The Best AI Chatbot Platform: 20 Chatbot Examples For Your Business

The emphasis on the customer journey is only increasing. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2023, 70% of business leaders plan to revamp their customer journey to increase customer satisfaction. If you’re part of that 70%, you’ve likely explored a number of options to eliminate frustration points or streamline processes.

One of the best ways to improve the customer experience is to improve the customer service experience. How can you accomplish that? With customer service AI.

Understanding how automated customer service solutions like AI chatbot platforms can help improve the customer service experience will help you evaluate the best chatbots currently on the market—so you can pick the one best for your business and, more importantly, your customers.

Before we discuss specific AI platforms, let’s review what an AI chatbot platform actually is.

What is an AI chatbot?

To answer the question ‘What is a chat bot?’, let’s look at IBM’s definition. According to IBM, an AI chatbot is “a computer program that simulates human conversation with an end user.” Depending on the chatbot, it may be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) that uses natural language processing (NLP) to understand user questions and generate automated responses to them.

AI chatbots work by analyzing vast datasets of text. This analysis enables them to understand and appropriately respond to questions entered by users. For example, if a user enters a question, the chatbot uses NLP to interpret the meaning, content, and overall intent of the message. It then retrieves or generates a suitable response based on its training and the specific context of the conversation. One of the biggest advantages of AI chatbots is they’re constantly learning—they’re always improving their performance and responses by analyzing datasets and user feedback.

Benefits of Using an AI Chatbot

With how quickly customer preferences are changing today, it can be difficult to create a customer experience that caters to every one of their needs. Luckily, AI chatbots can help. Along with helping you more quickly adjust to changing customer trends, AI chatbots bring several benefits, including:

Providing Fast, 24/7 Customer Service

AI chatbots are always on and can respond to customer inquiries instantly—without having to involve human staff or support agencies.

Offering More Personalized Experiences

Since AI chatbots have access to user data and previous interactions, they can tailor their responses to be more personal to the user.

Providing Consistent Support

Chatbots provide uniform responses that are based on pre-set guidelines and information. This feature reduces the variability and errors that come with using human agents.

Delivering Omnichannel Support

Using chatbots across your channels ensures your customers have access to support no matter what platform they’re using.

Collecting Customer Feedback

Chatbots can gather and analyze customer feedback from users both during and after their interactions. Not only does this help chatbots improve their responses, but it also helps you know where products and services may need to be improved.

Answering FAQs

Rather than involving your support agents for FAQs, chatbots can handle them, giving customers fast, accurate answers so your agents can focus on more complex customer needs.

The 20 Most Successful AI Chatbot Platforms Ahead of 2024

Now that you understand the benefits of using chatbots, let’s take a look at the best AI chatbot apps for automated customer service. We’ll review the features of each one and how they’ll set you up for success in 2024.

Podium

Podium is a highly versatile platform that enables you to generate and convert leads easily and effectively. The platform can automatically generate replies to customer queries through SMS text, website chat, social media, and more. By providing customers with instant responses and seamless communication, you significantly improve their overall experience.

LiveHelpNow

LiveHelpNow is best for businesses with multiple channels. The platform offers a number of customer support tools that integrate across multiple channels so customers receive consistent and efficient service whenever and wherever they reach out.

Zoho Desk

For businesses looking for a tool that learns fast from gathered data, Zoho Desk is perfect. The platform leverages AI to quickly adapt and provides accurate responses based on a huge knowledge base. This helps to improve response times and the quality of customer support.

Zoho SalesIQ

Similar to Zoho Desk, Zoho SalesIQ provides highly customizable chat solutions that allow businesses to tailor interactions to specific customer needs. It’s also well known for its varied customization options.

Freshchat

Best for multi-channel customer engagement, Freshchat supports engagement across multiple channels, including web, mobile, and social media. With Freshchat, businesses can create a more unified, responsive presence wherever their customers are.

Conversica

For businesses looking to create more continuity in their customer journey, Converisca is a great choice. The platform’s AI assistants follow up with customers throughout their journey—from lead generation to post-sale support.

Chatfuel

Chatfuel is a user-friendly platform where organizations can build custom chatbots on Facebook Messenger. This allows businesses to automate customer interactions and provide faster responses to customer questions which frees up human resources.

Pandorabots

Pandorabots offers organizations a robust platform for creating and deploying chatbots across various channels. The platform also supports complex conversational designs that enhance customer interactions.

Dialogflow

Dialogflow provides powerful tools for businesses to build conversational interfaces on apps, devices, and websites. It also helps businesses deliver intelligent and natural interactions with customers.

MobileMonkey

To help businesses engage customers through automated, yet personalized messaging, MobileMonkey is perfect. The platform helps businesses engage customers via Facebook Messenger, web chat, and SMS chatbots.

LivePerson

The AI-driven platform enables businesses to manage and automate customer interactions across digital channels. LivePerson helps to improve customer experience by offering customers with real-time, human-like conversations.

Manychat

Manychat is a highly popular platform for building chatbots on Facebook Messenger. The platform enhances the customer experience by automating responses and providing more engaging, interactive communication.

Flow XO

Flow XO is a flexible chatbot platform that supports multiple channels, including web, mobile, and social media. The platform helps businesses automate tasks and engage customers more effectively.

