Chatbots have become an important part of our lives in recent years. They’re everywhere you look – on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack and even Siri (although Apple has taken steps to block them).
But what exactly is a chatbot? And how can it help me grow my business or make things easier for customers? What should I know before getting started with one? We explain everything about this useful tool here.
Before we dive into the details of what makes up a good chatbot, let's think about different kinds of chatbots out there. There are four main categories that define each type of bot.
- Chatbots as assistants - These bots take care of customer requests or inquiries without human interaction. For example, when someone asks “who made these shoes”, Siri will answer back, while Google Assistant will give you links to information regarding brands. You can also use this category if you want to automate certain tasks within your app or website. This includes scheduling events, managing orders and shipping etc. For example, you could create an event booking bot which would automatically book tickets for you whenever people ask for something like "I need two seats at 9am". The same goes for other services such as ordering groceries online or making reservations. A lot of companies now offer their own version of an assistant. Here are some examples: Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, Samsung Bixby, Google Assistant and many others.
- Chatbots as a platform provider - Some platforms allow users to build their own chatbots based on pre-built templates. In this case, you don't actually develop the chatbot yourself but rather choose from various options available. One great example is SendPulse, where you can create a chatbot by choosing from different modules. Each module contains its own set of features that help you achieve specific goals and objectives, including collecting data, sending messages, providing answers, tracking user behavior etc. If you're looking for a way to add live chatting capabilities to your existing site, then SendPulse might be just the ticket. Another popular service offering this kind of functionality is CleverBot. It allows you to quickly build a chatbot using readymade scripts. You can select from over 50 predefined responses and customize them accordingly.
- Chatbots as a developer - Developers who already enjoy coding skills can easily build a chatbot themselves. Once they've done so, they must integrate their code into a website or mobile application via APIs. As explained above, developers often use third party solutions, such as SendPulse or CleverBot. But you may decide to go DIY and implement your own chatbot.
- Chatbots as a marketing channel - When a company wants to promote itself through social media channels, it usually needs to hire a team of marketers. Having said that, sometimes businesses prefer to reach potential clients directly instead of relying solely on paid ads. That's why chatbots have become increasingly common among ecommerce sites, dating apps and customer support websites. You can create your own chatbot to communicate with your audience, collect leads and convert visitors into paying subscribers. To learn more about this option, check out our article titled How to market your brand with a chatbot.
The short answer is no! While most of the time you'll end up buying a license anyway, there are times when you won't need to pay anything. However, if you'd still like to try out a few sample bots, you can always download some free ones. Below are three options worth checking out.
- Engagi Chatbot - This is a simple bot created especially for beginners. It comes with a list of 30 basic commands, allowing you to start building your first chatbot right away. It's not ideal though because the only thing it does is respond to yes/no questions. Still, it's easy enough to understand and perfect for those who haven't developed much knowledge yet.
- Prompt Chat - Unlike the previous option, Prompt Chat offers a wide range of functionalities, giving you access to advanced features. With this particular bot, you can connect it with several external systems, including Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more. Also, it supports multiple languages, enabling customers around the world to interact with it.
- Clever Bot Lite - This one isn't really meant for beginners, but anyone interested in testing the waters. It provides more than 100 built-in functions, along with plenty of customization options. Like all bots created by Cleverbot, this one doesn't require you to register anywhere, meaning you don't have to worry about creating accounts or storing personal info. This means that you can install it pretty much wherever you want -- on your desktop computer, laptop or smartphone.
There are quite a few ways to acquire a free chatbot. Let's briefly discuss each of them below.
1) Register on a website selling bots
This method requires registering somewhere and signing up for a subscription plan. Most of the time, the registration process takes less than five minutes and involves entering your name, email address and payment details. Afterward, you receive a confirmation link. Just click it and follow the instructions provided. You'll soon see a notification saying that your account was activated successfully. Your new chatbot will appear shortly after.
2) Download a demo chatbot
You can find demos of many bots on websites dedicated to chatbots. Usually, you'll find a few simple samples along with detailed descriptions explaining every step required to build your own chatbot. Some of them come with source codes, so you can simply copy&paste the relevant parts. Other websites sell premade bots that you can immediately test drive.
3) Sign up for an educational course
Some universities and colleges offer courses related to AI development and machine learning. By enrolling in one of them, you can earn credits towards your degree program. Many programs include hands-on training sessions covering topics such as artificial intelligence and conversational interfaces. All you have to do is sign up, attend lectures and complete assignments.
4) Get a job
If you're passionate about chatbots and proficient in programming, you can consider applying for a role working with messaging applications. Companies typically employ engineers skilled in developing tools used by millions of daily active users worldwide. So regardless of whether you work remotely or face to face, chances are high that you'll encounter chatbots frequently.
