What would your life look like if you didn’t have to spend hours sending DMs, replying to comments, or taking orders? What will that extra time be worth? If you’d love to achieve more in your digital marketing efforts while doing less, using chatbots may be the key you need to unlock higher levels of productivity.
Modern businesses are drowning in customer communications, with entrepreneurs spending up to 6 hours daily managing messages, comments, and inquiries manually. This constant reactive mode leaves little time for strategic growth activities that actually move the business forward.
In this post, I’ll show you how to leverage chatbots in digital marketing for productivity.
Key Insights
- Chatbots fix time, speed, and energy drains by acting as reliable assistants who never sleep—answering messages instantly, handling multiple people at once, and never burning out.
- Rule-based chatbots follow scripts and are perfect for repetitive tasks like Instagram comment replies, while AI-powered chatbots understand context and reply like humans.
- Chatbots only work if your customer journey processes are clearly mapped out first—without standardized workflows, bots create confusion instead of helping.
- You can choose from ready-made tools like ManyChat or HubSpot for quick deployment, build custom solutions, or hire developers based on your budget and technical needs.
What is a Chatbot
A chatbot is a software that can chat with people and vice versa, just as you chat with your friends and customers on messaging platforms like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
It can answer questions, send messages, and reply to comments.
Note that chatbots differ from artificial intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models like ChatGPT.
Also, chatbots are not CRM tools, although they can be combined with CRM platforms for a better customer experience.
Furthermore, people confuse chatbots with digital assistants like Siri and Alexa. Although similar, chatbots are limited to chat-based queries and replies, whereas digital assistants do more than just chat – they integrate with other apps like your calendar and music player, search for things online, set alarms, etc.
4 Types of Chatbots with Examples
Chatbots can be classified in different ways.
1) By the Technology Used
Based on the type of technology, there are rule-based and AI-powered chatbots.
Rule-based Chatbots
These are hardcoded to perform tasks based on if this, then that (IFTTT) rules. For example, the chatbot can be programmed to detect a keyword and respond to it.
If you’ve ever seen an Instagram post that said “Comment KEYWORD,” and I’ll send you the link to my billion-dollar training, that was a rule-based chatbot in action. It detected the keyword and sent you a prewritten message instantly.
If you send a word other than what was specified to a rule-based chatbot, you won’t get any response, or it will give an error warning. So if you had sent “keywords” instead of “KEYWORD” you wouldn’t have received the message.
Most social media chatbots are rule-based.
AI Chatbots in Digital Marketing
AI-powered chatbots, on the other hand, are powered by large language models. They don’t reply based on some predetermined keyword, but instead understand the context around your message and give intelligent, human-like responses.
Examples of AI-powered chatbots include ChatGPT and Claude.
2) By Conversation Style
Based on the flow of conversation, chatbots can be classified into script-based and interactive chatbots.
Script-based chatbots follow a predetermined script. They can’t talk about topics outside their script. Most rule-based chatbots are script-based.
Interactive chatbots don’t follow a script. Instead, they are trained on data and taught how to respond to questions in different scenarios. Therefore, they can hold human-like conversations with users. AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT are interactive.
3) By the Method of Interaction
Based on the method of interaction, chatbots can be either text-based or voice-based.
4) Hybrid Chatbots
Chatbots can also combine different technologies and functionalities. For example, you can have an AI-powered chatbot that follows strict rules and interacts with text and voice inputs.
How Does a Chatbot Work Step by Step?
Like every other software or computer program, chatbots work by receiving input, processing it, and giving a response. The specifics are based on the type of chatbot.
It could be by a combination of rules, natural language processing (NLP), or artificial intelligence (AI).
Here’s what the step-by-step flow looks like:
1. A User Sends a Message
The process starts when a user types a message (e.g., “What’s the weather today?”) into the chatbot interface (on a website, app, or messaging platform).
2. The Chatbot Receives the Message
The chatbot receives this raw text input. It passes the message into a processing system to figure out the meaning.
