Best AI chatbots of 2023: ChatGPT and alternatives

Chatbots have been around for decades but have recently seen a surge in popularity following the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022. Now, ChatGPT alternatives are constantly popping up on the market.

The influx of these chatbots makes it easier for 77% of AI users worldwide to do their jobs, flex their creative muscles, provide outstanding customer experiences (CX), play or create games, write haikus, limericks and short stories, find information and so much more.

However, while ChatGPT is a leader in conversational, generative artificial intelligence (AI), it wasn’t purpose-built for every use case. Learn more about some of the top AI chatbots in 2023.

• What are AI chatbots?

• Popular AI chatbots at a glance

• 24 best AI chatbots for 2023

• What to look for in an AI chatbot

• AI chatbot FAQAI chatbot FAQ

• Ready to try a ChatGPT alternative?

Artificial intelligence chatbots are computer programmes that simulate human interactions using machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to understand speech and generate human-like replies.

AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, use natural language processing to power a large language model (LLM), which can generate everything from text and images to music based on a user’s prompt.

AI chatbots that use intent models GPT-3 and above are forms of generative AI, meaning they can take in a large amount of data and create the text, images, audio and synthetic data it “thinks” the user wants to see.

The best way to determine which chatbot is right for you and your business is to try it yourself. Read on to learn about some popular AI chatbots across a variety of different use cases.

Below, we’ll share more information about some of the most popular AI chatbots of 2023, including their features and pricing. These AI chatbots have been evaluated based on user reviews, their general features, functionalities and performance.

1. ChatGPT

Use case: Broad use cases include, but are not limited to, content creation and summarisation, coding and research

Model: GPT-3.5 and GPT-4

ChatGPT went viral in 2022, blowing users away with its conversational capabilities and capacity to understand the context of messages.

The bot also boasts impressive writing, summarisation, coding, research and parsing capabilities. ChatGPT can also integrate with other plugins to further enhance its capabilities. Some notable plugins include:

• OpenTable for restaurant reservations

• Kayak for hotel bookings

• Link Reader for website summaries

• VoxScript to summarise YouTube videos with transcripts

With new iterations of the original intent model, such as GPT-3.5 (available with free plans) and GPT-4 (available with paid plans), it’s a top contender.

However, ChatGPT wasn’t designed for every use case. Businesses should note that the bot isn’t ready to act as a customer-facing support tool. OpenAI also notes that ChatGPT’s models can sometimes “hallucinate” (display incorrect information as fact) and can reinforce social biases. It also warns users to be careful when using its models in high-stakes contexts.

Features:

• Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF)

• Conversation data preservation

• Contextual understanding

• Continuous learning

• Multilingual

• Content creation

• Code writing

• Complex problem-solving

• Human-like conversations

Pricing:

• ChatGPT: Free

• ChatGPT Plus: $20/month

ChatGPT is free during the research preview but this might not be permanent. While OpenAI works to perfect its software, there’s a free version in exchange for response feedback to help the AI learn and continuously provide better answers.

Free trial:

Unavailable

2. Zendesk

Use case: Customer service and customer experience

Model: Proprietary

Zendesk’s unique approach to Al is a game changer for customer service teams.

Unlike many solutions on the market, Zendesk chatbots are fast to set up because they don’t require technical skills to deploy. They also come pre-trained on real customer service interactions specific to your industry, saving teams the time and costs of manual setup.

A few other ways Zendesk bots help deliver exceptional customer experiences include:

• Resolving customer issues over any channel without a human ever getting involved

• Directing customers to help centre articles to enable them to better self-serve

• Speeding up resolutions by gathering context from customers

• Handing conversations to the right agent when a human is needed

• Boosting sales, such as by sending a customer with a loaded shopping cart a discount code

The Zendesk industry-leading ticketing system also integrates with a variety of chatbots to ensure seamless bot-to-human handoffs, and bots can be custom built with our platform.

Beyond conversational bots, Zendesk also offers generative AI tools for agents. Some AI-powered agent tools include intelligently routing requests to the right agent by language, intent (what a conversation is about), and sentiment (if it’s positive or negative) and sharing these insights with agents to provide helpful context and suggestions for how to solve the issue.

We’ve also combined the capabilities of the Zendesk Suite with the power of OpenAl to further enhance our generative AI solutions for agents. Learn more about our partnership with OpenAI.

