Chatbots and Agents - What’s the difference?

If you read my previous post, you'll remember that I felt compelled to build the Keepme Sales Agent. I passionately believe that any fitness operator who deploys it will see a significant increase at the top of the funnel, whether that’s in lead generation or tour bookings. You may also recall my comment that while we always wanted to build this product, we needed to see improvements in the underlying AI models to make it truly effective.

We have known for some time that we could build a chatbot. Indeed, long before Large Language Models (LLMs) came along, there were many effective chatbots, such as those built on platforms like Intercom. These tools used various methods to answer customer questions, primarily relying on pre-defined rules, workflows, or decision trees, which guided the system in determining the most appropriate response or resource to provide. Additionally, techniques such as keyword matching and natural language processing (NLP) methods, including named entity recognition (NER), were applied to further refine the accuracy of responses.

LLMs didn’t fundamentally change the goal of chatbots, which is to provide accurate responses to user queries. However, LLMs represent a significant evolution in how these responses are generated. Unlike their rule-based predecessors, LLMs are based on advanced predictive models that generate more free-flowing and conversational responses, making interactions feel more natural and dynamic.

The emergence of advanced AI models reignited my interest in developing a product for the health and fitness sector. However, I wasn't enthusiastic about simply creating a tool that answered questions, even with improved response quality.

That didn't stop others from introducing chatbots into the industry, and while many are perfectly adequate, I wanted to build something more impactful with tangible business performance improvement.

This is where the distinction between a chatbot and an agent becomes crucial...

An agent not only answers customer inquiries but also takes action, performs tasks, and manages complete customer engagements. This concept excited me because, from my experience as a fitness business owner and through six years of working with hundreds of clubs worldwide, I recognized many processes were less than optimal. By introducing consistency and certainty through an intelligent agent, we could significantly improve performance. Rather than reducing headcount, this enhancement would allow valuable team members to focus on essential personal interactions, which themselves would increase due to the agent's effective handling of initial customer engagements.

Three weeks ago, we launched the Sales Agent - a revolutionary product that not only answers prospective members' questions in real-time across all channels, including webchat, email, social media, WhatsApp, SMS, and even voice, but also assists customers in progressing to the next stage, such as booking a tour. The agent manages the entire process - conversation, scheduling, booking confirmation, and follow-ups. This new addition will generate thousands of new leads and tours for operators, by engaging with prospective members at the optimal time (when they are most interested) and guiding them seamlessly through the next steps, like booking a tour or arranging a trial. There isn't a marketing or sales manager in the industry who wouldn’t want this 24/7 capability on their team, given its clear performance benefits.

And this is just the beginning...

We are already developing multiple new agents for release in the coming months that will support operators in customer service, collections, and fitness member retention. These agents will be equipped to complete key tasks at scale, around the clock. By working alongside sales, marketing, and operations teams, these agents will optimize performance, eliminate laborious, repetitive tasks, and provide the consistency and certainty that allow your team to focus on high-value activities.

Chatbots were a great start, but they will soon seem quaint compared to what is now being delivered. The industry deserves tools like these to ensure continued growth and development and we’re dedicating our efforts to ensuring they get them.