Best AI customer support chatbots for 2024
Tag along as we dive into why AI customer support chatbots are so important for modern businesses and break down the top 15 chatbot softwares currently available to you.
Sep 11, 202430 MINS READ
Though chatbots are now used for a variety of different purposes within modern business environments, it’s arguable that they provide the most tangible benefits within the customer service realm. 90% of customers rate an immediate response to customer support questions as ‘essential’ or ‘very important,’ and chatbots can reduce response times for these queries by up to 80%. Even more, while bots were once viewed as robotic and impersonal, 64% of businesses now believe that chatbots enable more personalized support than humans do.
Thus, AI bots now play an integral role within customer service, working synergistically with live agents to help address the wide range of inquiries that support teams experience. A capable bot can provide around-the-clock availability, instantly address routine questions, and seamlessly handoff conversations to human representatives when necessary.
Choosing the right software for your specific company needs is the first step in your chatbot journey; join us as we breakdown the top 15 customer service chatbots currently available on the market.
What is a customer service chatbot?
A customer support chatbot is an automated software application designed to assist customers by providing real-time support through text- or voice-based interactions. AI-powered bots leverage natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to respond naturally to customer queries, mimicking human conversation. Sometimes they may be referred to as chatbots for customer support or chatbots for customer service.
Implementing a support chatbot offers the potential to significantly improve the effectiveness of customer service operations. These bots can manage multiple interactions simultaneously, freeing human agents to focus on more complex issues, while also gathering valuable customer insights.
The 15 best customer service chatbots in 2024
What are the best chatbot software solutions for customer service organizations to leverage in 2024?
1. Freshchat
Freshchat acts as a comprehensive support solution, designed to assist customer service teams in carrying out all activities from a single, unified location. Freshchat offers powerful live chat and chatbot capabilities, and a robust ticketing system, ensuring that customers can communicate in their preferred method, queries are prioritized correctly, and no requests slip through the cracks.
Freddy AI-driven bot leverages NLP and machine learning capabilities to respond to a wide range of queries in a personalized and human-like manner, helping boost customer satisfaction and retention. Capable of operating around the clock and in 33+ distinct dialects, Freshworks’ bots help to serve global client bases and offer constant availability.
Key features
Ready-to-use bot templates available for different use cases, allowing you to set up your bot in no time
Agent handover seamlessly 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 empowers you to send targeted messages at strategic moments and proactively reach out to customers
Pros
No code 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 in various visual manners, while metrics can be tailored to reflect your specific requirements
Chatbot is highly integrable with other Freshworks platforms and hundreds of third-party apps 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 customer support solution that offers cutting-edge chatbot technology, it simply doesn’t get any better than Freshchat. With Freshchat, businesses have all their bases covered, as simple questions can be handled by bots, complex queries are escalated to human reps, and customers can engage on whichever channels they use the most.
Take it from one of our satisfied clients, Gregor G., who praises Freshchat’s chatbots and integration potential, saying, “It integrates with all major chat apps from Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp. No matter the app that is plugged in, the chat offers full functionality. A chatbot can run on WhatsApp, Messenger, or a website-placed chatbot. It is fairly easy to use and create chatbot flows and transform data with functions that are supported.”
2. Ultimate
Ultimate is a AI agent platform that uses AI to help businesses improve their customer support. The platform can authenticate customers, provide personalized responses, and improve customer satisfaction scores (CSATs).
Key features
Instead of simply serving up links like an FAQ bot, UltimateGPT finds the correct answer, summarizes it, and instantly answers customers’ questions
Conversation design allows users to add control and customization to their dialogues
Easy-to-use Dialogue Builder is built to handle any customer question; no coding required
Pros
Capable of interacting in 109 unique languages
Automated email replies upgrade the way your support team handles tickets
Combination of generative AI and conversation design creates easy-to-manage dialogue flows and bots that provide on-brand customer experience (CX)
Cons
Tunnel vision on live chat, while neglecting other communication channels, such as social media
Some users report difficulties in using Ultimate’s translation feature, which can result in communication barriers when serving customers who use a different language
No option to escalate a conversation from a bot to a live agent
Price
You’ll need to reach out to Ultimate directly for a custom quote on its various packages
3. Zendesk bots
Zendesk bots are customizable, automated conversation chatbots that can be added to your web widget, mobile app, and social media channels. They’re designed to work in tandem with human agents and personalize the CX for end-users.