Features:

• Intent recognition

• Sentiment analysis for email bots

• No-code bot builder

• Omnichannel deployment

• Integrations with third-party systems

• Customer context collection

• Reporting and analytics

• Security

• Seamless handoffs from bots to human agents

• Intelligent routing

Pricing:

• Suite Team: $55 per agent/month

• Suite Growth: $89 per agent/month

• Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month

• Suite Enterprise: $169 per agent/month

• Enterprise Plus: $249 per agent/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

14 days

3. Bard

Use case: Content summarisation, translations, coding

Model: Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA)

Google originally released its LaMDA-powered chatbot, Bard, to a limited audience in the UK and the US. However, it is now widely available.

Currently, people can use Bard for several use cases, including writing code and generating images from the web. It also has the ability to read responses out loud. Google is calling it a “launchpad for curiosity.” So far, the new technology seems to perform very well with maths and logic-based questions.

To its credit, Bard strives to avoid distributing false information, and many find it effective for general use. However, it doesn’t give users the same answer every time, shows some biases and is still in the experimental phase.

Like any brand-new chatbot, it’s still learning and has some flaws – but Google will be the first to tell you that. Google states that the tech can provide inaccurate information and you shouldn’t use it for legal, financial or medical advice.

Features:

• Information distillation

• Make plans and find solutions

• Create drafts for various content types

• Summarisation

• Co-editing

• Caption writing

• Source citations

• Export responses as files

• Coding

• Text-to-speech

• Generate images from the web

• Export data to Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Gmail

Pricing:

• Free

Free trial:

Not available

4. Bing

Use case: Content creation and data analysis

Model: GPT-4

Microsoft’s Bing rolled out its new AI chatbot in partnership with OpenAI to the public on 4 May, 2023. Chatbot users can also view AI-powered results using the Bing search engine or app, but you must download Microsoft Edge to get the full Bing chat conversational experience.

Generally, Bing is a good resource for those seeking well-known information and strategy or content planning assistance. Although some say it’s less conversationally creative than its competitors, the average user may find it handy for general planning, composing responses and generating images.

However, the technology has also experienced its fair share of mishaps. For example, soon after its launch, the bot, which incorrectly identified itself as Sydney, started generating inaccurate information, including trying to convince a user that it was 2022 in February of 2023.

In a recent update, Bing added a visual search and an enterprise-level chatbot that offers security features and citations for the answers it provides users within the chatbot.

Features:

• Complex research capabilities

• Conversational replies

• Image generation

• Visual search and responses

• Edge sidebar

Pricing:

• Free

Free trial:

Not applicable

5. Claude

Use case: Task assistance

Model: Constitutional AI (CAI)

Claude is a generative AI chatbot from Anthropic that uses constitutional AI (CAI). The software refers to itself as “self-contained,” meaning it responds to general queries without searching the internet. Claude uses the “HHH” system architecture, which stands for “Helpful, honest, and harmless.”

Users can modify Claude’s behaviour by prompting it with background knowledge to receive the desired responses. Claude comes in two paid models – Claude Instant and Claude 2 – that can help users with text analysis, summarisation and creative content generation.

Features:

• Customer service

• Legal document scanning

• Life coaching

• Knowledge base search

• Document summarisation

• Sales support

Pricing:

• Claude Instant:

• • Prompt: $1.63 per 1 million tokens Completion: $5.51 per 1 million tokens

• Claude 2:

• • Prompt: $11.02 per 1 million tokens Completion: $32.68 per 1 million tokens

Free trial:

Not applicable

6. Perplexity AI

Use case: Getting answers and recommendations with sources

Model: GPT-4

Perplexity AI is generally known as a reputable general knowledge chatbot because the tool provides sources and citations to back up its responses. Users should still do their due diligence to verify the accuracy of the bot’s answers, but this protects against misinformation and bot hallucinations.

Perplexity recently added two new features: Visual Perplexity and Llama Chat. Visual Perplexity allows the chatbot to respond to users using pictures and videos. Llama Chat is an AI chatbot built on Meta’s Llama 2 model to support common programming languages and help developers with code.

Co-pilot is a GPT-4-powered AI assistant feature of Perplexity that helps users get more targeted results. Users with a free account may only input five queries every four hours, while users on the paid plan get up to 600 queries. Paid-plan users can also use the “Quick Search” function more freely. It is not powered by GPT-4 and has more basic capabilities like serving up basic answers and search results to a question.

Features:

• Copilot search assistant

• Phone support

• Community Discord server access

• Real-time web search

• Llama Chat

• Visual Perplexity

• Voice command

• Mobile app

• Image search

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

• Free: $20 per month

Free trial:

7 days

7. Jasper Chat

Use case: Content and reply writing

Model: GPT-4, Anthropic and Google’s models

Jasper Chat is an AI copywriting chatbot for businesses. According to the Jasper website, the AI bot helps brands maintain tone consistency, adhere to editorial guidelines and company information and streamline campaign collaboration.

