From being the chatty, friendly (almost) human face behind your brand to boosting sales as IT and HR support to gathering data and insights on customer behavior, AI chatbots are employed as anything and everything in businesses today.

The global chatbot market is set to grow to 1.25 billion dollars in 2025, up from 190.8 million in 2016. And ensuring your customers experience excellent customer service however they choose to contact you is imperative. 

With the popularity of Instagram and the ubiquitous success of chatbots, it only makes sense to get them to work together. While the migration from social stalwarts such as Facebook and Twitter exists, Instagram remains one of the big-league social media players. Therefore, businesses that aren't employing Instagram chatbots to take care of customer engagement, source new leads, and answer FAQs on the platform are missing out. 

This article will explore what an Instagram chatbot is and how they work. We’ll also look into how integrating one into your social media, and AI strategy can expand and diversify your digital engagement and help you boost your business.

Instagram chatbots Instagram chatbots

What is a chatbot for Instagram?

An Instagram chatbot is a conversational bot that’s embedded into Instagram. Its primary function is to interact with users who visit your profile. Your Instagram chatbot can send welcome messages, answer questions, respond to Instagram DMs, and scroll and respond to comments — all in a friendly, conversational, human-like way. Instagram chatbots work around the clock and can have multiple one-on-one conversations simultaneously. 

Why do you need a chatbot for Instagram?

Instagram users claimed that finding information about products and brands was one of their top reasons for using Instagram. 

Being able to interact with potential customers on the platform is imperative. Using a chatbot for Instagram can massively reduce the time your social media managers need to maintain the account. The less time spent responding to comments and messages, the more your team can focus on creating and implementing a social media strategy that significantly impacts growth and sales. 

Many businesses, from small startups to big brands, are now using AI chatbots to help run their social media platforms efficiently. And, over 80% of organizations view AI integration as a strategic opportunity. Customers are more than willing to interact with bots if employed correctly. Your bot must understand when it's time to hand customers over to an agent. If they do, integrating a chatbot into your Instagram business account can provide numerous benefits.

However, problems with the technology due to a lack of knowledge and understanding and expectations being misaligned with the benefits can present challenges. Therefore, businesses must adopt a more holistic approach and learn how Instagram chatbots operate before implementing them into their business operations.

How do Instagram chatbots work?

The majority of chatbots used on Instagram are built using conversational flow charts. 

Conversational flow charts enable chatbots to converse with customers who visit your profile or interact with your content. The bots can automate mundane or routine tasks by responding to their questions or comments, recommending or upselling products, or making specific, pre-defined actions.

The complexity of the chat flows programmed into the bot depends on how you want them to operate. The chat flows use three elements:

Businesses use chatbots to manage customer queries and messages for a range of issues. For example, a user might send a DM about shipping prices, and the chatbot can recognize the user's intent and respond to their question accordingly. The chatbot will trigger a pre-determined response when any relevant combination of keywords is found in their message. 

Specific scenarios are prepared in advance, and chatbots will respond according to the information they receive. Every time a user sends a Direct Message, follows your account, or comments on your content, the bot will act and communicate with the user in a timely, relevant way. With 31% of consumers across the world willing to pay more for a great customer service experience, it make sense to focus your efforts on providing one and an Instagram chatbot can help. 

Types of Instagram chatbots

Some examples of Instagram chatbots include:

Ad-to-message chatbot: This bot type encourages action-based engagement by sending users into their Direct Messagesstraight from Instagram Ads. The ad can display a button to send a message, and a chatbot can communicate with the user, encouraging them to buy the product or even upsell right from their DMs.

Lead generation chatbot: A lead generation chatbot collects potential customer information in a friendly, conversational way. The chatbot will discover what the user wants to know more about and ask for their details so they can send the information they need.

Customer service chatbot: Instagram chatbots make great virtual assistants. A customer service messenger chatbot supports your human customer service team by handling more straightforward queries. They can provide quick replies to FAQs and product queries and assist with order inquiries.

Feedback-gathering chatbot: Another type of chatbot is one that gathers customer feedback. Chatbots ask for feedback while engaging in chat and enable businesses to stay in the know about their customers changing needs and preferences over time. 

Ordering, booking, and tracking chatbot: Chatbots can help customers move along the sales funnel, place orders, or make bookings and then track these seamlessly without having to exit the app.

Games and competitions chatbot: Gamification is an excellent engagement tactic to keep customers hooked on your platform and returning for more. Use your chatbot to create quizzes and encourage connections with fun competitions. 

What are the benefits of Instagram chatbots?

Using Instagram chatbots is an intelligent and innovative move that can make sure your brand stays ahead of the curve. Some of the benefits of Instagram chatbots include:

Without a chatbot, you'll need to hire an agent to work through orders, messages, and comments on Instagram. A chatbot works 24/7 and responds to every user immediately. It can answer FAQs, clear up customer problems, minimize and remove the barriers to purchases, and reduce customer churn.

If you have a chatbot on Instagram, your potential customers can message you whenever they want — you can use that opportunity to deliver a better customer experience and increase your sales. You can build customer relationships, identify and acquire new leads, build brand awareness, and offer a more personalized service.

What makes Customer Service Suite the best platform for Instagram integration?

Instagram chatbots provide a wealth of opportunities to improve your capabilities and communicate with your customers via this social media platform.

By using Customer Service Suite seamless Instagram integration service and deploying conversational AI to engage with customers, you'll be able to:

Any business undergoing a digital transformation that wants to appeal to online-first customers should consider using chatbots for Instagram. These chatbots can offer a smarter and more cost-effective way of offering support to and engaging with your customer base.

Using Instagram chatbots will guarantee that you remain competitive within your industry and help reduce the need for live agents. Bots can free up your social media managers’ time and get the best information and the most relevant products in front of engaged users with greater efficiency. Instagram chatbots can save you time and money, foster brand loyalty, reach new cohorts of customers, and boost revenue, too.

If you want to connect with your customers on Instagram using Customer Service Suite, sign up for a free 21-day trial today.