Flow XO Review

Flow XO is a chatbot platform you can use to build chatbots for websites, Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS and Slack. But is its software good enough to actually buy it? Let’s find out!

Sneak peek: Yes, it is 😉

 

User Interface

When you log in at Flow XO, you first see an overview of your chatbot with some stats, the chatbot flows and the last interactions:

On the left side of the interface, you have all the menu items and on the right side, you have the content of each section.

When creating your chatbot flows you can choose out of 11 templates of choose to start with a Blank flow:

Then, you can also determine if you want to show the chatbot flow on all channels or only for certain channels:

 

When you have done this, you can create the actual chatbot flow.Flow XO uses a block builder, where all the triggers and actions of the flow are shown under each other. Here is an example of a simple chatbot flow created with Flow XO:

 

 

The interface of Flow XO is clear and easy to use. It is also really simple to set up a chatbot, you can just use one of the 11 pre-built templates. What is also really useful, is that you can test the chatbot in the interface itself, so you immediately see the impact of the changes you just made.

The only possible drawback of the interface is that it does not have a visual flow builder, for the more visually oriented chatbot developers 😉

• Visual Flow Builder

  Create chatbot dialogs with a visual flow builder.
• Test chatbot

  Is it possible to test the chatbot before putting your new flows or changes live?
• Interface easy to use?

  Is the chatbot platform easy-to-use?
• Easy to setup a chatbot?

  Is it easy to set up your chatbot with this chatbot platform?

Chatbot elements

Flow XO has all the chatbot elements you need in order to create your chatbot.

They do lack some elements on my list, but those are certainly no deal-breakers.

What I especially like is that you can ask for User Input, use that input to personalize the conversation (using Filters) and that you can trigger other flows in your chatbot (perfect when you want to create a scalable chatbot).

• Delays

  Use delays between messages in your chatbot
• Images

  Can you send images via your chatbot?
• Video

  Can you send video via your chatbot?
• Audio

  Can you send audio via your chatbot?
• Attachments

  Can you send attachments via your chatbot?
• Gallery (Horizontal list)

  Show a gallery of cards inside your chatbot. A card consists of an image, title, subtitle and button.
• Vertical list

  Show a vertical list of items inside your chatbot
• Emojis

  Can you use emojis inside your chatbot?
• Persistent Menu

  Can you add a persistent menu to your chatbot?
• Quick Replies

  Can you add quick replies to your chatbot where users can click on?
• Buttons

  Can you add buttons to your chatbot where users can click on?
• Free text input

  Can chatbot users freely type text to your chatbot whenever they want to?
• Location sharing

  Can users share their location inside the chatbot?
• Email validation

  When a chatbot user gives their email, can the platform validate it's a correct email address?
• Phone number validation

  When a chatbot user gives their phone number, can the platform validate it's a correct phone number?
• Date validation

  When a chatbot user gives a date, can the platform validate it's a correct date?

Users

Flow XO provides an overview of all the users that talked to your chatbot:

Then if you click on one of the users, you can see all the details and attributes of that user:

So with Flow XO, it is possible to add custom field (called Attributes) to specific users of your chatbot. You can just ask a question and store the answer to that question in a custom field.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to add tags to users and to make user segments.

• Custom fields

  Store information from your chatbot users inside fields. For example, you can ask for someone's email and store it inside the "email" custom field.
• Tags

  Add tags to users in your chatbot flows to organize and categorize contacts.
• User segments

  Can you create user segments based on custom fields and tags?

Messages

In Flow XO you can broadcast a message to all of your contacts or a part of them.

Likewise, you can also send contacts through a sequence of messages with a certain time interval in between.

Furthermore, you can make a chatbot in multiple languages, but you cannot easily translate your chatbot to another language. This would include a lot of copy and paste work, unfortunately.