To use this tool, the user just enters a prompt, refines their request if needed and exports the final result. Of course, answers should be edited and fact-checked, but the Jasper bot can serve as a starting point for businesses with limited resources.

A key benefit of this chatbot is that you can train Jasper on your data and retain ownership of its outputs or information you provide. However, users should remember that AI-generated content may not be protected under copyright law since there aren’t currently any laws or precedents regarding AI. This means that others can use the content or information you publish without consequence.

Features:

• Copywriting

• Summarisation

• Image generation

• Content polishing

• Multilingual

• Contextual answers

• High-resolution images

Pricing:

• Creator: $39 per month

• Teams: $99 per month

• Business: Contact Jasper*Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7 days

8. Character.AI

Use case: Entertainment and conversation

Model: GPT-3

Character.AI users can pick the bot they want to talk to and the bot will reply using the tone and language one would expect from that specific character. Some categories users can choose from include:

• Helpers: Dating coaches, psychologists, mock interviewers and fitness coaches
  

• Famous people: Ariana Grande, Cristiano Ronaldo, Taylor Swift, Keanu Reeves and Stephen Hawking
  

• Game characters: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Nathan Drake and Shadow the Hedgehog
  

• Movie and TV characters: Regina George, Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain America, Eleven, Wednesday Addams and Tony Stark

Character.AI is slower than many other chatbots, but it has several different options. Users can have entertaining “conversations” with their favourite stars and characters, receive designs and images, play games or get advice.

Features:

• Character feed

• Create a character

• Create a feed

• Conversational AI

• Character voices

• Rich replies

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

• Character.AI+: $9.99 per month

Free trial:

Unavailable

9. ChatSonic

Use case:Content creation

Model: GPT-3.5 and GPT-4

ChatSonic is a generative AI chatbot that likens itself to ChatGPT which makes sense since it uses two of OpenAI’s latest intent models, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, to enhance conversational experiences.

In the platform, users can enter prompts via text or speech and request digital art outputs or content of any length, such as captions and email replies or long-form articles.

ChatSonic also offers Chrome extension plugins to make it easier for users to write and research. One way it does this is by surfacing the information you need when you Google a question so that you don’t have to open an article and sift through it.

Features:

• AI art and image generation

• Content writing

• Integrated knowledge search

• Specialised personal assistants

• Voice command

• Content suggestions

• No-code bot builder

• AI Templates

• One-click WordPress export

Pricing:

• Business: $12.67 per month (200,000 words/month for 1 user)

• Unlimited: $16 per month (unlimited words for 1 user)

• Enterprise: Starts at $1,000/month

  *Plans are billed annually. Pricing may increase based on the intent model, the number of words and user seats.

Free trial:

$0 per month (10,000 words/month for 1 user)

10. Replication

Use case: Compassionate conversation, entertainment and roleplaying

Model: Proprietary large language model and scripted dialogue content

Replika allows users to customise an avatar and talk to it for fun. The platform previously partnered with OpenAI to improve dialogue, context recognition and the quality of roleplay conversations but now operates on a proprietary system.

While the avatar is like a compassionate online friend, it isn’t sentient or a substitute for mental health professionals. As such, it should only be used for entertainment. It’s also incapable of operating as a true virtual assistant since it can't set reminders or answer maths equations and lacks other real-world skills.

On the free plan, users can chat with their bot, customise their avatar using the points they earn, experience coaching sessions, select games or prompts to play and read their digital friend’s diary entries. Users can also voice chat with their Replika bot and send photos, emojis and voice messages.

Users can upgrade to Replika’s paid plan to enable video calls, advanced chats or even roleplay a romantic relationship.

Features:

• Empathetic conversation

• Augmented reality (AR)

• Video calls

• Voice messages

• Rich media

• Coaching

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

• PRO: $5.83 per month

  *Plans are billed annually

Free trial:

Unavailable

11. My AI

Use case: Entertainment and dialogue

Model:OpenAI technology

Snapchat’s AI is called My AI and is unique because you can customise the appearance of the avatar you speak to and its outfit. A top choice for entertainment on social media, My AI lets Snapchatters ask questions about pop culture, get ideas for fun things to do and allows them to message back and forth with the bot.

