7 Best Chatbot Software Solutions | Choosing the Best Chatbot Builder for Your Business

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Chatbots are the new business tool on everybody’s lips. However, with a wide range of chatbot software solutions available, selecting the right one can be daunting. Each offers a unique blend of features, integrations, and customization options. How can you possibly choose without spending a ton of time on research?

This article simplifies your decision-making process, showcasing the best chatbot builders on the market. We will explore their distinct functionalities and learn which one is more suitable for diverse business requirements. With our help, you can choose a chatbot-building tool that’s perfectly aligned with your business objectives.

What is a chatbot?

First, let’s cover the basics. What is a chatbot? In short, a chatbot is a piece of software or an artificial intelligence system that’s meant to mimic human-like conversations. It does so using machine learning and natural language processing. You can ask it to provide information, respond to queries, or execute various tasks.

Such a bot can be used in a wide range of apps that users interact with through text or speech in a natural language. The most common use cases out of the bunch are customer support and feedback collection.

Things to focus on when choosing chatbot software

Choosing the right chatbot software for a business is a difficult process. This section will walk you through the things that you should consider before you make the final call.

Your business needs

It’s crucial to first define what you want your chatbot to help you achieve. If your goal is to provide consistent customer support, look for a chatbot that excels in handling customer queries. If your focus is on sales, a chatbot with product recommendations would be ideal. In other words, choose a chatbot builder that’s going to align with your business needs.

Ease of use

Look for a platform that offers an intuitive interface and easy navigation. The ability to easily set up, modify, and maintain chatbots is essential. Additionally, consider if the platform offers visual building tools, pre-made chatbot templates, or drag-and-drop functionalities. These can significantly simplify the process of creating and updating your chatbot. This is particularly important if your team doesn’t have dedicated technical experts. The solution should also have integrations with the services you already use, like your CRM or email marketing platform.

Scalability

As your business grows, your chatbot should be able to scale accordingly. This means handling a larger number of interactions, supporting more complex conversation paths, and adapting to new business needs. Consider whether the chatbot platforms you’re looking into can support an increase in volume without compromising performance. Also, look at how easily new features or updates can be implemented as your requirements evolve.

Analytics and reporting

Data-driven insights are crucial for optimizing the performance of your chatbot. So, choose a chatbot that offers comprehensive analytics and reporting tools. These should track key metrics like engagement rates, resolution times, and customer satisfaction scores. Analysis of chatbot interactions can reveal patterns and areas for improvement, helping you refine the chatbot’s responses and overall strategy.

Customization options

A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for chatbots. Your business is unique, and your chatbot should reflect that. Look for platforms that offer extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor the chatbot’s appearance, conversation flows, and functionalities to match your brand and specific use cases. Customization can range from simple cosmetic changes to the development of custom integrations and workflows.

Ongoing support

Post-deployment support is essential for maintaining the effectiveness of your chatbot. Choose a provider that offers reliable customer support. This could include quick access to technical support, regular software updates, and resources like guides and tutorials. Consider the access to support channels like email, phone, or live chat, and the provider’s reputation for customer service.

Pricing

Finally, the cost is a significant factor. Chatbot pricing models vary widely, from subscription-based to pay-per-use. Assess the pricing structure against your budget and the return on investment you expect from the chatbot. Be mindful of potential additional costs such as for custom development, integrations, or overage fees. It’s important to choose a solution that offers the features you need at a price that makes sense for your business.

The best chatbot services and platforms on the market

Take a look at the comparison table. It outlines the most important things to know about the best chatbot software we chose for this article.

Name	Rating	Can it be used for free?	Pricing per month
Selzy	4.7 out of 5 ⭐️ (27 reviews)	Yes, but only during a two-week-long trial period	Starting at $11
Pandorabots	5.0 out of 5 ⭐️ (2 reviews)	Yes, but only during a two-week-long trial period	Starting at $19
Snatchbot	4.7 out of 5 ⭐️ (33 reviews)	Yes	Starting at $99
Octane AI	4.1 out of 5 ⭐️ (6 reviews)	Yes, but only during a two-week-long trial period	Starting at $50
HubSpot Chatbot Builder	4.4 out of 5 ⭐️ (10,679 reviews)	Yes	Starting at $20
Tidio	4.7 out of 5 ⭐️ (1,411 reviews)	Yes	Starting at $29
Manychat	4.6 out of 5 ⭐️ (140 reviews)	Yes, but only for up to 1,000 interactions with potential customers	Starting at $15

Now, we’ll give you a clear and concise overview of each and every chatbot platform listed above. It should help you find a chatbot service that best suits your needs.

Selzy

Selzy offers chatbot software designed to enhance customer communication. The platform is user-friendly, featuring a visual builder for easy setup. In other words, you don’t need any coding knowledge to use it. Additionally, the software offers email marketing automation and audience segmentation for tailored messaging.

