Today, more than ever, customers expect a certain level of customer service when they make purchases. So some organisations implement AI-powered bots into their operations. This may include messaging, scheduling calls, and reading messages and emails to solve customer service issues and provide you with the best experience possible.
The following information should help you narrow down your search for AI chatbots so that you can take your business to the next level.
What is AI Chatbot Software?
AI chatbots are software programs that understand spoken or written human language based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities. This means that an AI chatbot can detect the intent of a query that a user types in and deliver the best response it deems fit.
This is useful for businesses because they can use AI chatbots to automate tasks, answer customer questions, and provide a customer support team.
The best part about using AI chatbots is that they don't need to be programmed to remember anything about you or your business—they're just like any other person who happens to be able to carry on a conversation using human language.
Most Important Features of an Online Chatbot Tool
The most important chatbots usually prioritise conversation quality and include features that enable a high-quality conversational experience. Several authentic chatbot examples integrate critical features of technology, flow, and design to show effectiveness in handling customer interactions without the need for human intervention.
Here are some of the most important features of an online chatbot.
- Ease of use: The best chatbot systems are simple to use and do not necessitate any coding knowledge.
- Flexibility: The AI chatbot platform you choose should be versatile enough to allow you to build a chatbot that suits your exact requirements.
- Integrations: The chatbot development platform should make it simple to integrate with popular social media like Slack, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp.
- Support for numerous channels: The platform should support multiple channels such as email, online, SMS, and messaging applications.
- Scalability: The platform should be scalable to expand alongside your business.
- Pricing: The pricing should be determined by the number of active users or discussions, not by the number of messages exchanged.
- Analytics: Most chatbot-building platforms also give thorough analytics to track the performance of your chatbot.Real-time monitoring: In addition to consolidated statistics, the platform should provide real-time monitoring to assess how your chatbot is functioning and to assist you in swiftly identifying and resolving any issues.
Best AI Chatbots for Customer Service
Here's a quick summary of each of the best AI chatbots for customer support on my list, highlighting some of the capabilities.
Lobster is an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot creation platform developed by EBI AI for B2C organisations to offer quick, engaging, and personalised client interactions. You may use this platform to distribute your assistant across numerous channels, including the web, mobile apps, messaging apps, and even smart home devices.
Key features:
- Flexible integration network
- Multilingual
- NLP agnostic
- Available on multiple platforms
- Detailed reporting & analytics
Pros:
- 24/7 support
- Regular training for AI-based assistants
- Branding options
- An introductory workshop to choose the best AI use cases for assistants
- Dedicated account manager
Cons:
- There’s no free plan. But you can try it for free for the first two weeks
- It may be expensive for small businesses
Pricing:
Please contact the EBI.AI team for pricing customised to your unique company needs.
Botsify is a popular conversational AI chatbot platform that allows you to construct intelligent chatbots for your website as well as popular messaging channels like Facebook Messenger and Slack without the need for coding.
Key features:
- Human takeovers possible
- Conversational forms using conversational AI
- Build chatbots for multiple platforms
- Create flows seamlessly
Pros:
- 100+
- 24/7 support
Cons:
- New users may need some time to get used to the interface
Pricing:
There’s a 14-day free trial available as well as plans that range from $49-149 per month. If you want to know more about their custom plans, you can contact their team for pricing.
Boost is one of the best artificial intelligence chatbot software solutions. It can assist you in developing intelligent and engaging chatbots for your websites.
This software solution might assist you in providing faster service to your consumers. They can also cut their wait time by automatically delivering answers to frequently requested inquiries.
Key features:
- It offers an omnichannel experience
- Self-learning conversational AI
- No-code conversation flow builder and editor that helps you train your chatbot without any technical experience
Pros:
- Easy to build a chatbot
- Human handover possible
- Detailed analytics
- Human chat agents can get real-time suggestions from a chatbot
Cons:
- It needs more in-depth analytics
Pricing:
You'll need to contact their sales staff to find out how much their Standard and Enterprise plans cost. It also provides a free 10-day POC trial plan to help you get started.
Aivo, one of the top AI chatbot systems, supports your customer service and allows you to answer in real time via text or voice. You can take your customer care to the next level with Aivo's interactive chatbot. Their programme can assist you in increasing conversions and optimising your resources.
With Aivo, you can provide your consumers with a consistent experience regardless of whether they contact you via your app, website, Facebook, or WhatsApp.
