Chat & support
AI website chat that actually knows your business, and knows when to hand off
It is 9:04pm. A woman has water coming through her ceiling. She finds a local plumber's website and taps the chat bubble in the corner. She types: "Do you do emergency repairs on weekends?" The reply comes straight back. "Thanks for your message! We'll get back to you within 24 hours."
The answer was on the services page all along. She never saw it. She closes the tab, goes back to Google, and books the next plumber whose site told her yes.
The short answer
A good AI website chat answers from your own information, books or takes the lead, and hands everything else to a person.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What it is | A chat on your site that answers from your own information, books or captures the lead, and hands off to a person |
| What it is not | A scripted button menu, or a bot that guesses |
| Who it suits | Clinics, trades, online stores, agencies and SaaS companies with steady traffic and the same questions every day |
| Cost range | From about $25 a month for a starter tool to a custom build with a setup fee and a monthly fee; AI is often billed per conversation |
| What to do first | Write down the 20 questions you answer most, with your real answers |
Why old chatbots failed, and what changed
Most older chatbots were decision trees. They showed buttons, matched keywords and followed a script. Anything off the script got "Sorry, I didn't understand that."
Customers noticed. Gartner surveyed 5,728 customers in December 2023 and published the results in July 2024. 64% said they would prefer companies did not use AI for customer service. 53% said they would consider switching to a competitor over it. The top worry was that AI would make it harder to reach a person. Wrong answers were on the list too. Gartner is a research and advisory firm, and the survey is now nearly three years old.
What changed is that AI can now read a question in the visitor's own words and answer from documents you give it. Vendors report big gains. Intercom says its Fin agent averages a 76% resolution rate across more than 12,000 customers. Tidio's pricing page says its Lyro AI can solve up to 67% of customer problems. Both are vendors describing their own products, so treat the numbers as claims.
The fix for Gartner's worry is in the design. Make the route to a person easy, and keep the AI honest about what it does not know.
How it works, step by step
- A visitor asks a question in their own words.
- The AI searches your information: service pages, price list, FAQs and policies. Our knowledge base service is how we load your own documents into it.
- It answers and links to where it found the answer. If the question is unclear, it asks one clarifying question.
- If the visitor wants to go ahead, it books a slot or takes their name, contact details and what they need. The booking side works like our post on automatic appointment booking describes.
- It hands off to a person with a short summary, so nobody makes the visitor repeat themselves.
A captured lead is only useful if someone follows it up fast. Our post on speed to lead covers why minutes matter.
What it should answer, and what it must hand off
The split is the same as for messaging apps. I covered it in detail in our post on WhatsApp and SMS customer support. In short, the AI takes questions with one right answer. A person takes complaints, refunds, advice and anything the AI cannot find.
Online stores get the most from connecting the chat to orders, so "where is my parcel?" gets a real answer. That is part of our ecommerce automation work. SaaS companies can point it at product docs and plan details, as on our SaaS support page. Bugs and billing disputes still go to a person.
Accuracy and safety
This is a plain summary, not legal advice.
Answer only from your information. Tell the AI that if the answer is not in what you gave it, it must say so and offer a person. "I don't know, but here is how to reach the team" is a good answer.
Whatever your chat says, you said. In February 2024 the Civil Resolution Tribunal in British Columbia decided Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149. Air Canada's chatbot had told a customer he could claim a bereavement fare discount within 90 days after his ticket was issued. The airline's actual policy did not allow that. Air Canada argued the chatbot was a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions. The tribunal rejected that, as the American Bar Association's Business Law Today reported. It found Air Canada responsible for all information on its website, whether it came from a static page or a chatbot. It awarded the customer about $650 Canadian, plus interest and fees.
Be clear about what the chat stores. Say in your privacy notice that chats are saved, why, and which provider processes them. Collect only what you need. Clinics should keep health details out of a general website chat unless the tool and setup are suitable for health data.
Your options compared
Prices come from each provider's own page, checked in October 2026.
| Option | Typical cost | Good at | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intercom Fin | From $0.99 per Fin outcome; Intercom seats from $29 a month on annual billing | Polished AI agent; can also run on another helpdesk without seats | Per-outcome fees grow with volume |
| Tidio | Starter $24.17 a month; Lyro AI from $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations | Small stores and simple sites | AI conversations are capped by plan |
| Chatbase (ChatGPT-style builder) | Hobby $40 a month for 700 message credits; Standard $150 | Quick to train on your documents; choice of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others | You set up the content, booking and handoff yourself |
| HighLevel | From $97 a month; AI Employee add-on $50 or $97 a month per sub-account, plus usage | Chat tied to your CRM, calendar and follow-ups | Worth it only if you use the rest of it |
| Custom AI build | Setup fee plus monthly fee; our builds start at $200 | Answers from your information, books, hands off with a summary, logs to your systems | More setup; needs your answers written down first |
What owners and the industry are saying
I only list pages I could open. Reddit would not open for me. Vendors are labelled.
