Smart, dependable and fast manager working 24/7 for free is a dream of every businessman! Chatbot - this is how your competitors surprise their Facebook followers now. But what about you? Lacking programming experience? Leave the doubts!
The team of AtomPark Software - bulk SMS service provider, knows your pain. They’ll prove you that anyone can create chatbot for the business needs.
In this article, you’ll find the detailed review of the features, functionality and prices of no coding chatbot builders.
Chatbot and business: The theory you need to know
What is chatbot?
This is a program created to automate the interaction with the users via the chat, based on the integration with messengers, websites and 3-rd party resources.
How to create a chatbot?
There are two ways: call the programmer or build it on your own using no coding services.
But first you need:
define and set the goals for your future bot,
choose the tool able to realize your idea,
think over the script,
transform it into the interaction algorithm (using the features of the chosen platform),
publish the chatbot.
Why does business use it?
The main advantage of chatbot use in e-commerce is the automation of the messenger subscription process and communicating with clients for:
customer support,
sales,
brand promotion.
Another benefit of this tool is the quick interaction with the client.
The chatbot conversation scripts can be so sophisticated that sometimes users do not even suspect that they are chatting with the program.
But it's quite difficult to create such a bot. So our choice - informational script chatbots, responding to clicking buttons and keywords - perfect for those who have no programming background.
Time to get to know with the drag-and-drop platforms able to help build chatbot easy, fast and with no coding.
Top chatbot building platforms
Onsequel.com / Sequel
Used mostly for the creation of conversion bots aimed to entertain Facebook followers. However, there is a rich variety of templates: publisher, personal, game, chatter, story-bot, etc.
Perfect for client engagement but weak for customer support or sales.
Technical difficulty: high
The interface: drag&drop type with block sequence visualization.
Functional:
Available in a free plan:
text answers triggered by user's actions
+
message broadcasting
+
message personalization
+
adding media content - images, gifs, links, videos
+
subscribers segmentation
+
bot templates
+
analytics
+
API integration
+
support
+
Advantages: while designing a bot you can see it’s final look.
Disadvantages: limited number of “writing desks” (there is a limit of simultaneous user connections to the platform), the process of customizing message broadcasting and subscribers segmentation can be difficult for a novice.
Prices: totally free (for the time of writing, September 2018).
Example: Facebook chatbot of Lionsgate Entertainment Production company. This is a quiz for a “Now you see me” movie fans:
Chatfuel for a small business
One of the top popular chatbot builders where you can create your own assistant in 7 minutes (however as for a novice it would be 30 minutes). Chatfuel is good not only for marketing and sales, but support as well.
Technical difficulty: average
The interface: easy to use block builder
The use of advanced functions, for example, database integration requires the involvement of a programmer.
Functional:
Available in a free plan:
message broadcasting, targeting
+
text answers triggered by user's actions
+
adding media content - images, gifs, links, videos
Advantage: the ability to train chatbot even in the free plan.
Disadvantage: it’s lacking block sequence visualization, that can confuse the novice.
Free plan includes: access to all the features with limitation in 5,000 subscribers and Chatfuel branding mark
Pro plan prices start at $15/month.
Example: Lego chatbot
Ralf (as he introduced himself) designed to assist user with the best item determination, that suits his/her needs. In 30 seconds Ralf defined my interests, age, budget, a delivery address, and offered me 5 variants of LEGO sets to buy.
MobileMonkey
The platform provides the functionality of creating chatbots for marketing and customer support.
Technical difficulty: average
Interface: classic drag-and-drop type
Functional:
Available in a free plan:
text answers triggered by user's actions
+
message broadcasting
-
bot templates
+
AI
+
adding media content - images, gifs, links, videos
Advantages: the free plan has no limits on the number of bots, subscribers, or on the chatbots’ "lifetime".
Disadvantage: the builder workspace lacks visualization on block sequence connection.
Free plan includes: unlimited subscribers and chatbot number with access to some of the platform key features.
Pro plan prices start at $9/ month (only for Facebook Messenger) or $149/month (agency).
Example: BizMetrics chatbot
Designed to welcome and inform Facebook users interested in a company’s activity.
ManyСhat
A true pro in building interactive conversion chatbots. It perfectly fits the e-commerce needs of Facebook. These chatbots can welcome a client, show products, sell them, inform and support customers.
Technical difficulty: low.
The interface: two variants - flow (with block sequence visualization) and basic (with the widget of the chatbot workflow on the messenger).
Functional:
Available in a free plan:
text answers triggered by user's actions
+
message broadcasting,
Automated Sequences
+
2 times
adding media content - images, gifs, links, videos
+
growth tools: Facebook comment check subscription popups, landings, bar widget
audience segment tags
data saving tools
+
-
10 tags
3 custom fields
audience analysis
+
bot stats
+
API integration
-
accept payments
-
message personalization
+
bot templates
+
support
-
Advantages: it’s almost perfect, you can create your own bot in 10-30 minutes.
Disadvantage: it’s may be difficult for a newbie user to customize advantage features of the platform, for example, growth tools.
Free plan includes: partial access to the platform features, the limitation of bots' subscribers up to 500 + ManyChat branding in Welcome Message and Main Menu.
Pro plan prices start at $10/month.
Example: Mollybot ― the personal Facebook assistant of Molly Mahoney. With a quite funny manner, it welcomes and responds typical users questions about Molly’s activity. Mollybot is designed to inform and engage Facebook users. In a couple seconds of a dialogue, she told me about services I may be interested in. When the conversation got too complicated, she offered to leave a message for Molly Magoni to answer herself.
Botstar
The platform is easy and understandable for a user of any level of experience. It has a powerful visual editor and tools that let you focus more on understanding your audience and improving your chatbots continuously.
Technical difficulty: average
The interface: easy-to-use classic drag-and-drop interface.
Functional:
Available in a free plan:
text answers triggered by user's actions
+
message broadcasting,
Automated Sequences
+
+
subscriber segmentation
+
adding media content - images, gifs, links, videos
+
audience analysis
+
bot stats
+
AI (smart phrases)
+
message personalization
+
bot templates
+
API integrations
+
support
+
Advantage: all of the key features for the advanced bot creation are free.
Disadvantage: there are no growth tools for subscribers involvement.
Free plan includes: access to all the platform features, the limitation of bot subscribers up to 500 + Botstar branding in Welcome Message and Main Menu.
Pro plan prices start at $10/month.
Example: Botstar Facebook chatbot
The chatbot builders summary
So, it’s time to bring together and compare all the chatbot builders presented above.
Remember!
For now, it's impossible to transfer your subscribers' base from one chatbot service to another. You need to sign-up them all again!
Therefore, be careful in the choice of the tool you are going to use.
If your Facebook profile audience is small, you can use a free plan of any platform listed above. But sooner or later it may grow. Then you'll have to make a choice ― switch to a full plan, or choose another service.
