A chatbot is the small chat window on a website that answers questions or collects a visitor's information automatically. It has two jobs: give instant answers, and capture a lead when nobody is available to pick up.
In plain English
A chatbot is a night-shift worker who never clocks out. It cannot solve everything a person can, but it never sleeps, never takes a lunch break, and never lets a visitor leave without at least being asked a question.
What it is great at
Repeat questions
The same handful of questions get asked constantly, and a bot answers them instantly.
24/7 coverage
Visitors show up at all hours, and a bot is the only thing actually on shift then.
Lead capture before a visitor leaves
A quick question keeps someone engaged instead of closing the tab.
Worth remembering
HubSpot found 82% of consumers want an immediate reply, 30 minutes or less, to a sales question.
Most businesses cannot staff a phone or inbox fast enough to hit that window every time. A chatbot is often the only way to actually meet that expectation.
What to do about it
A chatbot only helps if it is set up to answer the right questions and hand off the rest cleanly. Get a free website audit and I will tell you whether one makes sense for your site.
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