Before getting into the article, there are two stats that you should know. First, a research that shows only 17% of customers feel businesses truly listen to them. Second, around 71% of consumers find impersonal digital experiences frustrating.
These two stats bring us to the burning question, live chat vs chatbot. The decision to choose the better one is essential to make a difference in your business performance. In this article, we are going to explore the differences between live chat vs chatbot and the factors that influence the choice between these two technologies.
What is the main difference between live chat and chatbots?
We will explore the major differences between live chat and chatbots with the help of the following table. This will simplify the process and help you make the right choice for your business requirements.
| Live chat | Chatbot |
|---|---|
| Live chat relies on human agents to respond to customers in real time. | Chatbots can function without human help or with minimal involvement. |
| It works best in scenarios where a personal touch is important, such as customer support or sales. | They are ideal for automating simple tasks, answering frequently asked questions, and providing information. |
| Chat platforms can connect with social media, email, and instant messaging, giving you a unified dashboard to communicate with customers across multiple channels. | Chatbots can interact with users through various platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or a live chat widget. |
| Your capacity is limited by the number of agents available to manage the chat system. | They can handle unlimited requests at once, gather feedback, and collect contact information automatically. |
| Best suitable for providing high-quality customer service and solving complex problems. | Best suitable for increasing customer engagement, generating leads, and answering FAQs. |
Let's draw a comparison between live chat vs chatbot based on advantages
| Live chat | Chatbot |
|---|---|
| Offers personalized assistance with a human touch | Provide 24x7 support without human involvement |
| Can be an effective upselling and cross-selling tool with skilled operators | Some chatbot solutions come with pre-designed templates for quick setup and great customer experiences |
| Human agents handle complex inquiries more efficiently | Can handle multiple requests simultaneously, making it easier to scale customer support |
Let's draw a comparison between live chat vs chatbot based on disadvantages
| Live chat | Chatbot |
|---|---|
| Requires you to provide live chat support personally or hire staff | May struggle with specific questions or complex issues |
| Your team needs proper training, including product knowledge and communication skills | Implementation, design, and maintenance can require significant effort |
| Effective only with a limited number of customers, as it's hard to manage multiple chats simultaneously | Some customers who prefer traditional communication methods may find them frustrating |
How to choose between a live chat system and a chatbot?
Now that we have understood the difference between live chat and a chatbot, let’s explore the factors that will help you choose the right one for your business.
Speed of Response
Chatbots offer the obvious advantage of instant responses, reducing wait times to zero. In fact, waiting for a response is the most frustrating part of customer support. Live chat, on the other hand, varies in response time depending on the industry but typically averages 47 seconds globally. Based on our data, it’s around 1 minute and 35 seconds. In online business, every second counts, and chatbots have a clear advantage here.
Customer Experience
While speed is important, customer experience depends on more factors. Despite chatbots’ speed, many customers still prefer interacting with real people. Chatbots, although improving, can’t replicate human emotions and empathy. For many, being heard is more important than fast responses. Still, many customers are open to trying chatbots, especially when they can troubleshoot quickly instead of waiting for an agent. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference.
Availability
Chatbots are available 24×7 without tiring or needing breaks, which is great for companies that want to offer round-the-clock support but can’t staff a team at all hours. They can handle the majority of queries without human involvement. Live chat agents, though, can also be flexible, using mobile apps to respond on the go if your conversation volume is low, ensuring your service quality remains high even when you’re away from your desk.
Personalized Approach
When it comes to providing a personalized experience, live chat wins hands down. While chatbots can offer some service, they can’t fully understand or connect with people. Live chat agents, however, can connect on a deeper level, using tools like customer info panels to personalize the experience even further. Chatbots are improving, especially those using AI to mimic human conversations, but they still can’t match the human touch live agents provide.
Conclusion
Businesses can use chatbots to handle simple tasks, freeing up agents to focus on more complex queries. This approach allows customer service teams to deliver high-quality support while avoiding the overload of repetitive requests.
At Kenyt.AI, the skilled and professional team will help you simplify the decision-making process in choosing the right platform for your business. Contact our sales team now and scale up your business with ease.
Frequently Asked Questions
Live chat involves real-time conversations with human agents, whereas chatbots are automated systems that interact with users based on predefined rules or AI-driven responses. Live chat provides human interaction, while chatbots offer quick, automated solutions.
Live chat is ideal when complex queries require human intervention, personal touch, or nuanced understanding. It is best used for customer support in situations where empathy and problem-solving are essential.
Chatbots offer instant, 24×7 responses, handle repetitive inquiries, and reduce operational costs by automating routine tasks. They can scale to handle many users simultaneously, making them suitable for businesses with high volumes of interactions.
Yes, using both can provide a seamless customer experience. Chatbots can handle simple inquiries and pass more complex issues to human agents through live chat, ensuring quick responses while maintaining high-quality support.
Aaron Jebin is an enthusiastic SAAS technical content writer interested in writing for new and existing technologies, platforms, and tools. With an experience of over 4 years in technical writing, he is keenly focused on developing articles to provide readers with complete solutions to the common problems that arise in the everyday workplace. His writing mostly focused on team building, work ethics, business analysis, project management, automation, AI, customer and employee engagement methodologies. He has an interest in baking cakes and making stained glass art. He is currently honing his drifting skills.
