Telegram Chatbots The Ultimate Guide
By Joren Wouters • Updated on
This is the ultimate guide to Telegram chatbots in 2023.
I will cover:
- What Telegram Chatbots are
- Why you should use Telegram chatbots
- How you can create your own Telegram bot
And even more.
So if you are a looking to create a Telegram bot for a business, you'll love this guide.
Chapter 1: Intro to Telegram Chatbots
In this first chapter, I will provide an intro to Telegram Chatbots. So:
- What is a Telegram Chatbot?
- An example of a Telegram chatbot
- Why use Telegram chatbots?
- And how do Telegram chatbots work?
Let's dive in.
What is a Telegram Bot?
A Telegram chatbot is a computer program that can automatically reply to messages on Telegram.
Telegram bots work 24/7 and can have multiple conversations with several people, at the same time. Theyt are oftne used to automatically answer question and provide information about a company’s products or services.
Telegram Chatbot Example
Now a real-life example of a Telegram chatbot: the Eddy Travel chatbot.
With this chatbot you can:
- Search for flights
- Get travel inspiration
- Find accomodations, such as hotels
- Explore tours
- And plan group travels
You can try it out yourself by talking to Eddie Travels using this link:
Why use Telegram Chatbots?
Telegram is one of the biggest messaging apps in the world, with 400 million active monthly users:
Also, the platform is growing fast. Every day, 1.5 million new users sign up for Telegram:
This means that a lot of people are already on Telegram and that the number of users is expanding rapidly.
With so many people on the platform, it is likely that your customers will also be there. And where your customers, you need to be.
So now you understand why you should use Telegram, why should you use a chatbot?
Actually, I created an extensive post about this, but here are some of the main reasons:
- You can save time and money on customer service
- It can boost your sales
- With a chatbot, you can reply in seconds, instead of days
- Your chatbot is 24/7 available, all over the world
- People are open to using chatbots, as long as they get good help
Besides this, Telegram also has some advantages over other channels, such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have strict rules regarding their chatbot, such as the 24-hour window. But with Telegram, we have no such rules (yet), which is a huge advantage!
Also, with Telegram you can use chatbots in groups, which is not possible with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
How do Telegram bots work?
Most Telegram chatbots are based on a conversational flow.
And a conversational flow is created by three core elements:
- Trigger: Tells the chatbot when to start a conversation
- Action: Tells the chatbot what to do (for example: send a message)
- Condition: Performs checks based on if this, then that logic
For example, if I start my own Telegram business chatbot, you will get the following response:
And here’s how that looks in ManyChat (the chatbot platform I’ve used):
How it works:
- If someone types a message containing “Hey”, “Hi”, or “Hello”, the chatbot replies with this flow (the trigger)
- The chatbot first checks if the user a new user or a returning user (the condition)
- And if the user is new, we send the first message (above). Otherwise, we send the second message (the actions)
Pretty simple, right?
Chapter 2: How To Create a Chatbot on Telegram
Now we know what Telegram chatbots are and why you should use one, it is time to build a Telegram Bot ourselves..
So I will show you how you can create your own Telegram bot, step-by-step.
And I am going to do that by using ManyChat.
Let's dive in.
Create a Telegram Chatbot with ManyChat
So the first thing that you need to do is create a free ManyChat account:
Then, you can follow all the steps I explain in this video:
Or you can just follow the steps below.
So when you click on the button above, you will directly go to the Manychat website and here you need to click on Get started free:
Then, you need to select Telegram:
And you need to continue with your Telegram account:
Now, ManyChat will verify your Telegram account and your email. And once you have done that, your ManyChat account is created.
Connect your ManyChat bot to Telegram
Once you have created your ManyChat account, you need to connect it to the Telegram channel.
In order to do that, you need to go Settings > Telegram and click on Connect:
And click on Create new bot:
Then, we need to create a bot inside Telegram and connect that to our ManyChat account.
Now, open up your Telegram app and talk with the Botfather (this sounds almost like a joke, but I am serious).
Go to Telegram, search for Botfather, start a chat and click on Start at the bottom.
