Chat is one of the most popular tools for customer interaction with brands. It allows users to quickly receive answers to inquiries, avoid long waiting times, and easily learn about products or services.

Today, we will discuss two types of customer interaction using chats:

1. Online Chat — This is the ability to communicate with an operator or company representative in real time. This format provides personalized support, prompt issue resolution, and an individual approach to each customer.

2. Chatbot — An automated system that responds to customer inquiries. It operates based on predefined scenarios or uses artificial intelligence to analyze customer requests and provide relevant answers.

AI-powered chatbots can adapt to customer inquiries by analyzing previous conversations. They use the knowledge gained to improve their responses and can handle tasks such as processing orders or updating their status, providing efficient service and convenience for users.

An ideal solution for businesses may involve combining these two formats, offering convenience, efficiency, and quick access to necessary information for customers.

Let’s explore each of these options in detail to determine which is best for your business.

Chatbot for Websites

A chatbot is a modern digital assistant that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to interact with users through text messages. It can answer common questions, perform routine tasks, and improve its functionality based on previous conversations. Thanks to automation, such systems operate continuously, providing users with quick access to information and resolving standard inquiries without human involvement.

AI-powered chatbots have become an integral part of modern customer service. Their main advantage is constant availability. Unlike online chat, which depends on staff working hours, chatbots are ready to respond to customer inquiries at any time of day, even on holidays or weekends. This makes them indispensable for businesses aiming to maintain uninterrupted communication with customers.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Chatbots for Business

Chatbots provide instant responses to inquiries. Automation allows them to quickly process routine questions and perform standard tasks, such as providing order status updates or answering frequently asked questions. However, their main limitation is handling complex inquiries: intricate or unusual problems still require human intervention.

Automation also makes chatbots a cost-effective solution for businesses. They reduce the need for large support teams, cutting costs. Additionally, machine learning algorithms enable chatbots to adapt to user needs, improving response quality over time.

Another key advantage of chatbots is their scalability. They can simultaneously handle a large volume of inquiries, which is especially useful for large businesses with an extensive customer base. This makes them a powerful tool for optimizing communications that meet the demands of the modern market. 

Online Chat for Websites

Online chat allows customers to interact directly with live operators in real time. It’s akin to walking into a store and talking to a consultant for help or advice about products or services. This chat format enables personalized support and precise answers to more complex questions that require expertise or detailed explanations.

How Online Chat Can Help with Customer Support: Advantages and Limitations

A key feature of online chat is its accessibility, which unfortunately is limited by working hours. This means that customers can only seek assistance at specific times when operators are available. Additionally, the response time in the chat depends on how quickly a specialist is available. While chat has high responsiveness, a delay can occur if no agent is available. 

At NovaTalks, this problem is solved with a smart queue. What does this mean?

When customers contact the call center and all agents are busy, the system automatically places inquiries in a queue. The queue is formed based on the time of inquiry and assigned priorities. As soon as an agent becomes available, the system assigns them the next dialogue in the determined order. This way, agents do not waste time selecting tasks — everything happens automatically.

The NovaTalks platform implements several algorithms for automatic dialogue distribution that help optimize agents’ work and ensure efficient customer service. One approach involves assigning inquiries to the agent with the fewest active chats, allowing for a balanced workload. Another method is based on utilization analysis: the inquiry is directed to the agent with the least workload at the time of the request. Additionally, the system considers agents’ qualification levels, directing customer inquiries to those specialists with the necessary knowledge and experience to address specific issues.

Utilization Settings and Limits:
For each type of interaction (chats, calls, etc.), you can set the agent’s workload level, for example:

• Chats: Up to 20% — the system can assign up to five simultaneous conversations to one agent.
• Calls: Up to 100% — while an agent is engaged in a call, no other dialogues are assigned to them.

Additionally, you can set a maximum number of dialogues per agent. Once this limit is reached, new dialogues will not be automatically assigned until the agent reduces their workload.

This feature not only reduces customer wait times but also optimizes agents’ work, ensuring efficiency and quality of service.

Online chat is ideal for resolving more complex issues that require detailed or personalized responses. If a customer has a specific inquiry or needs support with individual matters, a live operator chat allows for more precise and comprehensive information.

Since this type of chat requires operator availability, it is more costly compared to automated chatbots. This also affects the efficiency of using this tool, as scaling requires sufficient staff ready to work.

In terms of adapting to customer needs, online chat does not offer the same level of flexibility as chatbots. It depends on the experience and qualifications of the operator responding to the inquiry. 

An AI assistant can automatically suggest the best response options depending on the type of question, helping to reduce the time spent searching for the right information. Additionally, it can detect the customer’s emotional tone and notify the operator if additional empathy or attention is needed. This makes the service not only faster but also more personalized.

Lastly, a significant limitation of online chat is its scalability. Since inquiries are handled manually, the chat can process only a limited number of simultaneous requests, depending on the number of available operators. This means that for large companies with a substantial customer base, online chat may be less efficient than chatbots, which can handle a much larger volume of inquiries simultaneously.

As a result, online chat is an excellent tool for businesses seeking to provide a high level of customer support for personalized and complex inquiries, but it requires greater expenses and resources to function effectively.

When Should You Use Online Chat?

Online chat is the best solution when your customers need more detailed and individualized support. This method is ideal for companies where high-quality customer service is critical, such as medical services, financial consultations, or e-commerce, where a personalized approach is essential. 

Online chat is especially useful when customers face complex issues that require specialist attention to provide detailed explanations or resolve technical difficulties.

Use online chat in the following situations:

• Customers require more detailed and individualized consultation.
• Issues need resolution that requires human intervention.
• Your company focuses on ensuring high customer satisfaction and emotional connection.
• You can ensure access to staff ready to provide assistance in real time.

The decision about which tool to choose for customer interaction depends on your business specifics and user needs. If your goal is cost optimization, providing support 24/7, and scalability, a chatbot will be the ideal solution. If you prioritize high-quality support with personalized responses and handling complex issues, online chat will be the better choice. However, the most effective approach may involve combining both technologies, allowing you to leverage the advantages of each tool.

Regardless of whether you choose a chatbot, live chat, or a combination of both, the main goal remains to improve customer service quality and build long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.

If you want to improve customer support and increase conversions, the NovaTalks chatbot will be the perfect solution for your website. With this platform, you can create your own chatbot without any additional technical knowledge, as well as set up automation for routine tasks.

With NovaTalks, you’ll get 24/7 support powered by artificial intelligence, ensuring fast and accurate responses to your customers. You’ll be able to configure the chatbot to handle specific tasks such as answering frequently asked questions or processing orders, allowing your team to focus on more complex inquiries.

In addition to the chatbot, we also offer the live chat feature, which allows customers to communicate with live operators in a way that’s convenient for them and receive real-time assistance. You can integrate this feature into your website or platform, providing customers with quick access to quality support.

NovaTalks is an effective tool for automating processes, helping you reduce costs and enhance user interaction.