7 Best Benefits of a Client Onboarding Bot for Marketing Agencies

Intercom is a widely adopted customer messaging platform that offers a chat bot feature integrated into its broader suite of tools, including live chat, help desk, and marketing automation. The bot can be used for client onboarding by collecting basic information, qualifying leads, and routing conversations to the right team members. Intercom’s visual builder allows marketers to create flows without coding, and its product offers a knowledge base that can be linked to bot responses. Pricing starts at $39/month for the Essential plan, which includes basic chat and automation, while the Pro plan at $74/month adds advanced segmentation and more extensive automation features. Intercom’s strengths lie in its robust integration ecosystem—especially with CRMs like HubSpot—and its real‑time analytics dashboard that tracks conversation metrics. However, the bot’s capabilities are limited compared to dedicated AI platforms; it relies on predefined rules and lacks advanced natural language understanding. Additionally, Intercom can become expensive at higher tiers and the learning curve for complex automation can be steep for smaller agencies.

Drift positions itself as a conversational marketing platform that focuses on sales and lead generation. Its chatbot can be configured to greet new clients, pull in contact details, and schedule meetings. Drift’s visual builder allows marketers to create conversational flows without writing code, and it offers integrations with major CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot, as well as e‑commerce platforms. The platform’s pricing begins at $400/month for the Starter plan, with higher tiers offering more seats, advanced analytics, and AI-powered chat features. Drift excels in its real‑time visitor scoring and personalized messaging, making it ideal for agencies that prioritize high‑value prospect engagement. However, its cost can be prohibitive for smaller agencies, and the bot’s natural language understanding is primarily rule‑based, which can limit conversational depth. Additionally, Drift does not currently provide a dedicated knowledge base or long‑term memory features.

ManyChat is a chatbot platform primarily built for Facebook Messenger and SMS, but it also supports web chat widgets. The platform offers a visual drag‑and‑drop builder that allows marketers to design conversational flows with minimal technical effort. ManyChat’s strengths include its deep integration with Facebook, the ability to send broadcast messages, and robust automation tools such as tagging and segmentation. Pricing starts at $10/month for the Pro plan, which includes unlimited broadcast messages, 100,000 contacts, and access to the API. ManyChat also offers a free tier with limited features. While ManyChat is excellent for agencies targeting audience segments on social media and SMS, it offers limited natural language understanding and no built‑in knowledge base. Additionally, the web chat widget is less customizable compared to WYSIWYG editors found in other platforms.

Landbot offers a no‑code chatbot builder focused on conversational landing pages and web chat widgets. Its visual builder lets users design conversational flows using drag‑and‑drop blocks, and it emphasizes a conversational UI that feels like a messaging app. Landbot integrates with popular CRMs, email marketing tools, and e‑commerce platforms, and it allows embedding chat widgets on any website. Pricing begins at $30/month for the Starter plan, which includes 1,000 chat sessions per month and basic integrations, while the Growth plan at $70/month offers 5,000 sessions and advanced features. Landbot’s strengths are its intuitive design, flexibility in embedding, and the ability to export conversation transcripts. However, its natural language processing is primarily rule‑based, and there is no built‑in knowledge base or long‑term memory. The platform also lacks advanced e‑commerce product recommendation features.

Tidio combines a live chat widget with chatbot capabilities, offering an all‑in‑one solution for small businesses and marketing agencies. Its visual chatbot builder uses a drag‑and‑drop interface, and it supports integration with e‑commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as email marketing services. Tidio’s pricing starts at $18/month for the Pro plan, which includes unlimited chat sessions, 2,000 contacts, and access to the API. The platform’s strengths lie in its cost‑effectiveness, user‑friendly interface, and ability to combine live chat with automated bots. However, Tidio’s natural language understanding is limited to rule‑based logic, and it does not provide a dedicated knowledge base or long‑term memory for chat sessions. The platform also lacks advanced analytics and advanced e‑commerce recommendation features.

BotPenguin is a no‑code chatbot builder that focuses on social media automation, offering Instagram and WhatsApp chatbots that can capture leads, respond to comments, and automate DMs. The platform provides a visual flow builder with modular snippets—over 35 options—to create context‑aware conversations. BotPenguin’s pricing starts at $29/month for the Starter plan, which includes 2,000 messages per month and basic integrations, with higher tiers offering increased message limits and advanced features such as webhooks and analytics. The platform’s strengths are its social media focus, ease of use, and integration with Instagram and WhatsApp, making it ideal for agencies that rely on social engagement. However, BotPenguin does not support web chat widgets on external websites, lacks a built‑in knowledge base, and does not provide long‑term memory or e‑commerce integrations.