What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a conversation window that answers from a script, a knowledge base, or a model. It usually responds when someone types. It does not, by itself, go off and complete a multi-step job.
Also called: FAQ bot
In plain English
The box on your website is a chatbot. It can answer hours and point at the booking link. An agent is what you add if it must look up a record and draft a follow-up later. Many 'AI chatbots' are a model plus a short FAQ. That is fine if the FAQ is true. Put the bot on the questions you already answer in the same words every week: hours, parking, what to bring. Read the first twenty transcripts yourself. If people keep asking for a person, the bot is in the way. Say it is an assistant in the first line. A customer who feels tricked will not argue with the bot. They will argue with you.
How an owner would use it
Put hours, address, what you do, and the booking link in the bot. Leave prices and medical or legal advice out unless a person wrote the exact line.
Common mistakes
A website chatbot trained on the whole internet plus one outdated FAQ will answer prices you no longer charge. Keep the bot on facts you would print on the window. An FAQ bot is this, not an agent. Do not let it take payments because the vendor offered a checkout plugin. Review transcripts weekly at the start. If you will not read them, do not put the bot on the site.
A worked example
A barbershop
Hours, address, and the book link
This is an illustration, not a customer result. The site bot answers hours, the cross street, and which chairs take walk-ins, then offers the booking link. If someone describes a skin issue, it uses the sentence the owner wrote: call the shop, we do not give medical advice. It does not invent a price for a design.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a chat interface that answers questions, usually from a script or a knowledge base. It responds to the user. It is not automatically an agent that takes action later.
How do I use a chatbot on a small business site?
Limit it to facts you would put on the contact page, plus a path to a person. Review the transcripts.
Should the chatbot pretend to be a person?
No. Say it is an assistant and give a way to reach the shop. Customers who think they are texting the barber get angry when the reply is generic. Disclosure is a separate decision from the script, and you want both.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.