10 Best Chatbots For Customer Service Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 36 tools reviewed.
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
Countless software solutions offer a chatbot for customer service, but sifting through them can be overwhelming. You want a chatbot that not only handles customer inquiries across multiple channels but also escalates complex issues to human agents seamlessly - and need to find the right one for your team. I’ve got you covered! In this post, I draw from my professional experience as a seasoned CX specialist to curate a list of the top chatbots designed to improve the effectiveness of your customer service operations.
What is Chatbot for Customer Service?
A chatbot for customer service is a software tool that automates conversations with customers, offering quick responses to inquiries and support requests. It employs artificial intelligence to handle routine queries and guide customers to relevant information. These tools are particularly valuable for teams facing high volumes of inquiries, and they include natural language processing capabilities, integration with various messaging platforms, and customization options for dynamic teams.
The implementation of chatbots enables businesses to scale their customer service operations, by enhancing efficiency and alleviating the workload of human support agents. Additionally, they can assist in marketing and lead generation efforts by autonomously promoting products and services to potential customers.
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CRM Creatio
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.7 -
monday service
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6 -
Issuetrak
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.1
Overviews Of The 27 Best Chatbots For Customer Service
Here’s a brief description of each chatbot for customer service to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
SAAS First is an all-in-one customer support platform designed to enhance your customer relations through AI-powered tools. It offers a comprehensive help desk solution that centralizes communications across various channels, ensuring efficient and effective customer interactions.
SAAS First offers an AI-powered chatbot, Milly, which provides instant responses to customer inquiries around the clock. Milly learns from your existing help center articles and website content, enabling her to deliver accurate and contextually relevant answers. This capability not only reduces response times but also allows your support team to focus on more complex issues, enhancing overall efficiency.
I also like that it has an omnichannel inbox that consolidates all customer interactions—be it email, live chat, or social media—into a single, unified interface. This centralization ensures a better, timely experience for both your team and customers.
Some integrations include WhatsApp, Facebook, and SMS by Twilio.
SwiftCX is an AI-powered platform that combines chatbot automation with real-time customer insights to support your service team. It uses a combination of AI Copilot, AI Agent, and AI Insights to help manage conversations, analyze emotions, and surface patterns in customer interactions.
SwiftCX offers chatbot functionality that can handle routine customer inquiries by generating responses using data pulled from your connected help center, CRM, and historical conversations. Its AI Copilot can also provide real-time suggestions to live agents during active chats, while the AI Agent automates simple requests and FAQ-style questions. Behind the scenes, AI Insights reviews ongoing conversations to identify customer sentiment and intent, helping guide both agents and managers as they work.
This combination allows you to handle high chat volumes more efficiently, assist agents while they’re chatting, and surface customer trends that could inform coaching or product improvements.
The tool integrates with Relay.app, Delta Cargo, Census, Resolve247, Front, Zendesk, ChatGPT, Intercom, Microsoft Teams, Kustomer, Stella Connect, Shopify, Slack, and Amazon Connect.
LiveHelpNow is a customer service software platform that offers a suite of tools designed to facilitate communication between businesses and their customers. It particularly features chatbot capabilities to automate initial customer interactions and analytics tools to monitor customer service performance.
LiveHelpNow provides chatbot functionality to assist with customer service by automating responses to common inquiries and guiding customers through troubleshooting steps or information gathering before a live agent takes over. The chatbot can be programmed with a library of responses and can also collect customer data, such as contact information or details about their issue, which can then be passed on to a live agent for a more efficient support experience.
This feature helps reduce wait times for customers and allows customer service teams to handle a higher volume of inquiries by offloading routine questions to the chatbot.
The tool integrates with third-party apps such as AgileCRM, BigCommerce, Capsule, HubSpot, Insightly, Magento, Sage, Salesforce, Slack, and Zoom.
LiveHelpNow costs from $9/agent/month. A 30-day free trial is also available.
Quidget is an AI-powered support agent designed to automate repetitive frontline support. It learns from your website, FAQs, and uploaded resources, providing fast, accurate responses 24/7.
One of the reasons I chose Quidget is its ability to support customers in over 45 languages. This feature ensures that you can communicate effectively with a diverse customer base without the need for additional translation services. Quidget speaks fluently in languages like Chinese, French, Spanish, and more—no training is required.
Another standout feature is Quidget's human handoff capability. While it efficiently manages routine inquiries, Quidget knows when to escalate more complex issues to your human support team. This ensures that customers receive the appropriate level of assistance for their needs, maintaining a high standard of service.
Integrations include Euphoric.ai, Zendesk, WhatsApp, and Slack.
