Chatbot in customer service — tips & guidance for companies [June 2025]

How do chatbots work and what types of chatbots are there in customer service?

A chatbot is a automated software, which communicates with users via text messages — typically on websites, in messenger services such as whatsapp, or in your own help desk system. How it works depends heavily on the type used. Basically, we differentiate between two approaches:
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1. Rule-based chatbots (script bots)

These bots work with predefined question-answer paths. The user clicks through selection options (“menu navigation”) or types in specific keywords.

example:

users: “What does shipping cost? ”
Bot: “Standard delivery within Germany costs 4.95€. Would you like to know more about delivery times? ”
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This variant is easy to set up, but less flexible. When it comes to deviating wording or more complex concerns, it quickly reaches its limits.

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2. AI-based chatbots (Conversational AI)

Modern chatbots such as Hellomateo AI-Agent utilize artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP). This allows them to:

• understand natural language
• Interpreting questions, even though they are formulated differently
• den Capture the context of a conversation
• self-employed Generate answers
• If necessary, forward it to a person

A chatbot becomes particularly powerful when it is equipped with company-specific knowledge is learned — e.g. FAQs, product data, documents or website content. This creates scalable self-service solutions that bring real relief to customer service.
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Which customer service inquiries should a chatbot be able to answer?

A well-configured chatbot isn't a gimmick — it's a Service channel with real added value. For this to work, he must targeted at recurring and time-consuming customer concerns be trained. So the question isn't: “What can the chatbot do? ”, but: “What should he take over — and what not? ”

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Typical requests that a chatbot should be able to easily accept these days:

• Opening hours: For example, “Are you also open on Sundays? ”
• Shipping & returns: “How long do I have to return an item? ”
• Prices & offers: “Are there any discounts right now? ”
• Product information: “What are the technical details of the Samsung Curved 32-inch monitor?”
• Buying advice:”Which shoes go well with my summer dress?”
• General information: “At which locations do you have branches?”

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Tasks that are (even) better performed by people:

• Complex complaints with several sub-steps
• Goodwill or Individual decisions
• Communication with regular customers who have a personal customer relationship is important
• Chats in Sales And when it comes to upsell potential: This requires particularly precise communication
• Emotional conversations where empathy Is in demand
• escalations for dissatisfied customers

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Which AI chatbots are particularly good in customer service?

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1st: hellomateo AI agent

The Messenger-First AI Agent For WhatsApp, Instagram & Co. is specifically based on B2C customer service laid out. The chatbot is trained with company-specific knowledge and can automatically answer all relevant inquiries — from opening hours to return status. The answers can be individually adjusted, the language style can be defined, and all channels converge centrally in the inbox.

Special features:

• Contextual understanding, no rigid keyword logic
• Involvement own Websites & documents
• handover To real employees when needed
• messenger-ready, GDPR-compliant and can be used immediately

hellomateo is ideal for companies that want to offer scalable, personal customer service on modern channels such as WhatsApp.

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2nd: Dialogflow (Google)

A flexible framework for developers to build their own AI-powered chatbots.

advantages:

• Powerful NLP features thanks to Google technology
• Individually adaptable, many API options

Disadvantages:

• No finished UI or inbox — needs additional systems
• Only useful for companies with a development team
• High complexity for simple applications

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3rd: Tidio

An all-in-one chat tool with integrated AI chatbot, primarily for smaller online shops and websites.

advantages:

• Easy to use
• Quick start, lots of templates

Disadvantages:

• Limited AI capabilities compared to specialized solutions
• Weaknesses with complex support requests
• The focus is more on website chat, not on messengers

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4th: LivePerson

LivePerson provides conversational AI for companies, with a focus on larger support and sales teams.

advantages:

• Very powerful bot engine
• Good analytics and monitoring tools
• Multi-channel capable (including SMS, web, social)

Disadvantages:

• Very high cost structure — especially when used at scale
• Setup and customizing can often only be implemented with external agencies
• Unintuitive operation, complex user interface

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How does the hellomateo AI chatbot work for customer service?