Key features
Sentiment analysis automatically detects what customers want and how they feel, allowing bots to respond like a human agent would
Generative replies are fueled by content in your knowledge base, while you can set their tone to match your brand
Leverages Generative AI and Zendesk proprietary intent models, creating an accurate, high-functioning, and human-like experience
Pros
Adaptable and easy to set up, allowing them to be implemented immediately and adjusted as needs evolve
Capable of carrying out full tasks like refunds, changing passwords, and cancellations when connected to your tech stack
Customize conversations for more complex situations, giving you control over how bots respond to interactions
Cons
Relatively expensive when compared to other similar software
Price and comprehensiveness of 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, potentially resulting in 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
Trial
14-day free trial
4. Netomi
Netomi allows organizations to engage in conversations across all their customer contact channels within a single AI interface. It provides multimodal and omnichannel Sanctioned Generative AI, ensuring brand-safe conversations with built-in AI governance controls for accuracy, security, and data privacy.
Key features
Sanctioned Generative AI combines Netomi’s generative tech and large language models (LLMs), allowing brands to respond to customer queries while preserving brand security
Auto-pilot and co-pilot modes allow the AI to act as either a full automatic agent or a sidekick that drafts a response for agents to confirm
Can be programmed to drive revenue, anticipate customer questions, and implement proactive care to address issues before they occur
Pros
Automatically resolves 80+% of customer service inquiries, while extracting intent and sentiment within seconds
Highly integrable with existing agent desks, CRMs, and business systems, enabling you to easily deploy the AI without changing your tech stack
Omnichannel capacity consolidates interactions from email, chat, messaging, SMS, social media, voice, and more onto a single AI interface
Cons
Lack of transparency in pricing structure
Initial setup can be both time- and resource-intensive
User reviews mention frequent changes to the software with insufficient communication to end-users
Price
You’ll need to contact Netomi directly for a custom quote for your specific business requirements
Zowie
Zowie is a generative AI-driven chatbot for ecommerce brands that leverages real conversations to train itself to create personalized answers. It’s utilized across several channels, such as chat, email, text, and social media, while it’s advertised as being able to resolve up to 70% of customer inquiries.
Key features
Specialized LLM is designed to specifically meet the unique needs of ecommerce companies
Proactive engagement capacity helps avoid site bounces, abandoned carts, and lost revenue
Omnichannel capabilities allow businesses to meet their customers on whichever communication channels they prefer
Pros
Trained on real conversations, allowing it to generate personalized answers that always remain on-brand
Offers ability to interact in and translate 175 different languages
Easily create a personalized bot in just hours using your FAQs, macros, and past interactions
Cons
Limited mass data transferring, resulting in increased manual workloads
User interface (UI) is non-intuitive and complex
Reporting and analytics are somewhat limited; it can be difficult to find the specific data you’re looking for
Price
You’ll need to reach out to Zowie directly for a custom quote on its various packages
6. 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 that your agent grows, learns, and works 24/7 to continuously improve its performance
All responses are run through proprietary safety checks powered by Ada’s Customer Service LLM to verify every interaction is safe and accurate
Ada Voice requires no code and can immediately begin resolving up to 26% of phone interactions without escalation to a live representative
Pros
Drag-and-drop interface allows even non-technical users to create and deploy bots
Can be easily connected to a company's knowledge sources to automatically resolve customer inquiries
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 challenging, 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 contact Ada directly for a custom quote on its different packages
7. Einstein
Salesforce Einstein is a collection of AI technologies that use machine learning and NLP to automate various tasks. It's built into the Salesforce Platform and can be used across its industry-specific clouds for sales, marketing, commerce, and customer service.
Key features
Conversational messaging uses natural language and sophisticated reasoning across self-service portals and messaging channels to converse in a human-like manner
Next best actions guide agents with AI-generated suggested actions crafted from trusted organizational data
Einstein Bots API offers the ability to extend its power to any channel or your own custom-built client
Pros
End-users can send photos, videos, and audio if their issue is too hard to explain in text
Easily integrate data from third-party systems to help Einstein generate accurate responses personalized to customers' specific 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 Enterprise package will set you back $165 per user per month
8. IBM watson
IBM Watson acts as an AI platform that uses NLP, machine learning, and sentiment analysis to analyze data and answer questions. It can process large amounts of data in seconds and is most often employed to improve customer service and decision-making.
