Have you ever placed an online order through the Starbucks app? Did you notice that an AI-powered chatbot takes your order? You can speak to it or type in your message. In such a case, the AI chatbot platform will help you when your order is expected to be ready and the total cost.
Simple, isn’t it?
Similarly, the Pizza Hut chatbot on Facebook Messenger can help you order your pizza online. It can tell you all about their ongoing deals too.
Smart companies are integrating intelligent and interactive chatbots into their inbound marketing strategies. The artificial intelligence of interactive chatbots is revolutionizing the customer service experience.
But how?
These platforms are more advanced than live chat software solutions. They can engage with your customers without the need for a support agent.
By adding a chatbot to your website or on Facebook, you can provide information to customers whenever they need it, and that too, quickly.
Did you know that interactive chatbots are, essentially, intelligent programs that are capable of having conversations with humans? They can help you steer your online prospects through the sales funnel with ease, right from initial discussions to final conversions.
Pro Tip: Give your customers the option of chatting with a customer service representative if your chatbot isn’t able to resolve their queries.
What is an AI Chatbot?
Chatbots are machines that converse with humans via audio or text.
And AI chatbots are smarter versions of these chatbots. They use machine learning and natural language processing to understand human intent better.
AI chatbots provide more natural communication with humans.
What’s more, you ask?
AI chatbots are trainable and, over time, learn and improve communication with your target audience.
How does this work?
For every interaction they have with the audience, they become smarter. The bots also become better and more efficient at task completion.
AI chatbots are available 24/7 and can handle conversations with multiple customers at once.
How Can You Make an AI Chatbot?
Before you can build a bot, there are several things you need to understand:
- What problem are you trying to solve?
- What platform will your chatbot reside on?
- What server setup will your bot run on?
Understanding your goal, the bot’s objectives, and how you will handle input will help ensure that you get a good chatbot. It also safeguards you against unforeseen situations.
Designing the conversational flow with these factors in mind gives your chatbot a human outlook.
What’s more?
Chatbot interactions are either structured or unstructured:
- Structured interactions are more about how information logically flows.
- Unstructured interactions include freestyle plain text like that used while chatting with friends and family.
The former can consist of choices, menus, or forms.
You must then design scripts and ensure they serve your business goal.
How?
- Determine the tone and personality of the chatbot based on your business.
- Focus on ensuring consistency with your brand voice.
- Include a human element to hold comfortable and fluent conversations.
Your scripting data should reflect your target audience. The success of the conversation design will depend on the context and user intent.
It will also depend on entities and dialogs. These are words or expressions that determine response and the conversation structure.
Are you a coder?
The choice of the platform to build your bot will depend on whether you can code or not. There are both types of platforms available, the ones that require coding knowledge and the ones that do not. So, you can take your pick based on your coding skills.
One more thing:
Continuously test the chatbot to ensure that it fits the purpose and helps you achieve your goals.
How Can You Choose the Best AI Chatbot for Your Needs?
Not all AI chatbots will meet your specific requirements while saving you on cost and labor.
So, what should you look for when choosing the right AI chatbot for your business?
Learning:
It should absorb knowledge from the organization without requiring manual teaching. Some of these organizational knowledge bases include your chat logs, CRM data, and emails. This kind of chatbot learns dynamically and rapidly as employees and customers communicate.
Understanding:
Choose a platform that can break down complex entities and intents. It should also understand the unique enterprise language and terms. Intelligent chatbots break down complex language and efficiently execute even complex tasks.
Deploying:
It should have a behavior engine, dialog manager, and natural language understanding (NLU) service tools.
What is NLU?
NLU allows the chatbot to understand and respond to communication effectively with customers.
With it, the chatbot can keep the conversation going by detecting sentiments. They can also predict customer questions, provide facts, and clarify information.
For example, asking customers, “did you mean this or something else?”
Back to the deploying factor: the chatbot should take less than two months to set up and deploy. It should also meet user expectations and requirements within the shortest time.
Training:
The chatbot should support continuous learning. It should get smarter with each interaction using semantic modeling and machine learning. It should not require manual training, unless when teaching new vocabulary.
Which are the Most Powerful Platforms to Build AI Chatbots for Your Business?
You can find interactive chatbots for websites, apps, and online messaging platforms. Are you wondering how to create an interactive chatbot for your company? There are a variety of AI chatbot platforms available in the market.
Are you ready to find the best online chatbots for your website and other platforms? Let’s dig in.
