Use cases
Each use case is a recipe for one job you want a bot to do. It covers who it suits, what to set up (knowledge, instructions, power-ups, channels, handoff and analytics, each linked to the page with the steps), a starting Prompt you can copy, example conversations and the mistakes to avoid. One bot can cover more than one use case: a support bot often books calls and captures leads too.
Compare use cases
| Use case | What the bot does | Typical channels | Key power-ups | Plan needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer support | Answers questions from your help content and hands off when it can't help | Website widget, email, WhatsApp | Talk to a human, Call your API | Basic (Free without handoff) |
| Sales and lead capture | Answers buying questions, qualifies visitors and sends leads to your team | Website widget | Send email, Call your API, Cal.com or Calendly | Basic |
| Bookings and appointments | Books demos, consultations and appointments in the chat | Website widget | Book a meeting (Cal.com or Calendly) | Basic |
| Product questions | Recommends and compares products, checks stock and orders | Website widget | Display cards, Display table, API request | Basic |
| Onboarding and success | Guides signed-in customers through setup and flags who needs a person | Widget inside your app | Cal.com, Talk to a human, plus scheduled tasks | Standard |
| Internal helpdesk | Answers staff questions about IT, HR and processes | Slack, Discord, password-protected web page | Talk to a human, Notion | Standard (Free on a private web page) |
| Multilingual support | Answers customers in their own language | Website widget, any channel | None needed | Free |
| AI receptionist | Answers your business phone, takes messages and transfers callers | Phone | Talk to a human | Standard, plus the voice add-on |
| Community bots | Answers member questions and summarises channels | Discord, Slack | Discord Get Channel History, Slack Get History, Slack Send Message | Standard |
Power-ups need Basic or above. The Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram and email channels need Standard or above. See Compare plans for everything each plan includes.
Where to start
- New to Chat Thing? Start with Customer support. Most other use cases build on the same knowledge and instructions.
- Need a starting Prompt? Each use case has one, and the prompt library has more.
- Already live? See Improve your bot to fix weak answers and keep the bot improving.
In this section
- Answer customer support questions with your botSet up a bot that answers customer questions from your help content around the clock and hands the conversation to your team when it can't help.
- Turn website visitors into leads with your botSet up a bot that answers buying questions, works out what visitors need, collects their details and sends each lead to your inbox, CRM or calendar.
- Let customers book appointments and meetings in the chatSet up a bot that answers questions about your services, then books a demo, consultation or appointment in the chat with Cal.com or Calendly.
- Answer product and catalogue questions with your botSet up a bot that helps shoppers find the right product, compares options, checks stock or orders through your API and shows products as cards.
- Help new customers get set up and succeedPut a bot inside your product that knows who the customer is and where they are, guides them through setup and flags who needs a person.
- Answer your team's questions with an internal helpdesk botSet up a bot that answers staff questions about IT, HR, policies and processes from your internal docs, in Slack, Discord or a private web page.
- Support customers in several languagesSet up one bot that answers customers in their own language, with the widget translated and greetings per language, or one bot per language.
- Answer questions in your Slack or Discord communitySet up a bot that answers member questions in your Discord server or Slack community from your docs, and summarises what's been discussed.
- Set up an AI receptionist for your phone lineTurn your bot into an AI receptionist that answers your business phone, answers questions from your content, takes messages and transfers callers.
Related
- How Chat Thing works
The building blocks of Chat Thing (bots, knowledge, power-ups, channels, conversations and Otto) and how they fit together.
- Write your bot's instructions
Write the prompt that sets your bot's role, topics, tone, answer length, language, power-up use and handoff, with before-and-after examples.
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