Thanks to AI (artificial intelligence) chatbots, it’s estimated that over 85% of customer interactions will be managed without live agents this year. And, more than 70% of businesses believe chatbots make it easier to resolve customers’ concerns. These two figures help companies save billions of hours (and reduce costs) in customer service.
As AI consultants, the number of clients reaching out to AI Guides for support on using AI chatbots has increased in recent years. We wanted to provide all the tools for users to understand what AI chatbots are, how they work, how they can be used, and some of the best AI chatbot options to try.
Already have an AI chatbot–or other artificial intelligence technologies–and just need some support integrating them into your business? Schedule a free consultation with AI Guides today to start taking full advantage of AI technologies to see ROI on all your artificial intelligence projects.
What is an AI Chatbot?
There is an entire spectrum of chatbots. They range from rule-based chatbots that are just following predefined decision trees to AI chatbots that can understand what people mean–even if it’s not exactly what they write. These AI chatbots or smart bots are sometimes called conversational AI, chatter bots, and AI chat bots.
AI chatbots work using artificial intelligence: machines and software applications that mimic human thinking and learning through programming. They use natural language processing, understanding, and generation to respond to the humans they’re speaking with. Chatbots communicate via messaging platforms and softwares on websites and applications in a range of industries.
Incorporating machine learning, AI chatbots continue to learn from each interaction so that they can improve their responses and understanding of human requests–as well as build a database of answers to use in previous queries. For example, they would soon learn that when someone messaged them for information on “artificial intelligence chatbots” it would be the same as being messaged for “AI chatbots,” or “chatbots using AI,” or “AI chatter bots.”
Conversational AI chatbots are able to engage with people on a level that feels natural and personal, making a conversation with an AI feel like you’re speaking with a helpful, human assistant. This is why AI chatbots are so often integrated into customer service, human resources, and customer engagement.
How AI Chatbots Work for Businesses
When it comes to AI chatbots, businesses can use them in a variety of manners, including for:
- Sales guidance
- Onboarding
- Lead generation
- Customer service
- Social media engagement
- Product tours
- Human resources
- Tech support
- Employee support
Whether you’re a small business looking for support, or an enterprise company who is restructuring, taking advantage of artificial intelligence is paramount in the coming years. Experts say that by 2030 there will be two kinds of businesses: those that use AI and those that are bankrupt. That may be an extreme take, but this means that businesses can either start to adopt AI on their own or be forced to by a competitor.
AI adoption has increased dramatically in the past year, with 52% of companies accelerating their AI adoption plans because of the Covid crisis, 86% saying that AI is becoming a “mainstream technology” at their company, and 67% expecting to further pick up their AI strategy in the following years.
And with all of the benefits they provide, AI Chatbots are a huge part of this.
Benefits of Using AI Chatbots
Like most artificial intelligence services used correctly, AI chatbots offer many advantages to businesses that help lead to higher retention, reduced costs, and time savings.
Need some help making sure you’re using AI tools right? At AI Guides, we use our experience and vast network of AI technologies and professionals to translate artificial intelligence services into usable, actionable information for you and your team. Schedule your free consultation with us today.
Quicker Resolutions for Customers
Using AI, customers no longer have to wait for customer service representatives to be available for their question. Whether it’s for a technical problem, a billing change, or standard service question, AI chatbots can at least always get started providing a solution immediately.
This means that no matter what time in the day the customer has a question, and no matter if a live agent is available, problems can be resolved a lot quicker–leading to happier and retained customers. Research says that by 2022, there will be a 90% success rate of chatbots.
AI chatbots–even if they’re just starting the customer off–can help field through questions that are easily answered and resolved by them. In fact, great AI chatbots can answer around 80% of routine queries and questions. This leaves other customer success team members available to work with requests that require human support.
Plus, with AI chatbots always learning, they continuously improve on answering queries accurately and efficiently–all without the potential human error that can occur with humans on both sides of the conversation.
Customers know this: almost 80% of consumers say that chatbots will change their expectations for companies in the next five years.
Reduced Customer Service Costs
With less of a need for human agents to answer every query, businesses can save time for their employees, and well as reduce customer service costs. Instead of hiring enough people to manage all service enquiries at the busiest parts of your day, you can supplement your human support with chatbots.
Companies can expect around 30% reduction of customer service costs, and estimates show that natural language processing integration in chatbots will save companies more than $8 billion dollars a year.