Key features
Speech-to-text and text-to-speech helps accommodate users with different communication preferences, while also promoting inclusivity for those with disabilities
Tone analyzer assesses the sentiment and emotion behind messages to help formulate relevant responses
Visual recognition can analyze non-text communication like images and videos, allowing users to utilize various media to help resolve their issues
Pros
Natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language classifier helps bots comprehend and categorize communication from end-users
Translation abilities allow agents to interact with end-users in various languages by offering real-time translation
Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) facilitates accurate, contextual, and up-to-date conversational answers around the clock
Cons
Limited training and education material may present difficulties in initial implementation
Challenging to integrate with third-party apps
Templates are rather basic, making it more difficult to tailor to your specific brand and organizational needs
Price
You’ll need to reach out to IBM directly for a custom quote on its various packages
9. Boost.ai
Boost.ai is an automated customer service platform that’s heavily utilized by establishments in the finance sector. It can be either cloud-based or used on-premise, helping businesses create, launch, and manage chatbots to expedite both internal and external support queries at scale.
Key features
No-code conversation builder can create advanced conversation flows within minutes and easily connect to existing self-service solutions
Intuitive training editor provides the flexibility to update AI agent without the need for consultancy hours or developers
Intent hierarchy system offers a roadmap for every conversation, allowing you to create intricate flows that adapt to customer needs
Pros
Omnichannel messaging allows you to provide support via your website, IVR, Slack, Zendesk, Messenger, Microsoft Teams, and more
Assists live agents through features like agent handover summaries, answer rewrites, and pre-written responses
Continually refines its responses through self-learning, turning every conversation into an opportunity for growth
Cons
Filters can be difficult and confusing to utilize
Ability to connect with mobile applications is relatively limited
Restricted multilingual capacity when compared to similar software
Price
You’ll need to contact Boost directly for a custom quote for your unique business requirements
10. Zoom AI agent
Zoom AI agent (ZVA) serves as an intelligent conversational AI chatbot that can instantly resolve a wide range of end-user issues. It’s mainly used to improve virtual meeting experiences by providing automated assistance within the Zoom platform.
Key features
NLP intelligently detects what each user truly needs and provides the best possible answer
Ability to create customized flows and messages for unique segments based on their unique profile
Intelligent hand-offs guide users to the correct support agent when escalation is required, while still retaining context
Pros
Highly integrable with third-party apps or services via Zoom AI agent APIs
Leverages proprietary AI and machine learning technology to accurately interpret what end-users are asking, even if they use everyday language
Automatically crawls and learns from your knowledge bases and FAQs to immediately deliver accurate answers
Cons
Very rigid – there are many queries that the bot can’t understand and can’t be customized to understand
Difficult to update FAQs and knowledge bases with new policies and updates
Limited multilingual capabilities
Price
The most affordable package that contains the AI agent is Zoom’s Pro plan, which is $13.12 per user per month, while its Business package runs $18.32 per user per month
11. Intercom
Intercom’s AI chatbot, Fin, leverages sophisticated AI language models to instantly solve customer issues with safe, accurate, and conversational answers based solely on support content. Companies can create and customize 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
Multilingual capacity empowers Fin to automatically detect a user’s language and resolve issues in 43 different languages
Question routing triages complex problems and seamlessly passes them to human support teams
Pros
When questions are escalated, live reps can instantly generate replies and recap conversations for other agents with AI-powered inbox
Built-in safeguards ensure Fin answers questions based solely on your support content
No training, configuration, or new bot paths required; simply point Fin at your content and turn it on
Cons
Upper-tier plans can be prohibitively expensive, particularly for organizations with a lot of employees
Resolution rate is only around 50%, which is significantly lower than other comparable software
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
12. Forethought AI
Forethought.ai is a customer support platform that utilizes AI to improve resolution rates and handle repetitive tasks. Its AI-driven agents help to enhance the experiences of both customers and agents by intelligently routing and resolving inquiries.
