How to Build Chatbots: A Complete Guide for Beginners

The advancements in artificial intelligence technology are rapidly evolving the conventional ways of performing actions and achieving goals. Particularly in conversational media, AI chatbots are changing the game for businesses to provide the utmost customer services, provide service, and engage with their targeted audiences.

Nowadays, AIChatbots are necessary for everybody who wants to streamline their business processes, automate customer care services, and more.

But, do you know how to build Chatbots in simple? What is a chatbot? How many types are there? How do you define which type of chatbot you need? If you are looking for such answers, this guide is a masterpiece for you.

In this guide, we will learn how to build an AI Chatbot following simple steps. So, without wasting any time, let’s get started.

What is a Chatbot? 

Things have become so advanced when talking about the chatbot. A Chatbot is a computer program that mimics human responses to a query. Chatbots are widely used to make customers more indulged in business services. 

There are many use cases of this AI digital companion, from website chatbots to conversational AI chatbots. 

In addition, chatbots provide an exceptional way of welcoming potential customers to your business mediums, websites, or e-commerce stores. Chatbots allow businesses to offer services to their audience or customers, collect data, or start email communications for better lead generation. 

The technology behind these AI chatbots enables them to be used in a wide variety of applications to streamline business processes and customer satisfaction. 

How do these AI chatbots work? Keep reading this guide as we are about to unleash it for you in the next section. 

How Does AI Chatbots Work?

After analyzing the whole process, Chatbots work significantly using multiple AI models that combine to make it functional. From machine learning to large language models, Chatbots consist of different AI models. We have breakdown their working model in the following section– let’s have a look at it!

Understanding User Input (NLP)

When you type a message, the chatbot first needs to understand it. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques allow the bot to break down and interpret the sentence. Here are the main NLP tasks involved:

• Tokenization: The chatbot splits your message into smaller units (usually words or phrases).
• Intent Recognition: It tries to figure out what you’re asking or looking for, like whether you’re making a request, asking a question, or needing help.
• Entity Recognition: The chatbot identifies specific details, like names, dates, or locations, that are crucial to the query.

This phase lets the bot determine the overall meaning and key details of the user’s input.

Generating Responses (NLG)

Once it understands your input, the chatbot has to generate a response, a process known as natural language generation (NLG). The response can be generated in two primary ways:

• Rule-Based or Scripted Responses: Simple chatbots follow a fixed set of rules. If a user says “hello,” they respond with “hello!” These bots don’t “understand” language deeply; they just match predefined keywords or patterns to responses.
• Machine Learning or Deep Learning Models: Advanced chatbots (like GPT-based ones) use machine learning models trained on vast datasets to generate responses.

These models analyze patterns in language, enabling them to produce coherent, contextually relevant responses. Such chatbots can understand more complex phrasing and generate human-like responses.

Using Context to Manage Conversations

Chatbots need to remember the context of the dialogue to make conversations flow naturally, especially in multi-turn conversations. Here’s how they handle it:

• Short-Term Memory: For many tasks, chatbots use short-term memory to retain information from earlier in the conversation, like a recent question or the current topic.
• Longer Contextual Understanding: More advanced chatbots track information over longer conversations, allowing them to answer follow-up questions accurately.

Learning and Improving Over Time

Some AI chatbots, backed by GPT models, can improve by learning from conversations. There are a few methods for this:

• Supervised Learning: When a human corrects or refines the bot’s responses, these changes can improve the model.
• Reinforcement Learning: The bot can be designed to “learn” by receiving positive or negative feedback from users. For example, it may adjust responses to similar questions based on previous feedback.
• Fine-Tuning: Some chatbots undergo regular updates or fine-tuning with newer data, making them more effective over time.

Backend and APIs

AI chatbots often integrate with other systems via APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to provide more dynamic responses. For example, a customer service chatbot might connect to a company’s database to fetch order status information. 

That’s how Chatbot works seamlessly to provide your customers or businesses with an exceptional approach to finding the best possible answers. Now that you have learned how AI Chatbots work. Let’s find out why you need to build a chatbot for your business or other purposes. 

