Chatbots have become all the rage in the customer service space, but in reality, many of them are still not mature enough to deliver the level of customer service that customers expect, said Alexis Fogel, CEO and founder of Stonly, a French startup that's working to make self-service more intuitive for consumers through interactive guides.
"I'm trying to take the opposite stance of chatbots," Fogel told TechCrunch. "The issue with chatbots is that technology is not good enough and you often end up searching through the help center."
Stonly is hoping to make the resources on help pages more accessible through a scripted guide, which prompts consumers with a series of questions that aim to get to the bottom of their problems.
Stonly works as a widget that companies can embed into their web pages or blogs. When users interact with it, the guide appears as a series of slides with buttons to press based on the questions presented. Each response triggers the next slide, as users get closer to the answers or the content they need. Companies can create these slides without having to code them and can even include images or video tutorials.
Stonly's target customers are small companies with tight budgets. But that's not Stonly's primary goal. "It's not just about saving money, it's also about improving engagement and support," Fogel told TechCrunch.
Currently Stonly is free for public guides, but to create private guides that make use of the company's advanced features, Stonly offers a Pro plan for $30 per month and a Team plan for $100 per month.