As for other features, Selzy’s chatbot builder allows users to create automated responses to messages, menu choices, and adjustable commands. It can also collect customer information, give customers quick access to customer support, and send out notifications about things like special offers and product lines. Other than that, the chatbot can be deployed on Telegram, which is one of the most commonly used messaging apps in the world.

If you feel like a certain script or scenario isn’t working as intended, Selzy got you covered. You can track and analyze chatbot performance using detailed analytics. Then, you can adjust it for maximum effectiveness. In case you run into any issues along the way, a dedicated customer support team is ready to answer your questions. You can contact them 24/7 via chat or by phone.

The chatbot builder is included in Selzy’s Standard plan. Pricing starts at $11 per month or $126 per year when paid annually. If you’d like to test the waters, you can try chatbots in Selzy during a two-week trial period on the Free and Light plans.

Pandorabots

Pandorabots is a chatbot platform that places a strong emphasis on customization and flexibility. This approach turns Pandorabots into a great solution for businesses eager to take advantage of artificial intelligence. The chatbots work with the most popular messaging platforms like Telegram, LINE, Viber, and more.

The main benefit of Pandorabots is its established market presence. The chatbots platform has been in business for more than a decade, so it’s safe to say that it’s a proven and market-tested software. It offers a wide range of solutions, from ready-made chatbots for absolute beginners to do-it-yourself tools for seasoned developers.

Notably, Pandorabots allows you to use a library of 10,000 pre-built dialogues. With it, you can deploy a chatbot fairly quickly. What’s more, you can customize it for various use cases, from customer service to lead generation.

Unfortunately, the chatbot appears to be rather difficult to use. Worse yet, you don’t have access to any analytics or dashboards unless you upgrade to one of their paid tiers. The same goes for dedicated customer support. If you’re not paying for Pandorabots, you can only access their customer support through email or the Pandorabots forum.

You can test the paid tier during a free trial period, which lasts two weeks. Then, you have to upgrade to one of Pandorabots’ paid plans. The cheapest one is $19 per month. If it’s not enough, you can upgrade to a more comprehensive paid plan that’s $199 per month. There’s also an Enterprise tier, the price of which varies depending on individual business needs.

SnatchBot

SnatchBot is a versatile messaging platform that helps businesses’ chatbots reach customers across multiple channels like Slack, LINE, Skype, and more. It’s great for beginners, as it comes with 70 pre-built bot templates. You can customize each of these templates with ease. Alternatively, if none of them suit your needs, you can always build your own bot from scratch using a no-code visual builder.

In it, you can customize different elements of the chatbot, which range from the bot’s display name to the colors of individual chat buttons. If you don’t have time to do that, you can also contact SnatchBot and have them build your chatbot for you.

It’s also worth noting that SnatchBot is equipped with advanced analytics and reporting tools. To add to this, it has advanced natural language processing capabilities. To put it simply, this software can hold smart, human-like chatbot conversations. It does so by understanding, analyzing, and learning from the information it receives during interactions.

As for the downsides, SnatchBot allows you to contact customer support, but only if you upgrade to their paid plan. If you’re using the free plan, you can only refer to the tutorials. There’s also a community forum, but it doesn’t seem that active.

If you’re interested in SnatchBot’s paid plans, pricing starts at $99 per month or $948 per year when paid annually. In case it’s not enough, there are three other paid tiers. The third one is meant for enterprises, and its price varies depending on business needs.

Octane AI

Octane AI is a platform designed for e-commerce businesses, particularly Shopify merchants. In fact, it’s co-owned by an advisory board of top Shopify marketers. To add to this, it’s the only Shopify Plus Certified App for quizzes.

It’s not the only feature that Octane AI has to offer, though. The platform can also help you with customer research. Its Insights Analyst can import your product reviews, analyze them, and provide you with a detailed report in mere seconds.

Its most notable feature is quizzes that engage customers. The quizzes collect valuable insights, which can then be used to provide customers with personalized product recommendations and targeted advertisements. You can customize the quizzes’ design as well as use advanced logic to make sure their behavior is according to your needs. The platform also offers integrations with various other tools like Klaviyo and Google Analytics.

When it comes to customer support, you can always message the Octane AI team through their website or write to a dedicated email address. If you’d like to help yourself, there’s a wide range of video guides and articles that you can refer to.

Octane AI offers various pricing tiers for its quizzes, catering to businesses of different sizes. The pricing starts at $50 per month. Then, there’s a plan that’s $200 per month. For larger businesses, custom pricing is available. If you’re not convinced, Octane AI comes with a free trial period. It lasts two weeks, which is more than enough to get a feel for how the platform works.

HubSpot Chatbot Builder

The HubSpot Chatbot Builder is a free tool within the HubSpot Smart CRM that’s aimed at reducing the load on customer support teams. It’s designed for ease of use, allowing customers to create custom rule-based chatbots without any coding skills.

These chatbots can handle various tasks, including qualifying leads, booking meetings, and providing streamlined customer support. What’s more, they can integrate with HubSpot’s CRM, facilitating more human-like, personalized, and engaging interactions.

