We all are trying hard to head first into chatbot technology to learn about how to accomplish it in our business and how to reap benefits. People jumping into this space must know about the difference between a WhatsApp Chatbot and Web Chatbot. To speed up with everything you need to know about: How you compare them and how best is to use each, according to your product or business. We need to be on the same page to know all about this. 

What is a chatbot?

These computer programs are used to simulate conversations with their users or customers to facilitate a trade of information or service. Without an operator needing for an operator to step in, the chatbot can grasp the text by identifying it, extrapolating from it, and then interpreting it to help with a user’s inquiry. They are also frequently referred to as customer service chatbots as their only function is to assist consumers in resolving their issues. 

But where do you think is this conversation happening?

A web-based chatbot is having a conversation with users on a regular web page.

An online chatbot is technically speaking, software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and, more precisely, natural language processing (NLP) to engage with clients naturally through chat. It looks like the floating chat symbol that you may have seen in the bottom right corner of the homepages of several e-commerce companies. To enable expedited answers, web chatbots are typically loaded with a pre-filled response that frequently relates to the most frequent issues users confront.

WhatsApp chatbots 

This chatbot automates interactions with people on a business Whatsapp account. These conversational AI-powered bots run with the help of API. You can communicate with WhatsApp chatbots via the classical WhatsApp chat interface that we are used to. They proffer the capability to share with more users simultaneously.

Whatsapp chatbot is similar to a web-based chatbot but uses the business WhatsApp platform.

For this, you need a WhatsApp account and access to WhatsApp business API. Once the user sent a message and the message reaches the conversation engine, it respond to those messages that got sent to it based on a conversation flow that we define its whichever build we are using. Now, let’s dig deep into the pool.

Advantages & Disadvantages:

What is better and what’s not? Why is having a conversation on WhatsApp chatbot better than a web-based chatbot and vice-versa? There are a million ways to do this, but our purpose is to short out minimally. So we have some important points to grab your attention.

Account Management

• One needs to be always logged in, opting for instant conversation. Also, they automatically share their number with the business, where 1% of 1000s own not a Whatsapp account for now. This is a pro as well as a con for WhatsApp chatbot, that we have access to their contact number that traditional marketing gains after several follow-ups.
• Whereas in a web chatbot, you need an account, but users need to explicitly share their contact details with the business, which is going to be a topic for discussion. The con about this is that. It’s the inverse effect of WhatsApp chatbot, wherein we get through an entire lead conversation and they don’t share their phone number or contact. Which means the whole conversation is in vain.

Retargeting

• Every prospect is essentially a subscriber. And you can also retarget users with messages in perpetuity. Even though the open rates are high here, you can use marketing tags.
• When it comes to web-based chatbots, you cant message users to bring back them into conversation unless they opt for push notification. Web chatbots offer a low open rate for these notifications and allow you to use marketing tags.

Discovery

• Users get easy access to the WhatsApp chatbot just by sending a hi, or through a Facebook ad or QR codes and web widgets. You need to make adjustments to your marketing efforts to bring people to the chatbot. But once your users have opted in you can treat the with any newsletter list.
• In the case of web-based chatbots, you can access them anywhere on a webpage. They can also slot it into your existing channel, but building an owned audience takes more work.

Control Over UI

• In the case of Whatsapp, Facebook holds the control over UI. There won’t be any custom input UI, and no branding. The only level you have is messaging.
• But for web chatbot, you have more control over UI with custom input UI and interface branding with controlled messaging.

Cost of Operation

• In general, Chatbots reduce a business’s operating costs likely by 30%. 
• The ability to understand and respond to queries saves us from the need to invest money in hiring and training client service executives.

Customer Data

• Chatbot helps in gathering customer information and statistics. They gather data such as common inquiries, user preferences, suggestions, specific product information, best seller, etc.
• The gathered data can be used to develop a more knowledgeable section like FAQ on your website.

User Experience

• The customer experience is improved by having a WhatsApp chatbot that is available every day of the year, regardless of whether a user has to contact a company after hours or on a holiday.
• Customers may have their issues addressed and resolved right away, without needing a human agent to be on duty. But it might not be so in the case of web chatbots.

Chatbot Disadvantage:

• One disadvantage every bot depict is the inability to present and indulge emotions in communication with users might create clutter and a sense of aloofness at times.
• More templated responses are hence added to the conversation engine so as to inject a human element.
• Periodic maintenance is required. In terms of their knowledge base and how they should connect with clients, bots require ongoing modification, maintenance, and optimization.
• For the chatbot to respond to client questions and inquiries, updated and relevant data must be put into it employing appropriate tools. 

• The complications faced while developing these depend upon your business needs and the level of complexity of the queries the chatbot needs to attend to. 
• A personalized chatbot development from scratch that can answer complex customer inquiries, can be difficult.

Which one should you choose: Whatsapp or a web-based chatbot?

According to Statista, 2022 reports;

• There are 180 nations represented among the 2 billion active WhatsApp users.
• WhatsApp adds 1 million new users daily on average.
• The average daily usage of WhatsApp is 3 hours.
• All generations use WhatsApp in the big eCommerce nations.
• A virtually gender-neutral platform for connecting with individuals is shared by the user composition, which is made up of 54% men and 46% women.

Although there are certain drawbacks to these chatbots, the benefits far exceed the drawbacks. These chatbots improve customers’ interactions with your company and increase revenue as well. But there are several ways to get around their drawbacks. Start developing a web or WhatsApp chatbot for your company right now if you haven’t already.