A bot -short for robot- is a software application used to automate certain tasks or simulate human activity.
By now we’re very familiar with automated messages from virtual support agents. You send a question via email, WhatsApp, Instagram, or even on the live chat of a website, and you receive a predefined reply.
That’s a chatbot doing its work.
How?
With the beauty of natural language processing algorithms.
Sometimes chatbots can be annoying, sure, especially if the automated attendant isn’t prepared for your problem and keeps repeating the same thing over and over.
But, we have to admit, when used correctly, they have tons of benefits.
We’re going to take a look at the best chatbot plugins for your WordPress site.
Before we jump into the reviews, let’s talk about the benefits of using chatbots.
What are the benefits of chatbots?
- Better customer service. Chatbots can answer most of the common questions of your customers.
- Faster replies. Chatbots send automated messages in milliseconds.
- Multiple integrations. They help you provide customer service on several messaging platforms simultaneously.
- Great return of investment. Deploying a bot will always be cheaper than hiring a whole call center.
Moreover, even if the chatbot can’t solve the problem, chatbot plugins can redirect your visitor to a human that will. And you’d still be hiring fewer workers than with no chatbot at all.
Of course, if we dive a bit into philosophy’s territory, we might find some questions to ask ourselves about the consequences of chatbots. But that’s a topic for another day.
Like most tools that involve creating nowadays, all the plugins in the list have a drag-and-drop builder. So if the word “chatbot” makes you scared, don’t worry!
You don’t need any coding skills to start delivering the best support to your visitors.
Let’s get started with the list of the best chatbot plugins.
1. ChatBot
Yes, believe it or not, this chatbot plugin is called ChatBot. Simple, straight to the point.
Unlike other options on this list, ChatBot is so advanced it offers a ChatBot Academy to master your creating skills, which, of course, can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.
What is indisputable is ChatBot’s clear focus on education, which I think it’s pretty cool. They have a whole 2022 ChatBot Guide and solutions for education besides marketing and customer support.
Features
- Testing tool: make sure your chatbot works as intended.
- Receive an email after each successful sale.
- Import new leads to your CRM or email marketing software.
- Integrates with Facebook, Slack, and others!
Pros
- Solutions for different areas, including education.
- An unlimited number of conversation scenarios.
- Data security in all plans.
Cons
- Requires some training before you know how to configure the chatbot.
- If you want advanced features, it’s quite expensive.
Pricing
- Starter: $42 per month if billed annually. Includes basic reporting.
- Team: $126 per month. You can try it for free for 14 days. No credit card is required. It comes with team collaboration features and advanced reporting.
- Business: $424 per month. Here you’ll receive a security assistant.
- Enterprise: custom. Chatbot maintenance.
2. IBM Watson
The International Business Machines Corporation offers an intelligent virtual assistant called Watson. The perfect chatbot plugin to solve your problems. Sherlock. Sorry, bad joke.
IBM updated Watson some months ago, so if you sign up now you can experience the new assistant and its intuitive interface.
Watson has rich messages with clickable responses and multimedia, plus language recognition capabilities. It provides efficient and tailored interactions, including rich media.
And if your customers need to talk to a human, Watson will connect them to an operator.
Features
- Auto learning.
- Multiple language support in paid tiers: currently it supports 13 languages.
- Neural voice synthesis in phone and voice features.
- Data isolation add-on.
Pros
- Rich customization.
- It can have casual conversations with visitors.
- Choose where you want visitors to see the chatbot.
Cons
- It requires some initial training.
Pricing
- Lite: free. Includes webchat and custom channel API.
- Plus: starting at $140 per month. You can try it at no cost for 30 days. Includes 10 assistants.
- Enterprise: custom. Includes 30 assistants.
3. Olark
Another great chatbot solution is Olark. You can install Olark on your website by adding it to your HTML or simply installing its WordPress plugin.
Olark isn’t actually a chatbot software like the rest of the options in this list, though. It’s mainly a live-chat solution.
However, it does include some automation features that make it possible to use it as a chatbot.
Features
- Receive desktop notifications for new chat messages.
- Troll block: hide the chat from specified ID addresses.
- Automatically translates messages in more than 100 languages.
- Integrates with Slack, MailChimp, BigCommerce, and others.
Pros
- Simple and easy to use.
- Affordable.
Cons
- Chat support is only available during business hours.
- It doesn’t have that many automation tools.
Pricing
All Olark accounts start with a 14-day free trial. Their plans are quite flexible. You can fully customize their features.
Moreover, you’ll pay $29 per month per seat, regardless of your plan size.
- Free: includes limited features, one agent, and up to 20 chats per month.
- Standard: data security, advanced reports, and unlimited chat history.
- Olark Pro: get priority support, training, and a custom-built chatbot.
4. Drift
Drift is a company that specializes in connecting businesses with buyers via any way of communication: chat, video, voice, email… you name it.
They provide a large suite of products beyond chatbots: with your plan, you’ll get advanced reports and information-rich visitor attributes, among other things.
Unlike plugins like Watson, Drift isn’t ideal for small businesses or teams looking for a basic support tool.
Features
- Data encryption.
- Role-based access control.
- A/B testing.
- Multiple languages.
- Integration with Marketo, Salesforce, and other marketing solutions.
Pros
- Pre-qualified visitors and scheduled meetings with sales.
- It Engages your target visitors with the perfect message.
Cons
- Due to its complexity, it takes a while to learn how to use it.
- Expensive.
Pricing
- Free: includes live chat, a mobile and desktop app, and the welcome message feature.
- Startup program: you need to apply for it and see if you qualify. It costs around $500 per month for 10 seats.