Key features
Intelligent insights can automatically detect knowledge gaps and generate AI-based articles to fill them
Autoflows available for automatic AI-driven ticket and conversation resolution
Intelligent predictions can detect and label intent on every conversation, while also anticipating CSAT and other support case characteristics with advanced NLP
Pros
Leverages an LLM to understand customer intent and tag and route tickets
Offers option to build custom handoff models to personalize the customer experience
Utilizes both historical data and GenAI to provide comprehensive solutions and accurate responses
Cons
Extensive manual work and resources required to tailor the technology to fit specific business needs
Dashboard analytics are lacking, as many user reviews state they prefer to manually export the data and use an external software for reporting
Limited third-party integrations and no voice channel capabilities
Price
You’ll need to reach out to Forethought directly for a custom quote on its various packages
13. Certainly
Certainly is a conversational AI platform that helps organizations improve CX and drive efficiency through custom-built chatbots. It’s designed for customer service and e-commerce, and can be used as a first line of support or sales engine.
Key features
Conversational AI engine handles high traffic, offering extensive pre-made content and personalized interactions through both NLP and sentiment analysis
Integrations Hub connects smoothly with existing infrastructure, allowing for easy creation of AI chatbots that integrate with external services
KPI Reports and Aggregated Conversation Insights simplify performance analysis, allowing companies to optimize flows and conversations based on real-time data
Pros
Built with NLU, LLMs, premade templates, and intents
Supported by expert AI application assistance and proactive solution suggestions tailored to your specific business needs
Can be deployed on your website, SMS, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, mobile app, and more, facilitating an omnichannel experience
Cons
Requires extensive manual oversight and constant updates to continue functioning at a high level
Bugs and glitches can hamper the UX and result in unplanned downtime
Weak multilingual and translation capacity compared to similar solutions
Price
Growth plan starts at €2,000 per month, while you’ll need to contact Certainly directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise package
14. Gladly Sidekick
Gladly Sidekick is a generative AI and automation platform that provides personalized customer self-service for support teams. It can deliver conversational responses and identify when to ask for help, take action, and find answers.
Key features
Actionable insights offer out-of-the-box reports covering 100+ metrics
Lifelong conversations and detailed profiles leverage customer information to deliver contextual and personalized self-service experiences
Agent collaboration ensures that Sidekick continues to help after a handoff, standing by to take action or complete a resolution
Pros
Users own and control their customer data; it's never used to train third-party, public LLM models
Pre-trained by proprietary algorithms based on millions of real-world customer service data and industry-specific LLMs
Accurately detects intent and provides on-brand responses directly from your knowledge base
Cons
Can be prohibitively expenses for small businesses, particularly for its lowest-tier package
Challenging to access and understand previous conversation histories
Bland and clunky interface can make navigation complex and boring
Price
Gladly’s Hero plan starts at $180 per user per month, while its Superhero package runs $210 per user per month
15. Landbot
Landbot is a no-code platform that uses AI to help businesses build and manage conversational chatbots. It also provides features for escalating conversations to live agents, tracking analytics, and deploying bots across various channels.
Key features
No-code visual builder empowers anyone to create automated flows with conditional logic, complex formulas, and rich media
Bricks and templates make building multiple chatbots and complex flows easy
Team inbox allows bots to move conversations to human support and manage any number of chats from a single, unified location
Pros
Create different paths based on user input with conditional logic; just point and click to design a personalized UX
Great for both customer support and sales initiatives, as it can help with lead generation, lead nurturing, and revenue optimization
Set goals, view reports, and analyze drop offs in the conversation with advanced analytics
Cons
Advanced features and costly add-ons can significantly raise prices
Limited integrations with popular third-party apps
While relatively simple to create basic chatbots, a high level of technical expertise is required to build more advanced bots
Price
Starter plan begins at $45 per month for up to 2 users, while its Business package starts at $450 per month for up to 5 users
Explore more about the best customer service software!
Benefits of AI customer support chatbots
The implementation of customer service chatbots can offer a wide range of benefits, from increasing satisfaction for customers to reducing costs for businesses. Though requiring an initial setup fee, these bots eventually pay for themselves by reducing manual workloads, providing perpetual accessibility, and promoting customer loyalty.
24/7 accessibility
Unlike human agents, customer service chatbots offer 24/7 availability by operating continuously without the need for breaks. These automated systems are always online and ready to assist customers at any time of the day or night. This around-the-clock accessibility ensures that individuals always receive immediate assistance, enhancing the overall CX.