Birdeye is a holistic online reputation management software designed to help local businesses keep track of customer reviews, feedback, and messages. Its chatbot functionality is robust and useful to various needs and contexts. Chatbot messages are brought together in a shared inbox with email, SMS, and social media messages for easier management in a single place.
The chatbot has AI and automation capabilities that speed up responses, capture and convert leads, and alleviate manual work from your customer service team. You can set up automated flows to respond to customer FAQs, and also respond in real-time chat for more specific inquiries.
In addition to its chatbot capabilities, the software also offers a well-rounded suite of features for overall online reputation management. This includes the ability to track customer reviews across over 150 different online review sites, and to solicit feedback from customers via automated surveys. You can also schedule appointments and manage payments through the platform, among other key tasks.
Integrations include QuickBooks, Square, Zoho CRM, Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Pipedrive, Thryv, Keap, HubSpot, Lightspeed, and hundreds of other SaaS tools.
The software costs from $299 per user, per month. A free demo is available.
Tidio is a chatbot software that helps businesses engage with customers online and automates its customer service using artificial intelligence to respond to customer queries promptly and accurately.
Tidio's chatbots can automate various customer service tasks, including answering common questions, resolving issues, and providing support. These chatbots are constantly learning and improving their understanding of human language, making them more efficient. Tidio lets you customize your chatbots to match your website's branding, from a template or by adding elements, including text, images, and buttons. The software allows users to set up rules to determine when and how their chatbot will respond to specific keywords or phrases. Chatbots can also be used to track satisfaction levels over time.
Tidio's abandoned cart feature lets your chatbot follow up with the customer over the next few days, ensuring they remember their unfinished purchase. The chatbots can also collect contact information and qualify leads by asking questions about a lead's budget, timescale, and requirements to determine whether they are a good fit for your products or services.
Finally, Tidio's chatbots can also be used to schedule appointments and demos, and it integrates with tools like Shopify, Wordpress, Squarespace, Magento, Wix, and Joomla.
Zoho SalesIQ is live chat software that allows you to engage with your customers in real-time. It's best suited for small to medium-sized businesses looking to improve their customer service and increase website conversions. The live chat feature is particularly useful in engaging with potential customers who are browsing your website and can help convert them into paying customers.
It's easy to set up and use, even for someone who is not particularly tech-savvy, and the user interface is simple and intuitive, which makes it easy to navigate and customize the settings. It includes visitor tracking, which provides valuable insights into visitor behavior and helps you identify potential leads. It also has an auto-triggering feature that can be set up to prompt visitors to engage in a chat conversation based on certain criteria such as time spent on the website or pages visited.
Another feature that I found particularly useful was the ability to create chatbots. While chatbots are becoming increasingly common in the customer service industry, Zoho SalesIQ's chatbot feature stands out for its ease of use and customization options. It's simple to create a chatbot that can provide basic information or route the conversation to a live agent if needed.
Zoho SalesIQ also offers integrations with other popular business tools, such as Zoho CRM, Google Analytics, and Salesforce.
Plans start at $7/operator/month, and they offer a 15-day free trial.
Stonly is a knowledge management platform designed to empower customer service through the creation and use of interactive step-by-step guides and decision trees.
I chose Stonly because it offers a unique approach to knowledge management and support through interactive step-by-step guides and decision trees. What makes Stonly stand out is its ability to provide fast, accurate resolutions with a combination of these guides and AI-powered answers, which can be particularly beneficial for both agents and customers seeking assistance.
Features include personal attention at scale, proactive support in every channel, customer insights, multiple language support, and no-code integration.
Integrations include Zendesk, Front, Freshdesk, Intercom, Segment, HubSpot, Helpshift, Salesforce, Gorgias, and Help Scout.
Pricing starts at $99 per month when billed annually, and they offer a 14-day free trial.
Tars chatbot platform helps marketing and customer service teams optimize conversion funnels and automate customer interactions. With over 1000 template choices available, chatbots can be built for any purpose using the self-service drag and drop builder.
Chatbots can then be published either as website widgets, as a standalone page or on the WhatsApp platform. Managers can view and analyze data using the Tars dashboard to better understand how bots are performing.
Data can be moved automatically to CRM or database applications. This tool provides integrations via Zapier and webhooks.
Tars offers customized pricing on request. A free 14-day trial is available.
Intercom helps businesses acquire, engage and support customers. This is achieved through a bot-based algorithm, supported by targeted emails, push notifications, in-app messages, and an integrated helpdesk. After engaging prospects in conversation, Intercom can auto-assign leads either directly or in a round-robin manner, according to the setup.