- Premium: starts at $600 per month for 10 seats. You’ll get custom chatbots and data encryption.
- Enterprise: custom. Includes workspaces and chatbots in multiple languages.
5. Collect.chat
Collect.chat makes this list because of its appointment feature. Ideal for service businesses, it provides customers with a calendar where they can book an appointment with you. The details will be automatically recorded in your Google Calendar.
And don’t worry about location: Collect.chat auto-detects timezone and adjusts it to your free slots.
With Collect.chat, you can use templates and cool GIFs to engage your visitors.
Moreover, the plugin is straightforward to install and beginner-friendly.
Features
- Unlimited bots.
- Appointment booking.
- Instant notification when a visitor completes the chat.
- Integrates with Zapier, HubSpot, MailChimp, and more!
- Supports multiple languages.
Pros
- Unlimited bots in all plans.
- Great variety of templates.
- Doesn’t require a credit card to start using it.
Cons
- Collaboration tools are only available in the top tiers.
- Limited responses per month.
Pricing
- Free. Have up to 50 conversations each month.
- Lite: $24 per month if billed monthly. Includes Webhook integration.
- Standard: $49 per month. Removes Collect.chat branding.
- Plus: $99 per month. Invite people to your workplace for team collaboration.
- Unlimited plan: $299 per month. Get an unlimited number of responses and priority support.
6. Woow Bot
If you’re a WooCommerce user, you’d probably love Woow Bot. It is a simple chatbot with zero configuration required, so you can start using it right away.
One cool thing Woow Bot does is track cursor movement in real-time. That way, thanks to its exit-intent technology, you can offer a coupon code to the customer just before they leave your website.
Similarly, if you prefer to do so, you can set offers in the welcome message. Woow Bot gives you tons of options to increase customer engagement and satisfaction!
Features
- Reduce cart abandonment with a custom message about their leftover cart.
- Schedule the chatbot to run only when you’re not available.
- Advanced language center and support.
- Voice message addon.
- Unique mini mode template.
Pros
- It is integrated with Google Artificial Intelligence.
- Reduces cart abandonment rates.
Cons
- The free plan is quite limited.
Pricing
- Free. It comes with only one template and WooCommerce standard search feature.
- Pro: $29 per month if billed annually. As with their other products, WooCommerce offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. You get onsite retargeting, exit intent, and all their premium features.
7. Tidio
Tidio claims that 3 million businesses generated $400 million in sales after they started using their chatbots. That’s something worth considering.
And, of course, Tidio has powerful features that make it one of the best chatbot plugins you can find.
Among some of its premium features, you’ll find live typing. This allows you to see what your visitors are typing even before they send their message.
It can be controversial for the client-end, but it’ll save you time as you already start thinking about what to say.
Features
- Ban abusive customers from writing to you.
- Visitor Leave Survey Form, cart saver, and personalized discounts.
- More than 20 templates. If you don’t like any, you can easily build your own chatbot flow.
- Integrates with MailChimp, Shopify, Wix, and more!
- Multilingual.
Pros
- It is 10 ways to boost your sales.
- Mobile app for Android and iOS that notifies you about conversations.
- Powerful and flexible plans.
Cons
- Not super privacy-friendly.
- It has problems with the Permissions settings for the operators.
Pricing
Tidio offers a 7-day free trial, no credit card required, and the following plans:
- Free. Add up to 3 agents for free and chat with 100 unique visitors per month.
- Chatbots: $39 per month. Unlimited active chatbots.
- Communicator. This plan is billed per operator. So if you work alone, it costs $15 per month, but if you work as a team of 3, it’s $45 per month. Track your visitors and get a real-time overview of all the people on your website.
8. Cliengo
Finally,, Cliengo. This chatbot plugin was developed by an Argentinian startup and received multiple awards like the 2019 Fall Easiest Setup and the Most Innovative Company in Latin America.
Cliengo helps you automate conversations not only on your website but also on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
You’ll be saving time and improving your followers’ experience easily.
Features
- Lead generation and CRM tools.
- Chat with unlimited clients.
- Integration with MailChimp, Google Analytics, Webhooks, and more.
- API in all plans.
- Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Pros
- Fully customizable.
- Flexible plans.
Cons
- You need to have some coding skills to customize certain features.
Pricing
- Free.
- Starter: $24 per month. One chatbot and up to 3 users.
- Premium: $90 per month. Includes 2 chatbots and live chat.
- Corporate: $300 per month. Unlimited chatbots and users.
Fun fact for language geeks
For businesses working with non-English speaking customers, you might have to pay more attention when training your chatbot.
For example, Watson points out that users might avoid using accents, which is a problem for some languages like Spanish.
Accent can alter meaning!
So, if your chatbot enables it, you can turn on fuzzy matching.
Similarly, ChatBot notices that languages like Polish, Hindi, and Spanish are more difficult for a chatbot to master because of their complex structures. 10 points to native speakers.
Conclusion
The world of chatbots is immensely interesting.
However, it’s not hard to understand it. The plugins that we listed in this post make sure anyone can easily access its technology and use it for their business.
Each tool is unique and will help you solve different problems. Maybe you’re looking to boost customer engagement.
In that case, Tidio, Cliengo, and Woow Bot are excellent choices.
If you want a free plugin that supports multiple languages, you might want to go with Collect.chat, Watson, or Olark.
On the contrary, if you prefer a very powerful tool, regardless of its price, try Drift.
Finally, for those who work in education, ChatBot is the best option.
Have you started using a chatbot plugin?
What do you think about natural language processing?
We’d love to read about your views in the comments!
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