The 7+ Best AI Chatbots to help your Business Grow in 2024

 “Every company’s greatest assets are its customers, because without customers there is no company.” – Michael LeBoeuf 

It’s a maxim we all know and have heard all sorts of variation on. However consider this: Every company’s greatest assets are its employees, because without great employees, there would be no customers. 

We all want to make great hires. So just as you would set the highest standards for an employee, the same standards should be considered when deploying a chatbot in your company. They have the potential to truly impact your business and provide exceptional customer experience. 

However, just like human employees – not all chatbots are equal.

 If they are to join your digital team, then they should also go through the process of being interviewed just like any other potential new employee would before they begin work at their desk on day one!

That’s why in this article, I’ll take you through what a Conversational AI Chatbot is, why it’s important, the questions you need to be asking yourself, and the 7+ best chatbot for your business needs in 2022.

What are Conversational AI Chatbots?

Conversational AI is a subset of artificial intelligence that focuses on using machine learning technologies to have intelligent conversations with humans. 

They’re essentially digital agents – virtual assistants, or bots for short – who are programmed with personalized dialogue to provide a more natural conversation experience than other chatbots may offer.

A conversational AI powered chatbot is trained with machine learning algorithms akin to those used in human language processing. 

These algorithms are Natural Language Process (NLP) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) that process input data and draws meaning from interactions they have with users.

Why Do I Need a Chatbot? 

As advancements in artificial intelligence continue to increase, so will the demand for the best chatbot services. 

Chatbots have been around for decades, but only recently have conversational artificial intelligence (CAI) powered chatbots emerged as the gold standard. 

What makes these AI Chatbots stand out against regular chatbots? Conversational AI chatbots can be much more complex and nuanced than simple yes/no answers or structured conversation flows. 

Not only can Conversational AI chatbots answer and understand your customer intents with much greater accuracy, but they have the ability to improve over time and provide greater and better customer experiences.

These AI chatbots are also much better at handling complex tasks such as identifying types of customers based on how the chatbot interacts with them over time, so if you were in the market to find the best AI chatbots to suit your business best,  then these will definitely give you plenty of options from which to choose.

• More on how Conversational AI is disrupting the future of CX

How Do I Implement and choose The Right AI Chatbot For My Business?

Of course, the best chatbots are those that can help your business grow, but more importantly, they should be aligned with your business, goals, and value proposition. 

Consider the following questions before you decide on a chatbot:

1. Why do you want a chatbot? Don’t deploy one for the sake of it – really understand the benefits and use you can get out of it.
2. How do you define success? Is the chatbot solving a problem or improving an area or process?
3. What is your budget? Do you only have the budget for a free, limited use-case DIY chatbot, or a higher-end custom chatbot with smarts and content optimized by dedicated Subject Matter Experts (SME)?
4. Who will be in charge of the chatbot? A hands-on technical team or non-technical content managers?
5. Who and How many users will the chatbot interact with? Some chatbots may be limited in the number of interactions unless you upgrade the plan
6. What Features are non-negotiables? Depending on the industry and use-case, there are certain smarts that may be necessary. As an example, a mental health chatbot may need sentiment analysis for a more accurate understanding of emotions and feelings. 

What are the Best Chatbots?

The best chatbots are: 

1. Ada
2. Mesh Ai
3. Tars
4. Collect.Chat
5. SurveySparrow
6. Azure Bot (Microsoft)
7. Quriobot
8. Mobile Monkey

1. Ada

Ada is an AI chatbot that provides personalized experiences at scale. It can be used as a standalone solution or in conjunction with a live chat. The no-code platform makes it easy and quick to deploy and manage while providing insights into how customers are engaging with your brand.

With Ada, you’ll get more out of every interaction – whether it’s through email, social media, or messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Ada could be the best chatbot for your business because it:

• Has a drag and drop interface, making build and deployment fast. No code needed.
• Uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to determine and understand the context of a question.
• Is good for all types of queries related to sales, marketing, finance, and HR support
• Has Industry Leading Accuracy and predictability – outperforming the competition by 14% on average.

Price: As each business is so unique and individual, Ada doesn’t provide prices upfront. You can get in touch with a sales team and request a demo to find out more.

2. Mesh AI

Mesh AI is a Global Microsoft partner providing enterprise-ready Conversation AI and Business Messaging platform to businesses who are serious about delivering intelligent customer engagement and amplifying the quality of leads with chatbots across Facebook Messenger, Web Assistant, Email, and more.

With a focus on the automotive and retail industry – Mesh AI provides the best class delivery services for a custom AI chatbot that is designed and tailored directly to your business needs.

Mesh AI chatbot is best suited for businesses:

• Who want a fully catered and custom-designed chatbot delivered by SMEs that work with you.
• Who require a platform that allows for contextual, consistent, and continuous customer conversations across digital platforms.
• Want a low-code intuitive backend design to create the chatbot.
• Who want exceptional customer support and sophisticated machine learning technologies backing the chatbot used to understand your customers.
• Who require the smarts such as API integrations done for them.

Price: Mesh doesn’t offer upfront pricing. You can get in touch for a talk or free demo today.

3. Tars

As one of the leaders in the Chatbot Platform Category, Tars allows businesses to create conversational landing pages in a chatbot format, making it one of the best chatbots to look out for in 2021.

From funnel optimization to automating customer service interactions, Tars will redefine the way your business handles customer experience.

