ChatBots and their influence on Information Design
The growing interest in aesthetics and design has made the field of Information Design competitive, Information designers need tools to improve their arsenal in terms of engaging and attracting new clients. While their work does most of the talking Information Designers need tools like websites, portfolios, and Social media to create awareness, insight, and demand for Design. The integration of Chatbots in websites and portfolios can be a great asset to designers in terms of further understanding the needs of their clients.
What are ChatBots and how do they help?
In its purest form, a chatbot is a computer program that allows interaction between humans and technology. As the name suggests, chatbots were originally limited to text-based communication; however, as the technology has improved this interaction paradigm now extends to other input methods including touch and voice. Chatbots allow for a customer experience unmatched by other tools, the 21st-century chatbots integrate ‘AI’ or Artificial Intelligence to collect information that helps both the clients and the designer. Chatbots are software applications that use artificial intelligence & natural language processing to understand what a human wants and guide them to their desired outcome with as little work for the end user as possible. Like a virtual assistant for your customer experience touchpoints.
Choosing the right ChatBot
The main appeal of a Chatbot is achieving a great customer experience and it is important to have flexibility and adaptability to new and growing demands, this can be through the integration of social media, link to LinkedIn profiles and links to resumes and portfolios, the right Chatbot will have the most options in terms of adaptability and integration into many different types of applications and platforms. Many Chatbots are catered towards high-efficiency large ordering and big business websites like Samsung, Microsoft, and so on. these types of chatbots are not properly catered to small businesses and entrepreneurial projects like an Information Designer trying to get a foothold in the industry. This is where Chatbot Libraries like Drift.com or boost.ai aid individuals like Information Designers to find a Chatbot that is the right fit. When choosing the right chatbot it is very important to keep customer service in mind, when you deal with many clients and run into a problem with your chat bot, it is very important to resolve issues quickly and feel safe. Chatbot service providers with big companies backing them will ensure you have 24/hr support in case of problems. Price points and specific plans may require you to shop around, this would be the best when trying to pitch a Chatbot to other clients or businesses. Most Chatbot providers require information on the scale of business and your unique needs before recommending a plan.
Popular Options
Sprinklr
- Free trial
- Need to learn code
- Have to request demo, no base plan promoted
- No Chatbot library
- backed and used by big companies like McDonalds, Honda, Marriot, Prada and many more
Drift
- More than Chatbots
- Chatbot libraries
- 24/hr chat support
- Big business friendly
- Free trial
- contact for plans and demo
boost.ai
- supports voice bots, human chat and integration
- big business friendly
- ability to build custom chatbots
- Sign up for a demo
- 10 day free trial
- contact for plans
Landbot.io
- Free trial free forever, perfect for small businesses
- 3 plans available with $30/mo. being the cheapest
- Chatbot templates
- Chatbot Libraries
- Custom creation of bots.
While there is a free trial and plan for all services providers, there is no prices shown on their websites for plans as they want customers to fill contact forms in order to assess their customers needs and create a special plan accordingly. An article made by Barbora Jassova for Landbot.io describes the versatility of Landbot, a service that adapts to websites and even apps like WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and many others. There is a free plan, free trial, and the base plan is just $30 a month which makes the service a great option for both entrepreneurs and high order businesses. Landbot is a little different to other service provider as it allows the option to create your own chatbot for a website or app of your choosing in a “game like chatbot building experience”. This chatbot building service requires no coding or experience in building chatbots which makes Landbot.io stand out from its competition. The ability to create the perfect chatbot is perfect for Information Designers, it can make a website stand out and impress clients. Landbot may be a versatile tool that would help an Information Designer fulfill the unique requests of their clients. While it is great for service providers to ask customers to fill out forms and gain information on clients for a better customer experience it is frustrating for individuals trying to get an idea of pricing and shop around.
Conclusion
While all service providers have a free trial and can offer a customized plan after evaluating your unique needs, Landbot still stands out to me for it’s ease of use and a cheap monthly plan. They boast their relations with big companies like Coca-Cola, nestle and many others which means they have great customer support and are a recognized service provider. Landbot has many different uses and is adaptable to hundreds of apps and websites. Landbot is one of the only providers that lets you build your own Chatbot without learning to code. For the needs of Information Designers like myself Landbot.io is the best option and hard to pass up.
References
.com, S., 2022. Sprinklr. The only platform for all digital customer experiences.. [online] Sprinklr.com. Available at: <https://www.sprinklr.com/> [Accessed 3 March 2022].
Jassova, B., 2021. The Best Chatbot Software: Top No-Code Picks for 2022. [online] Landbot.io. Available at: <https://landbot.io/blog/best-chatbot-software> [Accessed 27 February 2022].
Drift, 2022. Drift | The New Way Businesses Buy From Businesses. [online] Drift. Available at: <https://www.drift.com/> [Accessed 18 February 2022].
Beanos, C., 2022. Chatbots — The Beginners Guide to Chatbot Technology | Drift. [online] Drift. Available at: <https://www.drift.com/learn/chatbot/> [Accessed 18 January 2022].
