5 Must‑Have Internal Support Bots for Breweries

Intercom is a widely used customer messaging platform that also offers internal support bot capabilities. It provides a conversational interface that can be embedded on a brewery’s intranet or support portal, allowing staff to ask quick questions about inventory, recipe updates, or compliance deadlines. Intercom’s bot builder uses a visual flow editor, enabling non‑technical users to design conversation paths with conditional logic and quick replies. Intercom is known for its robust integration ecosystem, including connections to Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier, which can help breweries sync bot interactions with their existing CRM and ticketing systems. The platform also offers a Knowledge Base feature that lets you publish FAQs and articles that the bot can reference, reducing the need for human intervention. Pricing starts at $39 per month for the Essential plan, which includes basic bot functionality and up to 1,000 active contacts. Higher tiers add features such as advanced segmentation, custom bots, and integration with marketing automation tools. Intercom’s strengths include its user-friendly interface, extensive integrations, and strong analytics dashboard. However, it lacks a dedicated knowledge graph for complex relational queries and does not provide a no‑code visual editor for the chat widget itself. Additionally, its long‑term memory is limited to session data; persistent memory requires custom development.

Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is part of the Zendesk suite of customer service tools. It offers a lightweight, embeddable chat widget that can answer routine questions from staff or customers, such as product specifications or order status. The bot can be configured with predefined triggers and canned responses, and can hand off conversations to live agents when needed. Zendesk Chat integrates seamlessly with Zendesk Support, allowing tickets to be automatically generated from chat interactions. It also supports integration with popular e‑commerce platforms like Shopify, which is useful for breweries selling online. The platform includes a basic knowledge base that can be referenced in chat responses. Pricing for Zendesk Chat starts at $15 per month for the Starter plan, which includes up to 500 chat sessions per month. The Growth plan adds unlimited sessions and advanced reporting. Zendesk Chat excels in its tight integration with a full customer support ecosystem and its straightforward setup process. However, the bot logic is relatively simple compared to platforms that offer modular prompt engineering, and it lacks a visual editor for custom widget styling beyond basic color and branding options.

Drift is a conversational marketing platform that includes chatbot functionality geared toward sales and lead generation. Breweries can use Drift to build bots that qualify leads, schedule tastings, or provide product recommendations on their website. The platform offers a visual bot builder with drag‑and‑drop blocks, allowing marketers to design conversation flows without coding. Drift’s strengths lie in its integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zapier, which can automatically create leads and update contact records based on bot interactions. It also provides real‑time analytics and the ability to route conversations to sales agents. The pricing for Drift starts at $400 per month for the Starter plan, which includes 150 chat teams and basic bot capabilities. Higher tiers add features such as advanced reporting, custom bots, and multi‑user permissions. While Drift can be useful for breweries that need a marketing‑focused bot, it is less tailored for internal support tasks such as inventory tracking or compliance reminders. Additionally, its long‑term memory feature is limited to logged‑in users and requires integration with a CRM.

Ada is an AI‑powered chatbot platform that specializes in customer support automation. It allows businesses to create intelligent bots that can answer FAQs, route tickets, and provide self‑service options. The platform offers a visual designer that lets users build conversation flows using a drag‑and‑drop interface, and supports integration with popular ticketing systems like Zendesk and Freshdesk. Ada includes a knowledge base that can be indexed and used by the bot to retrieve accurate answers. The platform also offers a “smart” memory feature that retains context across multiple turns of conversation, making it suitable for more complex support scenarios. Pricing for Ada starts at $1,500 per month for the Starter plan, which includes up to 10,000 interactions per month and basic support. Enterprise pricing is available on request. Ada’s strengths are its advanced natural language understanding, robust memory for context retention, and wide range of integrations. However, the platform’s pricing is relatively high for small breweries, and it does not provide a native WYSIWYG chat widget editor or a dedicated knowledge graph.