Chatbot solutions to help grow your business in 2024

What are chatbot solutions?

A chatbot solution is a software application designed to simulate conversation with human users, typically through text or voice interactions. These bots can be integrated into various platforms, such as websites, messaging apps, or even phones, to provide users with instant support, information, or services. They can either be pre-programmed with a set of responses or powered by more advanced AI technology that learns and adapts over time, making them increasingly capable of handling complex queries.

12 chatbot solutions to consider for your business in 2024

1. Freshchat

Freshchat is a comprehensive customer engagement solution designed to help organizations carry out marketing, sales, and support activities all from one centralized location. It offers dynamic live chat and chatbot capabilities across a plethora of channels, ensuring that customers can communicate in their preferred method, at any time of day or night, and in whichever language they prefer. 

Our Freddy AI-based bot leverages NLP and machine learning capabilities to respond to a wide range of potential inquiries in a tailored and human-like manner, helping boost customer satisfaction and customer retention. When Freshchat’s bots can’t sufficiently resolve an issue, they can seamlessly escalate interactions to human reps, ensuring that all issues are resolved efficiently and accurately.

Key features

• Ready-to-use bot templates are available for different use cases, allowing you to set up your bot in no time

• Agent handover smoothly transfers conversations to live agents with just one click.

• Leverages small talk capabilities to engage customers by responding to casual conversation in a human-like manner instead of with scripted robotic answers

• Conversation APIs enable you to connect your homegrown bot to our messenger and team inbox.

• Journeys empower you to send targeted messages at strategic moments and proactively reach out to customers.

Pros

• No code is required to fine-tune bots; simply click, update, and save to update your bot flows

• Highly customizable; easily adjust your chat widget to match your brand identity and train your bot with your unique business documentation

• Customizable reports can be displayed visually, while metrics can be tailored to your specific requirements.

• Chatbot is highly integrable with other Freshworks platforms, and hundreds of third-party apps are available through our extensive marketplace.

• Conversations that require escalation can be auto-assigned to agents based on their skill levels and load.

Why customers rave about Freshchat

For organizations seeking an all-in-one engagement solution that offers cutting-edge chatbot technology, Freshchat just doesn’t get any better than. With Freshchat, businesses have all their ducks in a row, as bots can handle simple questions, complex queries are escalated to human reps, and customers can engage on whichever channels they use the most.

But don’t just take it from us! Satisfied client Arpit D. extols Freshchat’s chatbot features, saying, “I liked the chat builder orchestration which allows us to create custom bot flow based on the business flow. It captures all customer details and allows us to share FAQs, knowledge base articles, video links, and more. I consider it as one of the most powerful chatbot builders.”

2. Zendesk

Zendesk’s Answer Bot is a highly customizable engagement tool that can be added to an organization’s web widget, mobile app, or social media channels. They excel when used synergistically with live representatives to help personalize the customer experience (CX) for end-users. 

Key features

• Sentiment analysis automatically identifies what customers want and how they feel, enabling bots to respond like a human agent would

• Generative replies are driven by knowledge base content, and their tone can be molded to match your brand voice.

• Utilizes generative AI and Zendesk proprietary intent models, facilitating a more accurate and human-like experience

Pros

• Adaptable and easy to set up, allowing bots to be deployed immediately and adjusted as needs evolve

• Capable of carrying out full tasks like refunds, changing passwords, and cancellations when integrated with other business tools

• Companies can customize conversations for more complex situations, giving them control over how bots respond to conversations.

Cons

• Quite expensive when compared to other comparable solutions

• The price and comprehensiveness of the platform may not be well suited for small businesses with basic needs

• End-users can experience ‘dead time’ when a bot escalates the interaction, but no live agent is immediately available, often leading to frustration

Price

Zendesk’s Suite Team plan begins at $55 per user per month, while its Suite Professional package runs $115 per user per month.

3. Drift

Drift, powered by Salesloft, is a cloud-based chat solution that emphasizes automating the lead generation and nurturing process. It specializes in live chat widgets on websites, where chatbots can be deployed to guide individuals down the sales funnel proactively.

Key features

• Lead qualification is carried out seamlessly, as bots can instantly engage, qualify, and set sales meetings with prospects.

• A/B Testing capability allows users to test different bot messages and see which one is performing the best

• Conversational landing pages (CLPs) instantly deliver information relevant to your buyer and give them the option to speak to someone right away.

Pros

• Native integrations notify sales agents when accounts are engaged, allowing them to jump into real-time conversations.

• Once a lead is qualified, they’re intelligently routed to a live rep, enabling them to get straight into a conversation without ever leaving your website.

