What is a chatbot?

First things first: Before adding a chatbot to your site, it’s important to understand how chatbots work (and benefit your business). Although the technology behind chatbots may be complex, the service they provide is relatively straightforward.

Let’s say your customer has a question while browsing your website. Whether by clicking into a widget or interacting with a window that’s already open, your customer types in or speaks their message to your chatbot through its user interface (UI).

Once your chatbot receives this message, it’ll then use natural language processing (NLP) to interpret the message and find an answer. NLP allows chatbots to recognize key words and phrases in your user’s message before using internal algorithms as pathways to the right response.

After your chatbot determines your user’s intent, it’ll search its database of pre-programmed responses and send the one it deems best suited for the situation. Fun fact: With AI chatbots, these responses continue to improve in accuracy and personalization as they process more data.

Setting up your chatbot

For your chatbot to know how to respond to certain prompts, you must first train it by providing data, parameters, scripts, or even specific answers for it to use.

Different types of chatbots will require different levels of setup. For example, menu-based chatbots may require you to set up their menu options, decision trees, and responses — essentially making you build your experience from front to back. Other AI-driven solutions may offer a bit more flexibility, using AI to fill in the more nuanced gaps in your users’ journey.

Regardless of your setup process, the more parameters and information you provide your chatbot in the beginning, the more effectively it’ll interact with your users. Create a clear picture for your bot by using resources such as

• Internal knowledge bases 
• Files containing vital product or company information 
• Custom forms 
• Information on specific actions 
• Examples of manual interactions

Over time, as you collect more data about the questions your users are asking, you can manually update your chatbot — or allow your AI to process the data — to continuously improve your results.

Advancements in chatbot technology

While chatbots were originally designed to provide simple and canned responses, technological advancements have expanded how chatbots work today. For example, the introduction of machine learning has allowed chatbots to learn beyond their initial programming as they process more data, improving results. This ability to become more sophisticated through data processing has driven other systems such as large language models (LLMs).

Think of LLMs as the intersection between machine learning and natural language processing. Using an LLM, chatbots can process, translate, and summarize text to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their responses. As your chatbot receives more data through everyday use, it becomes better at responding and adds even more value to your business.

AI assistants vs chatbots

While some chatbots may use a degree of artificial intelligence and machine learning, they aren’t as advanced as fully AI-powered solutions like AI assistants. These tools go beyond simply answering customer questions and can understand your customer’s intent and provide a personalized experience — as well as handle administrative tasks like scheduling or retrieving information.

AI assistants like Siri and Alexa are also more flexible, complex, and advanced than your standard-issue chatbot. They can have human-like conversations with users, compared to the more structured interactions of a chatbot.

Choosing between an AI assistant vs a chatbot will likely depend on what you need it to do, how complex you need it to be, and what you want to integrate it with.

Chatbot best practices

Chatbots are effective on their own, but their value for your business will depend on how you use them. Consider these dos and don’ts for chatbot success:

• Do take the time to train your chatbot. Provide suggested responses, introduce data to help it learn, and track your progress.
• Don’t make your language too complicated. Keep in mind that your users may not be familiar with industry jargon or internal phrasing.
• Do add your own flair to your chatbot if possible. Whether it be branded color schemes, logos, or a full custom interface, try to align your chatbot’s UI with the rest of your website’s visual style.
• Don’t force your customers to rely solely on your chatbot. Continue providing users with the option to speak with a human if your chatbot can’t provide them with the answers they’re looking for.

Many chatbots operate using the same base technology, but that doesn’t mean they’re all the same. There are a wide variety of chatbot subtypes that have evolved over time to offer unique benefits and services. The right one for you will depend on your customer base’s top needs.

Consider these seven common types of chatbots available in today’s market:

Menu-based chatbots

A menu-based chatbot, also known as a button-based chatbot, answers users’ questions by guiding them through a pre-set menu. The chatbot is programmed with clickable menu options, which will guide users to another set of options. As users select the options that best suit their needs, they’re slowly directed toward the answer they seek.

Here’s an example. A user clicks into a menu-based chatbot. The chatbot automatically provides four options: “I have a question,” “I want to return something,” “There’s an issue with my item/order,” and “Other.” Your user clicks the “question” button. From there, the chatbot will provide further options to try and narrow down the exact nature of your user’s question to answer it as effectively as possible — such as “I have a question about your returns policy,” and so on.

While these chatbots can be useful for basic issues like returns, they lack the flexibility and intuition of other subtypes. Rather than typing in their question, your user must navigate a maze of questions to find the nearest approximation of the answer they’re searching for (and they still may not find it).

