--- title: "What is a chatbot?" description: "A chatbot is software that answers common questions in chat without a person. Read where it helps, where it fails and when to hand off to staff." url: https://assistbpo.com/glossary/chatbot/ updated: 2026-09-20 publisher: AssistBPO (SS Support Network LLC) language: en-US --- # What is a chatbot? Glossary What is a chatbot? A chatbot is software that holds an automated conversation with a visitor, answering from scripted rules or from a model trained on your published articles. It covers repeat questions at any hour, collects details before a person takes over, and hands the conversation to a human when it runs out of answers. Updated September 2026 · Reviewed by [Nimra Khalid](https://assistbpo.com/team/nimra-khalid/) ## How does a chatbot work? 1. Decide the narrow list it should cover, usually opening hours, order status, pricing basics and where to find things. 2. Point it at your own published articles rather than letting it improvise from whatever it finds elsewhere. 3. Build an obvious handoff: a visible option to reach a person on every turn of the conversation. 4. Log every conversation it could not finish and treat that list as the next round of article writing. 5. Tell visitors plainly that they are talking to software, and who they reach if they would rather not. ## A worked example A self-storage operator with six sites runs one on its website after 6pm. It answers unit sizes, gate hours, the insurance requirement and current availability by location, then offers to hold a unit by taking a name, phone number and move-in date. Anything about a billing dispute or a lock-out goes to a form that reaches the on-call manager. Mornings start with a short list of held units and three conversations flagged for a call back. ## Where does a chatbot show up in your tools? Intercom, Zendesk, Gorgias and HubSpot all ship builders that sit on the same widget as live chat and pass the conversation to an agent mid-thread. Teams also wire custom flows through Zapier or Make, and draft the answer copy in ChatGPT before a person edits it for accuracy. ## Common mistakes - Hiding the route to a human, which turns a helpful shortcut into the reason someone leaves a bad review. - Letting it answer refund, medical or legal questions it has no business deciding on its own. - Setting it up once and never reading the transcripts, so the same wrong answer repeats for months. ## Why does a chatbot matter? Plenty of the questions arriving at midnight are ones a well-written page already answers, and nobody needs to be woken to repeat them. Software handles that layer well and holds the details until a person can act. What it cannot do is take responsibility, which is why the handoff to a human matters more than the script. ## How does AssistBPO handle a chatbot? AssistBPO treats automated chat as the first line only, never the last word. A named assistant watches the queue during your hours and steps in the moment a conversation stalls or a visitor asks for a person. We write and review the answer copy with you, read the overnight transcripts each morning and correct anything that came out wrong, so a human stays accountable for every reply that carries your name. [Chats answered in seconds, in your voice](https://assistbpo.com/services/live-chat-support/)[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) ## Related terms - [Live chat](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/live-chat/) - [Knowledge base](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/knowledge-base/) - [Automation](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/automation/) - [Tier 1 support](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/tier-1-support/) - [Zapier](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/zapier/) ## Where it is used - [Chats answered in seconds, in your voice](https://assistbpo.com/services/live-chat-support/) ## Next in the A to Z - [Co-employment](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/co-employment/) - [Cold transfer](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/cold-transfer/) - [Community management](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/community-management/) - [Conflict check](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/conflict-check/) [All 148 terms, A to Z](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/) Next step ## Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are. Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours. [Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) Or call [+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006) during US, UK or Australian business hours, or [hear our demo receptionist](https://assistbpo.com/demo-line/). - A named assistant proposed within 72 hours - Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers - Your hours, your tools, your data --- Source: https://assistbpo.com/glossary/chatbot/ · Contact: https://assistbpo.com/contact/ · Full site map for agents: https://assistbpo.com/llms.txt