AI Chatbot Platform #1: LivePerson
Many innovative brands use LivePerson to build, deploy, and optimize bots to generate leads, drive sales, and build loyalty.
Their Conversation Builder platform allows you to easily build AI-powered chatbots with a comprehensive and intuitive point-and-click interface. The bots can deliver seamless conversational experiences across multiple conversational channels such as web messaging, SMS, Apple Business Chat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and many more.
Features:
LivePerson’s Intent Manager makes it easy to discover and understand the most popular consumer intents, how well you’re addressing them, and which of them can be easily automated with AI-powered chatbots. Using bots can really free up agents for high-value tasks.
Conversation Orchestrator is their AI engine that scans every message to determine the right resource — bot or human, to deliver the best outcome.
Pricing:
You need to request a quote from them to get access to their pricing details. You can also schedule a demo.
AI Chatbot Platform #2: Smartloop
Smartloop allows you to build intelligent AI-powered chatbots that can help you generate high-quality leads and nurture them. Using it, you can have one-to-one conversations with your customers to share engaging content and improve your retention rate.
Key Features:
- Point-and-click chatbot builder
- Detailed analytics
- AI + human agent capabilities
Pros:
- Easy to build the chatbot
- Free plan available
- Chatbots can be built for multiple platforms
Cons:
- Custom pricing beyond 50K subscribers
Pricing:
Free plan available.
Premium Plan costs $10 per month. You can check out their plans here.
Pro Tip: Go through the analytics regularly to figure out what’s working and what’s not. Accordingly, modify your approach.
AI Chatbot Platform #3: Landbot.io
Landbot is an intuitive tool that lets you build rule-based bots and AI-powered bots (or a combination of the two). You can create AI-powered chatbots with rule-based elements to interact with your prospective customers and generate leads.
Key Features:
- A clean drag-and-drop interface for creating a chatbot
- Design, deploy, and analyze your conversational strategies at scale anywhere anytime
- Create dialog flows, integrate other online apps and tools, and test and analyze your chatbots without a single line of code
- Turn your static lead generation forms into a memorable experience
- Qualify your leads during the course of conversations and initiate human agent takeover for high-value prospects in real-time
- Personalize your chatbots with brand elements
Pros:
- Extremely easy to use, even a beginner can create a chatbot with ease
- Free version available
- Numerous integrations available
- Can create chatbots for multiple platforms
Cons:
- Mailchimp integration is only in the paid plan
Pricing:
Sandbox plan is available for free.
Starter plan: $32.50/month
Professional plan: $108.40/month
You can reach out to them for the Business plan here.
Pro Tip: Go through their explainer blog posts and you’ll be all set to get started.
AI Chatbot Platform #4: Aivo
One of the most popular AI chatbot platforms, Aivo powers your customer support and helps you respond in real-time through text or voice. With Aivo’s interactive chatbot, you can take your customer service to the next level. Their software solution can help you increase conversions and optimize your resources.
With Aivo, you can give your customers a uniform experience whether they contact you through your app, website, Facebook, or WhatsApp.
Key Features:
- Provides customer service in more than 50 languages
- A chatbot can be built without any coding
- Detailed analytics through the Business Intelligence tool
Pros:
- Can easily integrate with third-party services like Zendesk, Salesforce, Zapier, Live, and many others
- Easy to create ads
- Gathers unanswered questions to help you develop the bot
Cons:
- Free version not available
Pricing:
Free demo available. Contact their team for pricing.
Pro Tip: Check out the unanswered questions to understand what your customers want and train your chatbot.
AI Chatbot Platform #5: Pandorabots
One of the top AI chatbot platforms, Pandorabots provides solutions for full turnkey chatbot development. This software solution is one of the oldest and largest chatbot hosting services in the world.
Key Features:
- Multilingual chatbot
- Can create it with and without coding
- Can be used on messaging and voice channels
- Voice-enabled
Pros:
- Can download your code
- Can understand context
- RESTful APIs available
Cons:
- Limited features in the free version
Pricing:
Want to know the plans that it offers? Let’s find out.
Sandbox: Free
Developer: $19/month
Pro: $199/month
Enterprise: Get in touch with the team
Pro Tip: Use both the coding and non-coding bits to make the most of your chatbot.
AI Chatbot Platform #6: MobileMonkey
MobileMonkey is a software solution that helps you build intelligent chatbots to take your Facebook Messenger marketing to the next level.