If you’re interested in trying a menu-based chatbot, consider using it for straightforward tasks like making reservations, returning a product, answering survey questions, or even finding the right agent to solve an issue.

• Key benefits: Simple to use, follows strict programming, low cost
• Core industries: Customer service, hospitality, e-commerce

Rule-based chatbots

Rule-based chatbots are similar to menu-based options. Both use pre-determined decision trees to move from one phase of a customer interaction to the next. The difference is that rule-based chatbots place more of the power in the hands of the user.

Rather than choosing the most applicable option from a menu, users can enter their own words into an interface. The chatbot then uses an internal set of pre-defined rules to respond to the user’s message with a programmed answer.

These interactions are not as advanced or intuitive as a system run on AI, but they can use pre-set triggers to send the right responses based on the messages they receive. The challenge with these chatbots is that they lack the ability to interpret ambiguous messages, so more complex requests will still likely be routed to a human.

• Key benefits: Accountable, straightforward, affordable
• Core industries: Customer service, hospitality, e-commerce

Keyword recognition-based chatbots

A keyword-based chatbot uses a set algorithm to determine a user’s needs based on the contents of their message. However, it relies on pulling certain words or phrases from messages as its roadmap for finding the right answer.

Let’s say a customer asks, “How can I return a product I bought?” Since you’ve programmed your keyword-based chatbot to identify the word “return,” it will automatically know to respond with a message about starting a return. From here, your chatbot will continue to pick out keywords to determine your customer’s intention and help them resolve their issue.

This may seem similar to natural language processing, but it’s not nearly as advanced. NLP understands and interprets messages, while keyword-based chatbots simply find words that automatically trigger set responses. These solutions are still effective, but they can also be tripped up by ambiguous messages that may rely on context for interpretation.

• Key benefits: Easy to set up, good for frequently asked questions, adjustable
• Core industries: Customer service, e-commerce

Voice-powered chatbots

Also known as voicebots, voice-powered chatbots use AI and algorithms to process verbal messages from your customer and respond with audio messages. Some voice-powered chatbots rely on basic natural language processing and machine learning to interpret and respond to voice commands.

A common example of a voice-powered chatbot is an interactive voice response (IVR) system. IVR solutions are often used in customer service to direct callers to the right solution rather than relying on a general agent. These chatbots can also help complete simple automated tasks such as prescription refills and appointment booking.

When it comes to deciding between a chatbot vs voicebot, consider where you receive the most volume of customer requests: your website or over the phone. If your customers primarily call your brand, a voicebot may be a better investment.

• Key benefits: Faster than text-based chatbots, easy to use, simple transfer to agents
• Core industries: Customer service, retail, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce

AI-powered chatbots

One of the most popular solutions today, AI-powered chatbots offer an enhanced, flexible chatbot experience through machine learning and natural language processing. Although other chatbots may use simple AI tools, AI-powered chatbots are entirely built around their AI systems.

This AI base allows these chatbots to perform more complex tasks and offer a more personalized experience. AI chatbots use machine learning and NLP to process the messages sent by your users and respond in a way that mimics human agents. As they continue to process user requests and inquiries, they become more adept at providing accurate and helpful answers — alongside manual updates.

Like rule-based chatbots, these solutions provide responses based on scripts or pre-set data. However, while their answers may have roots in the same base information, AI-powered chatbots are able to provide a more customized experience that responds better to your users’ actual needs.

• Key benefits: Dynamic, responsive, personalized
• Core industries: All industries

Generative AI chatbots

Generative AI chatbots take the flexibility of AI to another level. These solutions can create new content, images, and more based on the data they’re trained with. This allows your users to receive more nuanced, personalized answers than even a conversational AI chatbot can produce. The most popular of these solutions is ChatGPT.

These chatbots aren’t limited to pre-defined parameters, allowing users to ask open-ended or slightly more complex questions. As it continues to process data, it’ll independently learn and improve your user experience. Interactions will become more accurate, customized, and effective over time, driving the value of this solution for your business.

Keep in mind that while generative AI chatbots may offer more customization, they’re also less likely to follow strict rules. They’ll use their technology to generate the right answers, but you’ll have to train them effectively to ensure the answers follow your brand guidelines. They’re also often more expensive than other chatbot solutions.

