Adding a chatbot to your website: what to know before you install a plugin
There are hundreds of chatbot plugins. Most of them give you a widget and leave you to do the hard part. Here is what actually matters, and what to decide before you install anything.
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6 min read
Search for a chatbot plugin and you will find more plugins than you could test in a month. Installing one takes five minutes. Getting a chatbot that answers your customers well, in your voice, and sends your team useful leads takes rather longer, and it has very little to do with the plugin.
The plugin is the easy part
Any modern chatbot, ours included, is added to your site with a small snippet or a lightweight plugin. It does not slow your site down meaningfully, it does not interfere with your theme and it works on online stores as well as standard sites. If a vendor makes installation sound like the hard part, be suspicious of what else they are leaving out.
What actually determines whether it works
Three things. What the chatbot knows: whether it has your own services, prices and policies or is guessing from general knowledge. How it is designed: whether it holds a conversation or pushes people through buttons. And where the leads go: whether a good conversation ends up in your inbox, calendar or CRM with the details attached, or disappears into a dashboard nobody checks.
Questions to ask before you install anything
Who designs the conversation, and do they understand my business? What happens when the chatbot does not know an answer? Can I approve everything it says before it goes live? Where do the leads land, and what do they look like? Who maintains it when my prices change? If the honest answer to most of these is you do, you are buying a tool, not a result.
Done-for-you versus do-it-yourself
A do-it-yourself plugin suits a business with time and someone who enjoys designing and tuning conversations. A managed service suits a business that wants the result without the project. We design, build and run the chatbot, install it on your site, and keep it accurate, with a monthly report on what people asked and who became a lead.
A note on performance and privacy
Whatever you choose, check that the chatbot loads after your page content rather than before it, and that conversations are stored and handled in line with your privacy obligations. Both are easy to get right and easy to overlook.
Next step
Hear how your own chatbot would answer your customers
Bring your website and the three questions customers ask most. In 30 minutes you’ll hear it answered in your voice, with a clear scope and price.