When the Costa Rican-based marketing agency TBS Marketing added Facebook Click-to-Messenger (C2M) ads and chat automation as a service, it dramatically improved sales for its client base. The result was a whopping 100% client retention rate and 7X lift in monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
The Challenge
You’ve heard it before: Traditional advertising is dead. Today’s buyers want information, and they want it now. They don’t want to see banner ads or wait for a sales rep to follow up on the phone.
So, how does a marketing agency make the shift into something new for client outreach?
For three years, TBS marketing has offered graphic design and chatbot-building services to retailers, restaurants, educational brands, and more. Now serving an international client base, TBS knew it needed to offer innovative advertising strategies.
In light of growing commerce initiatives, TBS worked with ManyChat, a leading chat marketing software provider, to transition its business into a new era of marketing. It started with its Facebook advertising offerings—specifically Click-to-Messenger (C2M) ads that automatically initiate direct customer conversations in Facebook Messenger.
TBS then took C2M to the next level by adding chat automation to create dynamic, interactive customer experiences.
“In a world where customers demand instant communication, chat automation has taken the throne for strategic business initiatives across all businesses,” according to TBS founder Trilce Jirón Garro. “You can use Click-to-Messenger ads to start conversations at scale, using Facebook targeting to find new customers relevant to their business.”
Results: 7X Increase in MMR
Q3 2019 marked a turning point for the company. TBS Marketing set its sights on positioning itself as a strategic partner to brands looking to boost sales, particularly in advertising. The company accomplished its goal in under a year, adding multiple brands to its portfolio and earning 7x’s its monthly recurring revenue (MRR), by offering C2M ads and chat automation services.
7X increase in MRR
100% client retention rate
2.4X lift in customer lifetime value
TBS Marketing’s Successes With Click-to-Messenger
From one-off services to advertising retainers
Previously, TBS Marketing operated as a chatbot agency. It offered graphic design and FAQ chatbot builds for restaurants, e-commerce brands, hotels, and more.
Having used Facebook Messenger to answer FAQ questions and provide customer support, TBS wanted to do more with the platform. The company’s goal was to become a strategic partner in client growth, improving key performance indicators like conversion rate, cost per conversion, and return on ad spend.
TBS marketing now operates in a newer space referred to as chat marketing, where businesses move buyers through sales funnels through real-time conversations. Therefore, personalized engagement with users is critical to creating long-term relationships and proving a buyer’s investment through more leads and sales.
“Clients see working with us as a way to reduce operational costs through automation,” explains Trilce, “but we wanted to expand our offering to keep up with consumer behavior. More people are using messaging apps to get information and shop, and businesses need to get in front of them to make sales.”
By using a chat marketing software (ManyChat), TBS has been able to offer automation and tracking that has helped TBS produce maximum ROI for its clients.
After evaluating a number of options, TBS marketing realized that Click-to-Messenger ads were the solution it was seeking, which helped create a fun and friendly post-ad experience for potential customers.
“We were fairly new in offering conversational advertising because we didn’t understand the massive opportunity that click-to-Messenger ads could provide,” said Trilce, who builds Facebook Messenger experiences for the agency.
Especially with the rise in digital commerce, Trilce knew that TBS needed a new advertising strategy to enable its transition away from standard builds and bring more visibility to client data.
Static sales funnels were replaced with personalized, interactive sales cycles, saving organizations valuable time and resources. Because Trilce can track lead data, teams can make decisions based on accurate comparisons, providing a wealth of data unheard of before.
By using C2M ads, TBS now easily and quickly understands how chat automation impacts ROI, nearly tripling its client base and 7X its monthly recurring revenue.
Chat automation has even inspired TBS to experiment with new systems and projects, including automated sales CRMs through Monday.com and ClickUp.
“With chat automation, whether the goal is to generate leads, raise awareness of brands or products, or drive sales, businesses can tailor conversations in Facebook Messenger directly from ads, driving business outcomes one conversation at a time,” Trilce states.
Offering a profitable ad system for clients
Click-to-Messenger (C2M) ads allow TBS to service multiple client needs at once. After a viewer clicks an ad, the person receives all the information necessary to make a decision. It’s a scalable way for companies to spark conversations with buyers.
People are greeted by an automated message that would start the Facebook Messenger conversation and alert a sales support agent. The chatbots collect lead information and an appointment is booked for the customer.
Using Click-to-Messenger helped TBS’s clients to:
Unlock time to value for clients, faster
Shorten the sales cycles by 50%, on average
Increase inbound opportunities by 35%
Improved one client’s ROI by 11,000%
“As most marketers know, building an interactive experience that drives a sustainable flow of SQLs takes time,” says Trilce. “To support sales initiatives, I knew we had to pivot to a management tactic to engage, connect, and convert viewers we get from Facebook and Instagram. Like most companies, leads are a big deal and support the efforts of sales organizations.”
“Click-to-Messenger ads offered a faster time to value. Plus, you can implement them in the same amount of time it would take to build a non-chat Facebook ad campaign and get better results.”
Achieving over 11,000% ROI for Gold’s Gym
TBS Marketing has seen some impressive results from running chat automation campaigns, from tripling sales for hotel startup Selina to increasing lead volume by 10X for an education brand in Costa Rica.
Perhaps the most impressive was its ad campaign for Gold’s Gym. After running C2M ads for Gold’s Gym for just over a month, TBS was able to collect statistically significant information.
With a sample size of 25,000 Messenger bot visitors, Trilce found her hypothesis was true, C2M ads had become a major source of new leads for the franchise.
“Messenger gave us the chance to better interact with potential members, personalizing the signup experience, and helping them get the information they want, immediately.” (Fernanda Melendez Mussio, COO of Gold’s Gym Costa Rica)
In fact, TBS found that running C2M ads increased ROI by over 11,000% compared to traditional Facebook ads.
Offering chat automation as a service changed the direction of TBS Marketing. The brand has been able to scale its services, expanding its client portfolio and increasing MRR.
“Click-to-Messenger ads proved to us that personalized, two-way conversations were more valuable than banner or display ads. We couldn’t believe the advertising results we witnessed by using chat automation.” (Trilce Jirón Garro, Founder of TBS Marketing)
Want to know more about how to add Facebook Messenger and chat automation to your new client outreach? Sign up for our webinar to see for yourself how this simple, personalized outreach process can make a big impact on your Agency’s bottom line.
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