5) Join a community
Another way to obtain free bots is to join communities focused on chatbot development. You can search for groups on Telegram, Discord, Reddit or LinkedIn. Alternatively, you can browse GitHub repositories containing open source projects and contribute to them. Or maybe you feel inspired to write your own bot from scratch and share it with others.
6) Try freelancing
Many freelance jobs involve integrating chatbots into webpages or mobile apps. Since your expertise lies in programming, you could potentially land a position writing code for a chatbot. Then again, you could also apply for roles involving design or content creation. Whatever path you choose, freelancing is definitely another viable alternative to earning money with your passion.
7) Learn to code
Learning to code is both rewarding and challenging. On the plus side, it gives you tremendous control over your career, allowing you to shape it according to your preferences. On the other hand, mastering a technical skill takes time and effort, which can discourage some people. If you happen to be one of them, consider taking advantage of opportunities offered by online education providers. Courses designed specifically to teach individuals how to build chatbots cover topics ranging from artificial intelligence to machine learning. Depending on your background, you can opt for beginner classes or advance level lessons.
8) Use public libraries
Most cities across the globe host special collections devoted to technology and digital culture. Whether you're living in New York City or San Francisco, you can visit local institutions and borrow books on subjects relating to chatbots. Check out your nearest library branch to discover if they carry titles focusing on the topic. Otherwise, you can purchase guides written by experts and read them offline.
9) Research websites selling bots
Search engines are full of resources helping people find products and services offering AI development assistance. For instance, you can find tutorials detailing how to build a chatbot from scratch. Additionally, you can explore blogs discussing AI trends, chatbot news and best practices, or forums filled with fellow enthusiasts sharing ideas and experience.
10) Start your own project
Maybe you're not very familiar with programming languages, but you still want to engage in conversation with customers. Or perhaps you're tired of wasting hours searching for the perfect bot. Perhaps you've been thinking about starting your own venture and are eager to put your idea into practice. No matter what your reason, it's possible to launch a successful chatbot project. You can either buy a template or create your own bot from scratch. Either way, it's likely going to be a costly endeavor since you'll have to invest both money and energy in order to succeed.
Chatbots have been around for decades but only recently has their popularity exploded. They are now being used in every industry to solve problems or automate repetitive tasks that humans can't do as well. Chatbots also provide an engaging user experience while providing companies with valuable data about customer behavior. With this rise come several challenges like scalability, customization, and security. How do you overcome these issues when building a bot without writing code yourself?
The answer lies in partnering up with chatbot platforms such as Botify. These solutions allow businesses to build chatbots using prebuilt templates and then customize them according to their needs. This way they don’t need to worry about scaling, maintenance, security, etc., which saves time and money. However, it's not enough to just use any of the available chatbot services. You must find one that fits your business model perfectly so you maximize profits from the project. Here we will discuss what exactly is a "whitelabel" chatbot and some tips on picking the right service provider. Let us look at each option individually starting with the most common ones.
There are many different options to choose from when looking for a chatbot platform. The key question here should be whether you want to create your own chatbot or partner with someone else who already has done all the heavy lifting. If you're going down the latter route (and if you know how to write code), you'll save yourself lots of hassle by taking advantage of open-source APIs provided by various developers. On the other hand, there are plenty of SaaS providers out there offering turnkey solutions that include everything needed to launch a successful chatbot. Some examples of those are Prompt, Engagi, SendPulse, and others. It really depends on your specific situation and goals. In case you decide to go with a third party chatbot developer, make sure to check their track record before signing anything. That way you won't end up regretting your decision later on.
If you ask people which messaging app they prefer the most, chances are WhatsApp will get top billing. Why? Because over 1 billion users trust its encrypted communication features. But even though WhatsApp is the biggest player in the market today, it isn't the first one ever created. There were many predecessors including XMPP, Google Talk, Facebook Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Kik messenger, Skype, Telegram, Line, Slack, Viber, Wechat, and iMessage. So why does everyone still flock to WhatsApp? Well, because it was built specifically to handle group chats and voice messages. And since it's based on Signal Protocol, it doesn't collect information about its users. WhatsApp is great for small businesses, startups, and individuals alike. It offers excellent integration capabilities along with numerous tools designed especially for marketers.
But let's talk about the future of messaging apps. What comes after WhatsApp? Who knows, maybe something better than WhatsApp could emerge. For now, however, we're focusing on what came before WhatsApp. While no single chatbot application dominates the market, there are three major players - Microsoft Teams, Skype, and Facebook Messengers - that together account for over 80 percent of global active monthly users. According to Statista, almost 40 million people use Skype daily. Also, both Microsoft Teams and Skype offer enterprise plans that would suit larger organizations quite nicely.
