Chatbot vs Contact Form: Which Converts Better?

I believe most contact forms offer a poor customer experience, but are chatbots any better? What about chatbots powered by AI?

Let's find out how they compare, which converts better, and what strategy and considerations we recommend to businesses.

Why contact forms fall short

People who want to get in touch with your business, want to have quick results. The faster you can provide a solution or answer to their questions, the more satisfied and engaged they will feel about your business.

There are few things that make contact forms less than ideal for conversion.

Here are the main ones:

• They hurt the customer experience: according to a survey from Salesforce, 80% users expect an immediate response after contacting a company. In the best case scenario, you catch the email as it arrives and reply immediately. Most probable scenario? Reaching back takes you hours or days, after the form data arrives. When the customer receives your response, they might feel disengaged with your business already.

• They don’t convert well: The average form conversion rate is 3–5%, according to data from WebFX. There might be multiple reasons to explain these numbers but this is the current reality.

• They hurt your sales: how many times you have received a form, reply, and then nothing! Oblivion. This is most likely because people were interested when they sent the form, the lead was warm, but by the time you replied, they are gone, that lead is cold. People lost interested or they already found another provider.

• They might be turning people off: a small number of people will prefer to not engage with your contact form at all, because they think they might get a call, or a sales rep replying and asking to book a meeting, to eventually, “sell” to them. People don’t like to be sold, hence, they prefer to avoid taking actions that might put them in that situation, and a contact form is one of those actions.

This issue is not new. The people at Drift created a sketch to illustrate the point.

Contact Forms Stats in 2024

Here are some more recent statistics that paint an interesting picture about forms:

Is it all “doom and gloom” for contact forms?

Not really.

There are still good numbers about contact forms:

But here’s the catch: you need to know how to optimize your contact form, to yield similar results.

Unless you’re a form wizard, or you have experience UX Designers and Web Engineers on your team, these results are out of reach for most businesses.

Feel free to check Gitnux’s article if you want to learn more stats.

Can chatbots convert better?

Yes, and no.

It all depends on the specific business, the industry, and of course, the chatbot you can build!

Approximately 50% of entrepreneurs answered that chat yields the highest on-site conversion rates. On the same survey, business leaders reported that chatbots increased sales by an average of 67%.

The team at Drift also shared that “Conversations [from their website’s chatbot] are a net new source of leads, adding 15% more leads to the top of our funnel”.

And this is the main reason why chatbots are an effective way to boost your conversion, if done right:

They are efficient and they help your visitors find what they are looking quickly!

We value speed and immediate gratification, now more than ever.

Here are all the benefits we know of having a chatbot on your website:

• They can answer the most common questions your visitors will have

• They can address the most commons objections about your offering

• They can solve specific problems for your visitors

• They can create a human-like experience

• They can qualify your leads

• They can provide the best matching service or product to your visitor

• They can collect your visitors contact information for doing follow ups

• They can impress your visitors and tell them you’re a tech-savvy

• They are more affordable than increasing your customer support headcount

• They can share discounts coupons or new campaigns in a more natural way

• They can introduce to your prospect new services or products in your business

• They don't take vacations, ask for a raise, or get sick

• They are available 24/7

AI Chatbots

AI Chatbots, also called assistants or agents, are redefining the rules of the game.

With all the advancements in Conversational AI technologies and Large Language Models like ChatGPT and Claude, chatbots are driving customer satisfaction scores to new levels.

They drive conversations to specific flows and solve problems for users with more accuracy.

AI Chatbots are now considered another tool available in the marketing toolbox.

Many businesses are leveraging AI technologies to create richer experiences for customers and drive more sales for the business.

Should I replace my contact form with a chatbot then?

Hands down, no

Here’s the best part. This is not an either/or situation. A good strategy is to bring the chatbot along side your contact form.

This way you can experiment and test which converts better for your business.

Studies tell that they don’t compete with each other.

Some people might still prefer to use your form.

But there are people that will prefer trying out your chatbot, to see if they can get what they are looking for more quickly.

At the end, is all about offering more options to your potential customers to engage with your business.

Now, here's the way we recommend you approach this.

If you’re considering adding a chatbot to your website, start small.

Create a simple prototype. We develop our chatbots with Voiceflow but you can start with any other tool you feel comfortable.

Teach it really good how to response one specific thing.

Maybe start with your pricing. Maybe start with your services.

Then, start adding more questions or topics, and teach it more and more.

Experiment and iterate with your chatbot, keep improving it and make sure to measure your metrics to understand if you’re getting the ROI you set at the beginning of the initiative.

Summary

Chatbots are now a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes to enhance the experience you offer to your potential customers.

We have shared that chatbots have significant good conversion rates, if done right.

If you consider building a chatbot for your business, start small and make sure you measure your metrics to assess the ROI.

And to answer the question of which converts better, here's our stand:

Now, forms might still convert better for certain businesses but we firmly believe that chatbots will revert the metrics and will drive more sales moving forward.

Happy chatbot building and may the 4th be with you!