Of course, AI can be risky. While there are great rewards to using artificial intelligence technologies, some 80% of projects fail because people get connected to the wrong solutions, or aren’t sure how to truly take advantage of the right solutions.
Luckily, an AI consultant can help with all of these needs. Whether you feel like you could be improving your project workflows, want to use AI but don’t know how, or have had a bad experience with AI tools in the past, AI consultants can help!
At AI Guides, we offer three levels of service to businesses that are either just starting to look into artificial intelligence or are already ready to make a purchasing decision. We’re an independent, vendor-agnostic consultancy that offers unbiased artificial intelligence support no matter what stage you’re at in the process.
Happier Employees
AI chatbot support makes not only your customers’ lives easier, but can also reduce stress for your employees. By removing the manual work, answering easy questions, and taking on overflow, your employees can not only do their jobs better, but be happier doing them. And with AI being able to work at all hours–including weekends and holidays–you can prevent employee burnout and turnover rates.
Plus, AI chatbots can support human resources and employee engagement efforts as well to provide additional benefits for teams.
Improved Lead Generation & Customer Retention
More leads–and better leads–are a great benefit of AI chatbots. AI chatbots can have great attitudes, are always available, always learning, and are great at giving customers what they want. Whether you’re getting new leads or providing support to a current customer, AI chatbots allow for more flexibility, responsiveness, and patience.
The more effortless and personalized the service you provide, the happier your customers and potential customers are. Plus, some people actually prefer to speak with a chatbot than a real person, keeping them less stressed as they make a potential purchasing decision.
The more traffic company’s get to their websites and various social media channels, the more they’ll need to be everywhere at once. But it’s just not humanly possible to respond to a high volume of queries in a timely manner. Whether bots are replying to Instagram comments or accurately solving issues–both current and potential customers are happier.
Best AI Chatbots
When it comes to artificial intelligence chatbots, it can be tough to know where to start. Take a look at this list of some of the best AI chatbots on the market, or reach out to us today if you have some specific questions on using this technology within your company.
Appy Pie
Appy Pie is one of the best no-code app builders that allows you to create multifunctional native apps using pre-set templates and color themes that you can customize for your needs–including AI chat messaging.
Apart from the several templates offered on Appy Pie’s chatbot maker platform, you have the flexibility to personalize every little element of your chatbot. Right from the name, color theme, icon, avatar, script, brand placement, or font, you can tweak or edit everything on this no-code chatbot creator platform.
You don’t need to learn to code. All you have to do is click, and you have a ready-to-use chatbot template that can be integrated into your website in minutes! And then after making your chatbot with Appy Pie’s chatbot builder, you only need to copy and paste your widget code on your website.
You can build a chatbot for qualifying leads, booking meetings, and for actual agent transfers. Appy Pie’s no-code chatbot builder ensures that your customer service is responsive and accurate.
Best for: Smaller business that want the ultimate flexibility in what their chatbot can do
Pricing
- Free: $0/bot/month for 250 interactions, all basic templates, analytics, and user consent
- Basic: $8/bot/month billed annually for 2,500 interactions, and all of the above plus all customization options
- Premium: $15/bot/month billed annually for 5,000 interactions, and all of the above plus all customization options
Conversica
Conversica AI Assistants engage as soon as an inquiry is made and can respond in seconds. Prompt, personalized, and persistent engagement from an AI Assistant helps teams discover more revenue opportunities while increasing workforce capacity–supporting your revenue teams to perform their best at a fraction of the cost.
They have AI Assistants for conversational marketing, conversational ABM, conversational sales, and conversational customer success. You can strengthen the top of your funnel, connect website visitors to information, pre-qualify new leads, and drive registration to your webinars and events.
Your AI Assistant can drive the next best action across chat, email, and SMS by identifying the hot leads faster via natural, two-way email conversations, so you can focus your efforts on contacting leads who intend to buy. The moment your assistant identifies a sales opportunity, she alerts your sales rep and shares all pertinent information.
Best for: Larger businesses since their price point is higher.
Pricing
- No pricing is listed on their site, so you’ll have to get a demo for specific inquiries.
Chatfuel
Chatfuel is also a chatbot for Facebook messenger. They claim you can build an AI chatbot in as little as 7 minutes. You set up conversational rules and the bot recognizes similar phrases a user might say instead. They are led through the conversation path you program the bot to have with them.