Key Features:
- Manage numerous lead generation activities such as chat blasts, drip campaigns, and list building
- Automate customer service by providing answers to FAQs
- Ability to override your intelligent chatbot and jump into the conversation
Pros:
- Free version available
- Possible to connect with WordPress
- Great sequencing features for drips
Cons:
- Only uses Facebook Messenger
- Lack of integrations
Pricing:
Free plan available
PRO: $6.75/month
PRO Unicorn: $14.25/month
Team: $199/month
Pro Tip: You can set up drip campaigns so that you can have the chatbot run on automated mode without the need to interrupt manually.
AI Chatbot Platform #7: Hyro
Hyro is a voice and text-based AI chatbot platform for enterprises. It uses natural language understanding to train its assistants. This means that the system learns a comprehensive range of vocabulary, tone, and contexts, offering a rich conversational experience to users.
Key Features:
- Can be integrated with websites, apps, smart speakers, and call centers
- Adaptable to different industries including travel, healthcare, retail, and more
- Plug and play conversational AI platform
Pros:
- Easy to deploy
- Numerous integrations possible
- Delivers detailed insights
Cons:
- Not suitable for all industries
Pricing:
Free demo available here.
Get in touch with their team for pricing.
Pro Tip: Integrate it across multiple platforms to make the most out of this tool.
AI Chatbot Platform #8: Boost.ai
Boost is one of the top AI chatbot software solutions. It can help you build intelligent and interactive chatbots for your websites.
This software solution can help you provide quicker service to your customers. Additionally, they can also reduce their wait time by providing the answers to frequently asked questions automatically.
Key Features:
- Conversation flow editor that helps you train your chatbot without any technical expertise
- Offers omnichannel experience
- Self-learning conversational AI
Pros:
- Easy to build your chatbot
- Human chat agents can get real-time suggestions from chatbot
- Provides detailed analytics
Cons:
- Would help to have more in-depth analytics
Pricing:
To find out the details of their packages, you can get in touch with their team.
Pro Tip: Use the chatbot to help your customer support executives and to assist your customers too.
AI Chatbot Platform #9: Flow XO
Flow XO enables you to create intelligent and interactive chatbots without having to learn any coding.
Key Features:
- Easy to create the chatbot with drag-and-drop editor
- Multiple integrations available
- Allows you to design multiple flows
- Easy to integrate with WordPress too
Pros:
- Free version available with loads of features
- Can build the chatbots with no technical experience
Cons:
- Better technical documentation would help with learning
Pricing:
Free version available.
Standard plan: $19/month
Add 5 bots: $10/month
Add 25,000 interactions: $25/month
Pro Tip: Use the built-in chatbot simulator to see if your chatbot is performing the way you want it to.
AI Chatbot Platform #10: Its Alive
ItsAlive is one of the best AI chatbot programs for Facebook Messenger.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop chatbot builder
- Testing, duplicating, and translating features
- Detailed insights into the conversations
Pros:
- Can build the chatbot without technical knowledge
- Chatbot can be deployed to multiple Facebook pages
- Can track KPIs with ease
Cons:
- Only available for Facebook Messenger
Pricing:
Free plan available.
Solo: $19/month
Plus: $49/month
Pro: $99/month
Enterprise: Custom
Pro Tip: Discover the most frequently asked questions and keywords and accordingly change your chatbot to help your customers better.
AI Chatbot Platform #11: ManyChat
ManyChat helps you create intelligent Facebook Messenger chatbots easily for marketing, sales, and customer service.
Key Features:
- Visual drag-and-drop bot builder
- Set of intelligent tools to help you grow your Messenger audience
- Helps you broadcast your messages effectively
- Can automate your Messenger marketing
Pros:
- Easy to build your chatbot
- Google Sheets, Shopify, Zapier, and many more integrations
- Free course
Cons:
- Can build chatbots for only Facebook Messenger
Pricing:
Free package available.
Pro: $10/month for 500 subscribers
$145/month for 25,000 subscribers
Pro Tip: Automate your messaging based on triggers to make the process completely hands-free.
AI Chatbot Platform #12: Meya.AI
Meya is a top AI chatbot platform that helps companies create bots to assist their customers in messaging and customer service. Meya web, a bot-first live chat, is also a great program that can be used on any website along with your bot.
Key Features:
- Features a code editor
- Live debugger and visualizer
- Build, train, and host your bots all on Meya
- Integrations with third-party services
Pros:
- Able to create a bot with coding (can create complex and simple bots)
- Separate backend and frontend
Cons:
- Need to know how to code to create your chatbot
Pricing:
Free trial available.