Snapchat+ subscribers can send My AI a photo Snap and it will reply with a photo Snap back to the user. Additionally, users may customise My AI with a bio to tailor its personality and conversation style to their preferences.

Features:

• Text and image recognition

• Sticker and Bitmoji recommendations

• Find new friends on Snapchat

• Recommend local events

• Suggest articles and news stories

Pricing:

Free

Free trial:

Not applicable

12. Khanmigo

Use case:Education

Model: GPT-4

Khanmigo is an AI chatbot created by Khan Academy, an educational organisation. The chatbot aims to facilitate learning by showing teachers and tutors effective strategies for teaching and engaging with pupils. It also helps teachers plan lessons and better understand pupil needs.

Furthermore, the tool is useful for pupils needing help with assignments or understanding complex topics. By leveraging the Socratic method, Khanigo can help pupils find the correct answer without doing the work for them – increasing their critical thinking skills and helping them absorb new information.

Features:

• Khan Academy integration

• Student progress insights and reports

• Grading recommendations

• Lesson planning

• Personalised AI tutoring

• Exploratory activities

• Multilingual support

Pricing:

• Monthly donation: $9 per user

• Yearly donation: $9 per year

• District access: Request pricing

*Encouraged to make a donation before using the chatbot.

Free trial:

Unavailable

13. Woebot Health

Use case: Mental health support and check-ins

Model: Proprietary

Woebot is a chatbot that uses science, AI, and natural language processing (NLP) to monitor user moods and provide 24/7 access to mental health support, helping users work through complex emotions and reflect around the clock. The bot is trained on clinical approaches, including:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

• Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)

• Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)

Woebot aims to help people living with conditions like anxiety and depression or everyday stressors related to work, life or family. It can help users build healthy habits, develop coping skills and challenge harmful ways of thinking.

Features:

• Empathetic responses

• Rich responses

• Skill-building lessons

• Daily check-ins

• Data encryption

Pricing:

Free

Free trial:

Not applicable

14. Ideal

Use case: Recruitment

Model: Proprietary

The Ideal chatbot helps recruiters effectively engage with candidates, eliminate phone screenings, qualify candidates and support general talent acquisition efforts. This tool allows hiring teams to prioritise top candidates through response screening and candidate questionnaires.

The platform also meets global compliance standards adhering to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

(OFCCP), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and more, meaning that all data stored on the platform is secure.

Features:

• Candidate screening

• Job and candidate matching

• Hiring and workforce insights

Pricing:

• Contact Ideal

Free trial:

Contact Ideal

15. Pi

Use case:Entertainment

Model: Inflection-1

Pi is a friendly, curious and empathetic personal AI. The bot begins interactions with new users by explaining that you can ask it for advice and answers or just chat about whatever’s on your mind. It also declares that it has no interest in passing judgment or offering unsolicited advice, so you can also discuss more sensitive topics.

The bot is human-like and sends conversational messages – an even emojis – to emphasise its points. The bot is free to talk to, but you must make an account if you want Pi to remember the details you share.

Features:

• Conversational replies

• Vast knowledge base

• Personalised recommendations

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

Free trial:

Not applicable

16. Copy.ai

Use case: Blog writing and email marketing

Model: GPT-3

The copy.ai chatbot specialises in all things writing-related. For example, it can write product descriptions for online shops, marketing copy for digital ads, content for your personal blog and more.

Copy.ai comes with unlimited brand voices, pre-built prompt templates and an infobase. It can also generate content in 95+ languages.

To get started, users must enter details about their project, including the topic, context and tone. From there, they just need to sift through the bot's outputs and select their favourite option. Then, edit, add more details if needed, and publish the new content on the platform of their choice.

Features:

• Web scraping

• Video summarisation

• Real-time data

• Intuitive doc editor

• Prebuilt prompts

Pricing:

• Forever free plan: $0 per month

• Pro: $36 per month

• Enterprise: Contact sales

  *Plans are billed annually

Free trial:

7 days

17. You.com

Use case:Research

Model: Proprietary

You.com is a conversational search engine that can answer questions, write emails and code, explain complex subjects and brainstorm ideas. Unlike typical chatbots that surface articles for you to read through for an answer, You.com gets to the point and gives you the answer in the form of a message.

The platform is also free and secure and never displays invasive ads. Another benefit is that once the user enters a question or phrase, You.com allows them to click on other content types like videos, images, news, maps and social media to find answers in mediums that suit their learning styles.

Users can also set You.com as their primary search engine and personalise search experiences by integrating with apps like Medium, Amazon, Home Depot, Target and X (formerly Twitter).