So if you're planning on launching your own chatbot, keep in mind that you may not be able to compete with established leaders unless you plan ahead. To learn more about which platform is right for you, read our guide on choosing a chatbot platform.
As mentioned earlier, there are tons of choices when it comes to choosing between paid and nonpaid chatbot hosting services. One type of chatbot that has gained massive traction lately is called a “free version” or a “freemium” chatbot. As opposed to a fully functional chatbot that requires payment upfront, a freemium solution allows customers to try it out for free before committing to the full package. After trying it out, they are given access to additional features for a fee. Think of it as a trial period where customers pay nothing until they prove themselves worthy of getting into the VIP club. Freemiums are perfect for B2B applications. They allow potential clients to test drive certain products or services prior to making the purchase.
A good example of a freemium chatbot is Prompt. With it, businesses can offer free trials to prospective customers and see how much interest exists among potential buyers. Then, once they reach a certain threshold, they can upgrade to Pro accounts and start paying subscription fees. Other notable freemium chatbot solutions include Cleverbot, HelloTalk, and Engagi.
Another interesting alternative is to opt for a hybrid approach where part of your chatbot functionality is hosted online while another portion remains on premises. An example of this kind of setup would be Prompt + Cleverbot. Customers sign up for Cleverbot and receive a 15-day free trial. Once they've proven themselves during that time frame, they can upgrade to premium packages. Meanwhile, Prompt handles the bulk of interactions within the company.
One thing that sets apart the truly advanced chatbots from the rest is natural language processing (NLP). NLP gives machines the ability to understand human speech and respond accordingly. To put it simply, NLP enables computers to recognize spoken words instead of relying solely on keywords entered manually. A chatbot powered by NLP is capable of understanding complex questions posed by customers and responding appropriately. Not surprisingly, NLP chatbots are primarily geared toward businesses rather than private consumers. Examples of NLP chatbots include Amazon Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and Google Assistant.
In addition to NLP, chatbots can also leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technology. AI refers to systems whose performance exceeds that of humans. These programs can process large amounts of data and perform complex calculations quickly and accurately. Another benefit of AI is that they can adapt to changes in environment and learning new skills through exposure to training datasets. A few chatbot agencies specialize in developing intelligent agents using machine learning algorithms. Examples of AI chatbots include IBM Watson, Salesforce Einstein, and Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services.
To summarize, there are multiple considerations to take into consideration when creating a chatbot. Choosing the right platform is critical. Next, you need to determine which one suits your particular business needs. Finally, you need to ensure that your chatbot has the capability required to fulfill your business objectives. Only then can you begin marketing your new tool to generate leads and increase sales. Keep reading below to discover the benefits of using a whitelabel chatbot for your business.
Chatbots have been around since the early days of Facebook Messenger but it wasn’t until recently that they became mainstream. Chatbots offer an easy way to add functionality to your website or app without having to hire developers. They can also help you boost engagement on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. However, many businesses don't know how to use them effectively. That's where chatbots come in. A chatbot is essentially an artificially intelligent computer program designed to perform human-like tasks such as answering customer questions or performing simple transactions for users. The best part about these programs is that they're able to do this at scale while requiring little maintenance from business owners. So if you want to get ahead of your competitors and start boosting sales today, then read our guide below.
As we mentioned above, there are two main categories when talking about chatbots - consumer facing and enterprise level solutions. We will focus primarily on the latter here because it is typically easier to navigate through the complexities of developing chatbots than those aimed towards consumers. However, both categories share several similarities so before diving into specific examples let us briefly discuss what exactly makes up a chatbot.
White label chatbot refers to a type of chatbot which allows companies to create their own version of a particular service offered by another company or brand. For example, say you wanted to build a chatbot using one of the leading AI development tools. You could go out and find someone who offers a similar tool (such as Prompt) and partner with them for support. In exchange for providing technical assistance, the other party would take a cut of the profits generated from user interactions via your chatbot. This method requires you to pay the developer directly instead of partnering with a third party provider. It may be cheaper upfront, but it doesn’t allow you to customize the chatbot experience and reach new customers. What’s worse, some developers charge exorbitant fees for support and even ask for permission to access your data after the initial setup process has concluded. Not only does this prevent you from getting any benefit from building your own chatbot, but it also leaves you open to potential security risks.
A better alternative is finding a company that specializes in creating white label chatbots based off another platform. These providers usually provide turnkey services that include everything needed to launch your chatbot including training sessions, ongoing support, branding elements, and much more. Most importantly though, they tend to provide customized features that make your chatbot stand apart from others on the market. By outsourcing these functions, you not only save money, but you also avoid potentially dealing with issues down the line.