• Geo-targeting capacity helps tailor content to a user’s geographical location, ensuring conversations are always relevant.

Cons

• Tunnel vision on sales processes can limit its ability to be used for other organizational efforts, such as marketing and customer service.

• There is a lack of transparency in pricing, while user reviews indicate that extra features can get expensive quickly

• Reporting and analytics tools are limited and often slow to load

Price

You’ll need to reach out to Salesloft directly for a custom quote on its various packages.

4. Intercom

Intercom offers an intelligent chatbot, Fin, that utilizes AI language models to help solve customer issues 24/7 with safe, accurate, and conversational answers based solely on knowledge-base material. With Intercom, businesses can create and personalize tailored bots within minutes, completely code-free.

Key features

• Natural language abilities allow Fin to understand complex queries, ask clarifying questions, and naturally converse with customers.

• AI-powered inbox ensures that when Fin passes complex problems to human support teams, reps can instantly generate replies and recap conversations for other agents.

• Question routing triages complex problems and seamlessly passes them to human support teams.

Pros

• Can automatically detect a user’s dialect and resolve issues in 43 distinct languages

• Built-in safeguards ensure Fin answers questions based solely on your support content.

• No training, configuration, or new bot paths are required; simply point Fin at your content and turn it on

Cons

• Some packages, mainly the upper-tier ones, can be prohibitively expensive, especially for companies with a lot of employees.

• The resolution rate is only around 50%, which is significantly lower than other comparable software.

• Several user reviews mention unresponsive customer support when assistance is required.

Price

Intercom’s Essential plan begins at $29 per user per month, while its Expert package starts at $132 per user per month.

5. Hubspot

HubSpot's chatbot is an AI-powered tool that can help automate customer service tasks and improve satisfaction. It’s often used to assist with tasks such as answering routine questions, qualifying leads, booking meetings, and creating support tickets.

Key features

• Pre-built templates and an intuitive chatbot builder make it easy to start with no coding skills required.

• Seamless live-agent handoff is available when bots need to escalate an interaction.

• Driven by HubSpot’s Smart CRM tools, helping you personalize messages using content directly from your library

Pros

• Can qualify leads, book meetings, and surface answers to common customer questions directly from your knowledge base

• Offers a two-way connection between your chat widget and CRM, empowering you to customize chat automatically flows to fit your contact’s information

• Ability to set up automated, on-brand welcome messages and then use if/then branches to triage conversations to the most appropriate team

Cons

• All chatbot interactions are shared with OpenAI, which can be a privacy concern for some users.

• No bot analytics are available, which may hinder the ability to improve your chatbot over time.

• Not powered by AI, limiting the ability of bots to respond to nuanced inquiries or respond in a human-like manner.

Price

Hubspot’s Service Hub Professional plan starts at $90 per user per month, while its Service Hub Enterprise package costs $150 per user per month.

6. Reve

REVE Chat is a customer engagement platform that combines AI-powered chatbots and live chat to help companies improve their sales and support. It emphasizes functionalities that can be particularly useful for sales and support teams.

Key features

• Fallback scenarios provide multiple options using triggers or surveys for a seamless conversation if the bot cannot respond.

• Visual flow builder empowers teams to instantly create a customer support, sales, marketing, or appointment booking bot without coding skills.

• Sentiment analysis allows businesses to understand their customers’ emotions and respond accurately to deliver higher satisfaction.

Pros

• Convert your website visitors into qualified leads automatically and transfer them to your sales team.

• Sanitize your unstructured data into structured data so that chatbots always deliver accurate responses.

• Import all the general FAQs with bulk machine learning (ML) training to help your chatbot deliver more efficient and accurate answers.

Cons

• User reviews mention that customer support can be spotty when assistance is required.

• Focus on sales and support can lead to difficulties in using your bot for marketing or HR initiatives.

• Often struggles to respond to complex inquiries that aren’t addressed in an organization’s knowledge base.

Price

REVE’s Standard plan begins at $45 per month, while its Enterprise package will set you back $399 per month.

7. Genesys

Genesys chatbots leverage artificial intelligence to simulate a conversation between customers and businesses. These bots can be deployed across a plethora of digital channels such as websites, mobile apps, social media, and more.

Key features

• Integrated natural language understanding (NLU) can identify intent from customer conversations and apply semantic search for automatic information retrieval.

• Predictive engagement empowers companies to proactively communicate with individuals at strategic moments with personalized offers or resources.

• Predictive routing leverages AI to direct customers to the support agents best equipped to handle their unique situation.

Pros

• Businesses can build voicebots with NLU to cater to individuals who prefer voice-based engagement.

