If you've visited a business website in the last year and noticed a chat bubble in the corner, there's a good chance it was an AI chatbot. Not a human. Not a script with five options. An actual AI that reads your question and gives you a real answer.
Here's what most small business owners don't realize: you don't need a developer to set one up. You don't need a big budget. And once it's running, it handles customer questions at 3am while you sleep.
This guide shows you exactly how to do it.
What an AI Chatbot Actually Does for a Small Business
Before we talk setup, let's be clear about what you're getting.
A good AI chatbot on your website can:
- Answer common questions (hours, pricing, services, location)
- Qualify leads before they hit your inbox
- Book appointments directly in your calendar
- Collect contact info and pass it to your CRM
- Escalate to you when the question is genuinely complex
What it can't do: replace a real relationship with a client. It's a filter, not a replacement. Used right, it makes you faster and more responsive without adding to your workload.
The Three Tools Worth Considering
1. Tidio (Best for Most Small Businesses)
Tidio combines a live chat widget with AI automation. The AI is powered by their proprietary model and can be trained on your website content, FAQ docs, or anything you paste in.
Cost: Free plan available. Paid plans start around $29/month.
Best for: Service businesses, e-commerce, anyone who wants AI + the option to jump in as a human when needed.
Setup time: About 30 minutes. You install a widget on your site (one line of code or a WordPress plugin), connect your content, and you're live.
2. Intercom (Best for Growing Teams)
Intercom is more powerful and more expensive. Their AI (called "Fin") is genuinely impressive, it reads your entire help center or website and answers questions based on actual content, not just keywords.
Cost: Starts around $74/month.
Best for: Businesses that are starting to scale, already have a knowledge base, or have more complex customer conversations.
Setup time: 1–2 hours for a solid setup.
3. Voiceflow + Claude API (Best for Custom Needs)
If you want complete control, custom logic, specific conversation flows, integration with your internal tools, you can build something fully custom using Voiceflow (a no-code chatbot builder) connected to Claude's API.
Cost: Voiceflow free tier + Claude API (~$0.01–0.03 per conversation).
Best for: Businesses with specific requirements that off-the-shelf tools don't handle.
Setup time: 2–4 hours. More setup, but you own the entire experience.
Step-by-Step: Setting Up Tidio in 30 Minutes
Here's the quickest path to a working AI chatbot:
Step 1: Sign up for Tidio Go to tidio.com, create a free account, and enter your website URL.
Step 2: Install the widget
Tidio gives you a JavaScript snippet. Paste it before the </body> tag on your site. If you're on WordPress, install the Tidio plugin instead.
Step 3: Set up your AI responses Go to Lyro AI settings. Paste in your FAQ content, services, pricing, hours, policies, common questions. The more you give it, the better it answers.
Step 4: Set a fallback Configure what happens when the AI doesn't know the answer: collect an email and notify you, or route to live chat if you're available.
Step 5: Test it Open your website in an incognito browser and ask the chatbot questions a real customer would ask. Fix anything it gets wrong.
Step 6: Monitor for two weeks Check the conversation logs regularly. You'll see what customers are actually asking and can tune your responses accordingly.
What to Put in Your Chatbot
The content you feed it determines how useful it is. At minimum, include:
- Services you offer (and what you don't offer)
- Pricing or pricing ranges (even "starting at $X" is helpful)
- Your service area or location
- Business hours and response time expectations
- How to book or get a quote
- Your most common questions (you probably know these by heart)
If you have a Google Doc, a web page, or even a PDF with this information, most modern chatbot tools can ingest it directly.
The One Thing That Kills Chatbots
Most small business chatbots fail for one reason: they're set up and forgotten.
An AI chatbot is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. Customers will ask questions you didn't anticipate. The AI will sometimes give a wrong or incomplete answer. If you're not checking the logs and updating your content, the chatbot gets worse over time while you assume it's working.
Block 15 minutes every week to review conversation logs. Fix anything that was answered poorly. Add new questions you're seeing. It takes 15 minutes and the compound improvement is significant.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know how to code? No. Tidio, Intercom, and most modern chatbot tools are fully no-code for setup. You're configuring, not coding.
Will it replace my need to answer customer emails? For routine questions, yes. For anything complex or relationship-sensitive, you'll still handle it yourself, but there will be fewer of them.
What if someone asks something the chatbot can't answer? Set up a fallback: collect their email and let them know you'll respond within X hours. Never leave someone with no response at all.
How much does it cost? Anywhere from free (Tidio's basic tier) to $74+/month (Intercom). For most small businesses, $29–49/month is the sweet spot.
Can the chatbot book appointments? Yes, if you connect it to a scheduling tool like Calendly. Most modern chatbots support this integration natively.
Running a small business and not sure which chatbot setup is right for you? Let's talk. I help small businesses implement AI tools like this every week.