Chatbot App Development: Features, Benefits, and Cost

Chatbots have been an integral part of most companies’ support since their inception and have improved a lot over the years. But what we see today isn’t anywhere near where chatbots would be in the coming future, and that’s all thanks to increasingly popular chatbot app development methodologies. People often wonder what a chatbot can actually do, and the simplest answer we can come up with is there are no limits to it.  

People often believe chatbots pose a threat to the customer support/service segment, but on the contrary, this program helps improve it further by minimising efforts required from human staff. No industry can improve if they shy away from technology, and chatbots can be called the perfect example for it. If you are planning to get your own chatbot developed, you are at the right place, and today we have you covered on all aspects of the chatbot software development.  

Let’s begin with what are chatbots? 

Chatbots are programs implemented with the purpose of making accessibility and support easier for users. They come in various shapes and sizes, different integrations, varying capabilities and incorporate several different technologies. When developing a chatbot for an application, there are various things you need to decide on. When you ask what is chatbot development and what to include in your chatbot, the entirety of the project depends on three things, the cost, benefits, and features to be included in your chatbot app.

Let us begin with the features you should include in your chatbot. 

NLP 

Natural language processing governs how the users would interact and use your chatbot. With NLP, the chatbot won’t be able to connect with users on a deeper level, and that’s why it is one of the most important features your chatbot should have. On a bigger scale, there would be dependencies based on how capable you want your chatbot to be, but the a bility to communicate remains the most important part of a chatbot.  

Software Integration 

Chatbots can be a great medium to fetch data with a simple query and can be integrated with solutions such as apps, CRMs, and more. Using this feature, you would essentially build a bridge through which any user can come and operate your software solution. All they would need to do is type or speak to the chatbot about what they are looking for, and your chatbot solution would search the data in your software and fetch it to the user.  

Payments Integration 

For a lot of business offerings, managing payments, refunds, and likewise, gets to be the most difficult part. Hire chatbot developers who can integrate features like auto accessing the situations, issuing refunds, cancelling orders, and whatever else is required on their own. Payment related queries are the most popular ones in almost all on-demand service providers and product-based business apps, and chatbots allow a seamless support system for it. 

Live Tracking 

Live-tracking requires different API integrations from respective providers, and you can easily enable it in the chatbot. Rather than dedicating a big section towards live-tracking, you can simply integrate it into the chatbot. This feature would ease the most demanded service by the users and would at the same time help you save app space by fetching everything from APIs and databases.  

Overlay 

While this is a feel-good feature, it can be a make or break in many situations and chatbot offerings. Chatbot overlays allow users to stay connected while the chatbot may have to transfer the case to human support and keeps the chat active in the meantime. With users facing issues and wanting to use the app at the same time, this feature can come in really handy and be appealing at the same time.  

Export Option 

Not many people would use this option, but it is good to have a feature with custom chatbot development for customer service. Provide options to export the chat transcript in multiple formats, and it would double sure users that they are in the right hands. The export option can also be combined with an import option to enable a case history analysis, all using the chatbots and without the intervention of the human staff.  

The Benefits of Chatbot for Your Business are as follows:  

Multi-channel 

A well-developed chatbot can be easily integrated into any channel, or medium the user is accessing your software at. There are multiple benefits of the same as you would save development and customisation costs when it comes to integrating support windows in different offerings. While being present on multiple channels, the same chatbot can also provide help at those channels simultaneously, which is almost impossible for human support staff. 

Reduced Human Dependency 

A chatbot cannot replace human empathy and problem-solving capabilities but can reduce dependency when either doesn’t come into the picture. A chatbot can easily solve navigation-related queries, general queries, run scans for anomalies, payments, tracking, and provide support instantly to the user. Chatbots can be a great addition to solve low-level queries and problems and significantly reduce human support dependency in the process.  

Scalability 

When you get a chatbot developed by the experts, you won’t have to worry about scalability. A single chatbot program can handle thousands of queries at once, so you won’t have to worry about long queues of users waiting for support. While it is technically impossible to provide as much support through human staff, the chatbots are built for this purpose and would cost a fraction compared to human support costs.  

Multi-lingual 

Using natural language processing, the chatbot can be easily made multilingual. This is essential when you have users from all around the world. The multilingual support doesn’t only have to be of the limited scope for the chatbot. The same can be implemented in real-time to assist the support staff with translation, making the process easier and more fluent. If you were to hire support staff for every different language, you would spend a fortune. A single chatbot can do it all for you at the cost of one.  

Instant Resolutions 

Chatbots are loved for the very reason of instant resolutions, as in the case of a chatbot, the answers and resolutions are both lighting fast. While it would take at least seconds to even connect to human support, chatbots can solve 1000s of queries in that time and be available to every user at the same time. People hate to keeping waiting for support, and the only answer to it is chatbots.  

Priority Queuing Support 

An analysis of the users queries while allocating support (even based on seniority) can be a real thing if you hire chatbot developers. Even have built solutions where the users would be put in a priority list based on the severity of their issue and mapped to support to improve efficiency and performance of the entire support team. This benefit stands out to be the most important one, but only if it is implemented by a top chatbot app development company.  

And finally, we are at the Cost of Chatbot App Development. 

You may still be wondering how to develop a chatbot and would have been already bombarded with ballpark figures, and we don’t want to do that with you. To know the exact cost, you will need to submit your requirements/idea and give our analysts at least 24 hours until they can build a free quotation for you. Now coming to the cost of chatbot app development, there are two major deciding factors on how much you are going to pay for i

Experience and Location of Development Team 

The experience and location are the deciding factors on how much you would be paying as per hour cost. While we too offer turnkey hiring models, the majority of the cost is decided based on the experience of developers required + the hours they would have to work on to build your chatbot solution. In an ideal scenario, your team would consist of: 

• A Project manager  
• An AI and NLP expert 
• App developers  
• UI/ UX experts  
• QA and testers 

The average per hour cost will be given on the basis of how many and who in terms of team members you require.  

Recommended Read – How To Hire An Android App Development Company?

Total Hours Required to Develop Your Project 

A project can be completed in a few hours and could also take 1000s of hours plus maintenance and support for more. Depending on the features you require in your chatbot, we would be calculating the hours required for the entire project. We also do a breakup based on which team member would be allocated for how many hours to make calculations easier for you.  

Some people might charge you hidden discrepancies, but if you hire chatbot developers from someone honest like Matellio, these would be the only major costs you would bear. When you have both, you will know the cost of each component and the time required to build your chatbot. 

Conclusion  

Getting a chatbot is a necessity in today’s world; it isn’t a feel-good factor anymore but decides on what type of user experience your app provides. Nobody likes waiting for support and is always looking for ease of using your software; you can achieve both with a good chatbot. If you are planning to get a chatbot developed for your business, Matellio’s chatbot development team can literally build the chatbot of your dreams. Submit us your requirements or call to have an idea about how to proceed with it, we are available on the phone and email mentioned, or you can fill the form with your requirements, as and we will get back to you.