"I steer my clients away from chatbots." They're right.
A consultant's advice to their own clients, and why arguing with it is the wrong move.
On a forum thread about website chatbots, someone who builds websites for small businesses wrote this:
I actively steer my small business clients away from integrating a chatbot in their website.
That is someone turning down work. They could charge to install one. They tell people not to bother.
When someone argues against their own interest, it is worth listening carefully.
They have earned the opinion
This is not someone who read an article. It is someone who installed these for clients, watched what happened, and changed their mind.
What they saw was the same pattern every time. Low use. Wrong answers nobody caught. Customers annoyed. A monthly fee nobody remembered agreeing to.
After enough of that, steering people away is not being difficult. It is being responsible.
The part of the advice that is right forever
Do not add one because everyone else has one. That is the only reason most of them exist.
Do not add one to look modern. Customers do not think a chat bubble means modern. They think it means you would rather not talk to them.
Do not add one before you know what people ask. You will end up answering questions nobody had.
The one distinction worth making
Here is where we would gently push back, and only here.
The thing being steered away from is a specific object. A box that matches words, knows nothing about your business, and exists to collect an email address.
The question underneath is different. Should a customer be able to find out your price at nine at night without ringing you?
Almost everyone says yes to that. They just do not think a chat bubble is how.
And often it is not. A clear price page, real hours, and a line about your area will fix it for most businesses. That is free and nobody has to switch anything on.
So when is it worth anything at all?
Narrow case. You get real questions, in many different wordings, and writing them on a page has not stopped them coming.
That is a genuine problem, and a page cannot solve it, because the page only says things one way.
Outside that case, take the advice. Do not buy one.
If you do go ahead
Ask the person who builds your website first. If they groan, ask them what went wrong last time. Their answer will be more useful than any sales page, including ours.
Written by the team at hailera — we help small businesses answer customer questions without being there.