How to make AN SMS chatbot OR AI AGENT
...and let AI text for you
So you decided to look into using AI to automate SMS for your business. Good idea. SMS chatbots (increasingly referred to as agents) are the only way for your business to communicate with any or all customers, any time of day and instantly. For routine communication, most people prefer SMS over any other channel, like email, calls, websites, social media and even messaging platforms that require downloading an app or log in.
Our service is the easiest way to create AI that can handle inbound SMS messages from prospects, customers and clients like you would. We’re talking 2-way conversations, not the 1-way outbound notifications or marketing blasts of the past. When a customer texts (or calls) your business number, they get human-like service.
We’ve simplified the process to create one tailored to your business, using latest generative AI technology (the same AI behind ChatGPT). In 5 minutes, you can train your own digital employee that can chat with all your customers, send appointment links, and alert you when a person is needed. This process, once exclusive to large companies, is accessible to every business or professional through our DIY platform. Or we can expertly train it for you.
Your AI is easy update, available 24/7, never quits and can scale with your business at a fraction of the cost of your next hire. No coding or development required. You train using plain language. Once launched, prospects simply text your bot’s number to get instant personalized replies anytime of the day.
What is an SMS Chatbot?
An SMS chatbot is a program that can automatically respond when someone texts its telephone number. Like any technology, there’s a wide range of sophistication. Think of the most basic SMS chatbot as an answering machine that responds via text instead of voice. Most people are familiar with scripted ones that follow a certain conversational flow with limited options.
Advanced generative AI SMS chatbots, like the ones we provide, are free from these restrictions and can hold a personalized conversation that’s indistinguishable from a person. The most sophisticated of these systems can integrate with business applications and automate workflows while you chat with it. These are increasingly referred to as AI agents. The distinction between a chatbot and an agent is simple: a chatbot can only chat whereas an agent can perform real-world tasks. In 2024, “chatbot” is going out of fashion because it reminds people of the old scripted bots, so “agents” are the new buzz word. When AI also uses SMS to text with people, then you can argue it’s really an agent because it performs a real world function.
SMS is the only way for businesses to communicate with virtually all customers instantly and will only gain in popularity as AI adoption increases. For inbound communication (person to business), 80% of consumer prefer texting over calling or email. In our experience, most people prefer chatting with AI over people because the chatbots are more efficient, makes fewer mistakes, don’t go off on tangents, and reply instantly! Also most people prefer messaging important information over reciting it over a call (e.g. don’t tell me the address or number, just text it to me).
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHATBOTS
Almost all chatbots created before 2023 were scripted, or “programmatic”, which meant they behave according to a set of rules (if user says “X” then respond “Y”). These types of bots were limited to large companies with the budget and technical expertise to implement and update regularly. Programmatic bots don’t allow for a complete end user experience because it acts like an FAQ or switchboard operator to the right person.
In 2023, when large language models (LLMs) became broadly available, a new generation of bots was possible: generative AI-powered chatbots that could respond to anything a user says like a person. The most popular generative AI chatbot is ChatGPT. While generative and programmatic bots have pros and cons, creating complex behavior with generative AI is easier and more practical. Instead of needing lengthy scripts or explicit programming of every case, generative AI just requires a prompt (e.g. “act as a customer service representative”) to tap the LLM’s existing knowledge of how to behave in that role. Basically with generative AI, you can create bots using plain language instead of programming language. If you already have a script or flow, that itself is great for training a generative AI bot.
The near future of AI will go beyond chatbots and into AI agents. Certain tech-savvy businesses and large companies (like Klarna & Udacity) realize that instead of simply adopting ChatGPT as a general tool, they could use the same underlying generative AI technology to train an internal/branded version on their own data to automate communication and scale their reach. Adding integration with internal software allows generative AI chatbots to become AI agents, capable of doing everything a human employee could on a computer.
Modern messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Discord, Twitter/Instagram direct messages may seem to have left SMS, or text messaging, in the dust but that’s only true for personal messaging. For businesses, the trend is the opposite.
Just about every business that sends customers messages does it through SMS or email which are not controlled by a centralized 3rd party platform that can shut down access at any time. With SMS and email, businesses control their customer lists of telephone numbers and email addresses. Between the two, SMS is becoming the preferred channel because it reaches every cell phone and gets read within the first 3 minutes a whopping 90% of the time, compared the single-digit open rates of email. SMS does have a cost disadvantage (~1 cent to send an SMS vs. free email) that’s more than offset by the built-in spam reduction.
SMS is the most used messaging network worldwide and most importantly, the only way to message ANY and ALL your customers. Unlike a messaging app like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Signal that needs to be downloaded, SMS is a messaging protocol that uses your telephone number and the app that’s preinstalled in every phone i.e. iMessage on iPhone, Messages on Androids and the built-in texting app on feature (non-smart-) phones. This means the only type of chatbot that can interact with all your customers is an SMS chatbot. Your customers simply text your bot’s phone number to initiate or your bot can start a 1-on-1 chat with all the numbers in your customer list as a campaign.
It’s worth mentioning that messaging platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Discord are experimenting with allowing users to create bots on their platforms. Rollout and widespread adoption of this will likely take years as these platforms manage the risk of spam compromising users’ experience.
Creating a human-like AI that chats on SMS is difficult, which is why you don’t see many companies offering this service. It requires two separate services (1) a platform to create your chatbot and (2) connecting it to an SMS telephone number provider which has a registration/approval process. Most vendors only do one of these services and stitching them together requires deep technical expertise or come with high costs. We’re the only company ones (that we know of) that can take care of all of this for you.
GET STARTED
(1) Build Yourself
- Build a basic bot by answering 3 questions
- Then test and train on website(s) and by uploading files
- Upgrade to attach your AI to a dedicated phone number
(2) We Build For You
We offer custom development, integrations and expert training of your AI for you if you prefer. Simply chat with our AI sales agent by texting it. It’s a demo of what your AI could do.
- Chat with our AI agent to determine fit
- Book a human sales call to discuss
- Expert training typically costs $1,000 for one-time setup
- Ongoing pricing determined by volume ($100/month min)