Quality customer service is essential for business growth, and various factors can influence your choice of tools to facilitate this service, including the number of customers and human agents. Chatbots like BanglaChatbot enable businesses to enhance customer engagement and interaction. However, are there any significant differences between a chatbot and live chat, which is handled by human agents?

Both chatbots and live chat are incredibly popular in the customer service landscape. Companies continuously seek innovative ways to improve customer experience, and providing quality service is key to achieving this. Both live chat and chatbots are superior methods of communicating with customers compared to cold calls or email messaging.

While over 70% of customers prefer live chat as their primary means of interaction with businesses, market analysts predicted that more than 83% of customers would communicate with businesses without human interaction by 2020. Additionally, recent studies indicate that nearly 85% of businesses are using chatbots for customer service or plan to do so, demonstrating the rise of AI-powered solutions.

Despite the limitations of live chat—such as slow response times and poor user experiences—when used effectively, it remains a valuable tool. In contrast, chatbots are AI-powered applications that use a chat interface to facilitate customer engagement. They address the shortcomings of human agents and live chat, with experts describing them as “an important step” and “the next generation of intelligence.”

While chatbots are not entirely flawless, utilizing quality chatbot builders like BanglaChatbot is an excellent way to create an effective and user-friendly messaging bot. This article will analyze the differences between chatbots and live chat, helping you determine which option is best for your business.

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The Major Difference Between Chatbots and Live Chat

Here are some of the most significant differences between chatbots and live chat.

Human Supervision and Intervention
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Inc., once stated that computing would evolve into an “AI-first world.” This prediction is becoming a reality with the growing presence of chatbots in customer service. One of the biggest distinctions between a chatbot and live chat is that chatbots can operate without human assistance or supervision.

Chatbots can interact with and assist customers for hours without the need for human involvement. Juniper Research estimates that the adoption of chatbots by businesses will save them $11 billion in operational costs and 2.5 billion customer service hours in the next three years. This indicates that businesses can reduce expenses while saving time and energy by utilizing chatbots.

For instance, BanglaChatbot allows you to engage with your customers on social media and your website without requiring human assistance. In contrast, live chat requires an agent to spend hours answering repetitive questions, which can become monotonous. Chatbots can efficiently provide customer service while freeing up your time for other important tasks. While humans may tire of answering the same queries repeatedly, chatbots maintain optimal performance, keeping both you and your customers satisfied.

Moreover, human agents manage live chat, meaning the feature becomes inactive when they are off-duty. This downtime can disappoint users expecting prompt replies, potentially leading to poor customer experiences.

Chatbots Can Multitask
It’s highly unlikely that a human agent on a live chat platform can handle and respond to hundreds of customers simultaneously. Attempting to do so may lead to delays and frustration, risking customer loss to competitors. Don’t forget that word-of-mouth advertising remains one of the most trusted forms of review.

Chatbots, on the other hand, excel at automation. A single chatbot can engage with and interact with hundreds of customers simultaneously. This is why using an easy-to-use chatbot builder like BanglaChatbot is recommended.

Quick Response Time
A key difference between chatbots and live chat is that a single chatbot can provide real-time customer service solutions to hundreds of customers simultaneously, ensuring customer satisfaction. Live chat, however, often leads to customers being placed on hold as they wait for assistance.

Chatbots eliminate delays and sluggish responses, which helps build positive customer relationships. According to recent studies, over 80% of customers expect immediate responses on social media.

Chatbots Are Easy to Operate
As someone who has used live chat, I can attest that it can be complex. It features two interfaces—one for admin and one for visitors—often filled with data. For live chat to be used effectively, time and money must be invested in training sessions.

In contrast, chatbots are much easier to manage. With a simple-to-use chatbot builder like BanglaChatbot, you don’t need any coding skills. Customers and your bot communicate through a single interface, and thanks to artificial intelligence, your chatbot will become smarter over time. You can even train your chatbot on the same platform.

Chatbots Are Always Available
Another significant difference between chatbots and live chat is availability. Chatbots operate 24/7, while live chat cannot guarantee the same. It’s simply not feasible for a human agent to work around the clock. Chatbots are always online—every hour of every day—allowing customers to interact with them regardless of their location.

It is widely recognized that businesses unable to provide round-the-clock customer service risk losing customers. 24/7 support is crucial for brand loyalty and customer retention.

Final Thoughts
When considering the best ways to offer quality customer service, it’s essential to strategize effectively. Quality service enables you to outpace the competition, win new customers, and retain existing ones.

Many people remain uncertain about whether chatbots or live chat are superior. While chatbots are powerful, self-sufficient, and sophisticated, they are not intended to replace humans entirely—not yet, at least. Chatbots have proven to save businesses both time and money.

Your business requires an exceptional chatbot to deliver optimal customer service, which is why you should consider BanglaChatbot.

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