Chatfuel let’s potential customers know that a bot can resolve up to 80% of customer inquiries, so you can save time and resources and win more business. They say that with a bot, you can cut your cost per lead by up to 7x, and earn a return on ad spend of up to 10x or more.
Best for: Smaller companies that need an AI chatbot for Facebook
Pricing:
- Entrepreneur: $14.99/month for 500 conversations
- Startup: $24.99/month for 1,000 conversations
- Small Business: $59.99/month for 3,000 conversations
Copilot
Copilot is also an AI chatbot for marketers looking for a seamless integration between their ecommerce stores and Facebook Messenger. Copilot allows for real-time communication with customers through Messenger at every stage of the purchasing funnel.
You can customize your “abandoned cart” campaigns to deliver the right message at the right time, notify customers when their order ships or when your stock changes, give your customers a flexible and convenient way to schedule order pickup, and even make appointments. If you have a store page on Facebook or just connect with your customers via Facebook, it’s a great option to help you save time and perfect your sales funnel.
Best for: Ecommerce companies that use Facebook Messenger
Price: Free trial for 14 days, and then you can get in touch with them for pricing either for Shopify or BigCommerce
Drift
Drift markets itself as a conversational marketing platform best for companies that are looking to merge sales and customer service into an all-in-one experience for the user that can help your business scale.
Drift comes with some of the best automation tools, giving it an edge over other chat softwares. A good example of these automation tools is their “LeadBot” feature, which you can use to qualify all your site visitors. It has the ability to help you choose the best potential customers, making it easier for you to target them and increase your conversion rates. Drift allows you to create the most efficient chat and targeting system available.
Best for: Large companies that have several customers landing on their page at once
Pricing: You can start free, and then to learn about their other plans you ironically have to use their AI chatbot
Inbenta
Inbenta allows you to easily build your AI chatbot to serve your needs. You can embed it in your website or app or connect it to communication channels like Whatsapp, Slack, or Messenger to power automated experiences across all channels.
With conversational AI and human-like interactions, Inbenta combines patented Symbolic AI and NLP technology with Inbenta Lexicon, a proprietary database including thousands of lexical and semantic relationships to help chatbots detect intent and context to answer users’ questions with precision–in over 35 languages!
Best for: Various business from banking to travel to government
Pricing: You can try Inbenta for free for 14 days, or can request a demo for full pricing options.
Intercom
Intercom is one of the best live chat softwares available, with an all-in-one tool to enhance your customer communication experience. Intercom comes with the whole package, offering messaging products, marketing products and customer service products, creating an excellent experience for you and the customer.
The machine learning software is able to communicate with and help your customers as needed. You have the power to onboard and engage your customers throughout that process, making it smoother for them overall. Its offline features ensure that messages will be saved for your agents to view and act on once they come online.
All of these features are extremely efficient, which allows for a higher conversion rate. Intercom ensures that each step of the chat experience is seamless, allowing you to move toward your end goal faster.
Best for: Small and early-stage businesses, but they also have enterprise options as well. Best for companies that want to use all Intercom has to offer (not just one or two of their features)
Pricing:
- Starter: Best for very small businesses, this plan is $74/month when billed annually, which you can customize with add-ons like product tours, surveys, and WhatsApp messaging
- For all other plans, you’ll need to schedule a demo.
Landbot
Landbot is a no-code chatbot builder that helps businesses convert leads, capture data, and personalize client journeys in real-time. You can use Landbot’s drag-and-drop creator to build advanced conversational flows with ease, flexibility, and speed on a simple interface.
Launch your chatbots on popular messaging channels or the web as pop-ups, widgets, landing pages, or website embeds, and integrate chatbots into your business workflow with native integrations. Whether you’re deploying conversations on the web, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or any API-enabled channel, Landbot helps improve conversion by reducing response times and personalizing the customer journey on the go, from the first to last touchpoint.
Best for: Has options and capabilities for all size businesses
Pricing:
- Free: 100 chats a month
- Starter: $39/month for 500 chats a month
- Pro: $99/month for 2,500 chats a month
- Business: Everything is customized, so you’ll have to reach out to them for a demo
Zendesk Chat
The Zendesk AI bots are made specifically for companies that were already using Zendesk for customer service. The company offers the chat software to ensure that its customers get the whole package from them through their “Answer Bot®” that answers common questions and identifies when to bring in an agent.