To create a chatbot, you can choose a template and customize it in an intuitive visual editor. You can track your chatbot’s performance such as the number of users who started, abandoned, and completed the workflow.

Aside from that, the HubSpot Chatbot Builder offers plenty of different integrations. It should come as no surprise, as HubSpot is one of the most popular CRM tools on the market. As of today, it can integrate with 1,516 different tools and platforms that can help you with a wide range of things, from business intelligence to process automation.

If you’re new to HubSpot, there are dozens of practical courses and tutorials you can use to familiarize yourself with it. Unfortunately, you might find it difficult to reach their customer support team. The only way to get in touch with a customer support representative directly is to upgrade to a paid tier. Then, you will be able to contact them via email, chat, or phone. If you choose to stick with the free tier, a dedicated discussion board for HubSpot users will be your only option.

HubSpot’s chatbot builder is available for free. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features, you should look into HubSpot’s paid plans. The cheapest one is priced at $20 per month or $240 per year when paid at once.

Tidio

Tidio is a versatile tool that’s focused on automation, ranging from email marketing automation to plug-and-play chatbots. It’s most commonly used by small and medium businesses that can’t invest in a fully-fledged customer support team.

The platform offers a visual chatbot builder and editor with drag-and-drop functionality. As a result, the process of setting up and customizing chatbots is straightforward. You have the option to choose from more than 30 pre-designed workflow templates that you can customize. Alternatively, you can use Tidio to create chatbot solutions from scratch.

In addition, Tidio provides simple analytics. You can view metrics related to conversations from the past seven days, including what percentage of the bot’s messages were helpful and what percentage of visitors interacted with the bot. It’s also worth noting that Tidio integrates with a wide range of other platforms. To be more precise, it can integrate with social media platforms like Facebook Messenger, marketing automation solutions like Pipedrive, and customer relationship management software like HubSpot, among other things.

As for customer support, you can always make use of Tidio’s bot assistant on the company’s website. Other options include visiting the help center or viewing Tidio’s extensive library of video tutorials. If you need to get in touch with an actual human being, Tidio’s live chat and email support team is there to help.

Tidio offers three different plans that cover the use of a chatbot builder, including a free plan. The less expensive one starts at $29 a month or $290.40 a year, while the most advanced option starts at $398. Pricing depends on the number of visitors reached through a chatbot.

Manychat

Manychat is designed for businesses looking to provide better customer experience and automate communication tasks. It is particularly effective for businesses operating on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The platform is user-friendly, featuring a visual flow editor with drag-and-drop functionality, making chatbots creation accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise.

If you’d like to track the performance of a specific bot, you can do so using Manychat’s dashboard. It features several useful metrics, such as revenue earned and the number of people who were converted into customers after an interaction with a bot.

Notably, Manychat enables businesses to collect customer information and feedback directly through the chatbot. It is an effective tool for gathering insights into customer needs and preferences. Using this data, you can then improve products and services. As for integrations, Manychat can integrate with several different tools, including Zapier and Google Sheets, as well as some email marketing and payment processing solutions.

Manychat’s customer support is accessible through the company’s website. Users can also engage in discussions and seek advice from the community on the platform’s discussion board. For direct help from the Manychat team, there is a ticket submission system.

Manychat offers a free plan that covers up to 1,000 contacts. (To make things clear, a contact is a customer who interacted with a bot through any channel.) Paid plans scale with the number of such contacts, starting at $15 per month.

Final thoughts

If you’re looking to take advantage of the best AI tools on the market, chatbots are definitely the way to go. Still, choosing the right chatbot software is a critical decision for any business. While navigating through the various options, there are a few aspects to remember:

Business alignment. Select a chatbot that aligns with your specific business goals. Otherwise, you might end up with a chatbot that isn’t as useful as you want it to be.
User-friendly interface. Opt for a chatbot builder with an intuitive editor interface. A straightforward and clear layout will make it easier for you to create a functional and effective chatbot.
Scalability. Make sure that the platform you choose can support a growing number of interactions and provide complex workflows.
Analytics and reporting. Choose a service that can provide you with essential data about your chatbots’ performance to make data-driven decisions and optimize your strategy.
Customization options. To make your chatbot reflect your business’ unique look and needs, consider whether it can be customized.
Ongoing support. Chatbots, especially those with complex logic and branching, may need extra attention or a support team’s assistance, so opt for a service that has good customer service and tutorials.
Pricing. Consider the pricing of the chatbot software. It should satisfy your business needs without making a big dent in your budget.

While selecting the perfect chatbot might be challenging, it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Ultimately, it’s bound to bring you plenty of benefits, such as enhanced customer service efficiency and a more streamlined, automated approach to handling customer queries.

23 January, 2024

#chatbots

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Sara Kurczyńska

Sara Kurczyńska is an experienced content writer from Poznań, Poland. She enjoys writing about digital marketing, as well as playing video games and petting her fancy rats. In her spare time, you can find her birdwatching and taking long walks around the local parks and forests.

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