Custom chatbots in 2024

Overview:

The chatbot landscape has evolved at such a rapid pace over the past decade-plus that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the latest developments. There are now over 300,000 chatbots in use on Facebook Messenger alone; many of these are no longer the basic, script-based chat widgets of the past, but rather customized chatbots capable of deflecting more nuanced and specific inquiries such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Customized chatbots provide a plethora of advantages over traditional bots, as they’re able to adapt to the voice and communication style of a particular business, as well as understand their unique products and policies. This ultimately results in an enhanced customer experience (CX) for end-users in addition to streamlined internal operations for companies.

Today, we’ll examine what custom-built chatbots are capable of, why they’re superior to generic bots, and how they can position your organization for success in 2024.

What is a custom chatbot?

A custom AI chatbot is a specialized conversational agent that’s tailored to specific business needs and designed to interact with users through natural language processing (NLP). Unlike generic bots that offer broad functionalities, custom chatbots are built to address particular requirements of an organization, such as customer service, technical support, or sales inquiries. These bots are typically integrated into various platforms like websites or messaging services, providing users with an intuitive interface that aims to enhance engagement.

Why should you consider using custom chatbots for your business?

Leveraging a custom chatbot over a traditional chatbot provides companies with tailored functionalities and step-by-step customizations that address their unique requirements. This customization ensures that the AI model bot can handle industry- and business-specific tasks effectively, delivering more relevant information to users. For example, a custom bot used in healthcare can be programmed with medical terminology and protocols, offering more precise support compared to a generic solution.

Custom chatbots also offer greater flexibility, allowing organizations to adapt their capabilities as needed. While traditional chatbots are often limited in their capacity to evolve beyond their pre-configured functions, custom bots can be continually refined to meet changing user expectations. This elasticity ensures that chatbots remain effective over time, providing sustainable solutions that can grow with a company.

Benefits of custom chatbots

When compared to traditional chatbots, custom bots provide a plethora of advantages that can push a business’s sales, marketing, and customer service efforts to the next level. Through their more human-like communication, enhanced personalization, and wide-ranging integration capacity, an initial investment in custom chatbots can reap substantial benefits over time. 

Efficient customer response

Unlike generic bots that offer one-size-fits-all solutions, building your own AI chatbot can enable more nuanced language and workflows. By leveraging a personalized approach, these bots are empowered to streamline more accurate and detailed responses to customer support inquiries. This level of customization significantly reduces resolution times, enhancing overall operational efficiency.

Furthermore, custom chatbots can be integrated with existing business systems, enabling real-time access to relevant, custom data sources. This robust integration capacity allows the bot to provide instantaneous, contextually aware responses based on the latest information. For instance, a custom chatbot that’s connected to an e-commerce platform can immediately check inventory levels and order statuses, providing a seamless customer experience (CX).

24/7 support

Organizations can also provide individuals with around-the-clock support by employing custom chatbots. While traditional bots also offer this capability, their narrower scope often results in issues not being adequately addressed, requiring a live agent to eventually tend to these requests during normal business hours. 

Moreover, customers always appreciate 24/7 availability, as it demonstrates a commitment to meeting their needs at any hour, day or night. When capable chatbots are accessible around the clock, it ensures that every opportunity has a chance to be capitalized upon; this can be particularly important for businesses serving global customer bases, as interactions outside of regular working hours are a common occurrence.

64% of individuals say that the most important feature of chatbots is their round-the-clock accessibility, and customized bots provide even more in-depth support at any hour.

Meet rising customer expectations

Modern consumers anticipate immediate and tailored responses to their queries. Custom chatbots are designed to address the specific needs and expectations of a target audience, allowing them to provide more personalized assistance compared to generic bots. For example, a custom chatbot for a banking institution can offer detailed financial advice, fraud prevention techniques, and payment reminders tailored to each client’s unique needs.

Additionally, advanced technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning empowers these chatbots to continuously learn from interactions. By utilizing these abilities, tailored bots can recognize user intent and adapt their responses based on past interactions. This constant improvement ensures that custom chatbots can keep up with evolving customer expectations, delivering increasingly sophisticated interactions.

Cost effective

Due to their ability to handle a broader range of tasks, the pricing of custom chatbots is typically more cost-effective compared to traditional chatbots. Generic bots often possess limited capabilities and require frequent manual handoffs for complex queries. Conversely, custom chatbots are specifically designed to understand the nuances of a particular business, allowing them to resolve more inquiries independently. 

Even more, the personalized service provided by custom bots often leads to increased customer loyalty and reduced churn rates. Satisfied individuals are more likely to return for repeat purchases, enhancing the overall profitability of a business. Traditional chatbots, on the other hand, generally don’t meet customer expectations as effectively, leading to higher churn rates and associated costs of acquiring new customers.

When compared to live chat communication, the cost-effectiveness of custom chatbots becomes even more apparent; Calabrio estimates that the average conversational bot interaction costs companies between $1 and $2, while each live chat exchange ranges from $6 to $8.