Features:

• Information retrieval

• Conversational AI

• Task assistance

• Personalised responses and recommendations

• Contextual understanding

• Language translation

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month

• YouPro: $9.99 per month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Not available

18. ZenoChat

Use case: Copywriting and brainstorming

Model: GPT-4 and Sophos 2

ZenoChat is a natural language generation (NLG) tool by TextCortex. It aims to tailor each chat to the user with custom style, knowledge and communication needs for a “personalised intelligence experience.”

The software is a content generation tool for creatives who need help rewriting sentences or editing internal documents. ZenoChat’s AI was trained from over 3 billion sentences to reduce plagiarism and create unique outputs. It also supports more than 20 languages, so users can communicate with people from different cultures and backgrounds.

Features:

• Copy editing and rewriting

• More than 20 supported languages

• Idea expansion

• Personal intelligence

• Integrations on mobile and desktop

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (20 creations per day, 125 words per creation)

• Lite: $23.99 per month

• Unlimited: $83.99 per month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

Not applicable

19. Amazon CodeWhisperer

Use case: Coding

Model: Proprietary

Amazon CodeWhisperer is a tool available with Amazon Web Services. It is an AI coding companion enabling developers to quickly build secure applications.

CodeWhisperer is built for programming and was trained on billions of lines of code. This makes it a top resource for coders looking for coding shortcuts or support throughout difficult projects.

This tool is especially useful for programmers attempting to work with unfamiliar APIs and streamlining time-intensive projects. Those in industries with known security risks may also use the CodeWhisperer to find hidden vulnerabilities in code and review suggestions to resolve them immediately.

Features:

• Real-time code suggestions

• Vulnerability identification

• 15+ programming languages

• Works with AWS services

• Code security scans

• Reference tracker

• Bias avoidance

• Organisational licence and policy management

Pricing:

• Individual tier: $0 per month

• Professional: $19 per user/month

Free trial:

Not available

20. HuggingChat

Use case: Task handling, email writing and content generation

Models: meta-llama/Llama-2-70b-chat-hf

HuggingChat is an open-source chatbot by HuggingFace that helps users complete the task at hand whether that’s coding a snake game, listing ingredients for tonight’s dinner or writing a moving checklist for a first-year university student moving into student halls.

Generally, the bot helps with tasks and writing general content using its own data. However, if you need it to surface more recent information, you can also toggle the “Search the web” button, and its outputs will align more closely with other online results.

The bot also elaborates on questions, predicting the user’s next question. Then, if the user has an account, they can refer back to the thread for details later – even if they’ve made another query since then.

Features:

• Conversational interface

• Personalised recommendations

• Task assistance

• Multilingual support

Pricing:

• HF Hub: Free

• Pro: $9 per month

• Enterprise: $20 per user/month

Free trial:

Not available

21. Rose AI

Use case: Data cleaning and visualisation

Models: Proprietary

Rose AI is a conversational data search engine and visualisation tool that rides the line between traditional AI and a bot. It allows data scientists to quickly find, clean and visualise data. Rose can also think critically about investments, understand mathematical logic, connect to third-party databases and share digestible answers in visual or written form.

Rose’s outputs are less conversational than some of the bots in our round-up, but it does reply to conversational prompts with answers and visualisations. The bot lets users find contextual answers by immediately surfacing metadata and original sources.

Features:

• CSV download

• Auditable interface

• Data cleaning

• Data visualisation

• Data marketplace

Pricing:

• Contact to register

Free trial:

Contact to inquire

22. Socratic by Google

Use case:Education

Models: Google AI and search technologies

Socratic by Google is a search-based chatbot for learners of all ages. Whether you’re trying to get through tedious homework or just want to learn something new, Socratic can help you meet your goal.

The learning tool was designed for ages 12 and older. With its “Speak a question” function, younger learners can leverage it for assistance (under adult supervision). Users may also choose to type in a question if they desire.

Regardless, Socratic will share a top match from Google and a detailed explanation after entering a query, often with visualisations. Aside from that, the app also provides links to reputable online resources and study guides written by experts to enhance learning experiences.

Features:

• Free app and study guides

• Learning modules

• Search engine chatbot

• Step-by-step explanations

• Instructional videos

Pricing:

• Free

Free trial:

Not applicable

23. ChatSpot

Use case:Marketing

Model: GPT-3 and Dall-E

ChatSpot is HubSpot’s AI-powered marketing assistant (although, you don’t need to use HubSpot to use this bot). The Public Beta version of the bot helps marketing teams draft emails, write social media captions, generate blog topics and develop effective calls to action.

