Chatbots: A Brief Overview
A chatbot is a software application designed to simulate conversations with humans. Chatbots are often used on business websites to address Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), advice on services based on user requirements, provide technical support, guide through the purchase processes, and more. By providing instant responses around the clock, chatbots help businesses stay connected with their customers, enhance customer engagement, boost customer satisfaction rates, and even generate leads.
Types of Chatbots
There are 2 main types of chatbots: simple and smart.
Simple (or scripted) chatbot: software that runs a conversation with the end-user via a predefined scenario. Scripted chatbot is the most primitive type of technology that includes programmed responses to a certain set of questions. A rule-based chatbot is limited in its functionality when it comes to interactions with customers and is only efficient when it comes to simple, straightforward queries that require direct answers. However, its limitations don’t reduce the level of utility in specific contexts. Simple chatbots are useful for handling common inquiries that don't require a deep understanding of complex problem-solving, including but not limited to basic customer service questions, appointment scheduling, or providing business hours.
Smart (or AI) chatbot: a tool that relies on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning software for interactions with the end users. Thanks to AI, the chatbot understands certain keywords and phrases & conducts human-like conversations, as well as continuously learns from the user’s input. Unlike simple chatbots that rely on scripted scenarios, smart chatbots process human language and engage in a more complex way: answer any sort of questions based on the keywords in the user’s query, provide personalized digital experiences, and offer tech support. AI chatbots are not limited to answering visitors' questions but are widely used for lead generation, analysis of customer behavior, sales, and more.
Some hybrid models combine the features of both.
How an AI Chatbot Can Benefit Your Businesses?
Artificial Intelligence chatbots can perform many tasks on the website to ensure efficient customer engagement and provide smooth interaction with the end users. Here, the Drupfan team highlights the top benefits a chatbot can bring to your digital platform.
- Improved customer service. Rapid assistance and issue addressing are a guarantee of the overall improvement of customer service.
- Personalized digital experiences. By asking related questions and analyzing answers, an AI chatbot can offer a more personalized digital experience for the user by offering specific products or services and creating a feeling of love and care.
- More interactivity on the website. Interactivity on the website is a proven way to increase user engagement and boost user experience.
- Improved lead generation. Chatbots can start collecting leads by asking users for their information when initiating the chat. In addition, chatbots can analyze what type of service or product the user is looking for by asking related questions.
- Automation of routine processes. Such routine processes as FAQ replies or booking can be automated with the help of a chatbot.
- 24/7 customer support. Don’t make your customers wait for hours for an answer to their query. Chatbot is a guarantee that a user gets customer support around the clock and gets all the necessary support immediately.
- Increase in sales. By showing off products and services, as well as offering special offers or discounts, a chatbot can turn a first-time visitor into a buyer.
- Decrease of bounce rates. Bounce rate is a percentage of sessions on your website during which the user views only a single page and then exits. Chatbots keep users engaged, keeping them away from leaving a website too soon, as well as improving overall SEO ratings.
Chatbots in Drupal 10
Let´s review the most effective solutions for the integration of AI-powered chatbots with Drupal 10.
Quickchat
Quickchat is a fully conversational and multilingual AI assistant powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3. This bot can recognize and speak your native language out of the box. The Quickchat module is a perfect solution to automate customer support services, search functionality, online applications, and many other routine tasks. With the help of the Quickchat Chatbot submodule, you can display a chatbot on your Drupal site via a new block type. In addition, the submodule Quickchat Sync allows to train the model and manage its knowledge base.
Check out our recent article to learn more about CharGPT integrations with Drupal 10.
Bothive chatbot
The Bothive chatbot module embeds the Bothive widget into your Drupal website, as well as allows further configurations. To use Bothive chatbot, you need to receive a valid API key and have your platform whitelisted as an allowed domain. The chatbot can be set in a hidden state, so you can further decide when it’s displayed or not with JavaScript.
Build a Powerful Chatbot for Your Website with Drupfan!
The impact of AI chatbots on the growth of customer engagement cannot be overestimated. Building a chatbot on your business website can significantly enhance customer engagement, improve customer service, and guarantee operational efficiency. The Drupal community is constantly committed to the development of AI integrations for Drupal sites, ensuring that solutions like AI chatbots remain innovative and effective.
For expert assistance in integrating AI or scripted chatbots into your digital strategy, consider partnering with a dedicated team, such as the offshore software engineers at Drupfan digital agency. We are experienced in sophisticated technologies and are ready to offer tailor-made chatbot solutions for any CMSs and frameworks to meet the needs and requirements of your business!
