Chatbot Development Tools
For a business to be profitable, it is necessary to maintain online 24/7 communication with clients, answer questions about products, direct visitors to the necessary pages, provide advice, help solve technical problems, and place orders. This work has long been performed not by support service representatives, but by virtual assistants. Chatbots are beneficial for companies that do not need to hire a whole staff of employees, and are convenient for clients when they can get a qualified answer immediately.
To develop a chatbot for a website, messenger, or mobile application, you need to understand programming and use artificial intelligence tools. But recently, more and more frameworks have appeared that can be used to create bots without in-depth knowledge of IT technologies. We will tell you in the article which tools are best suited for developing chatbots.
Do they exist
To date, no tool has been developed that would be universal and could create a bot that would suit every business in all respects. However, there are many AI platforms for creating chatbots from scratch. Some programs work on the constructor principle. They provide template options that the bot will consist of. Such programs can be used without knowledge of the basics of programming. You only need to select the design and set of functions in the dialog box. Platforms designed for IT specialists provide more opportunities for large-scale projects and customization.
Best
To choose a framework for your project, you need to study popular platforms, learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each of them.
We offer a list of the best online services for creating chatbots:
- Chatfuel
This is the official WhatsApp API provider that creates bots with built-in ChatGPT. It works especially well in online stores - it recommends products based on previous customer requests, reminds about items forgotten in the basket, completes transactions. The platform has free access to limited functionality for testing.
- Dialogflow
A Google tool for developing smart bots with artificial intelligence to handle user requests. Suitable for complex scenarios and tasks that require analytics. A simple drag-and-drop interface and built-in features are convenient for beginners. It should be noted that the framework works great in Google, but integration with other platforms may be limited. The trial period for new users is free.
- Rasa
An open-source framework provides full control in creating and customizing a chatbot with natural language understanding. For beginners, the tool will seem complicated, but it is recommended for use by specialists. Virtual assistants created in Rasa work on FB messenger, Microsoft bot, slack and other platforms.
- Tars
The tool helps in creating voice assistants with the ability to select a language and accent. Talking bots are able to conduct a dialogue in the chat and not distract users from viewing content. Voice assistants are used for feedback, invitations to events, cold calls, support services. The program is easy to use without deep knowledge of IT technologies. The trial period is available for free.
- Microsoft Bot Framework
The service is suitable if the project is in the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. The framework supports several programming languages, is focused on scalability, ensures maximum stability of chatbots, is used to work with large user bases and integrates with corporate systems. Without programming skills, it will not be easy to understand the work of the designer.
What is important to know
Before choosing a framework, decide what problems the bot should solve. This could be automation of work, customer support, order processing, etc. If you do not know how to write code, choose constructors with a simple interface. But for complex scenarios, you will need a professional tool with advanced features.
Make sure that the selected service supports work with Telegram, WhatsApp or other messengers that businesses use to communicate with customers. Study the terms of use of the platform, free features, and a paid package.
Results
Online tools for chatbots are available even to those users who are not familiar with the basics of programming. With their help, you can create virtual assistants from scratch that will interact with customers in messengers, online stores, and mobile applications. But to develop and configure the most user-friendly chatbot that will help develop your business and increase customer loyalty, you will need professional knowledge in programming.