The primary purpose of chatbots is to interact with humans. As previously stated, this interaction can occur in various ways depending on the nature of the business offering the chatbot. Some common uses include:
- Customer Service – When you need to answer basic inquiries regarding products, locations, contact information, etc., a chatbot can handle all requests quickly and efficiently. If you run a small retail store looking to generate more foot traffic, you might consider setting up a chatbot. Simply put, a chatbot can act as your virtual assistant by taking orders over the phone, delivering packages, arranging appointments, and helping manage inventory levels.
- Marketing – Using a chatbot can help drive leads for your offline marketing efforts. Depending on the size of your target audience, you could leverage your chatbot to promote discounts, special events, or limited time promotions. Additionally, you can integrate the chatbot with your social media accounts to post content automatically.
- Ecommerce – Similar to traditional eCommerce websites, chatbots can facilitate online purchases. Customers can place orders, track shipments, and receive notifications once items arrive in stock.
- Support Systems – Companies often utilize chatbots to assist employees in resolving routine day-to-day problems. For instance, if you sell mobile phones, you might set up a chatbot to respond to customer complaints related to defective devices. Or maybe you sell home appliances. You could develop a chatbot that helps customers troubleshoot minor malfunctions.
There are countless applications where chatbots can prove useful. To learn more about different industries and how they can benefit from integrating chatbots into their operations, check out our article on why every industry should invest in chatbots!
You can think of chatbots in terms of three general categories – Consumer, Enterprise, and Social Media. Let’s explore each category individually.
Consumer-facing chatbots fall under the “consumer” section of our list. Here, we see chatbots being used to engage with people on social networks. Examples of this include Facebook messenger apps, messaging apps, and other platforms dedicated specifically to text communication. Generally speaking, these chatbots aren’t very sophisticated compared to other models. Their sole function is to simply deliver messages back and forth between two parties.
Enterprise-focused chatbots are slightly less common. They serve a variety of purposes within organizations but generally involve automation processes performed by machines rather than humans. Think of chatbots as digital assistants capable of handling mundane tasks such as scheduling meetings, sending emails, printing documents, managing payroll, etc. While these bots are still relatively young, they show tremendous promise in automating repetitive workflows across large corporations. At present, however, they lack the ability to understand natural language and remain largely confined to email threads.
Finally, social media chatbots are the least complex model available. Typically, these are automated versions of existing chatbots built to mimic conversations occurring on popular social networking sites. Because they were originally created to interact with humans, they typically feature rudimentary artificial intelligence capabilities and rely heavily on keywords inputted by the user. However, this approach has proven successful enough to warrant further development. As technology advances, we expect to see advancements made in this area. Today, social media bots are already capable of engaging in realtime conversation with multiple participants. With continued improvements, we could eventually see bots become indistinguishable from actual human beings.
Facebook Messenger currently dominates the market with approximately 1 billion monthly active users. Other major players include WhatsApp, LINE, Viber, Kik, Slack, and Telegram among others. For comparison, Twitter boasts just 250 million MAUs while Google Hangouts has just 100 million. Despite its popularity, Facebook Messenger isn’t nearly as powerful as it could be due to lackluster performance from its underlying AI engine. While this may change in the future, for now, we recommend avoiding this platform unless absolutely necessary.
At present, you’re probably wondering whether or not to bother investing in a chatbot yourself. After all, it seems pretty daunting to try and implement something as complicated as machine learning into your organization. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need to dive head first into this world. There are plenty of prebuilt chatbots available that require minimal effort to deploy. Two options worth considering are SendPulse and Engagi. Both are cloud-based services that enable you to easily set up a fully functional chatbot without needing to write any code.
SendPulse provides a free option that lets you test out their chatbot creation tool. Once you finish configuring your chatbot settings, you can begin interacting with it right away. The service supports English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, and Indonesian languages. Moreover, SendPulse includes additional customization options allowing you to tweak your bot’s appearance, alter responses, and assign unique actions to certain words and phrases.
Engagi takes things a bit farther by letting you design your chatbot entirely from scratch. Unlike SendPulse, Engagi gives you complete control over the entire interface. You won’t find any unnecessary bloat here. Instead, you’ll see clean lines and streamlined menus. Furthermore, Engagi comes bundled with dozens of readymade templates enabling you to choose a template that matches your overall aesthetic preferences. Finally, Engagi offers unlimited storage space meaning you never have to worry about running low on room.
In short, both SendPulse and Engagi provide ample opportunities for beginners interested in leveraging chatbots into their businesses. And with the growing demand for chatbots, you’re sure to find numerous other vendors who specialize in crafting custom chatbots for you. As long as you keep an eye out for good deals, you shouldn’t encounter too much trouble securing a reliable source.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.