It also comes with pre-built templates that make marketing work a faster process. Some of these templates are for YouTube video summaries and news subscriptions. It even allows users to scrape websites to determine which technologies a site uses.

However, the tool does have a few limitations. For example, the vendor notes that the bot is still learning and won’t always deliver accurate results. Also, it can’t reference old messages – even if you’re still in the same thread. Additionally, the result accuracy decreases in languages other than English.

Features:

• Adaptive testing

• SEO suggestions

• Data capture

• Integrated content generation

Pricing:

• Free

Free trial:

N/A

24. Certainly

Use case: Sales and e-commerce

Model: OpenAI technologies

Certainly’s chatbot enables businesses to mimic their top revenue-driving salesperson. The bot was built using online sales data, giving it unique insight into the e-commerce industry. It also comes with pre-made templates, provides accurate data, and also integrates with Zendesk.

It aims to be a tool for deflection, data collection and customer engagement. With the ability to understand customers and the context behind their messages, this chatbot can learn to deflect tickets to sales reps when tickets need a human touch.

Features:

• Contextual understanding

• Natural language understanding

• Human-like responses

• One-click integrations

• Smooth agent handovers

Pricing:

• Starter: Get a quote

• Pro: Get a quote

• Premium: Get a quote

Free trial:

14 days

The chatbot you select will depend on several factors. Let’s explore some questions you can ask yourself to better understand your needs and limitations.

1. What will I use it for?

The first things to consider when choosing your preferred chatbot are your goals and intended use cases. All bots worth their salt should have standard features like AI and NLP. Beyond that, essential features will depend heavily on the industry.

Here are a few common questions businesses in different industries should ask before investing in an AI chatbot:

• What model was the chatbot trained on?

• Does the chatbot need information about recent data or news?

• Do you need to generate images, code, music and videos or only text?

• Can the chatbot back up statements with sources?

2. What are my goals?

Assessing your goals is crucial when choosing the right AI chatbot for your business. If you need to stay on top of your data security, spending money on a reputable AI chatbot may be necessary. Key requirements like security and advanced features are often only available with paid chatbot plans.

Different goals businesses may have when looking for a chatbot include:

• Editing internal documents

• Brainstorming

• Generating code

• Enhancing customer service

If your business goals revolve around improving your customer experience but your team doesn’t have a background of highly technical knowledge, Zendesk is your best bet.

3. Does the solution integrate with my key systems?

Businesses will need a chatbot with plenty of integrations. Before you commit to a chatbot, verify that it can integrate with the other systems your teams rely on.

These systems may include your customer service software, CRM and marketing automation tools. Ideally, you will find a chatbot like Zendesk that allows administrators to easily configure integrations and customise the bot with a no-code builder.

These capabilities are especially ideal for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that don’t have the resources to hire a third-party developer or an in-house team.

4. Which channels do I need to deploy on?

Select a chatbot that can deploy on every communication platform you use to amplify your reach no matter your industry. Look for a bot that you can introduce on your website, messaging apps and social media channels. For example, you may choose to deploy a chatbot on platforms like:

• WhatsApp for Business

• Messenger

• Shopify

• Apple Business Chat

• X (formerly Twitter)

5. Is the solution easy to set up, use and train?

Often, chatbots require extensive coding to customise, train and configure. These are solutions that require large IT and dev teams, and the average person will struggle to manage them. Sometimes, clunky, code-dependent bots may be necessary, but they often aren’t needed and come with hefty expenses.

Instead, you should focus on solutions like Zendesk that allow users with little technical expertise to configure, train, deploy and maintain their bots. Better yet, choose a bot built on relevant industry data to negate the need for manual training.

Finally, here are some answers to the most commonly asked questions about AI chatbots.

It’s true that AI applications like ChatGPT and Google Bard promise to change the way we work. But for as many jobs whose functions can be automated, real humans will still play an integral part – especially in customer service roles, where real expertise and empathy cannot be replaced by AI.

Here are some simple yet effective use cases for chatbots.

Chatbots can answer FAQs

A bot is especially useful for automating basic, repetitive questions – the kinds of questions your team has grown to expect and can resolve in one touch.

Customers prefer to use chatbots for simple issues, giving agents their time back to focus on high-stakes tasks and offering more meaningful support.

Because bots aren’t meant to handle every issue, they work alongside your agents – routing customers and providing context – to arm them with all the information they need to jump in and resolve issues faster.

