A chatbot in a local business: what it really does and what it doesn't (no sci-fi)
Neither revolutionary robot nor useless toy: the chatbot is an employee that's very good at three things and bad at everything else.
Two symmetric lies are told about chatbots: that they'll replace your team, and that they're useless. For a local business the truth is far more modest and far more useful: a well-built chatbot does three concrete things better than any tired human.
The three things it does well
First: instantly answering the repeated questions (hours, basic prices, parking, whether you work with such material). They're the majority of a local business's messages, and answering them at 11:47pm on a Sunday is the difference between a won customer and a cooled one. Second: capturing the interested person's contact even when they hesitate ("leave me your WhatsApp and I'll call you tomorrow") instead of letting them walk away. Third: proposing appointments inside your real diary.
What it must never do
Invent anything. A serious chatbot answers only with the information you have confirmed (your hours, your prices, your services), and when something leaves that perimeter, it says so and hands over: "Gerard will confirm this better for you first thing tomorrow". The difference between an employee and a problem on payroll is exactly that.
A chatbot isn't intelligent: it's obedient. And for serving customers out of hours, obedient is exactly what you need.
And the price? Generic widgets cost €15–50/month and talk about everything and nothing; one built on your website with your data and your WhatsApp is workshop work: built once, answers like your business, and in three languages if needed. On this very site you can talk to one right now — it's called Aurora and it's the workshop's version.
Still have a question?
Write to me and I answer you myself. Gerard — Barcelona, reply within 24 hours.