• Can work in tandem with human agents, providing real-time assistance to help improve the efficiency of their interactions.

• Ability to create smart bots using an intuitive drag-and-drop flow builder that comes equipped with built-in dialogue management.

Cons

• Genesys as a whole is largely focused on call center functionalities, leading to some inadequacies in its chatbot, particularly in its reporting capacity.

• Rather comprehensive in scope, minimizing cost-efficiency for small companies who just want the chatbot functionality.

• Several reviews mention that users have experienced lagging and/or downtime that can lead to customer frustration.

Price

You’ll need to reach out to Genesys directly for a custom quote on its various plans and packages.

8. Ada

Ada is an AI-powered chatbot platform that helps businesses automate customer service. It’s capable of providing personalized CXs across web, mobile, and social messaging channels. 

Key features

• Reasoning Engine ensures your agent grows, learns, and works 24/7 to improve its performance continuously.

• Automated resolution measurement helps assess how many conversations your bot was able to resolve.

• Ada Voice requires no code and can immediately begin resolving up to 26% of phone interactions without escalation to a live representative.

Pros

• Ability to build a hard-coded chatbot using Ada’s NLU model to understand customer intent with minimal training required.

• Users can customize their bot's identity, tone, personality, and voice to guide the content it creates.

• Robust reporting and analytics automatically measure resolutions, track the quality of interactions, and help businesses understand their key performance indicators (KPIs).

Cons

• No mobile app available.

• Generating complex intents can be difficult, requiring a high level of technical proficiency and a deep understanding of the platform.

• Limited customization in reporting and dashboards can make it difficult to tailor to unique business requirements.

Price

You’ll need to get in contact with Ada directly for a custom quote on its various packages.

9. Salesforce 

Salesforce Einstein acts as a suite of intelligent technologies that utilize machine learning and NLP to automate various tasks. Einstein is built into the Salesforce Platform and can be used across its industry-specific clouds for sales, marketing, and customer service. 

Key features

• Conversational messaging uses NLP and sophisticated reasoning to converse in a human-like manner.

• Einstein Bots API can expand the ways in which organizations deliver bots to their customers by connecting them to many different end points.

• Einstein Bots Assessor helps determine the ROI of using Einstein, helping users make informed business decisions.

Pros

• End-users can send photos, videos, and audio if their issue is too complex to explain via text.

• Easily integrate data from third-party systems to help Einstein generate accurate responses personalized to customers' preferences.

• Doesn’t require thousands of lengthy structured dialogues; simply use out-of-the-box templates, existing Salesforce components, and your LLM of choice.

Cons

• Cost can be prohibitive for small- to mid-sized businesses

• Steep learning curve, particularly for those unfamiliar with generative AI technology.

• Often struggles with handling complex issues and understanding ambiguous language.

Price

Starter Suite begins at $25 per user per month, while its Salesforce’s Enterprise package will set you back $165 per user per month.

10. Seekflow

SleekFlow's chatbot acts as a digital tool that helps companies create personalized customer journeys across multiple messaging channels. With SleekFlow, users can create their own bot, identify and qualify leads, and guide prospects down the sales funnel.

Key features

• Customer segmentation groups individuals based on their behavior, such as their last purchase or reply, allowing bots to personalize their approach.

• Widget customization empowers organizations to design their interface that matches their established brand identity.

• Payment link generator enables bots to generate carts, offer discounts, and send pre-populated Stripe or Shopify payment options directly within a chat.

Pros

• Train your own conversational AI by uploading information about your company and its offerings, facilitating intelligent responses tailored to the context of each chat.

• Offers a complete omnichannel experience, allowing businesses to meet customers wherever they are and consolidating all interactions into a single, AI-powered inbox.

• Ability to add multimedia files, dynamic links, or interactive buttons, such as opt-ins and quick replies.

Cons

• Constant updates can interrupt established workflows and take a while to be reflected across the entire system.

• Limited ability to customize tone and language makes aligning with your unique brand voice challenging.

• Clunky, non-intuitive interface and occasionally lagging can hinder navigability and the overall UX.

Price

SleekFlow’s Startup plan is free for up to 3 users, while you’ll need to reach out to the company directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise package.

11. LivePerson

LivePerson is a conversational AI platform that offers a range of AI chatbot solutions to help businesses improve customer experiences. It utilizes NLP, self-learning intelligence, and a conversational cloud to help bots respond to even nuanced inquiries in a natural way.

Key features

• Conversational cloud promotes enhanced security, while also helping businesses reduce costs, accelerate contact center transformation, and deliver more personalized CXs.

• The meaningful automated conversation score (MACS) algorithm uses machine learning to recognize when and where bots fail in a conversation.

