Virtual Assistant Development Services

As of today, the creation of chatbots of all shapes and sizes is one of the most required types of custom web application development. So you may have come across virtual assistants in one form or another.

For example, one of the low-tech implementations of such a solution is customer support robots that often pop up on the websites you visit. On the other hand, the most state-of-the-art embodiment of this technology can be considered a voice assistant that could grasp voice commands and synthesize the corresponding voice lines as replies. These include such sophisticated bots as Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana, and Alexa.

Chatbot development services may be of interest to many businesses. The robot can perform routine tasks and increase the capacity of your marketing and sales departments significantly. It's an investment that pays off in no time – many companies report engagement increases of up to 90% and sales skyrocket by 60% depending on the domain.

In addition, chatbot creation can easily become part of a marketplace software development project. Engineers can integrate the digital assistant into your eCommerce platform and as a result, you’ll get a software suite with much more extensive functionality. Such a bundle of products is a good choice because it allows you to immediately obtain a powerful yet well-balanced all-in-one eCommerce website at your disposal.

All virtual assistants can be divided into several categories depending on the technologies they are based upon. Excluding hybrid solutions, it is customary to distinguish the following 3 types of bots:

Menu-based assistants are the simplest solution since they are built around a decision tree, and all their lines are pre-written. Such solutions are inexpensive to produce and are suitable for entertainment, booking, simple marketing research, and so on.

Keyword-based bots are created using Natural Language Processing technology, which allows them to waive the template-based approach and come up with the responses depending on the keywords. The field of their application is pretty wide. For example, such bots are commonly utilized for comprehensive customer support.

ML-based virtual assistants are expensive and extremely difficult to develop. Such solutions are smart enough to cope with very complex tasks. For example, a well-trained virtual assistant can foster meaningful dialogues with people by referring to its "background experience" and current context.

The cost of building a unique chatbot directly correlates with the functionality you intend to implement. The more feature-packed the bot, the more time and coders it will take to develop. In turn, this affects the price tag as well.

On average, prices for simple chatbots with a minimum set of features start at $30,000. Designing and developing complex solutions with a lot of functions based on machine learning and artificial intelligence may cost you about $60,000.

At Fively, we focus on an individual approach to each client and project. Prior to development, we draw up detailed roadmaps with a meticulously calculated budget. You can also contact us for a FREE consultation – our experienced engineers will estimate the cost of your project and tell you how you can cut the corners to stay within your budget.

On average, the active phase of chatbot development can last from a couple of months to 6 months. In the case of more sophisticated solutions, engineering can take a year.

A separate phase is the support of the application and the release of its updated versions. At this stage, engineers will refine the bot by taking into account the feedback from actual users and your emerging demands. It can also take several months of work.