Updated September 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team
Progression Agency is a chatbot development company that builds custom AI chatbots grounded in your own content and connected to your systems — for websites, apps, support desks and internal teams. Our AI chatbot development services cover conversation design, retrieval over your documents, integrations, guardrails, analytics and handoff to people.
On this page · 11 sections
- What is AI chatbot development?
- Custom chatbots we develop
- What features should a custom chatbot have?
- Systems chatbots integrate with
- Accuracy, safety and privacy
- Our chatbot development process
- How much does AI chatbot development cost?
- Technology for AI chatbots
- Chatbot mistakes to avoid
- Why choose Progression Agency for chatbot development?
- Related AI services
The short answerAI chatbot development is building a conversational assistant, powered by a large language model, that answers questions and completes simple tasks using your approved content and data. A custom chatbot differs from an off-the-shelf widget in that it is grounded in your sources, integrated with your systems, branded, measured and under your control. A production chatbot commonly costs $20,000-$80,000 to build. For quick no-code setups, see our AI automation agency page; this page covers custom-built chatbots.
Cost ranges are planning figures. Model details reflect vendor documentation as of September 2026.
What is AI chatbot development?
AI chatbot development is designing and building a conversational interface powered by a language model that answers questions and performs simple tasks from approved sources, integrated into a website, app or internal tool.
Modern chatbots use retrieval-augmented generation: they search your documents for relevant passages and answer from them, citing sources, which keeps them accurate about your business. Our AI automation agency page covers packaged chatbot setups for small businesses; custom development suits larger content sets, integrations and brand requirements.
Custom chatbots we develop
Our custom chatbot development services cover customer-facing and internal assistants.
Website chatbots
Answer visitor questions from your site and documents, qualify leads and book appointments.
Customer support chatbots
Resolve order, account and policy questions with order-system lookups and handoff to agents with context.
Internal knowledge assistants
Help staff find answers in HR policies, SOPs and product documentation.
Ecommerce shopping assistants
Recommend products, answer specification questions and check order status.
Voice and phone bots
Handle calls, answer common questions and route callers.
In-product assistants
Help users inside your SaaS or app with contextual guidance.
Resolve order, account and policy questions with order-system lookups and handoff to agents with context.
What features should a custom chatbot have?
These features separate a useful chatbot from a frustrating one.
| Feature | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Grounded answers with sources | Accurate, verifiable responses |
| Human handoff | Escalates with full context |
| Integrations | Order status, bookings, CRM updates |
| Conversation analytics | Shows unanswered questions |
| Guardrails | Stays on topic and on brand |
| Multilingual support | Serves more customers |
| Lead capture | Turns conversations into leads |
| Accessibility | Keyboard and screen-reader friendly |
Systems chatbots integrate with
Integrations turn a chatbot from an FAQ into a service channel.
| System | What we connect |
|---|---|
| Help desk | Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk handoff |
| CRM | Lead and contact creation |
| Ecommerce | Shopify and order lookups |
| Scheduling | Calendar booking |
| Knowledge sources | Website, PDFs, help center, drives |
| Analytics | GA4 and product analytics |
Accuracy, safety and privacy
Chatbots speak for your brand, so safeguards are essential.
- Answers restricted to approved sources, with citations.
- Refusals and handoff for out-of-scope or sensitive requests.
- Protection against prompt injection (OWASP LLM Top 10).
- Privacy notices and data-retention settings appropriate to your industry.
- Enterprise model endpoints that do not train on your data.
Our chatbot development process
We identify the questions and tasks that matter, audit and clean the content, design conversations and handoff, build retrieval and integrations, evaluate against real questions, then launch and improve weekly from analytics.
How much does AI chatbot development cost?
As a planning range, a grounded website chatbot commonly costs $10,000-$30,000, an integrated support chatbot $30,000-$80,000, and an enterprise assistant across several systems $80,000+. Model usage is billed separately by volume.
| Scope | Typical range | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Grounded website chatbot | $10,000-$30,000 | 3-6 weeks |
| Integrated support chatbot | $30,000-$80,000 | 2-4 months |
| Enterprise multi-system assistant | $80,000+ | 4-6 months |
Technology for AI chatbots
We choose models and retrieval per use case.
| Layer | Choice |
|---|---|
| Models | Claude, GPT, Gemini |
| Retrieval | pgvector or managed vector search |
| Front end | Accessible web widget, in-app components |
| Backend | Node.js or Python services |
| Integrations | Help desk, CRM, ecommerce APIs |
| Analytics | Conversation logs and dashboards |
Chatbot mistakes to avoid
These are why many chatbots get switched off.
- Letting the bot answer from general knowledge instead of your sources.
- No path to a human.
- Launching without testing real questions.
- Stale content feeding the bot.
- Hiding the bot’s limitations.
- Not reviewing analytics after launch.
Why choose Progression Agency for chatbot development?
We build chatbots as part of your customer experience and marketing.
- Content audit and grounding first.
- Integrations with help desks, CRMs and ecommerce.
- Evaluation before launch.
- Lead capture tied to your marketing analytics.
- Packaged options through our AI automation agency when custom is not needed.
- Headquartered in New York City.
Related AI services
See AI agent development, AI integration services and AI customer service.
Want a chatbot that actually knows your business?
Tell us the questions it should answer and the systems involved. We will propose a build.
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Frequently asked questions
What is AI chatbot development?
How much does it cost to build an AI chatbot?
How long does chatbot development take?
What is the difference between a custom chatbot and a chatbot widget?
How do chatbots avoid wrong answers?
Can a chatbot hand off to a human?
Can a chatbot check order status?
Can a chatbot capture leads?
Which AI model is best for chatbots?
Is chatbot data private?
Can chatbots speak multiple languages?
Do you build voice chatbots?
What is retrieval-augmented generation?
What does a chatbot cost to run?
Should I use a no-code chatbot or custom development?
What should I look for in a chatbot development company?
Can a chatbot work inside our app?
How do you measure chatbot success?
Who owns the chatbot?
Where is Progression Agency located?
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