Description
ManyChat is a sophisticated marketing automation platform that you can use to communicate with customers on Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, and even by email. In this guide, we’re going to look at their main features and use cases, their pricing, advantages, and disadvantages, and how they stack up against a few competitors. Whether you want to generate leads, increase sales, or automate customer support, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to use ManyChat in your digital marketing strategy.
What is ManyChat?
ManyChat is a marketing automation platform that enables businesses to build and manage chatbots on messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messages, WhatsApp, and SMS. Established in 2015, ManyChat focuses on simplifying the customer experience by automating conversations, and nurturing leads to engage with customers more. ManyChat is especially popular with small-to-medium-sized businesses, e-commerce brands, and digital marketers.
ManyChat is centered around a drag-and-drop interface, that allows non-technical users to build automated flows for messaging platforms without writing a single line of code. ManyChat comes with tools to automatically answer FAQs, capture leads, promote a product, or offer customer support hands-free, and turn that conversation into a customer interaction with intent.
ManyChat’s Key Features
1. Multi-Channel Messaging
ManyChat allows for conversations via Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, SMS, and email. Allowing your business to communicate with customers in all their preferred channels. Each channel is independently configured for the desired user experience, with specific flows and automation in the right tone and presentation for that form of communication.
2. Visual Flow Builder
The visual flow builder is one of the best features ManyChat offers. The user-friendly, drag & drop visual flow tool is where you spend the most time creating complex automation sequences that might include messages, conditionals, actions, and delays. It is meant for anyone… you don’t need to know how to code!
3. CRM Elements
ManyChat has a built-in CRM with user information (names, phone numbers, preferences, tags, and custom fields) and stores it, so you can segment your audiences and send messages depending on user behavior and audience demographics.
4. Broadcasting & Campaigns
With ManyChat you can send broadcasts (one-time messages) or schedule campaigns (usually ongoing), which lets your business message to your subscribers at scale. 例如， a retailer could send any company-wide promotion with limited-time value (ex: this week only) to thousands of users via the Messenger or SMS platform with just a few clicks.
5. Automation Triggers
You may create automation rules based on specific actions taken by users. For instance, you may create automation triggers based on a comment on a post, an action through a button, and others which can respond to a user or start a follow-up sequence. Automation keeps users engaged and limits the work manual workload.
6. Live Chat Integration
Automation is good for basic queries, but there will be times when a live agent must serve customers. With the live chat function, agents may take over chats in real-time, tag users, leave notes and assign chats to other team members.
7. Third-party Integration
ManyChat has integrations with various popular tools such as Shopify, Google Sheets, Zapier, Hubspot, Mailchimp and more. This lets you create flow processes such as syncing customer data, or sending abandoned cart reminders.
ManyChat Use Cases
1. Lead Generation
ManyChat is primarily used for lead generation campaigns that use interactive chat experiences. In the case of a Facebook ad, the ad would lead people into a Messenger conversation where the bot collects user information and qualifies leads for sales teams.
2. E-Commerce Sales
E-commerce businesses use ManyChat to recommend products, give order updates, and recover abandoned carts. If you provide personalized product recommendations and provide immediate answers to questions, the chance of conversion increases.
3. Customer Support
You can set up ManyChat bots to tackle FAQs, order tracking, or account issues, avoiding beating your support team to exhaustion. This will save time and increase response speed and consistency.
4. Event Reminders & Webinars
ManyChat is perfect for sending automated reminders for a webinar, workshop, or physical event. SMS and Messenger have high open rates and are more effective than email for reminders for time-sensitive notifications.
5. Local Businesses
Local businesses like restaurants, gyms, salons, and other local service providers use ManyChat for appointment booking for a salon, restaurant menu, rewards system with teacher follow-ups, etc.
ManyChat on Different Platforms
Facebook Messenger
ManyChat’s first integration and still the strongest, was built for Facebook Messenger. It automates replies to Messages, follow-ups, and allows you to reply to their Comments with a Messenger flow.
Instagram Direct Messages
Considerably evolved, many businesses are exploring Instagram for messaging. ManyChat provides businesses the automation tools for DMs, allowing them to respond to a keyword, story reply, or post comment with pre-designed flows .
WhatsApp automation is newer in ManyChat, but it is an effective tool for international businesses. WhatsApp supports rich messaging and 2-way conversations with your customer.
SMS & Email
SMS and email are not as interactive as Messenger or WhatsApp, but ManyChat supports SMS and email for direct outreach, follow-ups and to promote marketing campaigns. SMS and Email are great for reaching users who are not active on social media.
Pricing Plans
ManyChat has a free plan and a paid plan.
Free plan: Allows access to basic chatbot functions. Access to Messenger and Instagram automation. ManyChat’s Free Plan is great for small businesses or if you’re still testing ManyChat.
Pro Plan: starting at ~15/month (plus tax), the price scales depending on number of subscribers you have on ManyChat. It allows access to all of their advanced features including SMS, email marketing within ManyChat, analytics, A/B testing, and built-in integrations, to name a few.
The Pro plan is where ManyChat truly shines, especially if you are using it as a major part of your sales funnel or customer service strategy.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Easy to use interface that is drag-and-drop.
Supports many platforms.
Great for marketing and support automation.
Strong community and supports educational materials.
Great pricing for small businesses.
Cons
Learning curve for complicated automation.
Limitations for customization on free.
Requires third-party tools for advanced integrations.
Policies and Messaging Compliance
Manychat follows the messaging policies of every platform, especially Facebook’s 24-hour messaging policy. Businesses have 24 hours of free messaging after each interaction with a user, however, in order to send approved messages beyond that timeframe, tag messaging must be used.
It’s important for businesses to understand these rules to prevent special restrictions or limitations on future Messenger access. ManyChat supports compliance by having message types and conditions clearly labeled.
Analytics and Performance Tracking
ManyChat provides in-depth analytics on campaigns and messages. The platform tracks all contact points; open rates, clicks through rates, conversion goals and so on. Having this information is critical for optimizing performance and increasing ROI.
For advanced use, you can even integrate Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel into your ManyChat account to follow user actions across the web and understand your campaign and business impact better.
ManyChat vs. Other Platforms
While ManyChat competes with other chatbot platforms like Chatfuel, MobileMonkey, Tidio, and Drift; here are some comparisons:
Chatfuel: While chatbot automation for Messenger mimics ManyChat, it does not have the same multi-platform ability as ManyChat.
MobileMonkey: While the platform does more to assist with omnichat marketing; it is more complex to use.
Tidio: A solid blending of chatbot and live chat. It’s stronger with websites but not as good with social media.
Drift: Targets B2B companies and charges more for the platform. More focused on sales conversations.
ManyChat tends to provide the right balance of simplicity of use, features, and pricing–particularly with e-commerce and marketing automation.
The Future of ManyChat
As conversational marketing prices, ManyChat is poised to grow its offer even more. Features like AI integrations, improved personalization, and voice support will likely be included in its future roadmap.
As automation, instant messaging and customer engagement become more valuable ManyChat will be harder to ignore as an option for innovative companies looking to scale both communications and ultimately conversions.
In Closing
ManyChat is not simply a chatbot tool — it is a full-featured customer communications platform built to integrate communications, grow your audience, and automate repeatable aspects of your marketing and supporting actions. Regardless of whether you are a solopreneur or operate a major enterprise, ManyChat can provide ideas for solutions that allow you to remain connected to your customers and improve your engagement with them while increasing sales through intelligent automation.
With an easy-to-use platform, multi-channel capabilities, and powerful automation features– ManyChat deserves to be part of your future-focused and current digital marketing strategies.
