HOW TO BUILD A CHATBOT FROM SCRATCH
Tags: chatbot, makeachatbot, appdevelopment, technology
Published: 2021-03-30 12:58:59

Today, over 1.4 billion people worldwide interact with chatbots on a regular basis. Chatbot is software that can simulate and process conversations (written or spoken) with a user in natural-like language. Chatbots can be used in mobile applications, messaging apps, websites, social media, etc. The interaction with a chatbot is similar to communication with a real person.
It’s impossible to build a chatbot from scratch without knowing their main types and how they differ. This section of the article explains what AI chatbot development is and how it can benefit your business.
RULE-BASED CHATBOTS
Rule-based chatbots are the most basic solutions used for answering simple questions. Users interact with such bots by clicking on predefined questions that lead to the desired answer. The chatbot provides answers from the decision tree.
If you want an example, take a look at Facebook Messenger. The platform allows businesses to perform automated customer support by providing buttons with possible inquires and automatically providing answers.
While such chatbots are comparatively easy to build, they are prone to providing wrong answers and are quite limited in functionality. In some cases, they can frustrate customers by providing wrong answers.
AI-BASED CHATBOTS
AI-based chatbots are also called conversational chatbots or natural-processing chatbots. Such bots rely on Artificial Intelligence chatbot algorithms and machine learning to process user inputs and provide highly personalized answers relevant to the content.
Interaction with AI-based chatbots happens by writing questions in the human language. The bot is able to identify different questions written by a human.
After a user types in a question, the bot identifies the user’s intent, asks additional questions if needed, and provides answers using the dialogue tree to specify what problems a user has and how they can be addressed.
WHICH CHATBOT TYPE TO CHOOSE FOR YOUR BUSINESS
You are probably wondering which type of chatbots to use for your business. The answer fully depends on your business needs and objectives.
Rule-based chatbots are usually used for two purposes:
•	to collect contact details to set a call or a meeting later
•	to provide basic customer support
AI-based chatbots are more advanced in terms of functionality. They can be used to perform the following tasks:
•	handle simple requests
•	process natural language (NLP)
•	provide personalized answers
•	confirm user intent
•	execute transactions on the behalf of customers
•	keep conversations natural
•	form sentences by itself
How to Make a Chatbot from Scratch: Process OverviewIn this part, you will learn how to make a chatbot step-by-step. This guide will help you do everything right and avoid costly mistakes for business.
How to Make a Chatbot from Scratch: Process Overview
In this part, you will learn how to make a chatbot step-by-step. This guide will help you do everything right and avoid costly mistakes for business.
In this part, you will learn how to make a chatbot step-by-step. This guide will help you do everything right and avoid costly mistakes for business.
Let’s investigate the key processes involved in custom chatbot development and steps to build a chatbot.
STEP 1: IDENTIFY CUSTOMER NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS
The main goal to make a chatbot from scratch is to improve user experience. At this stage, you need to identify customer expectations and align them with business 
The analysis of customer needs will help you come up with a list of possible features for your future chatbot. For example, you have a restaurant application, your users might be interested in knowing available reservation time.
STEP 2: FIND A CHATBOT DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
This step is probably the most important in the whole journey. You need to find a company that knows how to make an AI chatbot and has previous relevant experience. The below action plan will help you make the right choice and choose the best chatbot development company that will be able to create a highly customized solution for you.
Here is what you will need to do:
•	Identify prospects
•	Check the portfolio
•	Check reviews
•	Get in touch with prospects
STEP 3: CHOOSE FEATURES AND TECHNOLOGY FOR YOUR CHATBOT
If you want to know how to make a chatbot that will improve user experience, start with identifying the features that can help them move forward in their customer journey. Below, you can find a list of some key features that you need to consider:
•	Seamless cross-channel communication
•	Rich messaging
•	Integration with third-party systems
•	Human handoff
•	Accessibility
•	Security
STEP 4: DESIGN THE CONVERSATION FLOW
A professional development company will know how to make a chatbot and design the conversation flow. While using chatbot building platforms, you are limited in the choice of possible conversation formats. You can only choose, drag and drop ready-to-use blocks with answers.
When you will be working on chatbot script creation, you need to keep it close to the topic and the purpose of the chatbot. You should aim for conversation flows that will allow customers to communicate naturally with your chatbot.
STEP 5: TRAIN YOUR AI-BASED CHATBOT
This step is only necessary if you decide to build a chatbot AI project. Before you launch it, you need to train it on a massive data set, such as support tickets, email, etc. You can also get a third-party data set with the information that your chatbot needs to know. If you work with a software development vendor, it will take on this part of the process on and you won’t need to worry about it.
STEP 6: TEST A CHATBOT
Before you launch the chatbot, you might want to test it with a few users to see how they’ll interact with it and how it will meet their intent. Chatbot testing differs from classic software testing since here you need to foresee even the most unpredictable scenarios and specify how the chatbot will react to them, for example when users ask questions not related to your business.
STEP 7: DEPLOY AND MAINTAIN
The work on chatbot doesn’t end with its deployment. You can use the collected information and statistical data to refine answers and conversational flows to make your chatbot even more useful for customers.
Want to know more? This article will explain how to build a chatbot from scratch and cover all the topics: 
https://addevice.io/blog/how-to-make-a-chatbot-from-scratch/