What is an AI chatbot for a website?

An AI chatbot for a website is a chat widget, powered by a large language model, that answers your visitors' questions in natural language using your own business content. Unlike old rule-based bots, it understands questions it has never seen before and replies conversationally, 24/7, so customers get instant, accurate answers without waiting for your team.

What can an AI chatbot do for my business?

It answers the repetitive questions your team types out every day, works around the clock in any language, captures leads with the visitor's email or phone, opens support tickets when someone needs a person, and shows you what visitors actually ask. In practice that means fewer inbound tickets, faster replies, and enquiries captured at 2am instead of lost.

How do I add an AI chatbot to my website?

Create a bot in the SpideyChat dashboard, teach it your business (describe it in plain language, point the crawler at your website, or upload documents), then paste one line of code before your closing tag. It works on WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, and custom React or Next.js sites. No plugin, and your AI chatbot is live in minutes. You can do the whole thing on the free plan first.

Can a chatbot answer from my website?

Yes, that's the default way to teach one. Point the crawler at your site and SpideyChat reads your pages, extracts the content, and keeps it as part of the bot's knowledge, so answers come from what you already published. Re-crawl whenever your site changes and the bot updates with it.

How do I train an AI chatbot, and do chatbots need training?

There's no model training on your side. The Knowledge Learner gives you four ways to teach your website chatbot: describe your business in plain language, point it at your website and let the crawler do the rest, upload documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV, or Markdown), or add manual Q&A pairs. Everything is chunked and embedded into a private vector index, and the AI answers using only the most relevant passages.

How do chatbots learn my business?

By indexing the content you give them, not by memorising conversations. Your description, crawled pages, uploaded files, and Q&A pairs are split into passages and stored in a private index for that bot. When a visitor asks something, the bot retrieves the closest passages and answers from those. That is why the answers sound like your business rather than generic AI.

Do I need to code an AI chatbot, or hire a developer?

Neither. Teaching your bot and customizing the widget all happen in the dashboard. Installing it is a single copy-paste script tag (the same kind you'd use for any analytics tool), so anyone who can edit their website's footer can ship it.

Do AI chatbots hallucinate?

General-purpose chatbots can. SpideyChat's answers only from the content you gave it and is instructed not to guess, which is what keeps it grounded. When it doesn't have the answer it says so rather than inventing one, and the visitor can open a support ticket from the same chat.

What happens when a chatbot doesn't know the answer?

It tells the visitor it doesn't have that information instead of improvising, and offers the widget's “Report an issue” option, which files a numbered support ticket right inside the chat. On the Pro plan and above those tickets land in your dashboard inbox so your team can pick the conversation up.

How accurate are AI chatbots?

Accuracy comes from the content, not the model. Every bot runs on a state-of-the-art large language model tuned for fast, high-volume support, and it answers from your own material, so it's as accurate as what you taught it. Thin or out-of-date content is the usual cause of a weak answer, and you can fix that by editing the knowledge base or re-crawling.

Do AI chatbots really work?

For the questions your content already answers (pricing, hours, policies, how-to, availability), yes, and those are the bulk of what most sites get asked. They're not a replacement for human judgement on complex or sensitive cases, which is why handoff and tickets matter: the bot clears the repetitive volume and routes the rest to you.

Can AI chatbots reduce support tickets?

That's the main reason teams install one. Repeat questions (shipping, refunds, opening hours, “how do I…”) get answered instantly from your own content instead of becoming emails. What's left reaches you as a ticket with the conversation attached, so you start with context instead of a blank thread.

What languages do AI chatbots support, and can they handle multiple languages?

Your bot replies in the visitor's own language automatically, and one bot handles all of them. Because it runs on a multilingual language model, a single website chatbot can greet and answer visitors around the world in their native language, even when your knowledge base is written in just one language. There's nothing to configure.

Can AI chatbots capture leads?

Yes. Bots can collect visitor details like email and phone during a conversation (lead capture on Starter and above), so an after-hours question becomes a contactable lead instead of a closed tab. Captured leads appear in your dashboard alongside the conversation that produced them.

How do chatbots qualify leads?

By asking the same few questions a good salesperson would ask (what they're looking for, budget or timeline, and how to reach them) inside a normal conversation. You get the visitor's answers with the full chat transcript, so you can tell a serious enquiry from a browser before you spend time on it.

Can a chatbot hand off to a human?

Yes. Any visitor can open a numbered support ticket through the widget's “Report an issue” option, and on the Pro plan and above those tickets land in your dashboard inbox with the conversation attached. Both you and the visitor get an email, so nothing sits unnoticed.

Can a chatbot book appointments?

It captures appointment and booking requests (what the visitor needs, preferred times, and their contact details) and routes them to your team to confirm. It doesn't write directly into your calendar, so you stay in control of what actually gets booked.

Can AI chatbots replace live chat?

For most of the volume, yes. The bot answers instantly, 24/7, without anyone staffing the queue. What it doesn't do is judgement calls, so treat it as the first line: it handles the repetitive questions and hands the rest to you as a ticket rather than leaving someone waiting for an agent.

Is a chatbot better than a contact form?

A contact form takes a message and gives nothing back; a chatbot answers on the spot, and still collects the visitor's details when it can't. For anything already covered by your content, the visitor gets their answer immediately instead of waiting a day for a reply, and you get fewer “just checking” emails.

Are AI chatbots secure, and is my data safe with an AI chatbot?