If you already have a Zendesk customer service package, adding the chat feature is definitely worth your while. It can also easily integrate with numerous other platforms; offers analytic insights, allowing you to monitor the efficacy of your agents; and you can also look at customer activity on the website prior to engaging in the chat feature, allowing you to get the full picture of the customer journey.
Best for: Companies using Zendesk for other aspects of their business
Pricing:
Zendesk has a free trial, as well as pricing options for sales, foundational needs, and for enterprises. This is their pricing for “everyone” under their complete service solution.
- Suite Team: $49/agent/month
- Suite Growth: $79/agent/month
- Suite Professional: $99/agent/month
Best Free AI Chatbot?
Landbot has a good free option, though you are limited to how many messages you can send a month. Their free plan works if you don’t have too much chat traffic on your site.
You can also try Flow XO and Manychat for some great free AI chatbot options. We would note that though Zendesk has a free version, it’s very limited so it’s not the best option for a free AI chatbot.
Best AI Chatbot for Small Businesses?
Intercom, Landbot, and Chatfuel all have great plans they’ve built for smaller businesses and startups.
Best AI Chatbot for Law Firms?
The best AI chatbot for law firms will depend on the size of your firm. If you’re a smaller law firm, Intercom and Landbot are good, affordable options, and Chatfuel is great if you use Facebook Messenger.
If you’re a larger firm with a lot of traffic, Drift and Conversica are two great AI chatbots.
Best AI Chatbot for eCommerce?
Copilot and Inbenta are both good bets if you’re looking for an AI chatbot for eCommerce specifically.
How to Choose the Best AI Chatbot for Your Needs
The AI’s capabilities
What do you need your chatbot to do? Does your company serve consumers in various languages? Do you need a specific integration? Are you looking for support with emails and other messaging?
It sounds simple, but knowing what you need out of your chatbot is going to be the best way to decide which one to use for your business. Not sure where to start? Contact us at AI Guides so we can help determine what AI platform is best for your business–and exactly how you can use them.
Your budget
Budget is also going to be a good way to narrow down your AI chatbot options. What can you afford to invest in this project?
Do note that there will be cost savings with your chatbot, so factor that in as much as possible when you’re making a budget.
How easy it is to use
Are you a tech whiz? Do you need a lot of set up support? Are you ready to make your own chatbot with a builder? Depending on your level of comfort, you’ll want to take a look at how easy it is to set up your chatbot. If you don’t have coding experience, or don’t have someone on your team that does, then staying away from bots that require coding might be the best bet.
It’s also important to take a look at how easy it will integrate with your current CRM and other business applications you’re using. At AI Guides we can help you determine which AI chatbot (and all AI technology) will be the best fit for your company’s current technology.
Goals of using an AI chatbot
What do you need the AI chatbot for? Are you a law firm looking for support with customer inquiries? An entrepreneur building out your business strategy for customer service? Whatever it is, making these goals first–before making a purchasing decision–is going to be the best way to get ROI for your service.
Conclusion: Get Support with AI Chatbots for Your Business
The idea that artificial intelligence will improve business is not a new one; in fact, it has been around for decades. AI is able to complete tasks that humans cannot do, or tasks that would take too long and be too costly for humans to do.
Businesses can use AI to:
- Automate repetitive tasks in an intelligent fashion, allowing for smaller teams to have greater capabilities
- Make recommendations for the future based on data–a quickly and more accurately than humans can
- Provide quality assurance using quality control software
- Make better hiring decisions and expedite training
- Improve cybersecurity using behavior analysis to recognize atypical usage
- Review documentation, research, and contracts with faster analysis and extraction
- Boost creativity by suggesting more effective ways to carry out many familiar tasks
- Improve products and workflows by embedding AI within them
- And of course, engage customers and employees via chatbots and AI assistants!
Whether you feel like you could be improving your customer relations, retention, or engagement, AI chatbots can help you easily integrate artificial intelligence into your business so you can improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
At AI Guides, we ensure the successful use of artificial intelligence in your business, providing the leadership and technical expertise you need to mitigate the risk of AI investment and move forward with confidence in your AI project.
We’re here to make your life a lot simpler, whether you have a case in mind, want to learn more, or would like to accelerate AI adoption at your company. Schedule your consultation with our AI experts today so we can help you use AI to take your business to the next level.