The Hellomateo AI-Agent is more than an ordinary chatbot — it is a full-fledged, intelligent customer service assistant, which communicates automatically, personally and around the clock on all connected messenger channels. Whether over WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook Messenger: The bot reacts immediately — context-based, learnable and individually tailored to your company.

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The bot is powered by a Questionnaire, Information from the company profile, documents and even Web page content trained. This is how he can:

• understand natural language
• recognize different formulations
• Generate answers based on context
• Read content from PDFs or web domains
• Transfer calls to employees as needed

The language style (such as “you” or “you”), the tonality, the name of the chatbot, and even the length of the answers are freely selectable. And for maximum transparency, all AI-generated answers can be marked accordingly.
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What the AI agent can answer

The bot is on recurring customer inquiries specializes and relieves your team on typical topics such as:

• Opening times & locations
• Shipping status & returns process
• Prices, promotions & vouchers
• Product details & buying advice
• Contact & address changes

Even complex processes such as providing forms or links can be easily integrated.

Thanks to individual training data, the bot can also:

• Automatically play content from FAQs or documents
• read out legal information (imprint, data protection)
• Respond to product availability or service offers based on the website

Companies always remain in controlWhat content is being used — and how the bot should appear.
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That makes the hellomateo AI-Agent special

✅ Personally customizable

• Own name, individual language style, flexible tonality
• You and you settings and response length can be selected
• On request: Labeling as an AI-generated message

✅ Fully integrated

• Works on all common messenger channels
• Ideal for WhatsApp, but also for other channels and social media services
• Centrally controllable in the HelloMateo inbox

✅ Data protection compliant & scalable

• GDPR-compliant implementation
• 24/7 customer service without additional staff
• Seamless handover to real employees when needed
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Coming Soon: Chatbot with System Integrations

The next big step is: Chatbot Skills. With these features, the AI agent can be connected directly to your Inventory software (e.g. ERP, CRM, shop system) connect. As a result, he will also be able to:

• Find orders and view their status
• Enable shipment tracking
• Update customer information (address, telephone number, etc.)
• Check availability live
• Issue coupon codes or loyalty points

Sample questions that will be possible soon:

• “Where is my order #467123? ”
• “Is Product XY still available in size L? ”
• “Can I change my delivery address? ”
• “How many points did I earn? ”
• “Please send me my return label as a PDF. ”

With these abilities, the hellomateo AI agent becomes digital front desk your company — and offers customer experiences that are really convincing.

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hellomateo has much more to offer than just chatbots in customer service

With hellomateo and the WhatsApp Business Platform companies can inspire their customers with customer communication and marketing, maximize their sales and minimize internal workload. integrations with thousands of other software applications, WhatsApp newsletter marketing, unlimited scalability and flexibility, automatic responses, GDPR compliance, etc. — the WhatsApp Business Platform has so much to offer. Just arrange a free consultationto find out all the details Our customers know the following benefits particularly appreciated:
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• ‍Central user interface: hellomateo combines WhatsApp Business Platform, email, Instagram, SMS and Facebook Messenger in one central inbox. The intuitive user interface includes various tools for efficient customer communication and saves you valuable working time.
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• integrations: With hellomateo, you can use WhatsApp in integrate over 6,000 software programs and fully automated Customer trips create with invitations, order confirmations, shipping information, invoices, and reminders.
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• Newsletter marketing: Send GDPR-compliant Newsletter via WhatsApp or SMS and benefit from opening rates of over 95%.‍
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• Assessment management: hellomateo can Automatically request online reviews from your customers, which boosts your Google ranking and trust in your company.
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• ‍Data protection: hellomateo meets all German and European Data protection requirements and offers end-to-end encryption for secure customer communication.
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• scalability: Our software is suitable for Businesses of all sizes and can be extended indefinitely depending on the package.‍
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• ‍Diverse AI features: Our AI agent can automatically answer customer inquiries in chat, answer calls, help with the formulation of messages and much more.
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Arrange a non-binding and free consultation and we'll show you how hellomateo covers your communication needs! Simply book an appointment here or write to us via our web widget.

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