Chatbots can bolster self-service

Most customers check online resources first if they run into trouble because they want to solve problems on their own. AI chatbots can highlight your self-service options by recommending help centre pages to customers in the chat interface.

Rather than sifting through a huge catalogue of support articles, customers can ask chatbots a question and the AI will scan your knowledge base for keywords related to their query. Once the chatbot finds the most relevant resource, it will direct your customer to it.

Over time, as your chatbot has more interactions and receives more feedback, it becomes better at serving your customers. As a result, your live agents have more time to deal with complex customer queries, even during peak times.

Upwork, a popular freelancer marketplace, can attest to this. Brent Pliskow, the VP of customer support at Upwork, says: “Integrating Forethought with Zendesk has resolved 58% of our chat interactions, leaving only 42% to be handled by our support team.”

Chatbots can help provide global support

You can also integrate bots into global support efforts and ease the need for international hiring and training. They’re a cost-effective way to deliver instant support in every time zone.

AI chatbots can provide customers with answers in every language, too. A chatbot can ask your customers what language they prefer at the start of a conversation or determine what language a customer speaks from their input phrases.

This is especially beneficial for global brands like Fútbol Emotion, a specialist sporting goods retailer operating out of Spain and Portugal. Using Zendesk Suite and Sunshine Conversations, the company provides outstanding conversational support at scale. Fútbol Emotion also introduced a multilingual experience to serve a larger audience, which was essential as it expanded to serve Africa, Greater Europe and the Middle East.

“The combination of synchronous and asynchronous channels in Zendesk allowed us to reduce the agent learning curve because we divided the complexity of work by channels and languages,” explains Daniel Hsu, the e-commerce manager at Fútbol Emotion.

Chatbots can help with ticket spikes and fluctuations

Since chatbots never sleep, they can support your customers when your agents are off the clock – over the weekend, late at night or on holidays. And as customers’ e-commerce habits fluctuate heavily based on seasonal trends, chatbots can mitigate the need for companies to bring on seasonal workers to deal with high ticket volumes.

For instance, a chatbot can help customers on Black Friday or other high-traffic holidays. It could also take some pressure off your support team after product updates or launches and during events.

Take Spartan Race, for example: an extreme wellness platform that deployed a Zendesk chatbot to help its small team of agents tackle spikes in customer requests during races. Spartan Race has seen a 9.5% decrease in chat volume, extending its team’s live chat availability by three hours every day.

Chatbots for sales

Beyond customer service use cases, you can use chatbots for prospecting.

A chatbot can help with lead generation by capturing leads across multiple channels. It can also pass a prospective customer to the next step in the sales process, whether via a human sales agent or an email and phone number capture.

For example, a bot can welcome website visitors and ask them if they want to contact sales. Prospects can leave their contact information and a note about their needs, and the bot can pass on the details to the right team.

A chatbot can ask qualifying questions such as:

• How large is your company?

• What is your job title?

• What features do you need?

• What problem are you experiencing?

You can integrate a bot into your sales CRM the same way you integrate it into your customer service software. This ensures seamless handoffs between bots and sales representatives, equipping sales teams with context and conversation history.

Chatbots for marketing

Similar to sales chatbots, chatbots for marketing can scale your customer acquisition efforts by collecting key information and insights from potential customers. They can also be strategically placed on website pages to increase conversion rates.

Marketing teams can use chatbots as a tool for customer engagement, too. Mattress brand Casper, for instance, created a chatbot for people who have trouble sleeping and want a late-night friend to talk to. The bot’s single purpose is to bring people closer to the Casper brand. And since AI-powered chatbots can learn your brand voice, they can converse with customers in a way that feels familiar.

Chatbots for abandoned baskets

Shopping basket abandonment happens when online shoppers add items to their baskets but leave before buying. The worldwide shopping basket abandonment rate is nearly 70% and this number has only been increasing over the years. Customers abandon their baskets due to unexpected delivery costs, complicated checkout processes or a lack of trust.

Chatbots can be a great way to answer any questions a customer might have to give them the confidence to purchase or upgrade their account. Even if a customer isn’t ready to connect, providing a quick and convenient option to get in touch builds trust.

An abandoned basket chatbot can also offer customers a discount to provide a purchase incentive. The chatbot just needs access to customer context that tells it when a customer has an item in their basket, so it knows when to offer that discount.

AI takes the abandoned basket workflow further with intelligent, personalised recommendations. So instead of simply trying to save a sale, an AI chatbot can also help increase the total value of a customer’s basket.