• Broadcasts

  Send a message to all or a part of your chatbot users at a specific date and time
• Sequences

  Send messages on a pre-defined schedule with a certain time interval between those messages
• Conditions

  Make checks in your chatbot flow based on if-then logic. For example, if the user has not given their email, ask for their email.
• Multiple languages

  Is it possible to create a chatbot in multiple languages?
• Easy to translate

  Can you translate text to other languages without using a third-party platform and without creating duplicate flows?

AI & NLP

In Flow XO you can recognize keywords that are sent by the user and then give an appropriate response.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to any kind of real NLP, by the use of Intents or Entities.

Flow XO does have a Dialogflow integration, so by using that you can understand the intent of the user and use Entities.

• Keywords

  Trigger chatbot flow based on certain words or phrases a user says to the chatbot.
• Intents

  Trigger a chatbot flow by understanding the intent of the user.
• Entities

  Capture specific information from sentences. For example, if a user says "veggie pizza", the chatbot can understand it's not a regular pizza, but a veggie pizza.
• Dialogflow integration

  Does the chatbot platform provide a direct integration with Google's AI Platform?

Channels

With Flow XO you can create a chatbot on 6 channels:

• Websites
• Facebook Messenger
• WhatsApp
• SMS
• Telegram
• Slack

This allows you to provide an omnichannel experience to your customers.

What I also like about Flow XO is that you can determine per flow if you want to show it on all channels, or only on some specific channels.

• Website

  Can you publish your chatbot on your website?
• Facebook

  Can you publish your chatbot on Facebook?
• Instagram

  Can you publish your chatbot on Instagram?
• Whatsapp

  Can you publish your chatbot on WhatsApp?
• Telegram

  Can you publish your chatbot on Telegram?
• SMS

  Can you publish your chatbot on SMS?
• Slack

  Can you publish your chatbot on Slack?
• Skype

  Can you publish your chatbot on Skype?
• Email

  Can you publish your chatbot on email?

Integrations

Flow XO has a built-in live chat, that you can use to hand over the chat to a human (when your chatbot doesn’t know the answer to a question).

Furthermore, FlowXO provides over 100 direct integrations with other applications, such as MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, Buffer, Campaign Monitor, Wit.AI and much more:

If that’s not enough, you can also use its Make integration to connect with other third-party applications or create API calls in your chatbot flows to send or receive data from other systems.

• Livechat

  Direct integration with live chat, either via a built-in live chat functionality or a third-party live chat platform.
• Zapier

  Direct integration with Zapier, one of the largest integration platforms in the world.
• Make (formerly Integromat)

  Direct integration with Make (formerly Integromat), one of the largest integration platforms in the world.
• Google Sheets

  Direct integration with Google Sheets, to store or retrieve data from sheets.
• Webhooks

  Can you call an API inside your chatbot flow to send or get data from other applications?

Marketing

With Flow XO you can add a Facebook Messenger widget and a native widget to your website. By using the native widget you can customize the widget to the branding and colours of your website.

Besides that, Flow XO provides some marketing features on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

On Facebook, you can:

• Use Ref URLs
• Automatically reply to Facebook comments
• Connect your Messenger chatbot to Facebook Ads
• Use the One-Time Notification

And on WhatsApp, you can send Message Templates to reach users outside the 24-hour window.

• Facebook website widget

  Embed your chatbot as a Facebook Widget on your website.
• Native website widget

  Embed your chatbot as a native widget (your own branding & colors) on your website.
• Landing pages

  Can you create a simple landing page to drive users to your chatbot?
• Facebook Ads

  Start a conversation with your chatbot when someone clicks on a Facebook Ad
• One-Time Notification

  Send one-time notifications via Facebook Messenger for a topic that a chatbot user has opted-in for
• Facebook comments auto-reply

  Automatically reply with your chatbot to users who comment on your Facebook Posts
• Button creator

  Add a button to your website to drive users to your chatbot
• Custom URLs for your chatbot

  Generate a simple URL that can be shared anywhere to send users to your chatbot

Pricing

Flow XO provides a free plan that comes with 500 interactions per month and allows you to test out their platform.