Tars is a good fit for your business because:

• The company takes a hands-on approach to customer chatbot deployments, so you know you’re in good hands.
• They have over 950+ Chatbot Templates across 18 industries to choose from.
• They’re built with conversions in mind.
• Simple and easy-to-use chatbot builder with a drag and drop interface. 

Price: Their plans start from $499 (Business) to $899 (Premium). You can get in touch with the team at Tars for Enterprise/Custom plans if you need access to the entire Tars Platform.

4. Collect.Chat

Collect.chat is an intuitive new web chatbot for businesses who are looking to learn more about their website visitors. 

It’s interactive, easy to use, and comes with a predefined set of questions that cover any area you might want to gather feedback on – from understanding your customer’s experience, or collecting leads or booking meetings.

Collect Chat has been built as an automation tool for beginners – anyone can use it regardless of coding knowledge, making sure conversations are fluid and engaging while saving you time when processing user responses. 

The chatbot at Collect.chat is a good fit for your business because it:

• Connects with hundreds of apps in your workflow such as Salesforce, MailChimp and Slack with no code.
• Provides a dashboard for analytics of customer responses.
• Simple and intuitive interface that’s drag and drop.
• Provides best practices for each question you want to ask, making the process easier all around.

Price: Prices start at $0 to a Lite plan ($24). They also have a standard plan at $49 and Plus plan at ($99).

5. SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow is one of those chatbot platforms best suited for those looking to conduct market research, polls, or surveys in 2021.

Of course, this is a chatbot catered to create conversational surveys, and cannot be scaled across different use cases. Those looking for a general or customized chatbot for other purposes should consider other options in the list.

SurveySparrow is great for businesses that:

• Want a chatbot that adapts to various ecosystems such as Slack, Freshdesk, WordPress etc.
• Want a no-code, visual workflow interface.
• Require Enterprise-grade security.
• Want to reach more with omnichannel engagements.
• Require reports to uncover insights on surveys.

Price: SurveySparrow offers a 14 Day Free Trial and plans start at $99 per month for businesses.

6. Azure Bot (Microsoft Bot Framework)

Microsoft’s Azure Bot is for those looking to build a chatbot using an open-source framework.  As it is open-source, it does require coding knowledge and familiarity with AI Chatbots such as NodeJS.

Azure Bot has been built to provide fast, scalable messaging solutions with advanced features such as sentiment analysis, spell checker via Microsoft’s cloud AI services – making this one of the best chatbots in 2021.  

Azure Bot is best for those looking to:

• Build a chatbot from scratch.
• Require a free, flexible, and accessible framework that is also one of the best for enterprises.
• Become proficient in AI Chatbots and NodeJS, making it the best-suited bot for developers or techies.
• Familiarize themselves with an open-source framework that’s constantly being upgraded on Microsoft Azure Cloud.

Price: Free Trial available, and price depends on the use.

7. Quriobot

Quriobot is a chatbot best for those in the market looking to engage with customers and sales leads, providing a personal touch to your customer’s needs.

It has been built as an engagement platform which provides personalized chatbots tailored according to different industries such as HR or IT industry. It supports multiple languages including English, Spanish, French and more. The best thing about Quriobot is that it allows you create conversations without any code via their visual builder!

Quriobot is best suited for businesses who:

• Require engaging conversational interfaces on all platforms – web-based applications, SMS/texts messages etc.
• Need real-time analytics of user behavior in the conversation at hand so they can better tailor future interactions for optimal conversions
• Want a free plan, making it a good option for small companies on a tight budget.
• Want an easy, no-code interface.

Price: Quriobot has a generous free plan that allows you up to 500 chats per month. If you want more chats per month, or if you want to remove the Quriobot branding, Business plans start from $11/month.

8. Mobile Monkey

MobileMonkey is the World’s Leading OmniChat platform letting businesses connect with customers in real-time via Web Chat, SMS, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. MobileMonkey has over a million users worldwide.

Key Features include a Multi-platform chatbot builder allowing businesses to reuse chat marketing content across any chat platform, and a Unified Chat Inbox that lets you manage all of your inbound and outbound messaging conversations in a single place. 

MobileMokey also has automation tools for scaling you communications efforts. This is one of the best AI chatbots in the market in 2021.

Mobile Monkey is right for your business if:

• You’re looking for a zero-budget app that is still a powerful tool to use across Facebook messenger and websites.
• You want to increase lead generation on your Social Pages and Website.
• You’re looking for great customer support and a supportive Facebook group community.

Price: Mobile Monkey is free for unlimited contacts but limited features. The Premier Plan is $149/month and includes an agency dashboard, unlimited Facebook pages, and live bots.

 They also offer a $49/month plan, which provides most of the services of the Premier Plan minus the premier support.

To Wrap Up

With the confluence of technology and innovation rapidly disrupting many industries within our society, conversational AI is paving path as the frontier of your customer service. 

Your chatbot employee may possibly be one of the best and most important hires you’ll ever make for your business. That’s why taking some time to focus on the vetting process and requirements are so critical.

The best AI chatbot for your business will ultimately depend on your needs. The top contenders in the field for different use cases are:

1. Ada
2. Mesh AI
3. Tars
4. Collect.Chat
5. SurveySparrow
6. AzureBot
7. Quriobot
8. MobileMonkey

And while the chatbot platform and product itself is important, it is also especially important to consider the humans driving the chatbot. 

Just as a business is only as good as its employees, a chatbot is only as good as its human creator. It’s why those with a hobby for conversation design and solution architecture can become such a lucrative career.

How will you be interviewing your future AI chatbot employee today?

Good Luck!

Jessica La