How to Build a Conversational Chatbot? Here Are Some Tools!

The latest big trend in the world of technology is chatbots. They may be better known now than before to the general public, but conversational bot is not a recent experiment. Some companies have been experimenting for some time with some advances that today cement all the work with bots: fundamentally the processing of natural language to ensure that the machine can maintain intelligent conversations with users. Without him, it would be impossible.

When you review the natural evolution of information technologies and their relationship with users, you can perfectly understand the movements of some of the most important companies in the world. In the mid-2000s, the smartphone entered our lives and with the mobile operating systems (iOS and Android), native applications and the native mobile user experience, all from the client-side.

Currently, the trend is still the smartphone but focused on messaging applications, where direct contact through chatbots has become king. This diagram perfectly explains the technological evolution since the 80s :

Thanks to the enormous push that companies such as Facebook or Google have given for some years to natural language processing, machine learning, virtual assistants and, in general, artificial intelligence.

Some other smaller companies have understood the real business opportunity in creating easy building platforms for conversational bot. Some without even having to write a single line of code. Here are some of the most interesting platforms for bots, positioned in the need, sometimes, to launch an MVP in an agile way:

1. Api.ai

Something must have Api.ai for Google to notice it. The creators of this platform promoted a space destined to the creation of bots for third scenarios such as Slack, the project management service and internal communication for companies; Facebook Messenger, the chat tool of the Menlo Park company; or Kik, the instant messaging application that competes with Facebook Messenger itself or other players in that sector such as WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat or with other more social products such as Snapchat itself.

2. Motion.ai

Motion.ai is a simple chatbots creation platform for two messaging applications with great penetration, Facebook Messenger and Slack. At least for now. Although it is also possible to create bots for browser, email, and SMS. It has a free version that allows you to develop two bots with a maximum of 1,000 messages per month; and then three paid versions: one for $ 15 per month (5 bots and 5,000 messages), another for $ 50 (with 25 bots and 20,000 messages per month) and the most expensive for $ 100 per month (with the possibility of creating 50 bots and 50,000 messages per month). Also, Motion.ai has its REST API to perform any type of integration of its interface.

All you have to do is register on the platform, and once inside, go to the menu on the left and access the 'My Bots' environment. It is in that section where the client can create all the chatbots he wants to launch, by clicking on 'Create Bot' and selecting on which channel he wants to create the product (Facebook Messenger, Slack or a bot for the email, browser or SMS). On the documentation page, any user can find all the technical information necessary to start chatting.

3. Smooch.io

Smooch.io promotes itself as the platform for creating conversational interfaces for companies. It has, therefore, a wide variety of integrations with third-party solutions, almost anyone where you want to be a great company: Facebook Messenger, LINE, Twillio, WeChat, Telegram and the two major mobile operating systems, iOS and Android.

Also, Smooch.io has its REST API for any custom integration. The idea is to offer a satisfactory customer experience (incorporation of all types of content formats, text, images, gifs, videos ..., and visual elements such as buttons) and provide developers with all the flexibility and scalability necessary when connecting a chatbot with a CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

4. Gupshup.io

Gupshup.io is a chatbots development platform for almost all messaging tools, social networks or VoIP solutions that exist within the market: Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Slack, Hipchat, Twillio, Line or Skype ... and a future will also be Present in others such as Google Hangouts, Viber or Kakao.

In the end, Gupshup.io is a solution that has a simple code editor (that's a big difference with the rest of the platforms, you have to program), a publishing service and a testing system for each of those chatbots.

Gupshup.io is responsible, without the need for a developer's intervention, for the installation of libraries and packages necessary for the creation of bots, and a secure server for deployment, therefore it is not necessary to have your server.

From there, it leaves in the hands of the programmers the creation of the functional logic of the Conversation bot. Any bot made in Gupshup is developed at the top of the Amazon AWS Lambda service, a server-free computing infrastructure that executes the code in response to the different events. Also, it has a testing service so that developers can test their product as if it was already launched on Slack, Telegram or Facebook Messenger.