Why Build a Chatbot? Key Benefits for Businesses and Users

Before we start our main discussion, you need to understand the importance of building Chatbots for your business or other purposes. As we discussed, there is a versatile range of applicable areas that makes them so important.

Category	Details
Customer Benefits	Quick Responses: Instant, 24/7 query resolution. Personalized Experiences: Tailored product recommendations and responses. Omnichannel Support: Accessible across platforms like SMS, websites, and social media. Language Flexibility: Supports multiple languages for global communication. Self-Service Options: Guides users through tasks like booking or ordering without human help. Seamless Transitions: Retains details when escalating to human agents.
Company Benefits	Enhanced Customer Engagement: Boosts satisfaction and loyalty through instant support. Operational Efficiency: Reduces staffing costs and frees employees for complex tasks. Scalability: Handles unlimited simultaneous conversations, adapting to growth.
Sales and Marketing Benefits	Increased Conversions: Guides buyers with product suggestions and lead generation. Data Collection and Insights: Gathers CRM data, user preferences, and feedback for personalized marketing. A/B Testing: Refines chatbot messaging to optimize engagement and conversions.
Industry-Specific Use Cases	Banking: Provides secure assistance for account info, bill payments, and loan inquiries. Healthcare: Manages appointments, prescription refills, and medication reminders. Retail & E-commerce: Offers personalized shopping suggestions, order tracking, and product details.
HR and Internal Use	Employee Assistance: Streamlines HR processes by handling common queries. Consistency and Composure: Delivers uniform, professional responses to improve user experience.

Types of Chatbots: From Rule-Based to AI-Driven Bots

Chatbots consist of different types tailored to different business needs. That is why you should know about their different types and specific use cases to choose the best one that fits your business needs. 

In the following section, we have listed multiple types of AI Chatbots along with their specifications, features, best-use scenarios, and much more. So, let’s explore them.

Rule-Based Chatbots

How They Work	These bots follow a pre-defined set of rules, responding based on specific keywords or phrases programmed in advance. They are often called “decision-tree” bots because they guide users through structured flows with fixed questions and answers.
Capabilities	Rule-based bots are ideal for answering simple FAQs, like “What are your business hours?” or “How can I reset my password?”
Pros	Easy to build and cost-effective. Suitable for straightforward tasks that don’t require in-depth understanding.
Cons	Limited in scope; they can’t handle complex questions. They may frustrate users with rigid, linear interactions.
Best For	Rule-based AI chatbots are best for basic customer service tasks, answering FAQs, or simple lead generation.

Keyword Recognition Chatbots

How They Work	These chatbots identify and respond to specific keywords within user input. They use natural language processing (NLP) to find relevant keywords but need help understanding the context.
Capabilities	They provide responses based on keywords, giving more flexibility than rule-based bots, but they still need more depth of understanding. For example, if a customer types “I need help with billing,” the bot may pick up on “billing” and provide options relevant to billing inquiries.
Pros	They offer more versatility than rule-based bots. They can understand a range of related words, making them less rigid.
Cons	They may need help with complex queries where understanding context is crucial.
Best For	Businesses with slightly more complex queries but still dealing with relatively repetitive customer questions.

Contextual AI Chatbots (AI-Driven Bots)

How They Work	These advanced bots use machine learning, NLP, and AI frameworks to understand user intent, recognize context, and provide personalized responses. They learn from interactions, improving over time.
Capabilities	Contextual chatbots handle complex, multi-turn conversations and recall context from previous interactions, making them ideal for use cases requiring personalized responses.
Pros	Highly adaptive and capable of human-like interactions. These bots improve with use, becoming more accurate and intuitive.
Cons	Higher cost and development complexity. They require ongoing training and management.
Best For	Advanced customer service, sales, and personalized user experiences where deep understanding and adaptability are critical.

Conversational AI Chatbots

How They Work	In the most sophisticated form, these chatbots integrate AI, NLP, and deep learning to engage in near-human conversations across multiple topics. They connect with databases and enterprise systems, offering real-time information.
Capabilities	Provide personalized, context-aware responses across a wide range of queries, initiate conversations based on data analysis, and connect with internal systems to pull specific user data or perform tasks.
Pros	Extremely flexible and versatile. Highly effective in complex scenarios like customer support, sales, and lead generation.
Cons	Require extensive data and advanced infrastructure. Ongoing management makes them more costly.
Best For	Enterprises that require sophisticated, dynamic, and high-volume customer interactions.