The perpetual availability of these bots also helps organizations maintain consistent service levels regardless of time zones or peak hours. Customers no longer need to wait for business hours to resolve their issues, reducing response times and often improving customer retention.
Improved productivity & efficiency
Support chatbots serve to increase productivity by automating routine activities that would otherwise require human intervention. These tasks include answering FAQs, providing basic information about offerings, and guiding users through troubleshooting processes.
Additionally, these bots can handle myriad interactions simultaneously. This capability drastically reduces wait times for customers and ensures that support is available whenever needed, without the bottlenecks that typically occur during peak hours.
Reduced costs & improve ROI
By handling routine inquiries and providing instant responses to FAQs, chatbots significantly cut down on workloads for human agents. This reduction in labor requirements translates to lower staffing costs, as businesses can maintain smaller support teams while still effectively managing customer interactions.
Moreover, the data gathered by support bots during interactions can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, allowing companies to refine their offerings, tailor marketing strategies, and ultimately drive sales.
Increased customer satisfaction & loyalty
The immediate and around-the-clock assistance offered by chatbots significantly reduces wait times, leading to a better overall CX. Utilizing their NLP capabilities, these bots can also handle a wide range of queries, from answering simple questions to guiding users through complex troubleshooting steps, providing reliable support across various scenarios.
Furthermore, chatbots contribute to customer loyalty by consistently offering personalized and proactive interactions. By leveraging data from past interactions, bots can tailor their responses to individual customers, addressing their specific needs. This personalized approach makes customers feel valued, fostering a stronger connection with the brand and encouraging repeat purchases.
Is Freshchat the best customer support software for your business?
Key features of the best customer service chatbots
There are many customer service chatbots available on the market today, all with varying features, functions, and capabilities. That being said, the best support bots have a few things in common. At a minimum, they should be able to:
Work seamlessly across channels
Although customer service takes place through several different channels, it’s all a single cohesive brand experience for customers. Individuals expect to be able to connect with your brand via phone or email, web browser or mobile app, and third-party messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. They also anticipate that you’ll recognize them and be able to refer back to past interactions, no matter which channel they reach out through.
A competent support bot can be integrated into all these channels, while seamlessly accessing customer information from them all. This enables businesses to deliver a consistent, omnichannel journey that’s cohesive across all avenues.
Hand-over to live support agents
AI chatbots can answer routine questions, automate repetitive tasks, and even complete transactions, but some complex issues require the assistance of a human agent. If your chatbot isn’t capable of routing interactions to a live representative, individuals will need to switch channels to access higher-tier support, adding unnecessary friction to the customer journey.
The best chatbot software should support a seamless handoff to live agents. It will not only automatically transfer the conversation, but also provide agents with all relevant customer information so users don’t have to repeat themselves.
Integrate with your helpdesk and convert conversations to tickets
Customer service bots are generally most valuable when integrated into your helpdesk ecosystem. This way, if a chatbot can’t solve the problem or the customer request takes too long to resolve, it can convert the conversation into a ticket. This enables your customer care team to record context, collaborate internally, and close the ticket when the issue is resolved.
Even more, advanced chatbots can convert tickets into workflows. For instance, the Freshworks AI engine can identify recurring tickets and build bot flows to address them.
Mukesh Mirchandani, senior vice president of global solution engineering at Freshworks, provides the following example: “Imagine there’s an airline that flies out of a major city. A big storm comes in, and suddenly hundreds of flights get canceled. Now you’re going to have thousands of people calling and saying, ‘Book me on the next flight.’ Freshworks has the ability, in real-time, to see that you’re getting those types of tickets, construct a bot flow that automatically rebooks those customers, and deploy that bot flow across channels. That would take hours and hours for human beings to deploy, but the AI can do it in minutes.”
Integrate with your self-service portal
You shouldn’t have to create two different knowledge bases – one for your website and one for your customer service bots. Choose a chatbot software that easily integrates with your existing knowledge base and self-service portal to eliminate unnecessary workflows.
Not only does this prevent duplication of effort, but it also allows your bots to assist your team in filling the gaps in your knowledge base.