Thanks to AI (artificial intelligence) chatbots, it’s estimated that over 85% of customer interactions will be managed without live agents this year. And, more than 70% of businesses believe chatbots make it easier to resolve customers’ concerns. These two figures help companies save billions of hours (and reduce costs) in customer service.
As AI consultants, the number of clients reaching out to AI Guides for support on using AI chatbots has increased in recent years. We wanted to provide all the tools for users to understand what AI chatbots are, how they work, how they can be used, and some of the best AI chatbot options to try.
Already have an AI chatbot–or other artificial intelligence technologies–and just need some support integrating them into your business? Schedule a free consultation with AI Guides today to start taking full advantage of AI technologies to see ROI on all your artificial intelligence projects.
What is an AI Chatbot?
There is an entire spectrum of chatbots. They range from rule-based chatbots that are just following predefined decision trees to AI chatbots that can understand what people mean–even if it’s not exactly what they write. These AI chatbots or smart bots are sometimes called conversational AI, chatter bots, and AI chat bots.
AI chatbots work using artificial intelligence: machines and software applications that mimic human thinking and learning through programming. They use natural language processing, understanding, and generation to respond to the humans they’re speaking with. Chatbots communicate via messaging platforms and softwares on websites and applications in a range of industries.
Incorporating machine learning, AI chatbots continue to learn from each interaction so that they can improve their responses and understanding of human requests–as well as build a database of answers to use in previous queries. For example, they would soon learn that when someone messaged them for information on “artificial intelligence chatbots” it would be the same as being messaged for “AI chatbots,” or “chatbots using AI,” or “AI chatter bots.”
Conversational AI chatbots are able to engage with people on a level that feels natural and personal, making a conversation with an AI feel like you’re speaking with a helpful, human assistant. This is why AI chatbots are so often integrated into customer service, human resources, and customer engagement.
How AI Chatbots Work for Businesses
When it comes to AI chatbots, businesses can use them in a variety of manners, including for:
- Sales guidance
- Onboarding
- Lead generation
- Customer service
- Social media engagement
- Product tours
- Human resources
- Tech support
- Employee support
Whether you’re a small business looking for support, or an enterprise company who is restructuring, taking advantage of artificial intelligence is paramount in the coming years. Experts say that by 2030 there will be two kinds of businesses: those that use AI and those that are bankrupt. That may be an extreme take, but this means that businesses can either start to adopt AI on their own or be forced to by a competitor.
AI adoption has increased dramatically in the past year, with 52% of companies accelerating their AI adoption plans because of the Covid crisis, 86% saying that AI is becoming a “mainstream technology” at their company, and 67% expecting to further pick up their AI strategy in the following years.
And with all of the benefits they provide, AI Chatbots are a huge part of this.
Benefits of Using AI Chatbots
Like most artificial intelligence services used correctly, AI chatbots offer many advantages to businesses that help lead to higher retention, reduced costs, and time savings.
Need some help making sure you’re using AI tools right? At AI Guides, we use our experience and vast network of AI technologies and professionals to translate artificial intelligence services into usable, actionable information for you and your team. Schedule your free consultation with us today.
Quicker Resolutions for Customers
Using AI, customers no longer have to wait for customer service representatives to be available for their question. Whether it’s for a technical problem, a billing change, or standard service question, AI chatbots can at least always get started providing a solution immediately.
This means that no matter what time in the day the customer has a question, and no matter if a live agent is available, problems can be resolved a lot quicker–leading to happier and retained customers. Research says that by 2022, there will be a 90% success rate of chatbots.
AI chatbots–even if they’re just starting the customer off–can help field through questions that are easily answered and resolved by them. In fact, great AI chatbots can answer around 80% of routine queries and questions. This leaves other customer success team members available to work with requests that require human support.
Plus, with AI chatbots always learning, they continuously improve on answering queries accurately and efficiently–all without the potential human error that can occur with humans on both sides of the conversation.
Customers know this: almost 80% of consumers say that chatbots will change their expectations for companies in the next five years.
Reduced Customer Service Costs
With less of a need for human agents to answer every query, businesses can save time for their employees, and well as reduce customer service costs. Instead of hiring enough people to manage all service enquiries at the busiest parts of your day, you can supplement your human support with chatbots.
Companies can expect around 30% reduction of customer service costs, and estimates show that natural language processing integration in chatbots will save companies more than $8 billion dollars a year.
