{"id":47937,"date":"2021-06-29T10:38:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T17:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"\/us\/en\/blog\/?p=47937"},"modified":"2025-05-14T04:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T11:49:35","slug":"virtual-agent-vs-chatbot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual agent vs. chatbot: what&#8217;s the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Highlights:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Chatbots and virtual agents are similar; they\u2019re both software, but there are important differences.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Chatbots are simpler and don\u2019t use AI.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Virtual agents are more sophisticated, can offer better answers, and utilize AI to deliver the assistance customers need.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Whenever you see one of those popup windows come up on a website, you think \u201cchatbot.\u201d However, that\u2019s not always the case. You could be interacting with a virtual agent rather than a chatbot. There\u2019s a difference between the two types of technology.<\/p>\n<p>This post explores how chatbots and virtual agents are different, and how you can incorporate both into your <a class=\"waffle-rich-text-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/contact-center.html\">contact center<\/a> to elevate the customer experience.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading h2\">What\u2019s a chatbot?<\/h2>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/chatbots.html\">chatbot<\/a> is a program that simulates human conversation (\u201cchat\u201d) through text or voice interactions. They\u2019re designed to handle very simple interactions and carry out tasks which aren\u2019t overly complicated (like scheduling a callback). Chatbots aren\u2019t enabled by AI, meaning they won\u2019t learn from an interaction. Rather, they\u2019re trained to provide canned responses when someone asks a question.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll illustrate with an example. Jill opens up a website to order a new bed for her dog. A chatbot window pops up and asks her if she needs help.<\/p>\n<p>Jill types in that she\u2019s looking for a dog bed. The chatbot responds with a link to the dog bed section of the site.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u2b50<b> Take your contact center to a whole new level <\/b>\u2b50<\/p>\n<p>Next-Gen Cloud Contact Centers for Dummies\u00ae, RingCentral Special Edition\u00a0eBook<\/p>\n<div class=\"download-form-widget enterprise-download-form\" data-url=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/documents\/next-gen-cloud-contact-centers.pdf\" data-id=\"69d0da955cca1\" id=\"69d0da955cca1\">\n\t\t<button tabindex=\"on\"  on=\"tap:69d0da955cca1.toggleClass(class='open')\" class=\"open-modal-download-action download-form-button\" type=\"submit\">Get the eBook<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"download-form-modal\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-body\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-content\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-title\">Next-Gen Cloud Contact Centers for Dummies\u00ae, RingCentral Special Edition eBook<\/div>\n<form class=\"download-form ENTERPRISE\" method=\"post\">\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"download-form-input\" aria-label=\"Full Name\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" type=\"text\" name=\"fullname\" placeholder=\"Full Name\" data-dl-events-hover=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"text\" data-dl-additional-info=\"enterprise download form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"download-form-input\" aria-label=\"Email (please enter a work email address)\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"on\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email (please enter a work email address)\" data-dl-events-hover=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"email\" data-dl-additional-info=\"enterprise download form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"popup_form\" value=\"1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"Lead_Entry_Source__c\" value=\"RC Blog Enterprise\" class=\"download-form-input\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"download-form-submit\" type=\"submit\" data-dl-element=\"button\" data-no-auto-dl=\"true\" data-dl-additional-info=\"enterprise download form\" data-dl-name=\"Get it now\">Get it now<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<button on=\"tap:69d0da955cca1.toggleClass(class='open')\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\"  class=\"download-form-modal-close\"><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-thank\"> Happy reading!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>What\u2019s a virtual agent?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/virtual-agent.html#ring-cc-off\">Virtual agents<\/a> are more sophisticated than chatbots. A virtual agent is software that follows certain rules to provide answers or directions based on customer questions. While that\u2019s similar to a chatbot, virtual agents use <a href=\"https:\/\/towardsdatascience.com\/your-guide-to-natural-language-processing-nlp-48ea2511f6e1\">natural language processing<\/a> (NLP).<\/p>\n<p>NLP is a branch of artificial intelligence that gives machines the ability to read, understand, and derive meaning from human language. Thanks to NLP, virtual agents understand what a customer says rather than scanning for phrases the way a chatbot would. They grasp a customer\u2019s intent in order to provide personalized, meaningful responses.<\/p>\n<p>One powerful example of a virtual agent in action is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/ai-receptionist\">RingCentral\u2019s AI Receptionist<\/a>. By leveraging NLP and AI capabilities, the AI Receptionist doesn\u2019t just answer questions\u2014it understands the customer\u2019s intent, routes calls accurately, schedules appointments, and provides on-brand interactions around the clock. It ensures customers receive a seamless, human-like experience while automating repetitive tasks to save time and resources.