Business

A complete guide to the best chatbots

Published

4 years ago

September 22, 2021

Chatbots are quickly becoming a best practice for customer service. They provide businesses with the opportunity to improve their customer experience and to be more accessible in an era when phone calls and emails may not always be possible or appropriate. Finding the best chatbot is all you need to make your customers happy!

The chatbot revolution is upon us. Chatbots have been on the rise for a few years now, and they are showing no signs of slowing down. Technology continues to advance, and there will be better solutions coming up every day. Therefore, it will be important to stay informed of the latest technologies and trends to get the most effective chatbots for use. To get the best results, you must understand the different types and the best practices for chatbots.

Understanding the Different Types of Chatbots

Chatbots are programs that use artificial intelligence to simulate conversations with human beings over instant messaging services like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. They can provide information about products or help customers solve problems in a natural-sounding conversational tone.

There are different types of chatbots you can create depending on the type of business. They range from customer service bots to news bots. Chatbots might be the answer if you are looking for an effective way to communicate with your customers. However, experts design chatbots differently to serve different purposes. Here are different types of chatbots and their definitions:

Conversational bots. These mimic human conversation by using machine learning algorithms to generate responses for users. They ultimately help customers to make decisions.

FAQ bots. These offer pre-generated answers to commonly asked questions. They will recommend options and knowledge base information to the users for more help in their search for answers to what they need.

Personal assistant bots. These types of chatbots perform tasks like scheduling appointments or helping people find items on websites. There are task-specific bots to help users with specialized needs.

Generic chatbots. Typical examples here are Siri and Alexa. These are open-ended bots that can typically answer any question. They are too general, and businesses would not prefer using them to address their specific needs.

The Best Practices for Chatbots

In today’s world, everyone ones to stay connected. With the use of social media, instant messaging, and other types of digital communication, it is easy to stay in touch with friends and family all over the globe. However, there is sometimes a downside to this type of connection: we’re always on! This habit can lead to habitually checking your phone for messages or updates even if you don’t have anything pressing going on, a bad technology habit that can turn into an addiction as time goes by. Fortunately, there is a way out: chatbots.

Chatbots allow users to connect using artificial intelligence (AI) without being constantly logged onto their devices. So, what are the best practices for chatbots? There are important things to put into consideration. Here is a list of some things that can help make your chatbot successful. They include:

Making sure the bot is intuitive and easy to use. The chatbot should serve its intended purpose and help your business realize its goals and objectives for growth.

Being transparent about the type of data collected from users. Your contacts should feel safe when issuing out their data via the chatbot and get to know the help they will be getting by doing so.

Providing options for how often people receive messages from the bot. Your chatbot shouldn’t be a bother to your users. Therefore, the chatbot design should factor in options for users to pick at their pleasure.

Offering an option for scheduling automated messages in advance. This feature is a great option to help your customers get what they want in good time without wasting time.

Final Thoughts

Chatbots are a new frontier in the world of customer service. With chatbots, businesses can provide 24/7 support while at the same time scaling up their customer service without hiring more people. Chatbots have many benefits for business owners, but they often don’t know the best practices that will help them get the most out of their bots. Use the ideas highlighted here to get the best chatbot for your business.

Business

Scaling Success: Why Smart Habits Beat Growth Hacks in Modern eCommerce

Published

1 month ago

July 26, 2025

Matthew Wiles

There’s a romanticized image of the eCommerce founder: a daring risk-taker chasing the next big idea, fueled by late-night caffeine and last-minute inspiration. But the reality behind scaled, sustainable brands tells a different story. Success in digital commerce doesn’t come from chaos or clever hacks. It comes from habits. Repetitive, structured, often unglamorous habits.

Change, a digital platform created by eCommerce strategist Ryan, builds its entire philosophy around this truth. Through education, mentorship, and infrastructure, Change helps founders shift from scrambling for quick wins to building strong systems that grow with them. The company doesn’t just offer software. It provides the foundation for digital trade, particularly for those in the B2B space.

The Habits That Build Momentum

At the heart of Change’s philosophy are five core habits Ryan considers non-negotiable. These aren’t buzzwords; they’re the foundation of sustainable growth.

First, obsess over data. Successful founders replace guesswork with metrics. They don’t rely on gut feelings. They measure performance and iterate.

Second, know your customer deeply. Not just what they buy, but why they buy. The most resilient brands build emotional loyalty, not just transactional volume.

Third, test fast. Algorithms shift. Consumer behavior changes. High-performing teams don’t resist this; they test weekly, sometimes daily, and adapt.

Fourth, manage time like a CEO. Every decision has a cost. Prioritizing high-impact actions isn’t optional; it’s survival.

Fifth, stay connected to mentorship and learning. The digital market moves quickly. The remaining founders are the ones who keep learning, never assuming they know it all.

Turning Habits into Infrastructure

What begins as personal discipline must eventually evolve into a team structure. Change teaches founders how to scale their systems, not just their sales.

Tools are essential for starting, think Notion for documentation, Asana for project management, Mixpanel or PostHog for analytics, and Loom for async communication. But tools alone don’t create momentum.

Teams need Monday metric check-ins, weekly test cycles, customer insight reviews, just to name a few. Founders set the tone by modeling behavior. It’s the rituals that matter, then, they turn it into company culture.

Ryan puts it simply: “We’re not just building tools; we’re building infrastructure for digital trade.”

Avoiding the Common Traps

Even with structure, the path isn’t always smooth. Some founders over-focus on short-term results, chasing vanity metrics or shiny tactics that feel productive but don’t move the needle.

Others fall into micromanagement, drowning in dashboards instead of building intuition. Discipline should sharpen clarity, not create rigidity. Flexibility is part of the process. Knowing when to pivot is just as important as knowing when to persist.

Scaling Through Self-Replication

In the end, eCommerce scale isn’t just about growing a business. It’s about repeating successful systems at every level. When founders internalize high-performance habits, they turn them into processes, then culture, then legacy.

Growth doesn’t require more motivation. It requires more precision. More consistency. Your calendar, not your to-do list, is your business plan.

In a space dominated by noise and novelty, Change and its founder are quietly reshaping the conversation. They aren’t chasing trends but building resilience, one habit at a time.