Have you ever felt annoyed by a salesperson upon entering a shop? The reason we generally decline their help is that we understand the motives behind: they want to sell you something, and the more expensive the better. Sometimes, these people can even be forceful and this kind of behaviour can undermine a customer’s journey. For online shopping, leaving that job to a chatbot feels more harmless because people are not dealing with a real-life person. You can’t hurt a bot’s feelings, right? Moreover, potential clients have to willingly engage with the chatbot, which leaves the ball in their court. A little over a week before Valentine’s Day, on February 6, we launched a chatbot on Proximus’ Facebook page. The goal? Interact with people in a fun way to suggest the best Valentine’s Day gift for their partner, ultimately leading them to a Proximus product.

For this Valentine’s social media campaign, we created a cover picture explaining concisely how to initiate a conversation with the Proximus chatbot to initiate user engagement, handily called “Valentine” for the occasion.

Then, a series of 4 different Facebook ads created awareness around the existence of the Valentine bot, offering help to think of the perfect Valentine’s day present and making people curious and driving interactivity. The first wave was a Facebook post with an image, followed in the second wave by a post with an image containing a scannable Messenger code. The third wave consisted of a video, and the fourth wave of a carousel ad. This communication was also supported by two Instagram ads.

To make this experience a successful one, we relied on a quiz-style conversation. The chatbot was asking questions about the kind of person the gift would be for, and replying with pre-made funny answers, including hilarious gifs. The language used was young and entertaining, ultimately leading the customer to a real product suggestion in a fun way. For us this was just a first test of the chatbot functionality for Proximus at the hand of a very popular top topical, but when it comes to online shopping, helping indecisive potential customers reach a decision as they are hesitating between several products can drive sales. That is if your copy is cleverly laid out and the process is experienced in a fun but informative and helpful way!