Then, BotFather will automatically respond with a list of commands you can use to create a Telegram bot using the Telegram Bot API:
So, now you need to say “/newbot” to create your chatbot.
The BotFather will ask for the name and the username of the bot and will automatically create a Telegram API Token for you:
NOTE: Don’t share this API token with anyone else besides yourself!
Just copy and paste that API token into ManyChat:
And that’s it! Now your ManyChat account is connected to Telegram!
P.S. If you to create a chatbot for a Telegram group, you need to use another platform than Manychat (because Manychat doesn’t have this functionality). Here is a video on how you can create one with Xenioo, that does have this functionality.
Automatically reply to words or phrases
Now that we have successfully connected our ManyChat account to Telegram, it’s time to automatically reply to words and phrases.
To do this, just go to Automation and click on New flow:
Let’s say, we have a course and we want to automatically reply with information about this course when somebody messages us the word “course”.
Then, we need to add a Starting Step to our ManyChat flow, which is also called a Trigger.
And a trigger, is something that starts our flow inside Telegram. And in this case, we want to start the flow when a message contains the word “course”.
So, you can just click on Add Trigger:
Choose for Telegram (on the left side) and then select the Telegram keyword:
Then, you can click on the keyword and just type in “course” and click on Create:
Now, every time messages us a phrase with the word “course” in it, we automatically reply with this ManyChat flow.
Then, as a first step, we will choose Telegram:
P.S. I also have a lot of other channels here, such as WhatsApp, Instagram and SMS, because I also connected these channels to my ManyChat account.
And add the contents of the message. So we will just type information about our course:
My course is called the Lead Generation System, where you can learn how to automatically generate leads for your business.
If you want to sign up for my course or want more information, please click the button below👇
And we can also add a button that will lead to a page on your website.
So you can just click on Add button, determine the Button title, set it to Open website and add the URL to your website:
P.S. I actually do have a course called the Lead Generation System, where you can learn how you can use ManyChat to automatically generate leads for your business. You can check it out here.
That’s it! Now, every time says something related to a course, we automatically reply with information about our course + a link to our website where they can buy it.
Chapter 3: What chatbot platforms for Telegram?
I showed you how to create your own Telegram chatbot with ManyChat.
But ManyChat is not the only chatbot platform out there.
So, which chatbot builders can you use to build your Telegram chatbot?
And how much does a Telegram chatbot cost?
Let's check it out.
How much does a Telegram chatbot cost?
The pricing of your Telegram bot depends on the chatbot platform that you use.
There are many chatbot builders in the market, and the prices vary from a free plan up to $417 per month.
So let’s look at the chatbot builders that offer Telegram chatbots. I will look at whether there is a free plan and how much it will cost to send 1000 messages with a chatbot on each of the platforms:
| Chatbot builder | Free plan available? | Price per 1000 messages |
|---|---|---|
| ActiveChat | No | $33 per month |
| Botmother | Yes | $17 per month |
| Engati | Yes | Free |
| Flow XO | Yes | $19 per month |
| Flow.ai | No | Custom price |
| Manychat | Yes | $15 per month |
| Snatchbot | Yes | $30 per month |
| Trengo | Yes | $28,50 per month |
| Ubisend | No | $417,16 per month |
| Xenioo | Yes | $36,39 per month |
Of course, these chatbot builders differ a lot in the features they provide and the type of customers they serve, but it provides some insight into how much a Telegram chatbot costs.
Let’s have a look at the various chatbot builders.
Telegram Chatbot Platforms
Here is a list of chatbot builders you can use to create your own Telegram chatbot:
(By the way, if you want to easily compare these chatbot builders, check out this page where you can compare 52 builders)
Now It's Your Turn
So that’s how you can use Telegram chatbots in your marketing.
Now I want to turn it over to you: Are you going to create a Telegram Chatbot?
Or do you already use a Telegram chatbot?
Let me know by leaving a comment below!
Hi Joren! this really an amazing article, I was looking for something like this & truly feel glad to spend time on your blog. I am surely going to try these tips. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it!