Custom Chatbot Development Tutorial To Start Your Own Bot Agency You can now create bots for free in a matter of minutes without any prior coding knowledge.
By Murray Newlands Edited by Dan Bova
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Outstanding entrepreneurs are always on top of the newest trends that offer business opportunities in the form of innovative solutions. You're probably familiar with AI-powered virtual assistants, also known as chatbots, as they've been one of the hottest topics in the marketing world for some time now. Recent advancements in the technology that powers bots have opened the flood doors for companies of all sizes, and they're rushing in to establish their bot as a point of reference for consumers.
Because they've become a necessity for all organizations, setting up an agency that specializes in creating custom-made bots seems like a winning business venture. The only problem is that creating a chatbot is a technical field, so you need a high level of coding knowledge and expensive tools to put together a great chatbot…or do you?
The truth is, thanks to platforms you can now create bots for free in a matter of minutes without any prior coding knowledge. Thanks to its purely visual interface, you can use this platform to create complex bots that add real value to any company in which they're utilized.
In this article, I'll discuss some key points to consider when creating high-quality, tailor-made virtual assistants in order to set up your own bot-creating agency.
The Chatbot Revolution
Although chatbots aren't a new concept, they've become one of the hottest topics in the world of technology and digital marketing. Most of us have interacted with a bot at some point, either in the form of an automated telephone assistant or a modern chatbot.
Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is the technology behind the widespread of chatbots. By implementing AI and natural language processing (NLP), chatbots can now communicate with humans using common language instead of specific command lines.
AI-powered virtual assistants can help users carry out tasks and provide information without the need for another human being, allowing companies to set up customer service bots while focusing on increasing productivity within their organization. Moreover, chatbots are able to perform complex tasks, such as placing orders, editing shipping details, updating billing information, and changing account information.
However, creating a bot requires a lot of planning, knowledge about your company's target audience, and an understanding of which features will be the most valuable to users.
Creating Custom Chatbots and Setting Up Your Own Bot Agency
Setting up your own bot-creating agency and providing AI-powered virtual assistants to companies is a challenging task. Remember, bots are still in early development stages, so there's still a long way to go, functionality-wise.
These bots also need to be designed to suit your client's specific needs that may range from a simple customer care assistant to an internal-facing chatbot that coordinates their entire team.
When creating a custom chatbot, you should always remember to:
Select the Best Platform
There are dozens of options to choose from and each one offers different features and benefits.
Keep in mind that some bot builders will require different levels of technical knowledge. If you have experience coding, chances are you can start creating bots from scratch without the help of any third-party tools. On the other hand, if you don't have much coding knowledge, choosing a platform like ChattyPeople can help you save time while allowing you to deliver high-quality results.
Related: Top 10 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business
Analyze the Bot's Audience
You need to touch base with each client to discuss their target audience. Remember, different chatbots can be designed to provide information, solve common issues, or work as a sales channel.
Keep their main purpose in mind and identify the right audience to create a bot that appeals to them. Also, remember that bots are relatively new tools, so make your bot proactive and easy to use in order to help users feel more comfortable.
Implement Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence
AI and NLP are the two main reasons for the widespread emergence and usage of bots. You can create a chatbot that doesn't employ either of these two elements, but they might be a nightmare for users, as they would have to operate it using exact command lines.
Using natural language processing and artificial intelligence means that users can communicate with a bot using everyday language. In addition to being easier to use, chatbots that employ these two key features can display a bit of personality to help captivate and engage users on a deeper and more personal level.
Related: 10 Facebook Messenger Chatbot Marketing Expert Tips
Give it Functional Features
Consumers are more demanding than ever, and they expect your chatbot to work as well as any of your other products. Instead of overloading your virtual assistants with exciting new features that don't work properly, you should begin with just a few capabilities that work to perfection and build your way from there.
Remember that chatbots can use AI to learn from every conversation, so you can create a simple version at first and implement more features slowly to create an efficient, problem-solving machine.
Marketing Your Chatbots
It's important to consider your bot's marketability throughout the entire creation process. Not only should you come up with an attractive name that's simple to remember and spell, but you should also make sure it's indexed and available on Facebook and other third-party chatbot databases. This will guarantee that your bot is easy to find and that users can track it down with a simple search engine or social media query.
Related: Pretty Soon, Chatbots Will Be Able to Understand How You're Feeling
Optimize, Enhance, and Reduce Turnaround
Like most modern marketing tools, chatbots are not static schemes but rather dynamic solutions that can be optimized for better performance. Once your bot has been running for some time, you can look at its performance metrics and make changes accordingly.
This should enhance the user experience, identify and solve confusion triggers, and ultimately reduce your turnaround time for future chatbots you create. You may need to employ additional analytics tools to get a feel for the bigger picture and work towards building a seamless experience for users who interact with your bots.
Finally...
Thanks to the widespread and popularization of AI-powered virtual assistants, setting up your own bot-building agency is easier and more profitable than ever. Follow the tips I outlined above to create high-quality, custom chatbots for your customers that produce results and help reduce their responsibilities, allowing them to focus on increasing their organization's overall performance.