3. Natural Language Processing (NLP)
The chatbot uses NLP to break down and understand the message:
- Tokenization: Splits the sentence into words or phrases.
- Intent Recognition: Identifies what the user wants (e.g., “get weather”).
- Entity Recognition: Extracts specific details (e.g., “today”, “weather”, “London”).
For example, in the message “What’s the weather in London?”, the chatbot identifies:
- Intent: get_weather
- Entity: London
4. Decision-making/Response Generation
Based on the intent and entities:
- Rule-based chatbots follow pre-set flows (if a user says X, respond with Y).
- AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT use machine learning to generate natural responses based on large datasets and context.
5. Fetch Data or Perform Action (if needed)
If the chatbot needs information (e.g., weather), it can:
- Query a database
- Call an API (e.g., weather service)
- Perform calculations or look up responses
6. Response is Sent to the User
The chatbot formats a response and sends it back through the chat interface. The response might be:
- Text
- Image
- Button options
- Links
7. (Optional) Store Context or Update Memory
If the chatbot is designed to remember past interactions (context-aware), it may store users’ preferences, ongoing conversation details, and session history.
This makes future responses more relevant.
8. Wait for the Next Input
The chatbot then waits for the next message to continue the conversation.
Summary of how chatbots work:
User Message → NLP → Intent/Entity Detection → Logic/AI Engine → Fetch Data (if needed) → Respond → Repeat
What Are the Pros and Cons of Chatbots?
Chatbots help businesses in many ways, but as with everything else, there are some downsides. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of chatbots.
The Advantages of Using Chatbots
Some of the benefits for customers and business owners include:
- Quick replies
- Cost savings
- 24/7 availability
- Fewer humans/hours spent
- Time savings for the business owner
Disadvantages of Using Chatbots
- May be unable to answer certain questions satisfactorily.
- AI-powered chatbots may provide wrong/misleading answers
- Lack of human touch could impact trust.
How Chatbots Affect Businesses
Chatbots respond faster to customer inquiries and complaints, reducing wait times and improving customer experience. Just think about the times you’ve canceled an order or switched brands because they took too long to reply.
Chatbots engage with customers in your absence, freeing up time for you to focus on other parts of your business.
There are cost savings associated with using chatbots, since you’d require fewer customer support personnel.
Chatbots can also help with data collection from users for better marketing decisions and personalised interactions with customers.
Using Chatbots in Digital Marketing
Now you know what chatbots are, how they work, and the benefits of using them, how do you use them for your business? Where do you start?
First, you must know what to expect and what not to expect from chatbots.
The Primary Function of Chatbots in Digital Marketing
The main purpose of a chatbot for a business owner is to automate redundant chat-based processes. This reduces the time you spend answering recurring questions, sending frequently requested links, and guiding customers along each stage of the buyer’s journey.
For the customers, they get faster replies to their questions, order processing, and a fun way to learn about your business and its offerings.
The problems chatbots solve are:
1) Lack of time: If you’re a solo business owner or a small team catering to hundreds or thousands of people, there’s little you can do alone.
With questions pouring in, orders to fulfill, business management, accounting headaches, and strategic growth objectives, you just wouldn’t have enough time even if you’re willing to answer all DMs.
Your bot has all the time in the world. It stays on 24/7.
2) Lack of speed: A bot can reply to thousands of queries almost instantly, at the same time.
3) Lack of energy: On some days, you may not have the energy to reply to DMs. You may be angry, sad, or just stressed out. This can affect your replies, and your leads/customers may feel the low energy and bail out on you. A bot, on the other hand, is always the same. Whether at 2 am or 12 pm. No hunger, no emotions. Just quick replies.
5 Steps to Using Chatbots for Digital Marketing
Step 1: Identify and Standardize Your Chat-Based Processes
You first need to identify your chat-based processes and standardize them. E.g., when someone sends you a message for the first time, what do you do? Just winging it won’t cut it. If someone says “hi”, how do you respond?
