Website chatbots sit on your website and handle customer conversations automatically. Instead of visitors filling out contact forms or searching through FAQs, they can just type their questions and get immediate answers. A visitor might ask "Do you ship to Canada?" and get a response in seconds, along with shipping costs and delivery times. The technology works by training these systems on your company's specific information. A virtual assistant for website learns from your help docs, product pages, and support tickets. When someone asks a question, it searches through this knowledge base and puts together an answer using the same language processing that powers tools like ChatGPT. The better your source materials, the more accurate the responses. These tools handle more than the simple "Press 1 for sales" approach of older systems. An AI chat assistant can follow the flow of a real conversation, remember what someone said earlier, and ask follow up questions. If a customer asks about pricing and then mentions they're a nonprofit, it can automatically apply the relevant discount information. When the conversation gets too complex, it passes everything to a human agent who sees the full chat history. Businesses use these for several practical purposes. E-commerce sites let customers track orders and get product recommendations. SaaS companies use them to help new users get started with their software. Service businesses book appointments and qualify leads before they reach the sales team. A customer service bot might handle 80% of routine questions, freeing up staff for more complex issues. As these systems get better at understanding context and maintaining longer conversations, they're becoming the first point of contact for most website visitors.buyer intent tools, etc., to assist salespeople in timely outreach. Marketing and sales executives use this type of software to define and implement sales strategies based on this data combined with external data in their CRM software, such as lists of prospects, B2B contact databases, etc. These solutions help salespeople increase productivity, establish meaningful connections, and enrich prospect or customer data, among other key benefits.
Website chatbots are software tools that automate conversations on websites to assist visitors instantly.
They answer common questions, guide users, collect leads, book appointments, and provide support 24/7.
They use predefined scripts or AI to understand visitor inputs and respond with helpful messages in real time.
Yes, most website chatbots use simple drag-and-drop builders and require no coding for quick setup.
Many offer free plans with basic features, but advanced options usually require paid subscriptions.
Prices typically range from $10 to $50 per month, depending on features and number of users.
Common types include rule-based, AI-powered, sales, support, and lead generation chatbots.
Yes, many chatbots can capture emails and integrate with email marketing tools for follow-ups.
Popular tools are Drift, Intercom, ManyChat, Tidio, and HubSpot Chatbot for varied business needs.
They often integrate with CRM, email marketing, helpdesk, payment gateways, and analytics platforms.