Key features:
- A chatbot can be built without coding
- Detailed analytics through the Business Intelligence tool
- Provides customer service in more than 50 languages
Pros:
- Easy to create ads
- Gathers unanswered questions to help you develop the bot
- Can easily integrate with third-party services like Zapier, Salesforce, Zendesk, and more
Cons:
- There’s no free version
Pricing:
There is a 30-day free trial available. For pricing on its Advanced, Business, and Enterprise programmes, please contact its staff.
ProProfs Chat combines human and machine efforts. It assists you in creating and configuring many chatbots for your website as a customer care solution without any coding skills.
This drag-and-drop chatbot generator allows you to customise the conversational flow of a visitor. What's more, it has excellent testing capabilities. Before putting your chatbot live on your website, you may test how quickly it replies to your inputs.
Key features:
- Makes editing workflows easier with branching logic
- Seamlessly connects with native apps like ProProfs Help Desk to generate tickets in your agent’s absence
- Helps you run tests to understand how prompt its responses are going to be
Pros:
- Helps users manage incoming chats without agents and create tickets for complex queries
- Offers canned responses
- Simplifies the chatbot builder’s process with multiple chatbot templates
Cons:
- Lacks in-depth insights and reports on how the chatbot is performing on the user’s website
Pricing:
A 15-day trial is available with all plans. For essential plans, $15 is billed monthly, $20 for premium plans, and custom pricing is available for enterprise plans. Contact them for more details.
Pandorabots is one of the oldest and most popular chatbot platforms, with clients like HCL, Coca-Cola, and the Tata Group.
You may use AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) or your custom code to construct chatbots on the site. To get started, you may also select from a variety of templates.
Key features:
- Voice-enabled
- Can be used on messaging and voice channels
- Multilingual chatbot
- Can create it without coding
Pros:
- RESTful APIs available
- Can understand context
- Can download your code
Cons:
- Limited features in the free version
Pricing:
There’s a free plan for Sandbox. For developer plans, you have to pay $19 a month and for Pro plans, it’s $199 a month. For enterprise plans, you should get in touch with the team for custom pricing.
MobileMonkey is a popular chatbot platform that lets you build chatbots for Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct Messages, WhatsApp, SMS, and website chat.
AI-powered chatbots, lead capture forms, live conversations, and automatic message sequences are among the capabilities available on the platform.
Key features:
- Ability to override your intelligent chatbot and jump into a conversation
- Automate customer service by giving answers to FAQs
- Manage numerous lead generation activities like chat blasts, drip campaigns, and list building
Pros:
- A free version is available
- Possible to connect with WordPress
- Great sequencing features for drips
Cons:
- Lack of integrations
Pricing:
For MobileMonkey Startup Edition plans, you have to pay $119 a month but are billed annually. For MobileMonkey Growth Edition plans, there’s custom pricing. For the InstaChamp Platinum plan, you have to pay $19 a month, but it’s only for Instagram marketing. Last is the RoboBDR DIY plan for SMBs which is also at $119 a month (billed annually).
This intelligent platform creates workplace chatbots that handle text, voice, video, augmented reality, and virtual reality on all major messaging platforms. Their conversational bots create interesting and genuine consumer chat experiences.
Key features:
- Can host and deploy your bot
- Provides real-time insights to improve its performance
- End-to-end bot solution
- Artificial Intelligence moderator to help achieve customer’s goals
Pros:
- Complete solution for chatbots
- Chatbots for enterprises
Cons:
- It may be expensive for small businesses
Pricing:
You’ll need to contact their customer service team to find out about pricing details
Clare.AI is one of the rapidly growing chatbot systems. It is a platform for natural language processing that allows you to develop and train your chatbot. You may also use it to evaluate the performance of your chatbot.
Key features:
- Test your chatbot’s performance
- Knowledge base management and AI training
- Easily design your chatbot with a no-code chat builder
- Integrate with popular messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Makes it easy to deploy your chatbot on multiple platforms
- Allows you to test your chatbot's performance on the platform before deploying it
Cons:
- The platform lacks some features that may be useful for more advanced users as it is still in its early stages.
Pricing:
For pricing details, contact their customer service team.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, the chatbot that works best for you will depend on your particular needs. Some chatbot software doesn’t offer free versions, so taking out a loan may be a good option.
With the help of AI, chatbot platforms have paved the way for new and exciting technology. Businesses are taking advantage of this opportunity to provide the best user experience possible. It will be interesting to see how AI continues to change the marketing industry, especially when it comes to chatbots.