Live Chat or Chatbot? What’s the Difference?

It’s 3 a.m., and you can’t sleep. Counting sheep isn’t working, so you find your favourite online store and start shopping. Once you’ve chosen your products, it’s time to have them delivered to your door. But there seems to be a glitch, and you can’t get this part right. You try communicating, but there’s no response. That ecommerce site just lost a lot of money, as you’re unable to complete your order. 

This is why customer service is so important. You tried the website Chatbot, but nobody responded, although most Chatbots are available day and night. Now, if the site had Live Chat 24/7, perhaps you’d have been able to secure the items you wanted to buy. Chatbot? Live Chat? Let’s explain both.

What is a Chatbot?

A Chatbot is an automated programme that responds to queries on a website. It answers repetitive questions that people ask time and again, guides customers, and can also collect data. And it can do this 24/7, even when everyone is offline.

There are three main types:

1. AI-Powered Chatbots are programmed to understand queries and respond to them.
2. Rule-Based Chatbots follow a series of steps. They only reply based on programmed options.
3. New on the block is the No-Code AI Chatbot Builder, which is programmed to follow conversations and handle queries, including difficult ones.

What is Live Chat?

We’ve had Live Chat for a while now, a chat box on your site that appears as if out of nowhere. It’s there to assist customers whenever they get stuck. It often asks whether you need assistance, and then, when you respond, a customer support agent responds immediately. This system works for set questions that the agent can answer with specific responses. However, there is only so much the Live Chat agent can handle. If it’s a simple query, it’s a great way to get assistance.

Let’s Compare Chatbot vs Live Chat

What Chatbots Offer

Chatbots respond quickly, even when your team is offline.

For example:

•  Automated Responses 24/7: Messages are answered day and night,to ensure customers don’t have to wait.
•  Guides Conversations: Customers are guided to reach the correct answer and don’t get confused.
•  Interprets Meaning: The system can work out what a customer is saying, even when the communication isn’t clear.
•  Captures & Qualifies Information: Programmed to collect data and discover what it means before passing the request to the relevant person.
•  Hands off to a Human: The bot knows when to hand over the chat to a specialised person when required.
•  Keeps Entire Chat History: To stop issues, a full chat history is kept, so that everything discussed is available to read.
•  Support in Many Languages: Communicates in several languages, which is essential for a global website.
•  Tracks Analytics & Performance: Keeps all the data, so one can see which queries have been resolved, where people were unable to receive a relevant response, and how users rate their support experience.

What Live Chat Offers

•  Indicates Typing in Real-Time: One can see what a customer is typing before they click “send”. This helps the agent prepare a valid, correct response.
•  Chat Routing: Able to send new chats to the correct support person.
•  Ready Responses: Responses to common queries are ready in advance to save time. The agent can still work on these to personalise a response.
•  Tracks Visitors: The agent can see which page the customer is on and can start a chat at the right time.
•  Shares Files & Browse Together: Great when a customer needs hands-on assistance or shares a screenshot.
•  Keeps Chat Transcripts: Chats are stored for follow-up, training and quality checking.

Live Chat vs Chatbot Differences

1. Availability is the biggest difference. While a Chatbot can respond 24/7, on weekends, public holidays and in the middle of the night, Live Chat often cannot. It may have a specific timeline during business hours. The rest of the time, it’s unavailable.
2. The Type of Questions also differs. Chatbots answer repetitive queries, simple questions that are asked time and again regarding delivery, prices, returns, etc. Live Chat is better for more difficult queries, perhaps when a live agent can take over.
3. The Number of Queries is also important. While an agent can answer a few simple questions in Live Chat simultaneously, too many can become overwhelming. On the other hand, an AI Chatbot can handle many queries without a hassle.

When to Use a Chatbot

A Chatbot takes the hassle out of answering simple queries. If your site gets many repetitive questions, a Chatbot can respond even if nobody is online. It also lets you send the query to the correct department. It’s particularly helpful if you find you are losing customers outside business hours. It can also collect customer information so your team can follow up when they are back online. This gives agents time to respond to more difficult queries that need a live person.

When to Use Live Chat

Live Chat is ideal for responding to more difficult queries, not those that need quick responses. Talking to an expert about the products a customer is interested in can sort out issues before someone buys anything. It’s also a good fit when someone is frustrated or angry and needs to feel understood.

If you’re running a sales campaign, Live Chat can be very helpful, too. It can respond to last-minute queries quickly, in real time. Also, if someone has a complex question, Live Chat can respond to a customer step by step,so they can understand better.

Remember: Live Chat works when the person chatting is a specialist in the subject at hand. The support agent also needs to know when to hand the query over to someone else.

How to Use Both Together

It’s a good idea to use both, so you cover all bases. You can use a Chatbot as the first point of contact. It can ask a few questions and compile the details (e.g., order number, customer email address, etc.). But if it’s a more complex problem, Live Chat comes into play, as long as Live Chat and a Chatbox are combined in one system.

Working together looks like this:

• First, the customer asks a question.
• The Chatbot steps in, collects information and responds.
• If the person needs further information, the query is handed over to an agent, who has the full chat history, so they know what’s already been discussed. The agent will discuss this with the customer on Live Chat.

Live Chat vs Chatbot: How to Choose

You must consider the size of your website, the number of customers and team members you have, and what type of questions customers usually ask. This will give you an idea of which to choose, Live Chat vs Chatbot.

Obviously, simple queries that come up time and again only require a Chatbot. But, if you’re selling expensive, valuable products where more complicated questions arise, you need Live Chat.

Use both Live Chat and a Chatbot when your site is international and your clients are located globally. With so many different timelines, you should have a Chatbot available 24/7, when you’re not online, and Live Chat during working hours.

A Chatbot will suffice when your business keeps expanding, and you can’t hire support staff fast enough. It’s also ideal if you have a complex product that requires many conversations before a customer purchases, as well as after-sales service. As the queries are likely to come up time and again, a Chatbot would suffice.

Of course, Chatbots are less expensive than Live Chat, which is another factor to consider. Live Chat requires trained agents, but if you need both, you must have a few available for customer service.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Don’t make the Chatbot handle all messages. You need to differentiate between common FAQs and more sensitive queries.
• Ensure your agents are trained to answer more difficult queries in Live Chat.
• If you can, use both systems together, not separately, so the customer doesn’t have to repeat the query time and again.
• Update your Live Chat regularly so it covers all the necessary bases and can answer all queries asked. You don’t want to provide outdated responses.