an important role in successful customer onboarding and in determining how far they will go along the sales funnel. The best welcome message not only creates the best first impression but also assists you in determining how the conversation will flow. Book a one-on-one demo with the HappyFox product specialists to learn more about how chatbots and good welcome messages can help you boost your business. You can also try out our chatbot on our website to get a first-hand idea.