• Conversation builder empowers businesses to create automated flows with no code needed.

Pros

• Real-time customer data updates allow users to turn insights into actions that promote more informed decision-making.

• Open platform easily integrates into back-end systems like CRM, scheduling tools, payment platforms, etc.

• Effortlessly convert webpages, PDFs, and FAQs into interactive AI chatbot experiences that use natural human language.

Cons

• Restricted customization of chat interface can make it difficult to mold the bot to reflect brand identity.

• Steep learning curve to implement and become acclimated to the platform.

• Limited filtering available in reports and a deep knowledge of the system is required to extract the most useful information.

Price

You’ll need to contact LivePerson directly for a custom quote on its Bronze, Silver, and Gold packages.

12. Tidio

Tidio is a customer service platform that includes a chatbot, helping businesses improve the customer experience and increase sales. Tidio’s Lyro bot excels with answering routine questions, executing time- or event-triggered automations, and providing personalized support in several different languages.

Key features

• Smart redirections enables Lyro to route customers to the support department if it can't answer their question

• Built using Tidio’s LLM, Claude, with the goal of facilitating helpful, honest, and harmless interactions

• Lyro Connect empowers businesses to add the software as an extension to other customer service platforms

Pros

• Leverages natural language processing to understand context and ask clarifying questions

• Capable of understanding the intent behind customer questions and solely using support content to generate personalized responses

• Automatically scrapes your company’s support content and uses it as its knowledge base

Cons

• Can’t be used in tandem with Tidio Flows, which serves to automate tasks and send messages in the chat widget

• Most organizations will find Tidio’s upper-tier plans to be prohibitively expensive

• Limited customization can make it challenging to align your bot’s functionality, tone, and aesthetic to match your brand

Price

Tidio offers a Free plan for new and small businesses, while its Tidio+ package runs $749 per month.

Benefits of leveraging chatbot solutions

Chatbots offer a wide range of potential benefits, from automating routine tasks to providing instant support, making them an invaluable asset for businesses of all sizes. By integrating bots into their operational workflows, companies can not only improve efficiency, but also deliver a more satisfying overall experience for their customers.

Increase efficiency and productivity

Chatbots can significantly increase an organization’s efficiency and productivity by automating routine tasks and handling repetitive queries, freeing up human employees to focus on more value-added activities. This reduces the workload on live agents, allowing them to concentrate on more intricate issues that require a personal touch or specialized knowledge.

Moreover, by integrating with other business systems, bots can retrieve data, generate reports, or even automate workflows, reducing the time spent on administrative tasks. This level of automation not only speeds up operations, but also reduces the likelihood of errors, leading to greater accuracy in task execution.

Offer 24/7 support

The round-the-clock support provided by chatbots is especially crucial in today's global market, where customers often require assistance at all hours of the day or night. By providing instant responses to inquiries, chatbots eliminate the frustration of waiting for a human agent to become available, which often boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Additionally, by delivering quick resolutions outside of normal business hours, these bots can prevent minor problems from escalating into more significant concerns, ultimately reducing the workload for human agents and contributing to more efficient customer support operations.

Leverage your knowledge base

A well-structured knowledge base allows chatbots to deliver accurate and consistent responses, improving the overall quality of interactions. This is particularly beneficial for handling a wide range of straightforward questions, from simple FAQs to more detailed inquiries about products, services, or company policies.

As bots interact with users and gather data on the types of questions asked, the knowledge base can be updated and expanded over time to cover new topics and scenarios. This dynamic process ensures that bots remain up-to-date and capable of addressing evolving customer needs. 

Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty 

Chatbots often play a critical role in improving customer satisfaction by offering proactive support. For instance, bots can anticipate common issues or questions based on user behavior and provide helpful solutions before the customer even asks. This preemptive approach demonstrates a business's attentiveness to individuals’ needs, creating a sense of care and reliability.

Loyalty can also be enhanced through chatbots’ ability to deliver consistent, high-quality support that builds trust over time. By leveraging AI and machine learning, bots can personalize interactions based on past behavior and preferences, creating a more tailored experience for each individual. This personalization helps customers feel recognized and appreciated, which can lead to stronger emotional connections with the brand. 

Meet customers where they are

Whether it's through websites, social media platforms, messaging apps, or even SMS, chatbots can engage with customers on their preferred communication channels. This flexibility ensures that individuals are able to interact with an organization without having to switch platforms, creating a more convenient and user-friendly experience.

Even more, these bots can be designed to adapt their tone, style, and interaction methods to align with the platform they’re on, enhancing the effectiveness of their communication. For example, a chatbot on a professional website might use more formal language, while one on a social media platform could adopt a more casual and conversational tone.