• Key benefits: Flexibility, customization, adaptability
• Core industries: All industries

Hybrid chatbots

Hybrid chatbots are powered by a mix of AI and rule-based technologies. They offer the essential benefits of both chatbot types, combining the programmability of a basic chatbot and the flexibility of AI.

You may choose to invest in a hybrid chatbot if you’re looking for an advanced AI solution but still want to offer some pre-set responses. For example, you can program a hybrid chatbot to provide canned responses for simple tasks that don’t require the help of AI. If a user has more complex issues, the AI features of your solution will kick in and assist them.

These chatbots act as a way to fill in the functional gaps of strictly AI and rule-based tools. However, the range of features may also require more of an investment and can be challenging for your team to navigate if they’re not properly trained.

• Key benefits: Flexibility, automation, best of both worlds
• Core industries: All industries

Most chatbots are flexible enough to work for many different industries, but the particular use cases you prioritize will likely depend on the needs of your customers and the space you work in.

Check out these examples of chatbot use cases across different industries:

Customer service

Chatbots have become synonymous with modern customer service. These automated solutions provide a variety of benefits for customer service teams, including

• Reduced costs
• Improved customer experience
• Enhanced agent productivity
• Upgraded personalization

Using chatbots, your customer service team can redirect repetitive, simple questions away from your high-value agents. While chatbots answer frequently asked questions or automate straightforward processes, your agents can focus more on complex issues and providing a white-glove experience for your customers.

What’s more, there are some customers who just want to avoid interacting with an agent. Around 51 percent of customers prefer a chatbot for their immediate service needs. These solutions offer the easy answers your customers need so you can cut back on agent costs and personalize your user experience.

Your customer service team may also consider investing in a live chat solution instead of a customer service chatbot. But when it comes to a chatbot vs live chat, the key difference is how much time your team will spend on low-value tasks. They both provide similar benefits for your customers, but a chatbot eliminates the need for your agents to use their time on simple, easily automated tasks. A customer service AI chatbot takes these benefits even further, providing an experience that can easily mimic a live chat solution.

Marketing

There are many chatbot use cases that will enhance your current marketing efforts. These solutions act as your team in the field, interacting with and collecting precious buyer data. A chatbot marketing strategy can help with

• Lead generation
• Content personalization
• User engagement

What’s more, adding an AI lead generation chatbot to your website allows you to easily collect key information to create a marketing-qualified lead — without burdening your team with the legwork. These chatbots can be programmed to ask users certain questions, giving your marketers the information they need to create a user profile and add any personalized touches.

Marketing chatbots can also gather insights into what your customers are looking for in a product or service, issues they’ve faced in the past, and preferences they may have when it comes to shopping online. Your team can then use this to create targeted marketing materials that fit their specific needs and help drive these potential buyers toward a sale.

And finally, customers may also need an extra nudge to stay engaged with your website. To help them along their journey, your marketing team can program your chatbot to activate based on certain triggers — like navigating to or exiting a page — to help maintain user attention and interest.

Sales

Your sales team can use chatbot technology to simplify their lives as well, acting much like a personal assistant. For example, a sales AI chatbot can mimic an AI appointment-scheduling tool. By granting it access to your team’s calendars, it can make and track appointments based on availability to ensure your salespeople aren’t double-booked.

Sales chatbots can also streamline your processes when it comes to demo requests and lead qualification. They can receive, schedule, and manage requests to ensure no leads slip through the cracks, and they can also collect information about buyer preferences so your team can better address a customer’s needs during the demo presentation itself.

E-commerce

Having an extra pair of hands to help manage your e-commerce strategy in the form of a chatbot may also be a welcome addition to your toolbelt. An e-commerce AI chatbot can help you perform tasks to lighten the load for your team, like

• Announcing sales and new offers to new or returning customers
• Answering questions from online customers about your products or services
• Notifying visitors about their abandoned carts

Through these functions, an AI chatbot for e-commerce can keep customers engaged, informed, and on track during their shopping journey. This allows your team to focus on high-level strategies and tactics that provide more value to your business than daily monitoring.

Education

The educational sector is another area where chatbots have recently risen in popularity. In particular, students seem to be taking advantage of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT to streamline their studies — although there are some that are unfortunately using it to cheat.

While the use of ChatGPT in the education sector does come with some ethical concerns, there are many useful applications. For example, students can use chatbots in education to accelerate their research — quickly finding reliable sources that may be otherwise difficult to locate.

Students can also use chatbots to answer questions about their institution. An education AI chatbot can help with queries that may otherwise have needed a professor or teacher, assist prospective students with gathering the information they need to make an enrollment decision, and provide an overall more positive student experience.

