Customer Service AI Tools
- Wati
- What it offers: Wati is an all-in-one platform for automating, managing, and scaling customer service conversations with customers on WhatsApp (and increasingly, Instagram and Facebook). It helps businesses deliver instant, AI-driven customer support using no-code chatbot flows, broadcast campaigns, and a team inbox. Wati can also mass send Whatsapp messages to segmented customer bases, automate routine responses, and seamlessly transfer chats to human agents when needed. Additional features include CRM integration, an intuitive flow builder and an AI Knowledge Base (KnowBot) which can be trained on your business info, analytics.
- Best for: SMEs aiming to optimise customer support or sales on WhatsApp without hiring extra staff.
- Example use cases: A local restaurant wants to allow customers to check menus, opening times, promotions, or make bookings through automated WhatsApp chatbots, with easy handover to staff for bespoke queries.
- Paid plans: Growth Plan: £49/month. Pro Plan: £99/month. Business Plan: £229/month.
- Pro tip: For small businesses, starting with Wati's templates and setting up quick keyword-triggered replies can dramatically cut response times—then gradually train your KnowBot on your FAQs and resource docs for even smarter, context-aware support.
- Text - AI Helpdesk
- What it offers: Text.com’s AI Helpdesk is an AI‑first customer support desk that turns chats, forms, and messages into smart, trackable tickets while an AI agent handles routine questions and helps agents respond faster.
- Best for: Any SME businesses that get a lot of repeat questions about billing, onboarding, and troubleshooting, that wants to combine live chat and ticketing in one tool, with AI to cut backlog and still keep responses human‑sounding.
- Example use cases: An ecommerce store wants an AI agent to answer shipping, returns, and “order status” questions from the website chat, creating a ticket only if the customer escalates or needs manual intervention, or they want to train the AI agent on its docs and pricing pages so it can preemptively answer “how‑to” and “feature comparison” questions.
- Paid plans: Essential Plan: $29/user/month or Growth Plan: $50/user/month. (Can be accessed by UK businesses)*
- Pro tip: Use the AI agent as a “front‑door” filter: configure it to fully resolve all common, low‑risk queries (shipping, resets, FAQs), then route anything involving legal or complex product behavior to a human with a well‑written draft‑reply and full context already attached; this massively reduces agent cognitive load while keeping sensitive issues under human control.
- *How To Save On Foreign Transactions
- CustomGPT
- What it offers: CustomGPT is an advanced AI-powered customer service solution that lets you build a ChatGPT-like multi-language chatbot trained exclusively on your business’s own data—such as guides, help docs, websites, and internal knowledge bases. The AI agent handles customer enquiries 24/7 through chat widgets or live chat, providing instant, highly accurate, and human-like responses. Unlike generic chatbots, CustomGPT is designed to answer only from your vetted content, dramatically reducing misinformation. It requires no coding to deploy or use.
- Best for: Any SME looking for scalable, reliable, always-on automated chatbots/AI agents without developer resources, with the added bonus of being multi-lingual. They can escalate complex issues to human agents when needed.
- Example use cases: An online retailer wants to handle frequent queries like “Where’s my order?”, return policies, and product specs, freeing staff for more complex issues; and a fintech business wants to answer secure, compliance-critical FAQs e.g. loan processes or account requirements based only on approved company documents, keeping interactions private and audit-ready.
- Paid plans: Standard Plan: $99/month. Premium Plan: $499/month. Enterprise Plan: Custom. (Can be accessed by UK businesses)*
- Pro tip: Use the built-in analytics and feedback tools to monitor unanswered or escalated questions, then quickly add missing info to further reduce agent workload and boost customer satisfaction.
- *How To Save On Foreign Transactions
- Click4Assistance
- What it offers: Click4Assistance combines AI chatbots for automated assistance, live chat for escalation to human agents, and real-time website visitor analytics, all with extensive customisation. It manages the incoming communications from multiple platforms, including WhatsApp for Business, Facebook Messenger, and SMS, all from a single dashboard.
- Best for: Businesses on a budget seeking a sound product which is affordable, flexible, branded live chat with AI which is GDPR-compliant.
- Example use cases: An online travel agent wants to use live chat pop-ups to reduce cart abandonment rates in e-commerce; and a software development company wants to monitor website visitor behavior and engage with them proactively.
