What are some of the most time-consuming tasks that you do? Answering common questions, processing orders, marketing a product launch, scheduling appointments, searching through notes, reviewing copy. Maybe you’re particularly detail-oriented and love to get involved in everything as it comes. Or maybe you prefer to prioritise your tasks or delegate to a team, or perhaps your business is already using AI for some of these tasks.
Approaching new technologies cautiously is natural for businesses. How will this benefit my business? What do I need to know?
As businesses continue to adopt AI, it’s only natural to see this as a warning sign for employees, In the same way factory workers lost out to automation. But this isn’t the case. AI can make all the difference for your business, your staff and your customers.
Now, while AI solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all – there are nine key chatbot features to support both your customers and staff effectively.
1. 24/7 Availability
Round-the-clock support is a massive benefit. In today’s fast-paced world, customers expect instant answers, so, unsurprisingly, 64% of customers find 24/7 availability to be the best feature of a chatbot. Did you know that most conversations with chatbots happen outside traditional working hours. Also if you’re operating globally then this is particularly interesting.
By offering 24/7 availability, your chatbot ensures that no query goes unanswered, regardless of when it’s asked. For customers looking for product information, delivery information, chatbots provide immediate responses. Thus improving user satisfaction, reducing wait times, and alleviating some of the pressure on your staff.
2. Good User Experience and Design
A well-designed chatbot plays a crucial role in keeping users engaged and ensuring they get the help they need without frustration. 2024 surveys demonstrated that 69% of customers were satisfied with the last interaction they had with a chatbot. For a chatbot to be effective, it must offer a smooth user experience (UX) that sounds like normal human conversation.
A natural conversational flow is essential. The bot should be able to follow a conversation and respond to different inputs without getting confused—because nobody likes repeating themselves! Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) also helps chatbots understand different phrasing, slang, and even slight misspellings.
User-friendly interface is another critical aspect of good design. Whether the chatbot is embedded in your website, mobile app, or social media platforms, it should be easy to access and navigate. Users shouldn’t have to hunt for buttons or commands—simple menus and prompts should guide them effortlessly through the conversation. Offering quick reply buttons, visual aids, or suggestions can help users ask the right questions without overwhelming them.
Finally, the design should be inclusive, catering to a diverse audience. This includes accessibility features like text-to-speech options or the ability to change font size for visually impaired users, ensuring that everyone can interact with the chatbot comfortably. You can find out more about improving website accessibility on our blog.
3. Branding
A chatbot is an extension of your brand, so it should wear your company’s colours proudly. By customising the bot’s tone, voice, and responses to reflect your brand, you’ll create an experience that feels cohesive and familiar to users.
Whether your brand is fun, quirky, professional, or straightforward, your chatbot should mirror that tone. If your business prides itself on being witty, don’t be afraid to let your bot crack a joke (tastefully, of course). On the other hand, if your brand is more corporate, a more formal chatbot tone might be appropriate. You wouldn’t want a suit-and-tie company using a chatbot that talks like it’s wearing flip-flops!
4. Analytics and Reporting
A basic chatbot is fine if all you need is someone (or something) to answer simple questions. But if you want an AI-assisted chatbot that handles more, you’ll need some advanced features in the mix.
Let’s start with Natural Language Understanding (NLU). This helps your chatbot do more than spit out generic answers. It gets what users are saying, even if they phrase things differently or make a typo. Whether someone’s asking formally or dropping in some slang, NLU makes sure your bot keeps up and responds in a way that makes sense.
Then there’s machine learning. This is where your chatbot gets smarter with every interaction. It picks up on patterns, improves its responses, and handles more complex queries as it goes. So, instead of staying stuck in its original settings, it keeps evolving.
Beyond chatting, a good bot can also help with lead generation and even handle transactions. Imagine your chatbot not just answering questions but collecting potential customer info or helping someone make a purchase.
Lastly, your chatbot should play nice with the rest of your systems. It should integrate with your CRM, customer support tools, or whatever else you’ve got going on. That way, all the info flows smoothly, and your bot doesn’t operate in a bubble.
5. Advanced Custom Features
A basic chatbot is fine if all you need is someone (or something) to answer simple questions. But if you want an AI-assisted chatbot that handles more, you’ll need some advanced features in the mix.