Of course, AI can be risky. While there are great rewards to using artificial intelligence technologies, some 80% of projects fail because people get connected to the wrong solutions, or aren’t sure how to truly take advantage of the right solutions.
Luckily, an AI consultant can help with all of these needs. Whether you feel like you could be improving your project workflows, want to use AI but don’t know how, or have had a bad experience with AI tools in the past, AI consultants can help!
At AI Guides, we offer three levels of service to businesses that are either just starting to look into artificial intelligence or are already ready to make a purchasing decision. We’re an independent, vendor-agnostic consultancy that offers unbiased artificial intelligence support no matter what stage you’re at in the process.
Happier Employees
AI chatbot support makes not only your customers’ lives easier, but can also reduce stress for your employees. By removing the manual work, answering easy questions, and taking on overflow, your employees can not only do their jobs better, but be happier doing them. And with AI being able to work at all hours–including weekends and holidays–you can prevent employee burnout and turnover rates.
Plus, AI chatbots can support human resources and employee engagement efforts as well to provide additional benefits for teams.
Improved Lead Generation & Customer Retention
More leads–and better leads–are a great benefit of AI chatbots. AI chatbots can have great attitudes, are always available, always learning, and are great at giving customers what they want. Whether you’re getting new leads or providing support to a current customer, AI chatbots allow for more flexibility, responsiveness, and patience.
The more effortless and personalized the service you provide, the happier your customers and potential customers are. Plus, some people actually prefer to speak with a chatbot than a real person, keeping them less stressed as they make a potential purchasing decision.
The more traffic company’s get to their websites and various social media channels, the more they’ll need to be everywhere at once. But it’s just not humanly possible to respond to a high volume of queries in a timely manner. Whether bots are replying to Instagram comments or accurately solving issues–both current and potential customers are happier.
Best AI Chatbots
When it comes to artificial intelligence chatbots, it can be tough to know where to start. Take a look at this list of some of the best AI chatbots on the market, or reach out to us today if you have some specific questions on using this technology within your company.
Appy Pie
Appy Pie is one of the best no-code app builders that allows you to create multifunctional native apps using pre-set templates and color themes that you can customize for your needs–including AI chat messaging.
Apart from the several templates offered on Appy Pie’s chatbot maker platform, you have the flexibility to personalize every little element of your chatbot. Right from the name, color theme, icon, avatar, script, brand placement, or font, you can tweak or edit everything on this no-code chatbot creator platform.
You don’t need to learn to code. All you have to do is click, and you have a ready-to-use chatbot template that can be integrated into your website in minutes! And then after making your chatbot with Appy Pie’s chatbot builder, you only need to copy and paste your widget code on your website.
You can build a chatbot for qualifying leads, booking meetings, and for actual agent transfers. Appy Pie’s no-code chatbot builder ensures that your customer service is responsive and accurate.
Best for: Smaller business that want the ultimate flexibility in what their chatbot can do
Pricing
- Free: $0/bot/month for 250 interactions, all basic templates, analytics, and user consent
- Basic: $8/bot/month billed annually for 2,500 interactions, and all of the above plus all customization options
- Premium: $15/bot/month billed annually for 5,000 interactions, and all of the above plus all customization options
Conversica
Conversica AI Assistants engage as soon as an inquiry is made and can respond in seconds. Prompt, personalized, and persistent engagement from an AI Assistant helps teams discover more revenue opportunities while increasing workforce capacity–supporting your revenue teams to perform their best at a fraction of the cost.
They have AI Assistants for conversational marketing, conversational ABM, conversational sales, and conversational customer success. You can strengthen the top of your funnel, connect website visitors to information, pre-qualify new leads, and drive registration to your webinars and events.
Your AI Assistant can drive the next best action across chat, email, and SMS by identifying the hot leads faster via natural, two-way email conversations, so you can focus your efforts on contacting leads who intend to buy. The moment your assistant identifies a sales opportunity, she alerts your sales rep and shares all pertinent information.
Best for: Larger businesses since their price point is higher.
Pricing
- No pricing is listed on their site, so you’ll have to get a demo for specific inquiries.
Chatfuel
Chatfuel is also a chatbot for Facebook messenger. They claim you can build an AI chatbot in as little as 7 minutes. You set up conversational rules and the bot recognizes similar phrases a user might say instead. They are led through the conversation path you program the bot to have with them.
