Anatomy of a chatbot -- how much does it cost to build one?

Enterprises are tempted by the idea to create chatbots that do not require sophisticated UI design, support for multiple mobile platforms, long development cycles with the app store reviews, and expensive acquisition strategies to draw users into apps. But building a chatbot still, requires a careful planning to ensure meaningful return on investment beyond the bells and whistles associated with owning an intelligent chatbot. In this article, I will highlight the 6 components required to build an intelligent chatbot at the average market price at $60 per hour using the available developer tools today. Your chatbot will need a backend to handle messages from different channels and process them with NLP services such as Wit.ai, Api.ai or LUIS. Further, your backend will also hold all of your business logic and integrations with existing systems and will be used to build your conversational intelligence, so that you know how to lead the conversation with the user.