The above types of AI chatbots show how versatile their use cases are, which makes them essential for various applications. 

After getting to know the types of chatbots, the next step is to plan which type of AI chatbot you want to build. In the very next section, we have discussed a planning procedure for your chatbot project. Let’s explore it.

Planning Your Chatbot Project

Our above discussion has covered all the initial aspects that are crucial for building an AI Chatbot. Now, the final step before building an AI assistant is to plan how it will work. You need to plan the whole approach so that you can get the desired results. 

The following steps will clarify how you should plan for your Chatbot project. 

Let’s learn how to plan for your chatbot-building project. 

Step 1: Define the Purpose and Audience for Your Chatbot

To ensure your chatbot achieves its goals, start by defining its purpose and target audience. You need to define the following things:

• Identify the primary objectives: Decide whether your chatbot will be for customer support, lead generation, sales assistance, or another purpose.
• Determine the audience’s needs and preferred language to shape the chatbot’s responses and tone.
• Gather common questions or pain points from customers to build relevant interactions.

Step 2: Identify Where You Deploy the Chatbot (Website, Messenger, Mobile, etc.)

As we discussed, there are various mediums where you can deploy an AI bot to make your business more efficient and streamlined. That is why, choose where your chatbot will engage with users for optimal accessibility. Here are some of the examples you can use to identify your needs. 

• AI chatbots for website integration: Ideal for customer service or FAQs directly on your website.
• Social media Chatbots: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram for broad audience reach.
• Mobile app or messaging platform like Slack: Integrate based on where users most frequently interact with your brand or business.

Step 3: Choose the Right Chatbot Type (Conversational, FAQ, Lead Gen, etc.)

Once you have identified where you will deploy your AI chatbot, now is the time to select the right chatbot type according to your business needs. Select a chatbot type aligned with your goals to maximize user satisfaction. Here are some types of chatbots you can use as an example:

• Conversational chatbots: For dynamic, natural dialogues, such as support or engagement-focused bots.
• FAQ-based: Efficient for providing quick answers to common questions, saving users’ time.
• Lead generation: Great for qualifying leads, gathering contact information, or converting prospects into customers.

Step 4: Choose the Right AI Chatbot Builder

Now, the last step in the planning phase is to decide which AI chatbot builder you will use to create your AI assistant. There are various platforms that offer you this opportunity but, after a deep analysis, we would like to suggest Landbot. 

We have examined this platform from head to toe and found that it is the only user-friendly, no-code framework that allows you to generate your desired AI chatbot. 

You might be wondering which type of AI Chatbot we will build. The answer is a rule-based website chatbot with some basic conversational app elements. The reason for creating a chatbot of these characteristics is that they:

• Provide consistent and dependable experiences/results.  
• Fast to create and simple to manage.  
• Suitable for a wide range of business applications.

So, we have decided which type of AI chatbot we will build now. Let’s make it happen in the following section.

Step-by-Step Guide to Build Chatbots

In this section, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide to building your own AI chatbot using Landbot, a user-friendly chatbot builder. Whether you’re creating a chatbot for customer service, lead generation, or engagement, Landbot’s tools make the process straightforward and accessible. 

By following each step, you’ll be able to design, customize, and launch a fully functional chatbot, even if you’re new to chatbot development. Let’s dive in and start building!

Start with a Free & Simple Landbot Account Setup

The first step to building your chatbot with Landbot is to select the platform where your chatbot will interact with users. Landbot offers various channels, including website widgets, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger, so you can reach your audience where they’re most active. 

All you need to do is to go to the Landbot chatbot builder and click on the Try Landbot Free option at your top-right corner. After that, you will redirected to your Landbot interface.

Choose Your Chatbot Channel and Explore Templates

Now, explore Landbot’s extensive library of templates. These pre-built templates cover use cases like customer support, lead generation, and surveys. 

Pick a template that aligns with your goal to speed up your bot-building process. This way, you’ll have a ready-made foundation to build on and customize.