Chatbots for internal support

Businesses can even use chatbots to support employees. A chatbot is a handy addition to any internal support strategy, especially when paired with self-service.

Many IT teams use a knowledge base to mitigate repetitive questions and empower employees to self-serve. A chatbot can help scale your internal self-service efforts by directing employees to help centre articles, which can be particularly helpful during employee onboarding or company-wide changes.

IT and other internal teams can also use a bot to answer FAQs over convenient channels such as Slack or email. Similar to chatbots for external support, internal support chatbots ensure employees get fast help around the clock, making them useful for global companies and remote teams with employees in different time zones.

If your organisation hasn’t started using AI bots to assist your customer service team and streamline support, start considering it. Since the emergence of ChatGPT, chatbot technology has continued to progress and customers increasingly expect quick and convenient resolutions. It's safe to say that AI is here to stay.

Not sold yet? Here are some AI stats, trends and predictions that may change your mind.

• The strides ChatGPT made in 2022 with creating humanistic text ushered in other major AI advancements like Microsoft’s Bing AI, which utilises the powerful tech. (CNBC)

• Google is currently testing “Apprentice Bard” – a new AI chatbot that went into development in response to the sweeping success of ChatGPT last year. (CNBC)

• 65% of business leaders believe bots are becoming more human-like. (Zendesk)

• 67% of customers believe that bots provide mostly correct information. (Zendesk)

• An AI bot can hold and close a customer conversation in six messages or less. (Tido)

• The chatbot market is expected to be worth $5.9 billion by 2032. (Precedence research)

• 77% of customers report that AI bots are useful for resolving simple problems. (Zendesk)

• 62% of customers would rather use a service bot for faster support than wait for a customer service representative. (Tidio)

The right chatbot software for your business depends on a few different factors. Primarily, your current support needs and available resources.

If you need a bot that works for your business and the customers you serve, ensure your customer service solution offers user-friendly customisation capabilities, whether they’re built-in, third-party integrations or custom-coded.

Try answering the following questions to find a chatbot solution that makes sense for your support team’s operational needs.

What problem are you looking to solve – and what resources do you need to solve it?

Before using a bot, identify pain points within your organisation and take stock of the resources you already have to solve them. Here are some things to pay attention to:

• The number of support requests you receive daily

• Recurring questions and repetitive tasks

• Employee efficiency and downtime

• Current bot capabilities

• Wait times for agents with special skills

• Reasons behind long wait times

From there, you can determine what resource gaps you’re dealing with and select a chatbot with the right functionalities to fill them.

Is your chatbot flexible enough to work across different channels?

Customers expect to receive support over their preferred channels – whether they’re interacting with a human or a bot. They also expect options.

As such, it’s important for your chatbot to work across a range of channels, making omnichannel deployment for AI chatbots a must-have.

Ideally, your bot should be able to communicate on all the digital channels your customers use, including:

• Websites

• Mobile apps

• SMS

• Slack

• WhatsApp

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Twitter

What level of context will your chatbot need?

If your support centre is relatively small or doesn’t handle high volumes of support requests, your bot won’t need as much data to provide solutions.

However, contact centres and robust customer service departments should select chatbots with machine learning that can learn and improve over time. Keep in mind that you will need to continue training your chatbot to make sure its outputs are accurate.

“While AI technologies are growing ever ‘smarter’ at understanding customer inputs, what you tell your bot to output is just like any other content your business manages – it must be monitored, kept up to date and audited frequently for performance and relevance,” says Madison Hoffman, director of self-service and automation at Zendesk.

A key component of any artificial intelligence solution is data – the more data you have, the faster your AI chatbot can learn and improve. In short, more context leads to better chatbots and more personalised conversations.

How will you manage conversations between chatbots and agents?

If you’re already thinking about ways to improve the flow of contextual

information between sales and support representatives, an AI bot can be the perfect way to ensure accurate customer data collection and logging.

Businesses need tools to deploy chatbot conversations on the front end and manage them on the back end. This helps agents understand the intent behind every conversation and streamlines handoffs between agents and chatbots.

Do you already have resources that your AI bot can recommend to customers or use to learn?

If you have a knowledge base, a good place to start is with a bot that suggests articles from your existing help centre content and captures basic customer context for the fastest time to value.

If you want a little more control, look for a bot builder with a visual interface. This allows you to design customised bot conversations without writing any code.

A bot is nothing without its knowledge base. If you were to try implementing a bot into your workflow without it, you would risk giving users incorrect information.

Meanwhile, systems that can’t pull information from the internet wouldn’t have any data to pull from to make decisions or have conversations.