Bots for Business, Conversational Marketing

Chatbot Welcome Message Examples to Help Your Bot Greet Visitors Better

First impressions are critical, and your chatbot's welcome message is the first thing visitors will see when they visit your page. Make sure yours has all the necessary qualities to help ensure the best customer experience!

It’s clear that sales, marketing, and customer service all play a big role in the growth of a business. However, a chatbot's welcome message can also greatly impact a visitor’s overall impression of a brand—either attracting them to the business or deterring them from it. The process of earning a potential customer’s trust begins from the moment they land on a site, and the right chatbot welcome message is the perfect first step to helping them feel valued.

The ideal welcome message is a short communication that helps a user connect with your business and encourages engagement. A bot greeting message is a great way to achieve instant impressions and interest with new or recurring customers. Not only do these messages spark a first impression, but also they’re able to facilitate conversations and to help customers feel comfortable as they navigate a web page.

Fifty-five percent of customers prefer to interact with sites that use a chatbot because chatbots can provide immediate feedback, eliminating the inconvenience of searching for and filling out a contact form.

Here are three tips and some chatbot welcome message examples to help you engage your clients and customers.

1. Introduce your chatbot: Welcome message

Keep in mind that not every customer is as comfortable talking with a machine as they are with a person. Make sure to keep the record straight by introducing your bot as what it is—a chatbot. This sets expectations with visitors to your site as to what your chatbot can and cannot do. It can also build a sense of trust by being transparent, personal, and ultimately helpful. And remember, the first line of your bot greeting message might be your most important communication.

Here’s a good example of a bot greeting message:

“Hi there! My name is [name of bot], your [brand] assistant. I can [send you updates / connect you with a manager / help you navigate through the website / explain our new offers] via chat. To start, please [type your name / ask a question], and I’ll be happy to assist you right away!”

2. Reveal your chatbot’s personality

Brand voice tip: Although chatbots are not humans, they are a key part of the dialogue between your brand and its customers. Make sure your chatbot greeting messages use the right words and brand tone to showcase your brand personality. Don’t be afraid to add in some jokes—just remember that they should align with your brand voice and remain consistent throughout the script.

If you’re thinking of adding some humor, check out this funny chatbot welcome message example:

“Hi! I’m [name]. I’m the boss here. Gosh, sorry...I meant bot! Oh dear, I’m doomed if they find out I said that...Ah well, before they scrap me for parts, is there anything I can help with?”

3. Build-in personalization

One of the challenges in building a chatbot is that it will most likely chat with all different kinds of people. Site visitors are often already brand supporters, but there will inevitably be plenty of people welcomed by your bot who are engaging with your brand or website for the very first time. Therefore, it’s important that your bot can ask visitors questions about themselves to better tailor future conversations. Some of these questions seek to determine whether a person is a first-time visitor or is returning, where they’re located, which platform they were referred to, and—most importantly—the purpose of their visit to the site.

Here are some suggestions that can help personalize your chatbot’s greeting messages:

Include a reference to the visitor’s location:

“Hola! I’m the store’s friendly chatbot. I’m afraid I didn’t move past the first level of my Spanish course, but I can direct you to what you’re looking for!”

Tell first-time visitors what they can do on the site:

“Welcome to [site name]! We’re excited to have you visiting us for the first time. Here are some tools that might help you get started.”

In other instances, a chatbot can tell a returning visitor from a new one. This quality helps you measure the success of your chatbot. By recognizing returning users over new ones, a bot can display different messages accordingly and can help improve the personalized visitor experience.

Takeaways

Getting a positive message across with chatbots can be challenging, but mastering this can definitely benefit your business. Chatbots’ automation processes and their ability to guide customers through a site are just a couple of bot functions that can be greatly enhanced by a solid welcome message. Always remember that a user’s first impression can also be their last. For the best odds of getting a positive initial reaction, be sure that your bot greeting message is warm, personal, clear, and aligned with your company’s brand voice.