- Paid plans: Standard Plan: £19.95/month. Professional Plan: £29.95/month. Enterprise Plan: Custom.
- Pro tip: Customise your AI chatbot’s scripts to address the most common questions first, ensuring customers get rapid, relevant answers to free up your agents for the more complex issues. Leverage the analytics tools to demonstrate ROI and refine your chat strategy continuously.
- Tidio
- What it offers: Tidio’s free plan combines live chat and AI chatbot technology to help businesses respond instantly to website visitors and automate answers to common customer questions. The platform also enables real-time conversations, automates support with its AI assistant (Lyro), and unifies chats from multiple channels in one dashboard.
- Best for: Small businesses and startups on a budget wanting to provide immediate, round-the-clock support.
- Example use cases: A courier company wants to use an AI chatbot to instantly answer frequent customer questions about expected delivery time; and an influencer wants to manage fan conversations from social platforms in one place, boosting response speed and consistency.
- Paid plans: Starter Plan: €24.17/month. Growth Plan: €49.17/month. Plus Plan: €749/month. Premium Plan: €2999/month (Can be accessed by UK businesses)*
- Pro tip: Maximise the value of Tidio’s free plan by setting up automated chatbot responses for your most common questions using the Lyro AI assistant.
- *How To Save On Foreign Transactions
Comparison table
Want a product that charges in a foreign currency? See: How To Save on Foreign Transactions
| Feature | Wati.io | Text (AI Helpdesk) | CustomGPT.ai | Click4Assistance | Tidio (best free plan) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best For | ✅ Businesses needing WhatsApp‑centric messaging, automations, and AI‑driven customer support | ✅ Support teams wanting an AI‑first helpdesk that turns chats into tickets and scales quality with AI agents | ✅ Businesses wanting to create custom AI chatbots trained on their own content and knowledge base | ✅ Businesses needing live chat & video chat with strong compliance | ✅ Small businesses wanting to test AI‑powered live chat support for free |
| Ticketing System | 🟠 Not a traditional ticketing system; uses team inbox and assignment tools as a basic alternative | ✅ Full AI‑enhanced ticketing: chats, forms, and messages become organised tickets with status, assignee, and AI‑suggested actions | ❌ No dedicated ticketing system – focuses on AI chatbot responses | 🟠 Limited ticketing features — mainly live chat oriented | ❌ No ticketing in free plan |
| Live Chat & Bots | ✅ AI agents for WhatsApp, workflows, chatbot automations, lead qualification, 24/7 messaging | ✅ AI agent in the helpdesk that can handle live‑chat and ticket‑based queries, auto‑summarise, and suggest replies using your knowledge base | ✅ Custom AI chatbots trained on business content with 90+ language support | ✅ Advanced live chat, video chat, and real‑time visitor monitoring | ✅ AI‑powered chatbots and live chat support with limited triggers |
| CRM Integration | ✅ Integrations with platforms like HubSpot, Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce via APIs & connectors | ✅ Integrates with major CRMs and support tools; AI agents use attached context from your docs and knowledge base | ✅ Integrates with HubSpot, Salesforce, and others via API | ❌ No built‑in CRM; external CRM integrations possible | 🟠 Basic integrations only in free plan |
| Ease of Use | 🟠 Powerful but may require setup of WhatsApp API and automations; moderate learning curve | ✅ Intuitive all‑in‑one workspace for chat, tickets, and AI agents, designed for customer‑support teams | 🟠 Easy setup but requires content preparation and training for optimal results | 🟠 Slight learning curve due to feature‑rich platform | ✅ Very beginner‑friendly with easy chatbot templates |
| Paid Plans |
Growth Plan: £49/month Pro Plan: £99/month Business Plan: £229/month |
Essential Plan: $29/user/month Growth Plan: $50/user/month (Can be accessed by UK businesses)* |
Standard Plan: $99/month (annual) Premium Plan: $499/month (annual) Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing |
Standard Plan: £19.95/month. Professional Plan: £29.95/month. Enterprise Plan: Custom |
Starter Plan: €24.17/month. Growth Plan: €49.17/month. Plus Plan: €749/month. Premium Plan: €2999/month |