Let’s start with Natural Language Understanding (NLU). This helps your chatbot do more than spit out generic answers. It gets what users are saying, even if they phrase things differently or make a typo. Whether someone’s asking formally or dropping in some slang, NLU makes sure your bot keeps up and responds in a way that makes sense.
Then there’s machine learning. This is where your chatbot gets smarter with every interaction. It picks up on patterns, improves its responses, and handles more complex queries as it goes. So, instead of staying stuck in its original settings, it keeps evolving.
Beyond chatting, a good bot can also help with lead generation and even handle transactions. Imagine your chatbot not just answering questions but collecting potential customer info or helping someone make a purchase.
Lastly, your chatbot should play nice with the rest of your systems. It should integrate with your CRM, customer support tools, or whatever else you’ve got going on. That way, all the info flows smoothly, and your bot doesn’t operate in a bubble.
6. Security and Scalability
Two key things to keep in mind are security and scalability—because a chatbot that can’t handle a growing business or keep data safe is more trouble than it’s worth.
First up: security. Your chatbot is going to be dealing with all sorts of user data, and you don’t want any of it falling into the wrong hands. Protecting that data should be a top priority whether it’s customer contact details or sensitive business info. Make sure your chatbot meets all the necessary security standards—things like Cyber Essentials (plus) certification in the UK—to avoid any risks to sensitive data.
Now for scalability. As your business grows, so should your chatbot. What works fine when you have a small user base might start to crack under the pressure as traffic increases. You need a bot that can handle the workload, whether it’s 10 conversations a day or 1,000. A scalable chatbot adjusts to your needs without slowing down or losing its ability to respond quickly. Your bot should grow with you.
7. Usable Website Scraper
If you run an ecommerce store, you know how tricky it can be to manage all the information, policies, refunds, complaints, and deliveries etc. A website scraper can make life a lot easier by letting your chatbot pull info from your site. Things like FAQs, product descriptions, and policies are always up-to-date, so your chatbot has the answers ready to go.
The best scrapers don’t just grab everything—they organise it properly. For example, your terms and conditions shouldn’t mix with product details or promotions. A messy Knowledge Base confuses both you and the chatbot. A good scraper also skips irrelevant stuff, like metadata or button labels, focusing on what your customers actually need.
It’s handy if the scraper lets you pick and choose which pages to include. Sometimes, you just want the returns policy or a specific product category, not the whole site.
With a well-designed scraper, your chatbot saves you time and effort, while giving your customers fast, accurate answers. It’s a win-win for everyone.
8. Integration
A chatbot works best when it’s part of the bigger picture. Integration with your existing systems—like CRM, helpdesk tools, or ecommerce platforms—makes it more than just a standalone feature. It becomes a seamless extension of your business.
For example, if your chatbot connects to your CRM, it can pull customer details to personalise conversations. A returning customer might get a greeting like, “Welcome back, Sarah! Are you looking for more headphones today?”
To integrate your chatbot, you can use APIs to connect it to platforms like Salesforce or Shopify, enabling seamless data sharing. Many chatbot platforms also offer pre-built integrations for popular tools like Zendesk, HubSpot, or WooCommerce. For more unique needs, custom development can tailor integrations specifically for your business.
9. Multilingual
You’ve grown your roots in your home soul and now its time to venture into new foreign markets. While this is exciting its important that your brand will resonate as well abroad as it has at home. How do you ensure your AI chatbot is correctly translating your brands voice?
‘Attention is All you Need’, the paper that kickstarted the modern LLMs in 2017 was primarily about language translation. Translation was their primary use case. The transformer approach described became the main deep learning architecture of LLMs.
LLMs are capable of multiple languages but in practice they can break down sometimes in languages other than English. Its because LLM models behind tools like ChatGPT are trained on internet data. There is more content in English on the internet compared to other languages. Also these models will have less access to industry-specific or specialised terms.
Knowing what to translate and what not to is a good start. For instance, brand name translation, do some research and ask a native speaker before you do this one. For example, a UK perfume company called ‘Through the Mist’ might face some embarrassment from German speakers. Because mist in english means foggy humidity, while in german it means animal excrement.
Conclusion
To wrap things up, picking the right AI chatbot really boost your business. Think 24/7 availability, a nice design, and custom features that match your brand. Plus, having the ability to integrate with your existing tools and pull the right info from your site makes everything run smoothly.
Don’t forget the multilingual support – always able to communicate with the people you want to do business with. All in all, these features will not only improve customer service but also save you time.