Chatfuel let’s potential customers know that a bot can resolve up to 80% of customer inquiries, so you can save time and resources and win more business. They say that with a bot, you can cut your cost per lead by up to 7x, and earn a return on ad spend of up to 10x or more.
Best for: Smaller companies that need an AI chatbot for Facebook
Pricing:
- Entrepreneur: $14.99/month for 500 conversations
- Startup: $24.99/month for 1,000 conversations
- Small Business: $59.99/month for 3,000 conversations
Copilot
Copilot is also an AI chatbot for marketers looking for a seamless integration between their ecommerce stores and Facebook Messenger. Copilot allows for real-time communication with customers through Messenger at every stage of the purchasing funnel.
You can customize your “abandoned cart” campaigns to deliver the right message at the right time, notify customers when their order ships or when your stock changes, give your customers a flexible and convenient way to schedule order pickup, and even make appointments. If you have a store page on Facebook or just connect with your customers via Facebook, it’s a great option to help you save time and perfect your sales funnel.
Best for: Ecommerce companies that use Facebook Messenger
Price: Free trial for 14 days, and then you can get in touch with them for pricing either for Shopify or BigCommerce
Drift
Drift markets itself as a conversational marketing platform best for companies that are looking to merge sales and customer service into an all-in-one experience for the user that can help your business scale.
Drift comes with some of the best automation tools, giving it an edge over other chat softwares. A good example of these automation tools is their “LeadBot” feature, which you can use to qualify all your site visitors. It has the ability to help you choose the best potential customers, making it easier for you to target them and increase your conversion rates. Drift allows you to create the most efficient chat and targeting system available.
Best for: Large companies that have several customers landing on their page at once
Pricing: You can start free, and then to learn about their other plans you ironically have to use their AI chatbot
Inbenta
Inbenta allows you to easily build your AI chatbot to serve your needs. You can embed it in your website or app or connect it to communication channels like Whatsapp, Slack, or Messenger to power automated experiences across all channels.
With conversational AI and human-like interactions, Inbenta combines patented Symbolic AI and NLP technology with Inbenta Lexicon, a proprietary database including thousands of lexical and semantic relationships to help chatbots detect intent and context to answer users’ questions with precision–in over 35 languages!
Best for: Various business from banking to travel to government
Pricing: You can try Inbenta for free for 14 days, or can request a demo for full pricing options.
Intercom
Intercom is one of the best live chat softwares available, with an all-in-one tool to enhance your customer communication experience. Intercom comes with the whole package, offering messaging products, marketing products and customer service products, creating an excellent experience for you and the customer.
The machine learning software is able to communicate with and help your customers as needed. You have the power to onboard and engage your customers throughout that process, making it smoother for them overall. Its offline features ensure that messages will be saved for your agents to view and act on once they come online.
All of these features are extremely efficient, which allows for a higher conversion rate. Intercom ensures that each step of the chat experience is seamless, allowing you to move toward your end goal faster.
Best for: Small and early-stage businesses, but they also have enterprise options as well. Best for companies that want to use all Intercom has to offer (not just one or two of their features)
Pricing:
- Starter: Best for very small businesses, this plan is $74/month when billed annually, which you can customize with add-ons like product tours, surveys, and WhatsApp messaging
- For all other plans, you’ll need to schedule a demo.
Landbot
Landbot is a no-code chatbot builder that helps businesses convert leads, capture data, and personalize client journeys in real-time. You can use Landbot’s drag-and-drop creator to build advanced conversational flows with ease, flexibility, and speed on a simple interface.
Launch your chatbots on popular messaging channels or the web as pop-ups, widgets, landing pages, or website embeds, and integrate chatbots into your business workflow with native integrations. Whether you’re deploying conversations on the web, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or any API-enabled channel, Landbot helps improve conversion by reducing response times and personalizing the customer journey on the go, from the first to last touchpoint.
Best for: Has options and capabilities for all size businesses
Pricing:
- Free: 100 chats a month
- Starter: $39/month for 500 chats a month
- Pro: $99/month for 2,500 chats a month
- Business: Everything is customized, so you’ll have to reach out to them for a demo
Zendesk Chat
The Zendesk AI bots are made specifically for companies that were already using Zendesk for customer service. The company offers the chat software to ensure that its customers get the whole package from them through their “Answer Bot®” that answers common questions and identifies when to bring in an agent.