For example, depending on your business model, you might want your chatbot to be able to:
Collect and update contact information in your CRM
Schedule appointments or reservations in your calendar or booking system
Authenticate and process transactions in your payment system
Update information or apply discounts from your loyalty rewards program
Start or update services in your SaaS solution
Trigger personalized campaigns in your marketing automation platform
Schedule tech support in your IT ticketing system
Perform other repetitive tasks that human customer service reps would typically do for customers
Provide chatbot analytics
The best chatbots don’t just offer insights to customers; they offer insights to your business as well. Chatbot analytics act as a feedback loop, enabling you to gauge their effectiveness, improve their performance, and better understand customer journeys.
A well-rounded chatbot should track:
Total interactions
Average chat duration
Goal completion rate
Missed utterances
Human takeover rate
Customer satisfaction score
Retention rate
Choosing the right chatbot software for your needs
Now that you understand the plethora of benefits that come with implementing a customer support chatbot, it’s time to determine which specific software best suits your business needs. But what factors should you consider when selecting a provider? We suggest asking the following questions to determine if a solution will meet your unique requirements:
Business size: Large enterprises and small businesses (SMBs) have distinct needs and different budgets. Do potential chatbot solutions meet your specific requirements? Can they be right-sized for your company, or will you be forced to pay for unnecessary features that you don’t need
Scalability: As your business grows, will bots be able to handle the increased traffic you’ll likely experience? Will you be able to add the features and capabilities you need in the future?
Industry expertise: Some chatbot solutions are designed specifically for certain industries, while others work for any type of organization. Do potential vendors have experience working with companies like yours? Do they understand your audience and business requirements
Automations: What type of workflows do you need to automate, and does your shortlist of potential solutions enable you to do so?
Integrations: Do potential softwares support seamless integrations with your CRM, marketing automation platform, payment system, and other key technologies?
Security and privacy: If your bot will be accessing sensitive customer information, it must meet the highest security standards. Do potential vendors have strict security protocols? Do they comply with data privacy laws that govern your industry and the regions in which you do business?
Ease of use: What does it take to deploy chatbot solutions across your various communication channels? Do providers offer a chatbot builder that makes it easy to create a customized bot and an API that simplifies bot deployment?
How to create a customer service AI chatbot
Creating a customer service chatbot involves several steps, from planning and design to implementation and deployment.
Know your chatbot goals: First, clearly define the purpose of your chatbot. Are you looking to provide basic customer support, answer FAQs, assist with product recommendations, enable self-service transactions, or something else?
Personalize your greetings: Use fields like ‘first name’ to customize every interaction and engage users right from the start. Past an initial greeting, you can designate specific exchanges to take place depending on where an individual is within their specific journey.
Design conversational flows: You don’t have to script AI bots, but designing a conversational flow helps to verify the interaction sounds natural and includes relevant content. Consider the various user interactions, potential paths, and how the bot will respond to different inputs.
Simplify the user experience: Use buttons, menus, and suggested replies to make it easy for customers to resolve their queries as quickly as possible.
Use FAQs to inform conversations: By integrating your bot with your FAQs, you empower it to answer questions directly in the chat, rather than sending users to your FAQs page.
Monitor and maintain: Continuously monitor your chatbot's performance and user interactions. Regularly survey users about their experience and leverage chatbot analytics to improve your bot. Make sure to continually update the chatbot's responses based on new information and user feedback.
Provide escalation options: Chatbots can handle most inquiries, but sometimes human intervention is necessary. Make sure that customers have a clear and easy way to escalate to a live agent.
Choosing the right chatbot software for your needs
What should you consider when selecting an AI chatbot for customer service? Ask these questions to determine if a solution will meet your needs:
Business size: Large enterprises and SMBs have different needs and different budgets. Does this chatbot solution meet your needs? Can it be right-sized for your business, or will you be forced to pay for bells and whistles you don’t need?
Scalability: As your business grows, will it be able to handle the increased traffic you hope to have? Will you be able to add the features and capabilities you need in the future?
Industry expertise: Some chatbot solutions are designed specifically for certain industries while others work for any type of business. Does this vendor have experience working with companies like yours? Does it understand your audience and business needs?
Automations: What type of workflows do you need to automate, and can this solution enable you to do so?
Integrations: Does this solution enable easy integrations with your CRM, marketing automation platform, payment system, and any other key technology?