But students aren’t the only ones who can benefit from educational chatbots. Teachers can also use these tools to make their jobs easier. Chatbots can help track student absences and attendance, as well as other administrative metrics. They can even collect feedback from students to help teachers improve their class experience.

These are just a few core industries that can use chatbots to their advantage, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list. A finance AI chatbot, for instance, can help sort through data to gain valuable insights. A chatbot for restaurants can automate reservations and reviews. You can even invest in a general chatbot for business to handle everyday admin tasks and questions across your office. The possibilities are nearly endless.

The wide range of benefits chatbots provide makes them an undeniably appealing investment. But with so many options on the market, how can you know which is right for you?

It’s important to identify which solution offers the best value for you and your team. We’ve provided a snapshot of the best AI chatbots on the market to help you make the correct decision.

1. Jotform AI Chatbot

Jotform AI Chatbot is an advanced, interactive virtual assistant created to improve your website’s user experience by engaging visitors and delivering instant responses to their inquiries. This solution allows you to create your own personalized AI chatbot in two core ways — through the Jotform AI chatbot generator or through ready-to-use templates — before easily training it through a variety of teaching methods.

Using the Jotform drag-and-drop Agent Builder, you can customize your AI chatbot’s responses, tone, and appearance to fit your branding. You can even set up your own custom conversational prompts to help initiate chats with your users.

This chatbot tool can also assist in form completion, phone support, and SMS interactions — providing your team with a multi-channel solution for your customer support needs.

• Best for: Users looking for custom chatbot tools
• Key features: Custom chatbot creation, AI agent templates, advanced customization
• Plans/pricing: Free version; paid plans range from $34 to $99 per month, billed annually, and custom enterprise plans are available

2. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is currently the most used chatbot software in the world, boasting 300 million active weekly users worldwide. This option uses generative AI to help users find the answers they’re looking for in a format they can understand.

This solution is useful both on its own and as a base for many other chatbot solutions on the market. However, creating your own chatbot using ChatGPT requires a higher level of comfort with technology than other self-contained solutions like Jotform.

• Best for: Users looking for generative AI support
• Key features: Top-tier generative AI, familiar interface, user-friendly controls
• Plans/pricing: Free version; paid plans include ChatGPT Plus at $20 and ChatGPT Pro at $200 per month, and custom enterprise plans are available

3. Google Gemini

Google Gemini is Google’s native generative AI chatbot. This solution acts as a built-in helper for Google users and their businesses. Thanks to its native integration with the Google product suite, Gemini can assist in a variety of business functions across your workspace.

For example, Google Gemini can perform research on your behalf — even citing its sources from Google results. It can also help you organize your email, generate content ideas based on prompts or Google Docs, and take notes during your Google Meet meetings.

• Best for: Google users
• Key features: Natively integrated into the Google suite, enterprise-grade security, user-friendly interface
• Plans/pricing: Free version; paid plans range from $7 to $22 per user per month, and custom enterprise plans are available

4. Jasper

Built specifically for marketing professionals, the Jasper AI chatbot is an advanced solution with a variety of helpful features. From image editing to full-service solutions, this AI chatbot can significantly elevate your marketing efforts.

However, while Jasper may be powerful, it also comes with a higher price tag than the rest of the options on this list. It’s narrower in its specialty, too, so may not be the best choice if you’re looking for a more general-use chatbot.

• Best for: Marketers interested in AI tools
• Key features: AI image-editing suite, marketing AI chat, brand voice recognition
• Plans/pricing: Paid plans range from $39 to $59 per month per seat, and custom enterprise plans are available

5. Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI answer engine geared toward extensive research. This AI chatbot was created to help companies get the latest, most accurate search results possible for their questions — both simple and complex.

This solution streamlines the research process for content creation, case studies, and more by offering access to multiple AI models and providing citation-based search results. While there is a free version, the Pro and Enterprise versions offer advanced features not available in the base plan.

• Best for: Businesses that need help with research
• Key features: Deep AI research, customizable AI models, combined web and internal knowledge base
• Plans/pricing: Free version; paid plans include the Pro plan at $20 per month per seat and the Enterprise plan starting at $40 per month per seat

If you’re looking for a chatbot built to your exact specifications, you may have to create it yourself. That’s where solutions like Jotform come in. Jotform’s AI chatbot generator makes it easier than ever for you to build the ideal chatbot for your business.