If you already have a Zendesk customer service package, adding the chat feature is definitely worth your while. It can also easily integrate with numerous other platforms; offers analytic insights, allowing you to monitor the efficacy of your agents; and you can also look at customer activity on the website prior to engaging in the chat feature, allowing you to get the full picture of the customer journey.
Best for: Companies using Zendesk for other aspects of their business
Pricing:
Zendesk has a free trial, as well as pricing options for sales, foundational needs, and for enterprises. This is their pricing for “everyone” under their complete service solution.
- Suite Team: $49/agent/month
- Suite Growth: $79/agent/month
- Suite Professional: $99/agent/month
Best Free AI Chatbot?
Landbot has a good free option, though you are limited to how many messages you can send a month. Their free plan works if you don’t have too much chat traffic on your site.
You can also try Flow XO and Manychat for some great free AI chatbot options. We would note that though Zendesk has a free version, it’s very limited so it’s not the best option for a free AI chatbot.
Best AI Chatbot for Small Businesses?
Intercom, Landbot, and Chatfuel all have great plans they’ve built for smaller businesses and startups.
Best AI Chatbot for Law Firms?
The best AI chatbot for law firms will depend on the size of your firm. If you’re a smaller law firm, Intercom and Landbot are good, affordable options, and Chatfuel is great if you use Facebook Messenger.
If you’re a larger firm with a lot of traffic, Drift and Conversica are two great AI chatbots.
Best AI Chatbot for eCommerce?
Copilot and Inbenta are both good bets if you’re looking for an AI chatbot for eCommerce specifically.
How to Choose the Best AI Chatbot for Your Needs
The AI’s capabilities
What do you need your chatbot to do? Does your company serve consumers in various languages? Do you need a specific integration? Are you looking for support with emails and other messaging?
It sounds simple, but knowing what you need out of your chatbot is going to be the best way to decide which one to use for your business. Not sure where to start? Contact us at AI Guides so we can help determine what AI platform is best for your business–and exactly how you can use them.
Your budget
Budget is also going to be a good way to narrow down your AI chatbot options. What can you afford to invest in this project?
Do note that there will be cost savings with your chatbot, so factor that in as much as possible when you’re making a budget.
How easy it is to use
Are you a tech whiz? Do you need a lot of set up support? Are you ready to make your own chatbot with a builder? Depending on your level of comfort, you’ll want to take a look at how easy it is to set up your chatbot. If you don’t have coding experience, or don’t have someone on your team that does, then staying away from bots that require coding might be the best bet.
It’s also important to take a look at how easy it will integrate with your current CRM and other business applications you’re using. At AI Guides we can help you determine which AI chatbot (and all AI technology) will be the best fit for your company’s current technology.
Goals of using an AI chatbot
What do you need the AI chatbot for? Are you a law firm looking for support with customer inquiries? An entrepreneur building out your business strategy for customer service? Whatever it is, making these goals first–before making a purchasing decision–is going to be the best way to get ROI for your service.
Conclusion: Get Support with AI Chatbots for Your Business
The idea that artificial intelligence will improve business is not a new one; in fact, it has been around for decades. AI is able to complete tasks that humans cannot do, or tasks that would take too long and be too costly for humans to do.
Businesses can use AI to:
- Automate repetitive tasks in an intelligent fashion, allowing for smaller teams to have greater capabilities
- Make recommendations for the future based on data–a quickly and more accurately than humans can
- Provide quality assurance using quality control software
- Make better hiring decisions and expedite training
- Improve cybersecurity using behavior analysis to recognize atypical usage
- Review documentation, research, and contracts with faster analysis and extraction
- Boost creativity by suggesting more effective ways to carry out many familiar tasks
- Improve products and workflows by embedding AI within them
- And of course, engage customers and employees via chatbots and AI assistants!
Whether you feel like you could be improving your customer relations, retention, or engagement, AI chatbots can help you easily integrate artificial intelligence into your business so you can improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
At AI Guides, we ensure the successful use of artificial intelligence in your business, providing the leadership and technical expertise you need to mitigate the risk of AI investment and move forward with confidence in your AI project.
We’re here to make your life a lot simpler, whether you have a case in mind, want to learn more, or would like to accelerate AI adoption at your company. Schedule your consultation with our AI experts today so we can help you use AI to take your business to the next level.