Types of chatbots

It’s important to keep in mind that not all chatbots are created equal—there are various types of chatbots, each designed to address specific organizational needs. From the straightforward rule-based models to advanced generative AI systems, understanding the different types of chatbots is crucial for businesses looking to implement the most effective solution for their unique requirements.

Rule-based

Unlike AI-powered chatbots that learn over time, rule-based bots follow a specific script or flowchart to determine how to respond to user inputs. These rules are created by developers and are often designed to handle specific, repetitive tasks, such as answering common questions or directing users to the right resources. The responses of rule-based bots are triggered by specific keywords or phrases from the user, leading it through a series of predetermined pathways until the conversation reaches a logical conclusion.

Button-based

Button-based bots engage with individuals primarily through a series of predefined options, rather than relying on free-text input. Here, users are presented with a set of clickable buttons that correspond to different questions or commands, guiding them through a structured conversation. Each button press triggers a specific response or action from the chatbot, which then presents the next set of options, creating a guided, step-by-step interaction. 

AI-powered

In contrast to rule-based or button-based chatbots, AI-driven bots are capable of intelligently interpreting free-text queries, making them highly versatile and adaptable. These chatbots learn from interactions and can improve their responses over time by analyzing user conversations and incorporating new data. Their ability to process natural language allows AI-powered bots to handle a wider range of inquiries, from simple questions to more complex issues, offering a more dynamic user experience (UX).

Voice-based

A voice-based chatbot is unique in its ability to converse with users through spoken language rather than text. Utilizing speech recognition technology, these bots can understand and process voice commands, allowing users to engage in natural, verbal conversations. 

Voice-based chatbots are often integrated into virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple’s Siri, and can be used in various applications such as smart home devices and mobile apps. Their capacity to comprehend and respond to spoken language offers a hands-free and more intuitive interaction method, catering to users who prefer voice communication.

Hybrid

Hybrid bots combine elements of both rule-based and AI-powered technology to leverage the strengths of each approach. This type of chatbot uses predefined rules and structured responses for handling straightforward tasks or common queries, while also incorporating AI to manage more complex interactions. By integrating these two methods, hybrid bots can offer the predictability and control of rule-based systems for routine inquiries, while utilizing artificial intelligence to handle open-ended conversations and provide personalized responses.

Generative AI

The main difference between generative AI and traditional AI chatbots is that generative AI bots can create original content, while traditional AI bots are designed to mimic human interactions. For example, gen AI bots can create new material, such as text, images, or music, by learning from existing patterns. However, this can also be a double-edged sword if developers aren’t cautious. Generative bots require careful training and guardrails to prevent them from being inaccurate, biased, or inappropriate.

How to choose the right chatbot solution for your business

Choosing the right chatbot solution for your business starts with identifying your specific needs and objectives. It’s paramount to consider the primary functions you want your bot to perform—whether it’s handling customer inquiries, automating tasks, providing personalized recommendations, or something else entirely. 

For simpler tasks, such as answering FAQs or guiding users through a straightforward process, a rule-based or button-based chatbot might suffice. However, if your company requires more complex interactions, such as handling diverse customer queries, learning from past interactions, or offering personalized support, an AI-powered or hybrid chatbot would be more appropriate. 

Once you’ve determined which type of bot you require, you’ll need to select a capable provider. When evaluating potential expenses, you must take into consideration the total cost of ownership (TCO), including any hidden fees for setup, maintenance, or additional features, and run a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to determine the return on investment (ROI) to be had. Scalability is important as well; your chatbot should be able to handle increased traffic, more complex queries, and integration with additional systems as your organization grows.

Scale your business through chatbot solutions by Freshchat!

Freshchat is the market’s premier customer engagement solution, combining powerful AI-based chatbots with extensive live chat capacity to provide your organization with the best of both worlds.

Our intelligent bots, driven by Freddy AI, can be deployed across the digital channels your customers use the most, offering instantaneous, around-the-clock engagement tailored to each unique platform. Capable of interacting in  33+ dialects to boot, Freshchat maximizes your company’s reach by reaching out to individuals wherever they are and in whatever language they prefer.

Freshchat’s bots also leverage NLP and ML capabilities to respond to a wide range of queries, both simple and complex. Even when they run into an issue they can’t resolve, conversations are seamlessly handed over to live agents with all context retained, empowering them to efficiently handle the interaction. Additional features such as small talk, widget customization, and reporting and analytics contribute to the platform’s functionality as well, making Freshchat the most comprehensive chat solution currently available to your organization.