| Where | Who | What they said | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Community, Dec 2023 | A store owner | "I really don't like AI chat bots...they don't actually solve the issue I have." Also: "A well organized FAQ page/section is much less frustrating." | A bad bot is worse than a good FAQ page |
| Gartner, Jul 2024 | Research firm, 5,728 customers | 64% would prefer companies did not use AI for service; top worry is reaching a person | Make the handoff obvious |
| Intercom Fin | AI chat vendor | Claims a 76% average resolution rate across 12,000+ customers | Well-fed AI can take most routine questions |
| Tidio pricing page | AI chat vendor | Says Lyro can "solve up to 67% of customer problems" | Even vendors expect a third to need a person |
| ABA Business Law Today, Feb 2024 | Lawyers' professional association | Air Canada was held responsible for its chatbot's wrong answer | You own what your chat says |
A cost sum you can redo with your own numbers
Here is the sum for a small clinic or trades business. Two of the four numbers are my assumptions. Measure your own.
| Line | How to get it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors who open the chat each month | Your chat tool's reports, or contact form visits as a stand-in | 400 |
| Share who would have left without an answer | Chats with no reply before the visitor left | 25% (assumed), so 100 |
| Lead-to-customer rate | Customers divided by leads, last three months | 10% (assumed), so 10 |
| Average customer value | Revenue divided by customers | $300 |
| Revenue kept per month | Customers x value | 10 x $300 = $3,000 |
If your result is a few hundred dollars, a starter tool or a better contact form is enough.
When website chat backfires
Pop-ups that annoy. A chat that bursts open three seconds after the page loads interrupts people who came to read. Let visitors open it themselves.
Made-up answers. An AI that guesses a price or a policy creates the Air Canada problem on a small scale. Feed it your real answers and test it with your hardest questions before launch.
No handoff. A visitor who wants a person and cannot reach one leaves annoyed. Offer the handoff in every conversation.
Chat nobody monitors. A handoff to an inbox nobody reads is the 24-hour message again. Send handoffs to a phone alert, and show your reply hours in the chat.
What we build, and when we say no
If your site gets only a handful of enquiries a week, you do not need AI chat. A good contact form and a fast email reply are enough. Put answers to your top questions on the page itself.
We build AI chat for businesses where the same questions arrive every day and leads slip away after hours. It answers from your own information, books or captures the lead, hands off with a summary and logs it all. Our AI automation service covers the build. You can try one of our agents on the live demo. If most of your customers phone instead, start with our post on when an AI receptionist pays.
We say no when traffic is low, when your answers are not written down anywhere, or when nobody will pick up handoffs. New to all this? Our plain-English answers to 24 questions about AI automation is the place to start.
Questions people ask
What is an AI chatbot for a website? It is a chat window on your site that answers visitors in plain language. A good one answers only from information you gave it, such as your services, prices and policies. It can book a slot or take contact details, and it passes anything else to a person with a summary.
Live chat vs chatbot: which is better for a small business? Live chat with a person is better when someone is free to answer within a minute or two. Most small teams cannot do that all day and night. An AI chat can cover the routine questions at any hour and hand the rest to a person, so the two work best together.
How much does an AI website chatbot cost? Tidio starts at $24.17 a month, with its Lyro AI from $32.50 a month for 50 AI conversations. Chatbase starts at $40 a month. Intercom charges from $0.99 per Fin outcome. HighLevel starts at $97 a month, with AI Employee add-ons. A custom build has a setup fee and a monthly fee.
Can an AI chatbot give wrong answers? Yes. In 2024 a Canadian tribunal held Air Canada responsible after its chatbot gave a customer wrong information about a refund. Limit the AI to your own information, tell it to say when it does not know, and check its answers before and after launch.
Will customers be annoyed by a chatbot? Some will. In a Gartner survey of 5,728 customers from December 2023, the top worry was that AI would make it harder to reach a person. Make the route to a person obvious, keep answers short, and do not pop the chat open uninvited.
What information does an AI website chat need? Start with the 20 questions you answer most, with your real answers. Add your services, prices, opening hours, service area and policies. If the AI should book or check orders, it also needs access to your calendar or store.
Find out what your website chat is missing.
Bring your 20 most common customer questions to the free audit. We check how your site answers them now, run the sum with you, and tell you whether a contact form, a starter tool or an AI build is the right step. If you do not need chat, we say so.
Book the free audit →Sources
- Gartner, survey finds 64% of customers would prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service, July 2024 (survey December 2023)
- ABA Business Law Today, BC tribunal confirms companies remain liable for information provided by AI chatbot, February 2024 (Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149)
- Intercom, Fin AI agent, checked October 2026
- Intercom, pricing, checked October 2026
- Tidio, pricing, checked October 2026
- Chatbase, pricing, checked October 2026
- HighLevel, pricing, checked October 2026
- Shopify Community, AI chat bot, December 2023