Your data stays yours. Everything you use to teach a bot (your description, crawled pages, uploaded documents, and Q&A pairs) is stored privately in your account and indexed separately for each bot, so information never bleeds between bots. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and you can review every conversation and edit the knowledge base at any time.

Which website platforms does the chatbot work with?

Any website. Installation is a single tag (or an iframe embed), so SpideyChat drops into WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Webflow, Wix, Squarespace, Ghost, Framer, and custom React or Next.js sites alike, the same kind of snippet you'd paste for an analytics tool. No plugin, framework, or platform lock-in required.

How much does an AI chatbot for a website cost?

There's a Free plan at $0 forever: one chatbot and 500K AI tokens a month (about 375 replies), no credit card required. Paid plans are Starter at $9.99/month (3 bots, 1M tokens or about 750 replies, website crawler, and lead capture), Pro at $29.99/month (10 bots, 5M tokens or about 3,750 replies, the support-ticket inbox, and branding removal), and a custom-priced Enterprise tier for unlimited bots and volume. Annual billing lowers the monthly rate, and you can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime.

Is there a free AI chatbot for websites?

Yes. SpideyChat's Free plan is free forever: one chatbot and 500K AI tokens a month (about 375 replies), no credit card required. It's the whole product at a smaller size, so you can train a bot and put it on your site before paying anything. Upgrade when you outgrow it, and downgrade or cancel anytime.

What is the best AI chatbot for a small business?

The one you can actually get live and keep current. For a small team that usually means no-code setup, a free tier to test with, one-line installation, and answers grounded in your own content, which is exactly what SpideyChat is built around. If you need deep CRM workflows and a dedicated admin, a heavier enterprise suite may suit you better.

How long does it take to set up a chatbot?

Minutes. Create a bot, teach it your business (paste a description, point it at your website, or upload a few documents), customize the widget, then copy one line of code onto your site. There's nothing to install and no model to train yourself: your AI chatbot is live the moment you paste the snippet.

What questions do property buyers ask most?

Availability, viewings, property facts like tenure and council tax, the buying process, chain status and how offers work.

Should estate agents use scripted answers?

For factual and process questions, yes. Consistent answers are faster and more accurate. Negotiation and advice should stay personal.

Can these answers be used by a website assistant?

Yes. Put the facts on your website and an assistant can answer these questions from your own content at any hour.

Scripts for the Questions Buyers Ask Every Agent

Every estate agent answers the same questions dozens of times a week. Is it still available? Is it leasehold? How long has it been on the market? What happens after I make an offer? Each one takes a minute or two, and together they fill hours.

Having clear standard answers to common real estate buyer questions saves time and makes your agency sound consistent, whoever picks up the enquiry. Below are scripts for the questions buyers ask most, written to be adapted to your own listings and process.

Availability

Buyer: Is the house on Station Road still available? Answer: Yes, it's still available and not under offer. Would you like to arrange a viewing? If you let me know two or three times that suit you, the team will confirm.

If it is under offer, say so and offer to register the buyer for similar properties. Never leave a buyer with just "no."

Tenure and costs

Buyer: Is it freehold or leasehold? Answer: It's leasehold with 112 years remaining. The ground rent and service charge are listed on the property page, and the team can send the full lease details before any offer.

Facts like tenure, council tax band and service charges should be on every listing. If they are not, add them. These are exactly the questions that fill an inbox.

Time on the market

Buyer: How long has it been on the market? Answer: It was listed at the start of last month. There has been steady interest, and the team can tell you more about the seller's position if you'd like to discuss it.

Keep this factual. Speculation about the seller's motivation belongs in a conversation with a negotiator.

Want a 24/7 AI Employee for Your Website?

See how SpideyChat can answer customer questions, capture leads and handle enquiries while your team is offline.

The offer process

Buyer: How do I make an offer? Answer: You can make an offer through the team by phone or email. They'll ask about your buying position, such as whether you have a mortgage agreement in principle and a property to sell, and pass the offer to the seller the same day.

Explaining the process builds confidence, especially with first-time buyers.

Chain status

Buyer: Is there a chain? Answer: The seller has found a property to buy and their purchase is part of a short chain. The team can give you more detail when you view.

Questions to hand to a person

Some questions should never get a scripted answer:

"Would they take less?"
"Why are they selling?"
Anything legal, structural or financial that needs professional advice.
Complaints.

The right script for these is a warm handover: "That's a good question for the negotiator. Can I take your details so they can call you today?"

Using these scripts on your website

Scripts work best when the facts behind them are published. Put availability, tenure, costs and your offer process on your website, and those answers can be given at any hour. This matters because many enquiries arrive in the evening, as covered in buyer enquiries that arrive on Sunday night.

SpideyChat for real estate answers these questions from your listings and pages, and hands the negotiation questions to your team. For a closer look at how it treats buyers and sellers differently, see an AI chatbot for estate agents.

If you want help writing these answers, the free FAQ generator drafts questions and answers from your website, and the free reply generator helps with individual responses. The installation guide covers adding an assistant to your site.

Keeping answers accurate

Scripts go stale. Review them every quarter, and whenever your process changes. Most importantly, keep listings current: an answer about availability is only as good as your status updates.

Every unanswered question is also worth tracking. A lost enquiry has a real cost, which we worked through in what a missed property enquiry costs an agency. Questions buyers keep asking that your listings do not answer are a list of things to add.

Start with your top ten

Ask your team which ten questions they answer most. Write a clear answer to each using the patterns above, and check the facts are on your listings. You will have covered a large share of your buyer enquiries in an afternoon.