A standardized flow can look like:
New user sends message > Greet, introduce yourself, and ask for their name > Get the name > ask what they need help with > get response > give the appropriate reply > ask if they’re satisfied or need help with something else > if satisfied, close chat OR if need help repeat from step 4.
I only gave one example of a chat-based process above. Typically, every business should have 5-10 major chat-based processes, including:
- First time conversation (usually product/service enquiry).
- Social media comment replies.
- Repeat conversations
- Payment confirmation.
- Failed payment resolution
- Product delivery updates and resolution
- Customer support
If you don’t have clear processes from first contact to making the sale and providing ongoing support, a chatbot may not help much.
Also, note that the exact process varies from one business to another.
I’ve seen a copywriting coach who uses a WhatsApp chatbot to teach an entire online class. On the day of the class, he just types in the keyword and it triggers the bot. He also offers an affiliate program where affiliates simply add the bot to their WhatsApp group, type in the keyword to trigger the bot, and it just fires away, teaching the students copywriting.
If it involves typing a message, there’s a high chance a chatbot can handle it.
Step 2: Identify the Areas You Want the Chatbot to Handle
After identifying and standardizing your chat processes, you need to decide on the processes you want the chatbot to handle. You may initially say “let it handle everything”, but as you try to implement some processes, you’d notice that the chatbot only complicates the issue instead of helping you save time.
If you have to step in a majority of the time to handle a particular process because your chatbot doesn’t do it effectively, that’s not a good process for your chatbot to handle.
Step 3: Get a Chatbot
After clarifying what you want to use your chatbot for, you have three options.
Build Your Chatbot
Building your chatbot is not as daunting as it sounds. Anyone can do it. In fact, I built one last week while I was writing this article, all thanks to artificial intelligence. All it takes is basic problem-solving skills, Claude AI, and the right prompts.
The advantage of building your chatbot is control over the entire process and cost savings in developer fees. You only worry about ongoing fees to run the bot, which is usually significantly lower than what you’d spend if you opt for other methods.
Nevertheless, there are downsides. You spend a significant amount of time in the early stages to get it running, you may have a learning curve to surmount, and you’ll be responsible for its security and ongoing maintenance.
Use an Already Existing Chatbot
While I fancy building my chatbots myself, I have to admit that using an already existing chatbot is the best option for most small and medium-sized businesses. Depending on the platform you intend to use the chatbot, there are different options.
- ManyChat for Instagram and Facebook.
- Autoresponder for WhatsApp
- HubSpot for Websites
The advantage here is that your chatbot will be up and running within minutes to hours. You also don’t have to worry about security and ongoing maintenance. You only have to pay a monthly or yearly subscription fee.
The disadvantage is that you may be limited if you need to customize your bot for certain functions or integrations. Also, there may be monthly limits on the number of messages your bot can send.
Hire a Developer to Build One for You
This is the most expensive of the three options. I won’t recommend it unless you’re an enterprise-grade client with specific use cases that require custom bots.
While you get an expert software developer to create any bot for any platform to do anything (within reasonable limits), you’d have to fork out huge amounts of money and also pay talent for monthly maintenance and security.
Step 4: Deploy the Chatbot
Now your chatbot is ready, it’s time to put it to work. If you built it yourself or hired a developer, you’d need a cloud or local server to ensure your bot runs 24/7.
Step 5: Monitor, Review, and Improve
Launching your bot isn’t the end. You have to check in closely during the first few days to ensure that it does what you expect.
After that, it’ll be nice to schedule monthly or quarterly reviews to ensure your bot is still working. You may also spot areas for improvement.
Now let’s see some specific use cases of chatbots on a website and 3 popular platforms.
Website Chatbots
A website chatbot is a good way to initiate conversations with visitors and capture leads who would have otherwise passed by.
By adding a chatbot widget to your website, you can increase conversions and capture high-quality leads.
How Do I Add a Chatbot to My Website?
One easy way is to use HubSpot’s chatbot. Simply go to their chatbot product page, create a free account, set up your chatbot, and follow the instructions to add it to your website.