Their first paid plan starts at $19 per month and comes with all features of the platform, 5000 interactions, 15 bots or active flows, 5 team members and no branding:

If you want more than this plan, you can add 5 bots/flows for 10$ per month or add 25.000 interactions for $25 per month.

• Free trial

  Does the chatbot platform provide a free trial?
• Free plan

  Does the chatbot platform provide a free plan?
• Price per month

  What is the lowest price per month for creating a chatbot on this platform?
  19
• Monthly pricing available?

  Is it possible to pay monthly?
• Money back guarantee

  Is there a money-back guarantee in case you are not satisfied with the platform?

Analytics

Flow XO gives you a dashboard in which the most important stats of your chatbot are given:

The analytics section mostly gives you data about the total users, active users, new users, the number of triggers, the number of messages sent/received, the top-performing messages and the top-performing flows.

The analytics of Flow XO is really standard, so do not expect too much from it.

A drawback is that you cannot see the user input on which the chatbot could not give an answer. This is a feature in which you can easily improve the answers of your chatbot, but Flow XO doesn’t have it.

What is noticeable to say is that FlowXO does provide a Google Analytics integration, in which some data can be gathered about the chatbot.

• Dashboard

  Dashboard that provides general analytics of your chatbot.
• User input

  Get the input from users that your chatbot didn't understand.
• Sent messages

  The number of messages that were sent by your chatbot.
• Open rate

  The percentage of chatbot users that opened a message inside your chatbot.
• Click rate

  The percentage of chatbot users that click on a button inside your chatbot.
• Conversion rate

  The percentage of users that converted through your chatbot. For example, the percentage of users that gave their email address
• Fall back rate

  The percentage of interactions where the chatbot did not know an answer to a question.
• Custom dashboards/reports

  Can you create your own dashboard or reports?

eCommerce

Flow XO has an integration with Stripe, which allows users to pay directly within your chatbot.

They also have an integration with WooCommerce, so it is really easy to connect your WooCommerce shop with a Flow XO chatbot.

• Payments

  Collect payments inside your chatbot
• Shopify

  Direct integration with Shopify to get products, order information and cart data.
• WooCommerce

  Direct integration with WooCommerce to get products, order information and cart data.
• Buy directly within the chatbot

  Ability for chatbot users to buy products or services directly from a chatbot
• Cart abandonment

  Trigger messages in the chatbot when a user abandons their cart on a website or inside the chatbot

Templates & Cloning

Flow XO delivers 11 pre-built templates that you can use to get started immediately.

Unfortunately, you cannot make these templates yourself and share them with others.

On the other hand, it is possible to duplicate your chatbot flows and chatbot elements, so you can easily reuse them.

• Templates

  How many pre-built templates does the chatbot platform provide?
  11
• Make template

  Can you make templates yourself?
• Share template

  Can you share self-created templates with others?
• Duplicate chatbot flows

  Is it possible to duplicate chatbot flows, so you can easily reuse them?
• Duplicate chatbot elements

  Is it possible to duplicate chatbot elements, so you can easily reuse them?

Optimization

In Flow XO is it not possible to do any kind of optimization (such as A/B Testing).

• A/B Testing

  Can you optimize your chatbot flows by performing A/B tests?

Support

Flow XO provides tutorials and decent documentation to get you started with the chatbot software. Furthermore, they have a community in which you can ask questions and also customer support via e-mail.

• Tutorials

  Does the chatbot platform provide tutorials on how to use its platform?
• Documentation

  Does the chatbot platform provide documentation on how to use its platform?
• Customer support

  Does the chatbot platform provide customer support?

Conclusion

So, should you buy Flow XO?

Yes, you should.

With Flow XO it is really easy to create your own chatbots, it provide lots of chatbot elements, you can publish your chatbot on multiple channels, have lots of direct integrations with other applications, built-in live chat, marketing features for your website, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, decent analytics and even an eCommerce integrations.

And this only for $19 per month!

Go to Flow XO