As we are building a web-based chatbot, we will choose a Web Chatbot template and customize it accordingly.

In addition, when you select a template, the Landbot will offer you three options: Build it for me, Build it from scratch, and Use a Template. Choose according to your desire and proceed to the next step. 

Craft a Welcoming First Impression

First impressions matter, so make sure your chatbot’s opening message feels friendly and inviting. Use a warm greeting that encourages users to engage. 

Consider starting with a casual “Hello!” or “Hi there!” followed by an introduction to the chatbot’s purpose. 

Explain what it can help with, whether answering questions, providing support, or guiding users through specific actions. Make sure to add a clear and welcoming opening that sets a positive tone for the entire interaction.

n addition to adding text messages, the Landbot AI Chatbot builder also allows you to use media files, such as gifs or others, as a welcoming bot from your chatbot. You can also add multiple questions by just adding a new section without any coding. 

Create Your First Conversation Flow

Now that you have completed the above steps, it is time to plan your conversational flow so that you can provide an indulging experience to your users. In Landbot, you can easily set up conversation steps using drag-and-drop blocks. 

Start by mapping out the questions or prompts your chatbot will ask, such as “How can I help you today?” or “What information are you looking for?” 

Think through possible user responses and add pathways for each one, creating a natural and engaging flow. After that, test your flow as you go to ensure it feels smooth and intuitive.

With Landbot, you can add new questions and answers to the conversation flow using a drag-and-drop scenario. 

Personalize with a Friendly Name Request

Adding a personal touch is essential for making your chatbot feel approachable. Early in the conversation, ask for the user’s name with a simple message like, “May I know your name?” 

Landbot makes it easy to save user responses, so you can use the name in future messages to create a more personalized experience. 

Addressing users by name helps your chatbot feel more human and enhances engagement. That is why you should be sure to add a Name block in your chatbot so that it can impact its user engagement.

In addition to adding a Name block, Landbot offers various other options. Choose according to your desire and adjust its functions accordingly. 

Engage with Fun Button Choices for User Responses

In this step of building an AI chatbot using Landbot Builder, you need to add an interactive twist to your chatbot by using fun button choices! Instead of plain text responses, guide your users through a seamless experience by allowing them to select options with engaging buttons. 

With Landbot, creating button choices is easy—simply customize labels, colors, and shapes to match your brand. This not only makes interactions more enjoyable but also helps guide users quickly to the information or services they’re looking for.

Build Your Subscription Path with Email Collection

After adding fun to your chatbot interaction, you now need to define your subscription path with email collection. To do so, simply set up a subscription path to collect email addresses from your website users. Use a dedicated email collection block in Landbot to prompt users to enter their contact details. 

You can even personalize the message to highlight what users will receive by subscribing—whether it’s exclusive offers, updates, or valuable resources. Capturing emails through your chatbot is a great way to grow your subscriber list and nurture leads.

Seamlessly Integrate & Export Data to Google Sheets

Now, it is part of keeping track of important user data from your web chatbot. While using Landbot, you can do this by seamlessly exporting it to Google Sheets. 

With Landbot’s Google Sheets integration, every interaction can be automatically recorded, making it easy to analyze user responses and trends. 

This easy setup helps you manage leads, store customer feedback, and keep organized records without any manual effort.

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to integrate Google spreadsheet with your chatbot:

• Open Google Drive and create a new spreadsheet that will store the user data collected by your chatbot.
• Now, go back to Landbot and open the chatbot builder.
• From the email block in your bot flow, drag a green arrow and select “GOOGLE SPREADSHEETS” from the options.
• In the Google Sheets integration setup, click “ADD ACCOUNT” to link your Google Drive with Landbot.
• Now, choose the Google account you want to connect. (If you’ve added multiple accounts before, select the correct one from the list.)
• Now, you need to choose Google Spreadsheet from the drop-down menu
• In the “Select an Action” option, pick what you want the bot to do with your spreadsheet. 

For now, you can add the following instructions:

1. Insert a new row to add each user’s data as a new entry (ideal for new subscribers).
2. Update an existing row to modify data that’s already in the spreadsheet.
3. Retrieve data if you want to pull information from the spreadsheet into your chatbot conversation.
4. For most use cases, select “Insert a new row” to create a new entry for each user.