All you need to get started with Jotform’s AI chatbot generator is a brief description of what you want this chatbot to be. This includes its purpose, persona, and any other relevant information. You can even create multiple chatbots for different purposes. Once you’ve entered your prompt, the AI chatbot creation process only takes a few minutes.

After your initial chatbot is created, you can fully customize its interface. This includes elements like

• Greeting messages
• Pulsing effects
• Which channels it communicates with
• Whether or not your widget opens by default
• Your AI avatar’s picture, name, and displayed role
• AI agent position
• Color scheme
• Design elements

More importantly, you can train your custom AI agent using a variety of materials:

• AI persona settings
• Knowledge base content
• URLs
• Uploaded files
• Pre-determined questions and answers
• Set action conditions
• Rule-based and creative automations
• Jotform forms
• Manual training through chat

Through these different training methods, you can shape your AI interface to provide the exact answers your customers need within the brand guidelines you set.

But not everyone wants to take the time to build an AI chatbot from scratch. That’s why Jotform provides access to a full library of free AI chatbot templates. These make it easy to get started by skipping the initial design and training process. And if you make changes to your template, you can also fully customize and train your chatbot to meet your standards.

When you’re ready to add your custom chatbot to your website, Jotform makes it simple — earning it the title as one of the best chatbots for WordPress users. The Jotform AI Chatbot plugin allows you to easily create and train custom chatbots to handle queries, guide users, or share information, and then seamlessly embeds on any WordPress site without the need for coding experience.

Once considered a revolutionary technology, chatbots have become a staple in modern business. They’re used across nearly every industry, and it’s likely their presence will only continue to increase.

However, it’s also likely that these solutions will carry on evolving and generating new, more useful features over time. In fact, the future of chatbots could completely change the way we operate.

While it’s hard to predict exactly what may be coming down the line in the world of chatbots, the possibilities are endless. Here are a few potential scenarios for the future of chatbot development:

Improved healthcare

With the help of generative AI chatbots, medical professionals may be able to gather patient information and build personalized care plans, streamlining the treatment process and reducing admin.

AI chatbots can also be used to improve patient triage. Rather than relying on high-value medical staff to handle the intake and sorting process, AI chatbots could instead get the details needed before prioritizing patients. This frees up trained medical staff to care for more patients in the same amount of time.

Enhanced fraud detection

For financial institutions, fraud detection is a top priority. As AI chatbots continue to advance, these solutions may become an integral part of the fraud detection process. Using advanced natural language processing, they can more accurately analyze user behavior and pinpoint inaccuracies or inconsistencies.

AI chatbots can also analyze submitted data, perform real-time monitoring, and initiate verification checkpoints. This raises a financial institution’s security standard, protecting both the business and its investors.

Optimized retail experience

Although AI chatbots are already reshaping the way users shop online, advancements in this technology can take this experience to the next level. As AI gets more intuitive, chatbots may be able to produce hyper-personalized shopping experiences based on buyer data. For example, fashion retailer AI chatbots could create full wardrobe recommendations based on available products, previous purchases, and more.

AI chatbots can also streamline the business side of retail, performing audits to keep inventory up to date, optimized, and free of unwanted issues.

Adaptive learning systems

Finding a way to reach every student in their preferred learning style can be a serious undertaking for educators. As these solutions continue to progress, AI chatbots may be able to help teachers develop learning plans that adapt to individual students’ needs.

Generative AI chatbots can process student information and generate a plan for teachers — so they can focus on engaging with their students instead.

Technology driving chatbot evolutions

These developments could be possible thanks to developments in AI technology, such as

• Advanced natural language processing: NLP will likely continue to evolve and improve its ability to recognize words, phrases, and intent to produce better results.
• Autonomous learning: AI may become capable of learning on its own, without the need for human training, by autonomously and continuously processing more and more data.
• The Internet of Things (IoT): The IoT is the concept of physical objects that can communicate with each other over the internet. Think of your smart TV or thermostat. As AI gets introduced into the IoT, we may see significant advancements in our everyday appliances.

The innovations that result from these technological changes may open up new ways to boost your efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the quality of service you provide to your customers.

Chatbots are the next generation of business solutions. If you haven’t tried one for yourself, there are plenty of options that can help elevate the way you do business without charge — like Jotform AI Chatbot. 

Spend a little time with free chatbot tools to decide which is the right fit for you (or whether you can find more value in a paid version). Once you pinpoint the one capable of slotting into your operations and helping achieve your goals, it can easily take your business to the next level.

Photo by Shahzwan Ramakrishnan on Unsplash