A chatbot for business: what to choose, what a launch includes and what drives the price

A chatbot for business solves one of two tasks: it answers customers' repeated questions, or it reacts quickly to new enquiries and hands them to a manager. These are different tasks with different preparation, and the one you set decides the solution, the launch time and the budget. Define the task first, then look for the tool.

A scripted bot or an AI assistant

A scripted bot works through buttons and pre-written branches. It is predictable but gets lost when people write in their own words. It fits when questions are few and uniform: opening hours, order status, a pick from a short menu.

An AI assistant understands free wording and answers from the company's knowledge base. It needs a prepared answer base and rules for when to hand the conversation to a person. It fits when customers ask in different ways and the answers already sit in your documents and regulations.

A practical rule: if you can draw every branch of the conversation on one sheet, a scripted bot is enough. If not, you need an AI assistant with clear limits.

Support or sales: two different jobs

• Support. The bot takes repeated questions off the operators and creates a ticket for a person in complex cases. In the AKORDO catalogue this is 24/7 AI customer support: from $1,100 to $2,000, roughly 2-5 weeks.
• Sales. The bot answers new enquiries outside working hours, qualifies the lead and passes it to the CRM. This is the 24/7 AI sales manager: from $1,300 to $2,200, roughly 2-4 weeks.

The AI manager does not replace the team. It removes repeated questions and passes to a person what needs a live decision. The qualification scenario is covered in AI sales assistant: organizing initial lead qualification and CRM handover.

What a launch includes

In the AKORDO catalogue, a support launch covers:

1. building and checking a base of frequent questions with exact answer scripts;
2. connecting to the website or the company's messengers;
3. scenarios that create a ticket for an operator in complex or unusual cases;
4. a monthly list of questions and recommendations for improving the service.

Licences, APIs, hosting and telephony are paid by the client separately. The exact amount is set after a free consultation because it depends on the number of channels, the readiness of your regulations and the need to integrate with a CRM or helpdesk. Terms in the catalogue are indicative, not contractual.

What drives the price

• Number of channels: website, Telegram, WhatsApp or other messengers.
• State of the knowledge base: whether answers are written down or must be collected from employees' heads.
• Integration with a CRM or helpdesk: whether the bot must create tickets and write the dialogue into the customer record.
• Handover rules: who receives a complex question and within what time.

The most expensive part is often not the technology but the preparation of answers. If your managers answer differently every time, the bot will not fix that, it will multiply the differences.

Questions for the contractor before ordering

1. Where does the bot take its answers from and what does it do when it has none? The right behavior is to say honestly that it does not know and hand over to a person.
2. How is answer quality checked after launch and who does it?
3. Which channels and systems are in the price and what is counted separately?
4. What do I receive at the end: the answer base, scenarios, access, documentation?
5. Who maintains the bot afterwards? There are separate support packages billed monthly.

More on choosing a contractor: How to choose an AI sales agent implementation partner. On setting up the first line of support: 24/7 AI customer support.

Where to start

If you do not yet know where a bot would help most, start with the AI audit and quick launch: $600-1,000, roughly 2-4 weeks. It shows which processes to give to AI and which to leave to people. To discuss your task, book a free AKORDO consultation.