Live chat vs. chatbots – how do I pick what’s right for me?​

Familiarize yourself with live chats and chatbots!

Both variations have one fundamental thing in common: they enable your customers to get in touch with you online and are applications that you can add to your website. As the name suggests, live chat is a chat between your customer and an employee who is sitting in front of the computer at that very moment and responds individually to the customer’s questions. The employee helps to solve complex problems and deal with precisely those issues that require a personal touch. These staff members need to be well trained and prepared to be able to respond to the emotions of customers and the complexity of their requests, which is why it usually falls within the remit of customer support. Chatbots, on the other hand, are software solutions based on artificial intelligence and natural language use. When configuring the chatbot, ready-made answers to simple and repetitive questions as well as predefined processes can be integrated that do not require or necessitate human intervention.

Live chat or chatbot – the right choice​​

The right choice of one of the two applications has become a key decision in customer communication. As always, both variants offer advantages and disadvantages when compared, but the question of all questions for the choice can be broken down into one: how can I best help my customer with my offer? In order to answer this, you need to engage with your team and do a little research into what has happened in the past to find out whether similar and repetitive issues or more complex problems make up the majority. Also consider whether there are any problems that require empathy and understanding. If this is the case, the human component of a live chat is essential. If you do not consider this to be important, it is worth taking a closer look at the differences between the two variants.

AI-supported and human chats: the biggest differences​

The main differences between live chat and the chatbot can be summarized in these five main aspects: response time, availability, costs, experience, and scalability.

One of the great advantages of chatbots is of course the mantra “AI never sleeps”. A chatbot is therefore available around the clock, as opposed to the business hours that employees adhere to in live chat. This means that the chatbot is also available to international customers in particular, for whom limited availability could be a problem due to the time difference. In perfect symbiosis, the response time of both models also plays a role. While live chat employees naturally take the time to answer questions individually, there may be waiting times during busy periods. A hurdle that has to be overcome with the use of personnel, but that does not exist for a chatbot.

Speaking of personnel: the cost of specialist training and salaries is a key factor that plays a major role in the economic choice between the two options. The live chat employee is valuable in terms of training due to their experience, especially when it comes to more sensitive customers and/or topics. A chatbot, on the other hand, falls into the resource planning category in the run-up to configuration, but no longer incurs immense costs once it goes online.

Those of you who have just raised your hand at the keyword “valuable experience” will nod in agreement. Whether online or offline, experience is an aspect to be valued when we are talking about employees. They can make the most of this experience when participating in live chats. At the same time, don’t forget the capabilities offered by artificial intelligence: once deployed, the chatbot also gains knowledge from input and can optimally use the collected customer data to solve problems. It does this a lot and, above all, quickly, which makes it highly scalable. A chatbot can handle an unlimited number of repetitive requests and activities. When it comes to automated appointment booking, for example, it can easily expand your customer base.