• Link each column in your Google Sheet with the data variables from your chatbot (like email, name, etc.).

And that’s it! Your Google Sheets integration is now set up and ready to collect data automatically.

Make it Interactive with Button Choices & Images

Once you have collected the user’s email, let’s gather more details to personalize their experience. To make it engaging, set up a new question with image buttons. To do so, you need to click on the three dots at the top right of the button block. Then, in the visual editor, you can add images to make the button options more interactive.

To do so, upload images using each button option.

• Scroll down to set a variable to save this answer, then click SAVE.
• Now, users will see image buttons for a more engaging experience.

Add a Carousel for Picture-Based Responses

To add image choices in a scrolling format, select the PICTURE CHOICE option. To do so, draw an arrow from the previous block to connect it, then add:

• Questions you want to ask.
• Answer options with images.

Allow Multiple Choice for User Preferences

For times when a single answer isn’t enough, use the Multiple Choice feature. To set up another Buttons block with multiple answers, you need to:

• Click on the three dots in the top right of the block.
• Scroll down and enable Multiple Choice.
• Don’t forget to set the variable to save the responses.

Get Open-Ended Feedback for Deeper Insights

There are many times when you need to get insights of your customer demands, for that you can rncourage users to share open-ended feedback to gain deeper insights. Open-ended responses allow them to express their opinions and needs in detail, providing valuable data for improving services. 

Using Landbot AI Chatbot builder, you can add a free-text response field, encouraging users to type in their thoughts. This feedback can help you understand user sentiment and tailor your services accordingly. 

To do so, you can use a TEXT question block that will allow users to write their answers without any limits. 

Add Rating Section for Users to your Chatbot

Now that you have created a chatbot that is ready to deploy on your website, why not add a rating section to it so that you can see what users are thinking about your project? Well, to do so is so simple with Landbot. All you have to do is draw an arrow from the last Buttons and add a new RATING or SCALE block from the menu. 

After that, you need to write your rating question, customize your rating format, and create a variable to save the user’s answers. 

The next step is to learn how the chatbot will save these new responses. Let’s do this next step.

Update Google Sheet With New User Data

After getting open-ended answers from your users, your website chatbot will update your previous Google Spreadsheet. To do so, you don’t need to integrate a new spreadsheet. All you need to do is to perform the following steps on Landbot:

• Drag a green arrow from the “Default” button of the last block in your workflow.  
• Use the Google Sheets integration block again to continue the process.  
• Set the action to “Update a Row” (since we want to modify data in an existing row).  
• Use the “Email” column as the reference column (names aren’t reliable as they may repeat).  
• Associate the email variable with this column to ensure accurate matching.  
• Specify which fields to update in the Google Sheet:  
• Choose the target column in the sheet (e.g., “Phone,” “Address”).  
• Link each column to the corresponding variable from your chatbot.  

Now, your AI chatbot will update the latest information to that specific column of the Google spreadsheet that it integrated with previously. 

Following the above simple steps will help you build a chatbot for your website, which will improve, refine, and personalize your business experience. 

After creating a chatbot, now is the time to check its functionalities. In the next section, we will explore how you can test your chatbot. So, let’s start to explore!

How You Can Test Your AI Chatbot?

Testing of a chatbot generated using Landbot is quite simple and interactive. The Landbot AI chatbot builder offers you a preview option so that you can see how accurately your chatbot is responding to users’ inputs. All you have to do is follow these instructions.

• Click the “PREVIEW” button in the top-right corner of the interface.
• This lets you interact with your bot as if you were a real customer on your website.
• Go through the questions and responses to see how your chatbot performs.
• Check for any mistakes or areas where the conversation could improve.
• You can also preview how the bot looks and works on mobile to ensure a good experience.
• Once you’re satisfied, share it with three other people to make sure everything runs smoothly after it’s published.

By following these steps and tips, you can easily check the functionality and user experience of your AI chatbot. 

How To Integrate Your Chatbot with External Tools?