Security and privacy: If your chatbot will be accessing sensitive customer information, it needs to meet the highest security standards. Does this vendor have strict security protocols? Does it comply with the data privacy laws that govern your industry and the regions in which you do business?
Ease of use: What does it take to deploy this chatbot solution across your channels? Does the vendor offer a chatbot builder that makes it easy to create a customized bot and a chatbot API that simplifies bot deployment?
How to create a customer service AI chatbot
Creating a customer service chatbot involves several steps, from planning and design to implementation and deployment.
Know your chatbot goals: Clearly define the purpose of your chatbot. Are you looking to provide basic customer support, answer frequently asked questions, assist with product recommendations, enable self-service transactions, or something else?
Personalize your greetings: Use fields like “first name” to customize every interaction and engage users right from the start.
Design conversational flows: You don’t have to script AI bots, but designing a conversational flow helps to ensure the interaction sounds natural and yields relevant content. Consider the various user interactions, potential paths, and how the chatbot will respond to different inputs.
Simplify the user experience: Use buttons, menus, and suggested replies to make it easy for customers to get their queries resolved as quickly as possible.
Use FAQs to inform conversations: By integrating your bot with your FAQs, you enable it to answer the questions directly in the chat, rather than sending users to your FAQs page.
Monitor and maintain: Continuously monitor your chatbot's performance and user interactions. Survey users about their chatbot experience, and leverage chatbot analytics (including intent analytics, messaging analytics, and usage data) to keep improving your chatbot. Regularly update the chatbot's responses based on new information and user feedback.
Provide escalation options: Chatbots can handle most inquiries, but sometimes human intervention is necessary. Ensure customers have a clear and easy way to escalate to a human agent.
Examples of customer service chatbots
Businesses of all sizes and across various industries have leveraged Freshworks’ chatbots to help optimize their customer support processes. Let’s take a look at some real-world success stories of companies who’ve realized their customer service goals by partnering with Freshworks.
E-commerce and retail
Iba Cosmetics: Iba Cosmetics uses Freshworks’ Freddy AI chatbot to communicate with individuals outside of normal business hours, collect their information, and tee up the conversation for an agent to take over first thing the next morning. This helped contribute to a 260% increase in online sales since Iba deployed Freshworks’ AI-powered bots.
Dunzo: Dunzo, an all-in-one 24/7 delivery platform, uses Freshworks’ AI and machine learning bots to offer low-touch customer service by automating repeated queries, sharing delivery partner and order details, and processing cancellation and refund requests. This resulted in a 30% reduction in the support costs.
Travel & hospitality
Travix: Travix, a leading global travel company, leverages Freddy AI (renamed Travis) to help customers with its six most common queries: cancellation, changes, luggage, online check-in, travel document request, and refund status checks. Travis can resolve three of these requests without human intervention. For the other three, it begins the interaction, collects customer information, and routes the conversation to the most appropriate live agent.
Wadi Degla: Freddy assists Wadi Degla’s two-person support team by offloading a portion of its 5,000 monthly interactions. Freddy answers FAQs, collects customer information, and directs interactions to relevant representatives when necessary.
Musafir: Musafir, a premium travel-experiences firm in the UAE, utilizes Freshworks’ support bots to generate leads and collect prospect information when human reps are offline. This custom bot flow has increased Musafir’s offline leads by 15%.
Financial services
PhonePe: PhonePe, a digital payment platform in India, leverages Freddy to answer FAQs, deflecting up to 80% of customer queries without agent intervention. PhonePe also uses the Freddy agent-assist bot to provide representatives with customer context, guided workflows, and next best actions.
Large creditor: One of the largest credit card companies in the world uses a customized Freshworks bot on its mobile app and Apple Business Chat. Its chatbot fetches information from various internal systems and answers customer account questions instantly (compared to three minutes with live agents). This has saved more than 10,000 agent hours and enabled the organization to scale chat volumes 10x without adding new human representatives.
Mama Money: Mama Money, a social money transfer platform, leverages bots on WhatsApp to answer basic questions and direct complex queries to live agents. Utilizing Freshworks bots has enabled the firm to improve SLA resolution by 40%.
More AI customer service chatbots in action: Freshchat case studies
Learn more about chatbot examples!