The app tracks data and referral URLs, as well as organizing multi-channel conversations and follow ups.Other Intercom features include customer context management, call-out collaborations, scheduling, metrics and chat volume management.
The software can also be used as a mobile app, allowing users to respond to leads using iOS or Android devices.
This tool integrates with platforms such as Salesforce, Slack, Segment, and HubSpot.
Intercom offers customized pricing on request. There is no free trial.
The Best Chatbots For Customer Service Summary Table
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Best knowledge base-trained chatbot | Free trial available | From $9/member/month | Website | |
2 | Best for AI-assisted live agent support | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
3 | Best for omnichannel customer support | 30-day free trial | From $9/agent/month | Website | |
4 | Best for automating repetitive frontline support | Free plan available | From $16/month (billed annually) | Website | |
5 | Best AI chatbot for capturing leads | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
6 | Best for it focus on generating sales | 7-day free trial + free plan available | From $25/user/month | Website | |
7 | Best for its easy-to-use interface | 15-day free trial available | From $7/operator/month | Website | |
8 | Best for interactive step-by-step guides | 14-day free trial | From $99/month (billed annually) | Website | |
9 | Best for ease of setup | 14 Days Free Trial | Pricing available upon request | Website | |
10 | Best for simple customer interface | 14-day free trial | From $29/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
Other Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Drift
For turning conversations into sales
- Kommunicate
For balancing chatbots with the human touch
- Acquire
Designed for more human-like automated chats
- Activechat
For customer-centric brands
- Helpshift
For rapid deployment
- Genesys
For chatbots that span digital channels
- Quiq Messaging
For integrating with bots from other platforms
- Freshchat
For scaling customer support on any channel
- HubSpot
Building chatbots at scale
- CoSupport AI
For faster, accurate, and secure customer support
- Kayako
Combines help center, website, and mobile app support
- Podium
For local businesses
- Zendesk Sell
Excels at reducing repetitive work
- Netomi
For dealing with spikes in support demand
- Hiver
For Gmail-based customer service
- Conversica
For turning customers into advocates
- Zoho Desk’s Zia
Chatbots for sales teams
- Olark
Integrates chatbots with live support
- Chatra
Website-based customer service messaging
- Drift Conversation Cloud
For tailored chatbot conversations
- Botmock
Codeless rapid prototyping of conversation apps
- Kore
Automates and streamlines customer journeys
- Jitbit Helpdesk
Jitbit Helpdesk
- Yellow.ai
For total user experience automation
- IBM Watson Assistant
For understanding customers in context
Comparison Criteria
What do I look for when I select the best chatbot for customer service? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): I look for a modern interface that’s easy to navigate on both mobile and desktop devices
- Usability: I’m seeking chatbots that customers will find intuitive to use, even if they have little tech experience
- Integrations: I expect a good chatbot to integrate with popular customer service platforms
- Value for $: I look for chatbots that offer good value for both large and small customer service teams
Chatbots for Customer Service: Key Features
These are the core features I’m looking for when evaluating chatbot software:
- Artificial intelligence: chatbots with the ability to understand open-ended questions and give answers that make sense
- A visual flow builder: drag-and-drop functionality that makes zero-code bot building not just possible, but easy
- Omnichannel messaging support: supporting communication over social media channels such as Facebook Messenger and What’s App, plus website chat
- Live chat handover: a reliable system for handing the conversation over to a live agent when human interaction is required
- Detailed analytics: the ability for managers to gain deeper insights into the customer experience and pain points
- Chatbot marketing: features designed to promote products and services to customers automatically
- Sentiment analysis: mining opinions, thoughts, and feelings from conversations to better understand customer satisfaction
- Widget customization: options for tailoring the chatbot’s branding, tone, style, language, and other fundamental elements
- Data security: high-level protection against threats that may compromise the chatbot system
- Built-in API: the ability to extend functionality by integrating with other tools and software
Why Use A Chatbot For Customer Service?
Chatbots allow organizations to automate many customer service requests. They leverage machine learning to guide inquirers to the answers they need, quickly and efficiently.
By dealing with customer questions quickly, chatbots can speed up response times and free customer service agents to work on more complex requests. They can also assist with marketing and lead generation—promoting products and services on autopilot to generate additional revenue.
What Do You Think About This List?
Are chatbots the future of customer service, or just another tech fad? Do you agree with my choices for the best apps? Let us know in the comments below.
You can also check out our article on the pros and cons of customer service automation, how to create a chatbot with no coding skills, plus our thoughts on the benefits, challenges, and ‘how to’ of customer service automation. And be sure to sign up for our newsletter, so you can stay up to date with the latest from top thinkers in the CX world.
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