After creating and testing your chatbot with Landbot AI chatbot assistant, now is the time to integrate it with your website or other platforms. To do so, there are a few steps you need to follow for a seamless integration. 

1. Go to the Share Section
2. Choose How You Want the Bot to Appear

When you go ti the SHARE section, you will see four options for embedding your chatbot:  

• Full Page: The bot covers the entire screen for a focused user interaction.  
• Popup: The bot pops up when a user lands on your site (or after a set delay).  
• Embed: The bot appears in a specific section of your webpage.  
• Live Chat: The bot shows up as a chat window in the corner of the screen.  

2. Follow the Instructions  

Click your preferred embed option to see detailed, step-by-step instructions.  

3. Add the Bot to Your Website 

• Copy and paste the provided code into the <body> section of the pages where you want the bot to appear.  
• Email the instructions to your developer if you need help. 

Note: Test the chatbot after embedding to make sure it works as expected!

That’s how you can add your chatbot to your website using the simple steps above. Let’s have some tips for getting the most out of the chatbot chatbot-building experience.

Effective Tips for Building Functional AI Chatbots – Do’s & Dont’s

While generating a chatbot, there are many areas where you have to maintain the balance between AI innovation and user experience. To provide an exceptional experience to your customers, there are some potential tips or do’s and don’ts you must know about to maintain seamlessness. 

Here are some do’s and don’ts you need to know while building an AI chatbot for your website. 

Dos

1. Add a Human Touch

A chatbot with a conversational tone feels more relatable and engaging to users. By implementing a personality that aligns with your brand, you can establish a connection that feels natural and human-like. This not only enhances user satisfaction but also encourages repeat interactions, building trust in your bot’s capabilities.

2. Keep Responses Short and Clear

Users appreciate quick and direct answers. Avoid overwhelming them with long or overly detailed responses. Instead, craft concise messages that clearly address their queries. This approach ensures a smoother experience and allows users to find the information they need without frustration.

3. Enable Seamless Human Escalation

No chatbot can handle everything, so it’s vital to offer users a way to escalate their queries to a human agent. Ensure that this transition is smooth and maintains the context of the conversation. Doing so prevents users from having to repeat themselves and enhances the overall support experience.

4. Provide a Near-Human Experience

Advanced natural language processing (NLP) tools help chatbots understand user intent and context better. This creates more relevant and meaningful conversations that mimic real human interactions. By investing in robust NLP capabilities, your chatbot can deliver a superior experience.

5. Use Fallback Options

When the bot doesn’t understand a query, it’s essential to provide users with prompts or predefined suggestions. These fallback options steer the conversation in the right direction, ensuring that users can still achieve their goals even if the bot initially struggles to interpret their request.

Don’ts

1. Avoid Creating Dead-End Conversations

A chatbot should never leave users stranded without a way forward. Always include options to guide users toward solutions, whether it’s alternative suggestions, prompts, or a direct connection to a human agent. Dead-end conversations frustrate users and damage trust in the bot.

2. Don’t Rely on Text Alone

Text-only interactions can feel dull or limiting. Enhance the user experience by incorporating multimedia elements such as buttons, images, or videos. These additions make the chatbot more interactive and cater to users with different communication preferences.

3. Avoid Open-Intent Conversations

Chatbots with overly broad or undefined scopes can confuse users. Instead, define clear boundaries and functionalities for your bot to maintain focused and productive interactions. This clarity helps users understand what the bot can do and ensures their needs are met efficiently.

4. Never Stop Training the Chatbot

A chatbot needs regular updates and continuous learning to stay relevant and accurate. Stopping training can result in outdated responses or errors over time. That is why it is necessary to consistently refine the bot’s algorithms, expand its knowledge base, and improve its performance based on user feedback.

Final Thoughts

The development of an AI Chatbot is one of the most crucial elements nowadays for increasing your website’s responsiveness. It not only helps you to make your audience more engaged but also enables you to provide a personalized experience to them. We at AIChief have done detailed research on this process and crafted this easy guide for you. 

Feel free to ask anything in the comment section or give suggestions. We are open to suggestions as we take care of our user’s thoughts. So, read the above discussion and learn how to build a Chatbot with every step explained. 

FAQ