Help agents manage workloads

Traditional chatbots, typically limited by predefined scripts, frequently escalate issues to live agents when encountering queries outside their programmed responses. This results in an increased workload for human representatives, who must handle both simple and complex issues. In contrast, custom chatbots are tailored to resolve more specific inquiries, effectively managing a larger portion of customer interactions without requiring manual intervention.

Custom bots can further assist live agents by pre-processing information before handing off a query. When escalation is necessary, these chatbots can automate the collection of essential details such as account information, the nature of the issue, and any previous troubleshooting steps. This collection of pertinent information verifies that human reps receive well-documented cases, reducing the time required to address an issue.

Personalized service for customers

Even more, custom chatbots are capable of adapting their conversational style and tone to align with customer preferences. 

Generic chatbots typically employ a standardized approach to communication, which can often feel impersonal. Custom bots, however, can be programmed to vary their responses based on the context of the conversation and an individual’s previous interactions. For instance, a custom chatbot for a luxury brand might use formal and sophisticated language, while one for a youth-oriented fashion brand might adopt a more casual and friendly tone.

64% of individuals now anticipate that chatbot interactions will be personalized to reflect their specific interests and past communication, highlighting a need for customized chabots to sufficiently meet customer expectations.

Scalable and flexible

In response to evolving challenges or new opportunities, custom chatbots can be quickly adapted to new organizational strategies. Whether it's launching a new product or responding to issues with a new service, tailored bots can be programmed to support these initiatives with business-specific messaging.

Furthermore, custom chatbots’ wide-ranging integration capacity again proves beneficial in terms of scalability, as companies can easily connect their bots with newly acquired systems or third-party applications. Integrating these chatbots with other business technologies enhances their flexibility by allowing them to access data from various knowledge base sources. For instance, a custom chatbot integrated with a new customer relationship management (CRM) system can retrieve pertinent contact information, enabling personalized interactions and targeted recommendations.

Custom chatbot use case examples

While the capabilities of chatbots certainly look enticing on paper, how it works is even more impressive in live scenarios. Let’s take a look at a few distinct situations in which these bots are truly able to showcase their skills.

Support

Imagine that an e-commerce customer encounters an issue with their purchase, such as delayed shipping or a missing item from their order. Since these are rather routine inquiries, they’re prime candidates to be handled by a custom chatbot. Supposing that the organization’s bot is soundly integrated with its logistics and inventory systems, it can easily access the relevant data to efficiently resolve the individual’s questions.

74% of consumers now prefer interacting with a chatbot before escalating to a live agent (particularly for common questions, such as the ones mentioned above), marking a palpable shift in public perception and making bots an integral component of modern customer service initiatives.

If the customer still requires additional assistance after a chatbot interaction, many of these bots are equipped with seamless live-agent-handoff capabilities, enabling them to swifty escalate the issue to a human representative for further guidance.

Experience

When an individual visits an online streaming service, custom chatbots integrated into the platform’s interface can greet them with a personalized welcome message. The bot is also designed to understand the user's genre interests and past viewing history. Leveraging this information and its NLP capabilities, the custom chatbot engages the user in a conversation to recommend personalized movie or TV show suggestions tailored to their tastes. This increases the likelihood that individuals will find value in the service, as they’re able to quickly find content that aligns with their interests, thus improving the overall CX.

But let’s suppose that a customer still decides to eventually cancel their subscription due to budget constraints. Leveraging sentiment analysis, the chatbot empathizes with the user's situation and offers alternative subscription plans to retain their loyalty. If the individual proceeds with cancellation, the bot seamlessly processes the request, but still provides options for future account reactivation.

Engagement

Consider a scenario in the hospitality industry where a guest has just checked into a hotel room. As they settle in, a custom chatbot integrated into the hotel's mobile app proactively engages with the guest. Using the guest's booking information, the bot welcomes them to the hotel and offers assistance with various amenities. For instance, it might suggest nearby attractions or provide information about on-site facilities such as the gym or spa.

As the individual explores the hotel's services, they receive a notification offering to make dining reservations at the lobby restaurant. Leveraging its personalization capacity, the chatbot suggests specific options based on the guest's past dining experiences and current table availability. The guest can then easily confirm or deny the reservation directly through the bot, saving them time and effort.

Begin building your custom chatbot today with Freshworks!

Freshworks’ Freshdesk Omni serves as an all-in-one solution for organizations seeking a comprehensive engagement platform, combining the ticketing prowess of Freshdesk with the conversational capabilities of Freshchat.

CSS provides a bevy of chatbot functionalities, as it’s powered by our ever-capable Freddy AI technology which offers robust NLP abilities to ensure that even complex or open-ended inquiries can be answered, day or night. Freshdesk Omni’s extensive omnichannel potential can further extend your organization’s reach as our custom chatbots can be seamlessly connected to your website, mobile app, social media, and more. 

Other useful tools include ready-to-use templates, small-talk capabilities, 33+ languages to choose from, IntelliAssign for when escalation is required, and much more!

If there are any features your company requires that CSS doesn’t offer, simply browse our wide-ranging Marketplace for access to hundreds of third-party apps that can be easily connected to the platform!