Standard: $500/month
Pro: $2,500/month
Enterprise: Contact team for pricing.
AI Chatbot Platform #13: Octane AI
Octane AI is, undoubtedly, one of the top AI chatbot creation platforms. Using it, companies can set up a bot for their Shopify stores in minutes and customize them.
Excited to find out more about this tool? Read on.
Key Features:
- Can build Facebook Messenger chatbots
- Send abandoned cart messages, shipping notifications, etc.
- Detailed analytics of revenue and customer behavior
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Loads of integrations
- Can get leads from website
Cons:
- Only available for Facebook Messenger and SMS
Pricing:
14-day free trial available.
Basic: Starting at $9/month
Pro: Starting at $209/month
Enterprise: Get in touch with them.
Pro Tip: Create conversational Messenger ads using the tool to rapidly get customers.
AI Chatbot Platform #14: Botsify
Botsify is a popular online AI chatbot platform that helps you create intelligent chatbots for your website as well as popular messaging channels like Facebook Messenger and Slack, without having to spend your time and effort in coding.
Key Features:
- Build chatbots for multiple platforms
- Human takeovers possible
- Conversational forms using conversational AI
- Create flows seamlessly
Pros:
- Bird’s eye view of the flows
- Integrates with Checkbox plugin
Cons:
- New users may need some time to get used to the interface
Pricing:
Free demo and 14-day free trial available.
Self Serviced Plan: $50/month
Fully Managed Plan: $300/month
Pro Tip: Integrate your chatbot with Google Sheets and Slack to get leads through conversational forms with ease.
AI Chatbot Platform #15: Chatfuel
Chatfuel is one of the most popular chatbot software solutions that can help you create a Facebook Messenger chatbot easily. However, for companies looking to build a chatbot for their website, this may not be the right pick.
Key Features:
- Automate FAQs
- Create chatbots for Facebook Messenger
- Build chatbots without coding experience
Pros:
- Easy to build the chatbot
- One-click sign up with a Facebook account
- Duplicate messaging tracks for multiple Facebook pages
Cons:
- Only available for Facebook Messenger
Pricing:
Free plan available.
Pro: $15/month
Premium: Get in touch with their team.
Pro Tip: For best results, you should consider human takeovers when the chatbot isn’t able to answer a query.
Bonus Tool #1: Reply.ai
Reply is one of the most popular online AI chatbot platforms. It is an enterprise-level bot-building and management software solution. Also, it enables B2C communications to improve their customer service.
Key Features:
- Accurately responds to your customers using AI
- Minimal coding required to build a chatbot
- 1-click registration
- Easy transition from chatbot to human agents
Pros:
- Chatbots can be built without much effort
- Templates to start off
- Can integrate with Zendesk, Kustomer, etc.
Cons:
- Free version not available
Pricing:
To find out the custom pricing for this popular online AI chatbot platform, please get in touch with their team.
Pro Tip: Integrate it with your Shopify store to start answering customer questions on the platform.
#2: Imperson
This intelligent AI chatbot platform develops enterprise chatbots that support text, audio, video, AR, and VR on all major messaging platforms. Their conversational bots provide authentic and engaging customer chat experiences.
With Imperson, you can create interactive chatbots for websites, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Kik, and other platforms.
Key Features:
- AI moderator to help achieve customers’ goals
- End-to-end bot solution
- Can host and deploy your bot
- Provides real-time insights to improve its performance
Pros:
- Chatbots for enterprises
- Complete solution for chatbots
Cons:
- Expensive for small businesses
Pricing:
Wondering what the prices are? To find out the pricing details for this AI chatbot platform, you’ll need to contact their team.
Pro Tip: Decide on the chatbot’s features before setting out to design it.
Ready to Increase Your Conversions?
Interactive chatbots can help you engage with your customers in a better and more personalized way. You can broadcast your offers and other marketing messages easily. They can also help you provide quick and efficient customer service.
What’s more?
The best part is you can deploy interactive chatbots on websites, apps, as well as other social media platforms.
The software solutions mentioned above are some of the top AI chatbot platforms in the business. So, choose the one you like the best to build your own interactive chatbot.
Do you know of any other popular AI chatbot platforms? Let me know in the comments below.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shane Barker
Shane Barker is an accomplished digital marketing consultant. From working with celebrities on digital reputation management to obtaining a #1 national ranking with PROskore as a social media consultant, Shane has built an impressive list of accomplishments in digital marketing.