AI customer support chatbot best practices
Consider these chatbot best practices as you leverage support bots to deliver a personalized, omnichannel customer service experience:
Design the right tone for your bot: Give your bot some personality while keeping its purpose in mind: to enable self-service and provide a quality support experience. Consider how you want your bot to sound; is it formal and authoritative or conversational and empathetic?
Choose your messaging channels: Decide where you want to deploy your support bots. Which channels do your customers currently use for live chat? Do they frequent channels your business isn’t using? Bots enable you to scale support without adding new agents, so you might gain the bandwidth to leverage more channels than before.
Optimize for mobile: If you’re building a bot for your mobile app, consider how the user experience (UX) might be different on a smaller screen with on-the-move users. Keep this in mind while designing the look-and-feel and conversation flow of your mobile bot.
Use your chatbot as a translator: AI customer service chatbots can interact in many more languages than any of your live agents, enabling your organization to serve a global or multi-cultural customer base.
Connect the right content: The more information your bot can access, the more services it can provide. We recommend building a knowledge base, writing a robust FAQs page, and designing a self-service portal. If you already have these resources in place, polish them up and integrate them with your new bot, enabling it to deflect basic customer queries.
Enable continual improvements: Leverage chatbot analytics and user feedback to continuously adapt, update, and upgrade the UX with your support bots.
6 Essential KPIs for measuring your chatbot performance
Once you’ve selected a provider and developed your approach, how do you measure your chatbot’s performance? You’ll need to assess your unique organizational objectives to determine which KPIs are most relevant to your business operations, but in general, essential metrics include:
Average response times: How quickly does your bot respond to each customer query?
Average resolution time: How long does it take your chatbot to resolve the average query?
Number of resolved conversations: What percentage of queries can the bot resolve on its own, without human intervention?
Customer satisfaction: How do users rate their interactions with your bot?
Ticket volumes: How many tickets does your bot deflect?
Agent hours saved: By deflecting tickets, how much time do your chatbots save your live agents?
Regularly monitoring these metrics empowers you to gauge chatbot effectiveness so that you can continually upgrade your bot and the overall CX.
Learn more on 2024 chatbot best practices
Optimize your AI customer support chatbots with Freshchat!
With both extensive chatbot and live chat potential, your organization can ensure that straightforward issues are resolved promptly and complex issues are escalated as needed, promoting a well-rounded overall CX.
Standout features of Freshchat include:
Polyglot capabilities allow users to upload scripts in any language so you can assist end-users in their preferred dialect
Customizable, visual reports help measure your bots’ performance with metrics that are most relevant to your specific operations
Agent handover enables bots to transfer conversations seamlessly to live agents, with just one click
Small-talk capacity empowers bots to engage customers by responding to small talk instead of scripted robotic answers
Conversation APIs support the connection of homegrown bots to our messenger and team inbox
At Freshworks, we’re not only dedicated to providing you with the market’s premier chatbot, but also ensuring that you’re able to utilize it to its full potential. Our comprehensive knowledge base is available around-the-clock to help you resolve any issues autonomously, while our live agents are on standby to assist with more complex problems. We invite you to try out a free trial or request a demo to experience the power of Freshworks’ AI chatbots for yourself!
FAQ
How do Freshworks AI chatbots enhance customer support?
Freshwork’s AI-powered bots can optimize your customer service processes by providing instant answers to various queries, offering 24/7 availability, and personalizing interactions based on individual customer profiles. When used in tandem with live agents, these capabilities have the potential to significantly enhance the overall CX.
Can Freshworks AI chatbots integrate with other Freshworks software?
Absolutely.
Freshworks’ chatbots are commonly connected to Freshdesk, Freshservice, and other Freshworks platforms to help expand their scope. Even more, our robust Marketplace offers hundreds of third-party applications with which they can also be integrated.
What features do Freshworks AI chatbots offer?
Freshworks’ bots offer an abundance of powerful features; the complete list is too extensive to list here. Some standout abilities include NLP, small talk, live agent handover, ready-to-use templates, and more.
Are Freshworks AI chatbots customizable for specific business needs?
Yes. Users can customize the shape, color, and size of their chat widget to better reflect their brand identity, while also using their own knowledge base, FAQs, and other resources to train their bot on their unique policies and offerings.