5 Must‑Have Lead Generation Chatbots for Handyman Services

ManyChat is a well‑established chatbot builder that focuses on Facebook Messenger, SMS, and recently web chat integration. The platform offers a visual drag‑and‑drop flow builder, allowing marketers to create conversational sequences without coding. ManyChat is popular among small businesses for its ease of use and strong integration with e‑commerce platforms like Shopify, enabling product catalog displays and checkout flows directly within the chat. ManyChat’s free tier supports up to 500 contacts and basic broadcast messaging, while the paid Growth Plan starts at $10/month for 1,000 contacts, scaling up to $300/month for 10,000 contacts. Key features include conditional logic, broadcast messages, tag-based segmentation, and integration with popular CRMs such as HubSpot and Zoho. ManyChat also offers a Web Chat widget that can be embedded on any website with a single line of code, making it convenient for handymen who already use WordPress or other CMS platforms. While ManyChat excels at marketing automation and lead capture, it lacks advanced AI capabilities such as retrieval‑augmented generation or a knowledge graph. The chatbot relies primarily on pre‑defined flows, so handling complex, dynamic queries requires manual flow updates. Additionally, ManyChat’s long‑term memory is limited to the conversation context within a single session; it does not store user data across sessions unless integrated with an external CRM. For handymen, ManyChat offers a quick way to set up a basic booking or lead capture flow with minimal setup time. Its integration with Shopify allows upselling of repair tools or accessories. However, businesses needing advanced knowledge base queries or AI‑driven conversational intelligence may find ManyChat’s capabilities insufficient.

Intercom provides a comprehensive customer messaging platform that blends live chat, chatbots, and email automation. Its Bot Builder allows users to create conversational flows that can qualify leads, answer FAQs, and route conversations to human agents. Intercom is well‑known for its robust integration ecosystem, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Shopify, making it a good fit for businesses that rely on multiple data sources. Intercom’s pricing starts at $39/month for the Essentials plan, which includes live chat and basic bot features. The Pro plan, at $87/month, adds advanced automation, custom fields, and more sophisticated segmentation. Intercom’s chatbot supports long‑term memory through its built‑in conversation history, allowing the bot to reference previous interactions. However, this memory is tied to the user’s email or authenticated session; anonymous visitors receive only session‑based context. For handymen, Intercom’s integration with Shopify can automatically pull inventory data for product recommendations. Its live chat feature is useful for real‑time support, and the bot can capture lead information for follow‑up. Nonetheless, Intercom’s bot flows can be complex to configure, and the platform’s pricing can climb quickly as you add more users or features. While Intercom does not provide a WYSIWYG editor for the chat widget’s visual design, it offers a range of styling options and the ability to embed the chat anywhere on your site. It also lacks a dedicated knowledge base system, meaning that detailed, document‑based queries must be handled via pre‑built FAQs.

Tars is a chatbot platform that specializes in creating conversion‑focused conversational landing pages. Its drag‑and‑drop builder allows users to design custom flows that guide visitors toward specific actions, such as booking appointments or requesting quotes. Tars’ pricing starts at $49/month for the Starter plan, which includes 10,000 interactions per month. The Business plan expands to 1,000,000 interactions for $499/month. Tars offers a Web Chat widget that can be embedded on any website with a single script tag. The platform focuses on lead generation and has built‑in integrations with Zapier, Google Sheets, and other tools for data capture. While Tars provides some basic AI capabilities, it primarily relies on scripted responses, and users must manually update flows to handle new queries. For handymen, Tars can be used to create a conversational booking flow that captures customer details and schedules appointments. Its integration with Zapier allows the bot to trigger calendar events or send follow‑up emails. However, Tars lacks advanced knowledge base features, AI course building, or e‑commerce integrations, making it less versatile for businesses that need to sell tools or accessories directly through the chat.

HubSpot offers a free chatbot builder as part of its Marketing Hub Starter plan, allowing businesses to create basic conversational flows that capture leads and qualify prospects. The chatbot can be embedded on any website via a simple script, and it integrates seamlessly with HubSpot’s CRM to store contact information and trigger email sequences. HubSpot’s pricing for the Marketing Hub Starter starts at $45/month, which includes 1,000 marketing contacts and basic chatbot functionality. The Professional plan, at $800/month, unlocks advanced features such as custom chatbot templates, dynamic content, and more robust automation. The HubSpot chatbot supports long‑term memory through the CRM: once a visitor is captured, subsequent conversations can reference past interactions. However, this requires the visitor to be a contact in the HubSpot database. The platform does not provide a WYSIWYG editor for the chat widget’s design beyond basic color and logo changes. For handymen, HubSpot’s free chatbot can capture basic lead information and route it to the sales team. The integration with HubSpot’s CRM allows for follow‑up email sequences and contact management. The main limitation is that the bot’s conversational design is relatively rigid, and it does not support advanced AI knowledge bases or e‑commerce product data.