<\/p>\n<p>Because virtual agents run on AI, they need to be trained on data sets. Data quality is crucial here. Iif you don\u2019t have high-quality data to feed into the virtual agent, it can\u2019t offer the best possible answers. Before implementing a virtual agent, companies must ensure that their data sets are complete, accurate, and up-to-date. Otherwise, your customers won\u2019t have a positive experience with your virtual agent.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll use another example with Jill to show the difference between chatbots and virtual agents. Jill decides to order a dog bed online. She wants to get the cushion embroidered with her dog\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>The site uses virtual agent technology. Jill asks the virtual agent if it\u2019s possible to embroider the cushion with her dog\u2019s name. The virtual agent understands exactly what Jill is asking, because other customers have asked the same thing in the past. It responds that it\u2019s possible to personalize the cushion and shows her pictures of which embroidery styles the company offers.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-47938\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/typing-on-a-computer.jpeg\" alt=\"Typing on a computer\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>What are the similarities between chatbots and virtual agents?<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a reason that people get confused between chatbots and virtual agents.When they see a window come up on a website, there may be nothing that says that window is a virtual agent or a chatbot.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, chatbots and virtual agents work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Even if a contact center is closed, chatbots and virtual agents can still answer questions.<\/p>\n<p>Chatbots and virtual agents both have the potential to improve the customer experience, too. <a href=\"https:\/\/templatelab.com\/american-express-study\/\">Over 60% of American consumers<\/a> prefer to use automated self-service to solve simple issues. Customers want to save time and effort by finding out information on their own.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe\" id=\"new-rc-subscribe\"  style=\"background-image:url('\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ringcentral\/assets\/images\/temp\/subscribe.png')\">\n\t\t<button class=\"close js-popup-close\"><svg class=\"icon_close_mobile\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\"><use xlink:href=\"#icon_close_mobile\"><\/use><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__wrapper_text\">\n<h3 class=\"rc-subscribe__title h2\">Stay informed with RingCentral<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__subtitle\">Subscribe to our emails for the latest blogs, events, and exclusive content on AI-powered communication solutions. Stay ahead with insights and tips from the leader in trusted AI communications.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/legal\/privacy-notice.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-dl-name=\"Privacy Notic\" data-dl-element=\"link\" data-dl-additional-info=\"social\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Privacy Notice<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__wrapper_form\">\n<form class=\"\" data-event-init=\"true\" novalidate data-js-form>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<input\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tname=\"email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tplaceholder=\"Email address *\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttitle=\"Must be valid email. example@yourdomain.com\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tminlength=\"4\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmaxlength=\"255\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttype=\"email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trequired\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpattern=\"[a-z0-9._%+\\-]+@[a-z0-9.\\-]+\\.[a-z]{2,}$\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"field__control\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tautocomplete=\"on\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-required=\"true\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-events-hover=\"true\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-element=\"email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-dl-additional-info=\"LET'S WORK TOGETHER\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-label=\"Email address *\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-errormessage=\"email-subscribe-errors\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"field__errors\" id=\"email-subscribe-errors\" data-js-form-field-errors><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<select\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tname=\"Country__c\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trequired\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"field__control\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-required=\"true\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-expanded=\"false\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-label=\"Country *\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-errormessage=\"country-subscribe-errors\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t><option value=\"\" disabled=\"disabled\" selected=\"selected\">Country<\/option><option value=\"Canada\">Canada<\/option><option value=\"United_States\">United States<\/option><\/select><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"field__errors\" id=\"country-subscribe-errors\" data-js-form-field-errors><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"rc-subscribe__row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<button type=\"submit\" data-event-init=\"true\">Subscribe<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"confirm-form\" role=\"status\" aria-live=\"polite\" style=\"display: none;\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<div class=\"confirm-form__text\">Thank you for your interest in RingCentral<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>What\u2019s the role of the chatbot in the contact center?<\/h2>\n<p>A contact center chatbot can create a better experience for customers, even though it\u2019s a simple form of software.<\/p>\n<p>Contact center chatbots can answer easy questions, such as providing a link to reset a password or setting up a time to speak to a live agent. These are valuable, time-saving activities for a contact center. For every question a chatbot answers, it means a human employee can work on a more valuable activity.