Do small businesses need a chatbot?

A chatbot isn't essential for every small business, but it's increasingly valuable for businesses that receive frequent customer inquiries, need to capture leads outside business hours, or want to reduce repetitive support tasks. If you regularly miss calls, lose leads overnight, or spend hours answering the same questions, a chatbot can make a significant impact. Service businesses like dental offices, law firms, HVAC companies, and restaurants see particularly strong results. The question isn't whether you can afford a chatbot - it's whether you can afford to keep losing leads at 10pm when no one's answering the phone.