If you run a business and you’re still answering WhatsApp messages by hand, you’re losing customers. That’s not an opinion, it’s simple maths: 60% of the messages a business receives arrive outside opening hours. If you don’t reply within 5 minutes, the likelihood of conversion drops by 80%.
A WhatsApp chatbot isn’t a luxury. It’s the difference between closing sales while you sleep and losing them.
What exactly does a WhatsApp chatbot do?
A well-configured chatbot isn’t the usual “press 1 for sales, press 2 for support” menu. That’s 2015 technology. In 2026, an AI chatbot does this:
- Answers questions about your business using your real catalogue, opening hours and policies
- Books appointments straight into your calendar with no human involvement
- Screens customers and passes you only the ones who are genuinely going to buy
- Sends personalised quotes based on what each person asks for
- Talks like you — in your brand’s tone of voice, not like a robot
The key is training. You give it your information, your frequently asked questions and your way of speaking, and the chatbot replicates it. Customers don’t notice they’re talking to a machine.
How much it costs and what you need
The price range on the market is huge. There are free solutions that are useless and enterprise ones that cost 2,000 EUR/month. As an industry benchmark for a real business:
- Initial setup: between 300 and 800 EUR on the market (configuration, training, integration)
- Monthly fee: between 100 and 300 EUR on the market (hosting, maintenance, improvements)
- WhatsApp Business API: Meta’s cost per conversation (0.03-0.08 EUR per message initiated by the business)
At STAKKER, the reference price for the AI chat assistant (STAKKER Chat, web + WhatsApp with lead capture) is 25 EUR/month plus a one-off setup fee of 99 EUR. These are reference prices excluding IVA (Spanish VAT, 21%), with no lock-in contract, and they can be improved on when you get in touch: the diagnosis is free and you can try the demo with your own business data before you pay. The details are on the pricing page. What you need before you start: a WhatsApp number dedicated to the business, a list of frequently asked questions, and a clear idea of what you want the chatbot to do (book appointments, sell, inform, or all three).
If your problem is phone calls too, the same approach exists for the telephone: an AI voice receptionist that answers 24/7.
How to choose the right chatbot
Not all chatbots are the same. Before signing up for one, ask:
- Does it use real AI or is it a decision tree? If it only has fixed options, it falls short as soon as a customer asks something off-script
- Does it integrate with your current system? Calendar, CRM, payment gateway
- Can you update it yourself? Or do you have to pay for every change
- Does it have analytics? So you can see what your customers are asking and improve
At STAKKER we build chatbots with genuine conversational AI. No menus, no canned replies. The bot understands context, remembers the conversation, and hands over to a human when needed.
Want to see how it would work in your business? Free consultation, no obligation. We review your real data and the flow before proposing anything.