When considering business communication, chatbots are playing an integral part of it. From generating leads and offering tailored product recommendations to customer support, they fulfil diverse functions across diverse sectors. This blog will delve into the world of chatbots- from the types of chatbot to explaining how to choose the right one for your business- everything is covered.
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What is a Chatbot
Chatbots are software applications that can converse with users in written or spoken format. Nowadays, developers use natural language processing (NLP) to build chatbots so they understand user’s questions even if it is grammatically incorrect and answer based on data it has accumulated.
The Different Types of Chatbots
Here's a detailed breakdown of the types of chatbots available in 2025:
1. Menu-based Chatbots
These chatbots help users discover what they need by using a set of predeveloped menus. Each menu comes with a set of more menus and data. Menu-based chatbots are quite similar to IVR phone support. Though they aren't as comprehensive as other chatbots, they are capable of providing customers access to quick information like business hours, account balances, and more.
2. Rule-based Chatbots
The rules-based chatbot considers conditional if/then logic to generate interactive FAQs. In these chatbots, a designer develops predetermined combinations of question-and-answer options so the tool can understand the user’s input and prompt quickly and accurately. These chatbots are comparatively easy to train and perform efficiently when it comes to answering predefined questions. However, rule-based chatbots can't perform well when asked complex queries.
3. AI-powered Chatbots
While the first two types of chatbot address customer inquiries, AI-powered chatbots understand a broad range of inquiries, regardless of how users ask. These chatbots address them more naturally and contextually with the help of deep learning, machine learning and natural language processing. These chatbots can learn from interactions with customers over time and promote context-aware interactions. That is why AI-based chatbots are rapidly becoming popular in various sectors.
4. Hybrid Chatbots
As the name suggests, these chatbots combine the capabilities of two types of chatbot- Rule-based chatbots and AI chatbots. Hybrid chatbots follow a predefined decision tree logic to answer straightforward questions and use artificial intelligence for more complex questions. It helps them address a wider range of inquiries of users.
5. Voice Chatbots
These chatbots permit users to converse with the bot by speaking to it, instead of typing. They offer the same functionalities as AI chatbots, but they come with two extra features: text-to-speech and speech-to-text technology. With the help of NLP and advanced technologies, voice chatbots understand recorded questions, evaluate users’ business needs and offer effective responses in a human-like conversational tone.
Different Types of AI-powered Chatbots
Depending upon their functionality and their applications, there are two types of AI chatbots available: Generative AI chatbots and knowledge-based chatbots.
1. Knowledge Base Chatbots
Knowledge-based chatbots (FAQ chatbots) are developed to answer frequently asked questions sourced from the user's knowledge base. Developers use NLU to comprehend the intent of the customer's inquiry. These chatbots can understand a user's questions irrespective of how they're prompted. These are entirely dependent on the user's knowledge base to answer questions and can't generate responses on their own.
2. Generative AI Chatbots
These next generation of chatbots offer even more increased functionality. They can adapt to a user’s style of conversation and their use of empathetic words over time. While FAQ chatbots answer a user's questions and provide a human-like response, these chatbots can generate new content as the output. Generative AI can summaries, translate, predict and create content to resolve a user's query.
How to Find out the Right Chatbot for Your Needs?
Consider the following factors when choosing a chatbot for your business:
- Purpose: Defining what you want helps the selection process. It can be customer support, providing information or lead generation.
- Inquiry Complexity: First, evaluate the complexity of user inquiries your chatbot will handle. For predictable questions, rule-based chatbots are best, and for more complex enquiries, AI-powered or hybrid chatbots are perfect.
- User experience: Consider user satisfaction level. Your users must feel great when interacting with the bot.
- Long-term Partnership: Consider an option type that would perfectly align your business as it grows.
- Budget: Analyze the upfront investment, the long-term maintenance costs and scaling costs.
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Bottom Line
Understanding the types of chatbot and choosing the right one requires expertise, efficiency, and the experience of a digital marketer. It will not only help you in career advancement but also drive success for your organization in an AI-powered world.
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