Tidio

Tidio combines live chat, chatbots, and email integration in a single platform. With Tildo, businesses can improve and automate customer service by offering instant, personalized responses and seamless communication.

Wit.AI, Inc

Part of Facebook, Wit.AI, Inc. provides businesses with tools for building natural language interfaces for apps and devices. With the platform, organizations can provide customers with more intuitive, interactive communication.

Intercom

Intercom offers organizations a robust messaging platform that includes chatbots, live chat, and customer engagement tools. It helps businesses provide customers with personalized support and proactive communication, which improves customer satisfaction.

Drift

Drift specializes in conversational marketing and sales, using chatbots to qualify leads, book meetings, and engage website visitors in real-time. With a faster sales process and immediate assistance, customer satisfaction goes up.

HubSpot Chatbot Builder

Part of HubSpot’s CRM suite, HubSpot Chatbot Builder allows businesses to create chatbots for lead generation, customer support, and more. It integrates easily with other HubSpot tools, improving overall customer relationship management.

Botpress

An open-source chatbot platform, Botpress is designed for developers to build advanced conversational interfaces. It helps businesses deliver robust, highly customizable chat experiences which enhances user engagement.

IBM Watson Assistant

IBM Watson Assistant leverages advanced AI to create chatbots that understand natural language and provide accurate, context-aware responses. This helps businesses improve customer support and automate routine interactions more efficiently.

How to Choose an AI Chatbot Platform

With all the chatbot examples listed above, it can be tricky to know which one is best for your business. The best way to get started? Take a close look at your organization’s specific needs, current resources, and long-term goals. This will help you determine what the primary use of your chatbot will be. For example, if you’re going to use it primarily for customer service, lead generation, sales, or internal operations, you’ll need to choose a chatbot designed for that purpose. This step helps you narrow down your focus.

Once you have the business purpose in mind, take a look at the customization and integration required to integrate the chatbot. If you have a lot of preexisting applications or tools, you’ll want to choose platforms like Zoho SalesIQ, Botpress, or Podium, as they all have extensive customization options. This feature will allow you to tailor the chatbot’s behavior and responses to fit your brand and operational needs. Be sure to look at integration capabilities as well. The best AI chatbot apps should integrate seamlessly with your existing tools, utilize your current datasets, and provide you with a more personalized user experience.

Next, look at the ease of use and scalability of each platform. Keep in mind the setup and user interface, as both factors can reduce the time and effort needed to deploy and manage the chatbot. You’ll also want to make sure the chatbot can scale with your organization as you grow. It should be able to handle an increasing volume of customer interactions and add new features as your company grows.

Arguably the most important factor to consider is the platform’s AI and NLP capabilities. Advanced AI and NLP features allow the chatbot to better understand and respond to a wide range of queries faster and more accurately. This results in a more natural, effective interaction for your customers as well.

Finally, keep the cost and support services of each platform in mind. Carefully look at the pricing structure or models of each solution and ensure it aligns with your budget. It’s also important to look at the quality of the customer support and training options provided by the vendor. Vendors who provide more reliable customer support and training show that the vendor will respond to and resolve issues quickly—minimizing downtime while maintaining smooth operations.

Future Trends and Innovations in AI Chatbot Platforms

As the use of AI chatbot platforms continues, the innovations around these tools will as well. Here’s a look at some of the future trends and innovations in AI platforms:

Chatbots Will Be More Human-Like

As advancements in NLP continue, chatbots will be better able to understand and generate human-like responses. Chatbots will be able to understand context, recognize nuances in languages, and carry on conversations that feel more natural and engaging.

Deep Customer Insights to Drive Chatbot Behavior

The integration of AI with big data analytics allows them to gather and analyze huge amounts of customer data in real-time. This will allow chatbots to provide more personalized experiences by tailoring their responses based on individual customer preferences, behavior patterns, and past interactions.

Use of AI in Contact Centers

The use of AI in contact centers is already pretty common—and the trend is likely to continue. Chatbots are able to automate several processes in contact centers, including responding to routine questions and assisting human agents with common tasks. It’s also predicted that chatbots will be able to predict customer needs and route customers to the right agent automatically.

Voice Bots will be Mainstream

Voice bots are also becoming more popular, and as innovation around the technology continues, it’s likely they’ll be integrated into various business devices and applications—from smart home assistants to customer service lines.

Customer Experience (CX) will Drive Chatbot Adoption

Chatbots are already providing instant, round-the-clock support, personalized recommendations, and seamless interactions across channels. They’re already improving the customer journey and more businesses are leaning into using chatbots to improve the customer experience.

Bring Automation to Your Business with Podium

As you’re looking to improve the customer experience, utilizing chatbots—whether free AI chatbots or paid—is a great option. From providing instant answers to customer questions to uncovering valuable insights from your customer data, these tools can help you create a customer journey that helps you stand out from the rest.

The best place to get started? Podium. What makes Podium stand out is our versatile messaging capabilities that integrate across your business channels, including text, web chat, and social media channels. Our AI Employee offers instant responses and ensures smooth communication with both potential and current customers, helping to improve your customer experience.

Ready to see Podium’s AI Employee in action? Watch a demo today.