<\/p>\n<p>Some advanced chatbots are voice-enabled, meaning they can interact with customers over a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/what-is-a-voip-phone.html\">VoIP phone line<\/a>, responding to spoken queries and providing real-time assistance. In this way, chatbots can be integrated with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/office\/features\/voip\/overview.html\">VoIP phone service<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/solutions\/office\/call.html\">cloud based phone system<\/a> to provide a seamless customer service experience.<\/p>\n<p>A chatbot can also gather information and pass it off to a human agent. Let\u2019s say Jill wanted to speak to someone about how long it would take to embroider her dog\u2019s bed. The chatbot could take her number and set up a time to talk with a human.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s the role of a virtual agent in a contact center?<\/h2>\n<p>A virtual agent has several roles to play in a contact center. Like a chatbot, it also improves the customer experience, but it can also do other things thanks to AI.<\/p>\n<p>Contact center virtual agents can gather data\u2013not just about customers, but about the customer experience as a whole. A virtual agent can tell you how many people are contacting the company about a particular issue, where they\u2019re located, what time of day they\u2019re reaching out, and how long interactions last. This information is vital for companies to learn more about what customers want and whether their needs are being met.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to their skill at gathering information, contact center virtual agents can also boost lead generation efforts. They learn what a customer is looking for, then pass that information to a human employee who can follow up.<\/p>\n<p>Another benefit of contact center virtual agents is that AI constantly learns from interactions, so it\u2019s always getting smarter and providing better responses to customers.<\/p>\n<h2>Elevate your customer experience with RingCentral\u2019s contact center software<\/h2>\n<p>RingCentral offers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/what-is-an-omnichannel-cloud-contact-center\/\">omnichannel contact center<\/a> software\u00a0software with chatbots and virtual agents. These features boost the customer experience in contact centers by enabling customers to find information quickly and independently. To learn more about creating a better contact center experience with chatbots and virtual agents, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/view_demo_cx.html\">get a demo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"show-demo\">\n<div class=\"title\">\n\t\t\tCreate a better contact center experience\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex-container button-container {{ $description ?: 'spacing' }}\">\n<div class=\"flex-container description\">\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\tRingCentral offers CCaaS software with chatbots and virtual agents. These features boost the customer experience in contact centers by enabling customers to find information quickly and independently.\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"button-wrapper\">\n                                            <button onclick=\"window.open('https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/view_demo_cx.html', '_blank'); return false;\" class=\"show-demo-button\" data-dl-name=\"show-demo\" data-dl-element=\"button\" data-dl-additional-info=\"show demo button\" data-no-auto-dl=\"true\">View Demo<\/button>\n                                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highlights: Chatbots and virtual agents are similar; they\u2019re both software, but there are important differences. Chatbots are simpler and don\u2019t use AI. Virtual agents are more sophisticated, can offer better answers, and utilize AI to deliver the assistance customers need. Whenever you see one of those popup windows come up on a website, you think &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":47939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-experience"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.3 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Virtual agent vs. chatbot: what&#039;s the difference? | RingCentral Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What\u2019s the difference between chatbots and virtual agents? This post explains how both play a role in the contact center.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virtual agent vs. chatbot: what&#039;s the difference?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s the difference between chatbots and virtual agents? This post explains how both play a role in the contact center.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RingCentral Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-29T17:38:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-14T11:49:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/chatting-on-a-phone.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"930\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ringcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"RingCentral Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"RingCentral Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/65a168321317ffd562e0d77745f1b358\"},\"headline\":\"Virtual agent vs. chatbot: what&#8217;s the difference?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-29T17:38:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-14T11:49:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/\"},\"wordCount\":1211,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/chatting-on-a-phone.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Customer &amp; employee experience\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/\",\"name\":\"Virtual agent vs. chatbot: what's the difference? | RingCentral Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/virtual-agent-vs-chatbot\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/chatting-on-a-phone.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-29T17:38:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-14T11:49:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"What\u2019s the difference between chatbots and virtual agents? 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