HubSpot’s chatbot is one of the best for websites.
Other options include Voiceflow and Tawk.to.
How Much Does It Cost to Add a Chatbot to Your Website?
It can cost anywhere from $25 to $999, depending on the complexity of the chatbot and the number of interactions per month.
How Do I Add a WhatsApp Chatbot to My Website?
Many website chatbot providers offer integration with WhatsApp. You can check out Tawk.to and HubSpot.
WhatsApp Chatbots
The easiest way to get a WhatsApp chatbot is to use Autoresponder.
Autoresponder was initially a rule-based chatbot that replies to messages based on pre-determined keywords.
You can set delays so your bot replies after a few seconds or minutes.
Remember the coach I talked about who used a WhatsApp chatbot to teach his classes? This is what he used, years before AI exploded.
Recently, Autoresponder has started adding AI integrations and capabilities. You can check it out on their website.
Does WhatsApp Allow Chatbots?
Yes, WhatsApp isn’t against using chatbots, provided you’re only responding to messages sent by your contacts. Ensure you don’t spam users else they could report you and restrict or even ban your account. Check out WhatsApp’s policies for more details.
Is WhatsApp Chatbot Free?
Autoresponder has free and paid plans. The paid plan costs about $40 per year. That’s a steal if you ask me. Empowering your bot with AI capabilities will incur more fees though.
Which Chatbot is Best for WhatsApp?
Wati.io is one of the best providers of WhatsApp chatbot and automation capabilities. Although their pricing is significantly higher than Autoresponder, the value is worth the price. You can easily integrate your WhatsApp marketing with other databases and popular tools.
Alternatively, you can build or hire a developer to create a WhatsApp chatbot for you, using the WhatsApp Business API.
Telegram Chatbots
Telegram is one platform that offers robust bot solutions. It has built-in features for creating and maintaining bots. There’s almost no limit to what you can do with chatbots on Telegram.
Is Creating a Telegram Bot Free?
Creating a Telegram chatbot is free if you know how to code or if you can instruct AI to write code for you. You only have to worry about hosting your bot.
Alternatively, you can use no-code Telegram chatbot builders like Chatrace. Pricing starts at $14 per month for 500 contacts and includes hosting your bot.
How to Create a Bot in Telegram?
You can create a Telegram Bot in 5 simple steps.
Step 1: Send /newbot to @BotFather on Telegram.
Step 2: Give your bot a name and username.
Step 3: Get your Bot Token. This is attached to the congratulation message you get upon approval of your bot’s name. You’ll need this to control your bot in your code or chatbot builder.
Step 4: Write the code for your bot or use a no-code bot builder. Claude AI did mine for me.
Step 5: Deploy and test your bot.
Facebook and Instagram Chatbots
One of the best chatbot options for Facebook and Instagram is Manychat. It’s safe, easy to use, quick to set up, and has fair pricing, which starts at $15 per month. Additionally, they have a generous free trial that lets you explore Manychat before committing fully.
Chatfuel is a good alternative.
Read Also
Top 13 Marketing Automation Software
Top 10 Small Business Tools to Skyrocket Your Business
Product Marketing: Strategies to Make Your Product Go Viral
How to Scale a Business in the AI Era: Strategies for Entrepreneurs
Conclusion
And there you have it, everything on how to leverage chatbots for higher digital marketing productivity. Think of this: instead of getting stuck on your phone for hours every day answering the same questions again and again, you can be crafting that new product launch, planning your next campaign, or even enjoying a well-earned holiday.
The greatest thing about chatbots is that they don’t remove the human touch from the equation, they just handle the repetitive tasks for you, so you can focus on what really matters. Your customers want instant replies, and you want your time back. Chatbots provide both.
Whether it’s a simple Instagram comment bot or you go all out with an AI assistant, the key is to start somewhere and keep improving.
“Ready to grow your business without the hassle? At Pragmapreneur we build websites, apps, and winning marketing strategies to help your business’ online visibility. If you’d like to reach more customers while working less, send us a message.”