The Cases Where Chat Will Not Help
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No content to answer from
A bot with nothing to learn from cannot answer anything. If your website is three pages and a contact form, the problem is the website.
Adding a chatbot to a site with no information is like hiring a receptionist and telling them nothing about the business. It will politely take a message, which your form already does.
Not enough traffic
Below a certain number of visitors, there is nothing to answer. If your site gets thirty visits a month, chat is not where your effort should go.
Fix the traffic problem first. The chat becomes worthwhile once there are people to talk to.
Every enquiry genuinely unique
Some businesses genuinely have no repeat questions — bespoke consulting, complex specification work, one-off commissions.
Check before concluding this, though. Most businesses that believe their enquiries are all unique find twenty repeated questions in their inbox.
Where a different tool fits better
| Situation | Better answer |
|---|---|
| Same question by phone constantly | A clear page, then chat |
| Enquiries need documents attached | A proper form |
| Bookings are the whole interaction | A booking system |
| Existing customers with account queries | A portal with authentication |
The honest test
Look at your last fifty enquiries. If more than half are variations of the same ten questions, chat will help. If they are genuinely all different, it will not.
That takes twenty minutes and it is a better answer than any vendor will give you.
Frequently asked questions
How much content is enough?
What traffic level makes it worthwhile?
Can we start small and grow into it?
Will you tell us not to bother?
Not sure whether chat would help?
Look at your last fifty enquiries. If ten questions cover half of them, it will.