Use case
Lead generation that answers first, qualifies second
Give every visitor a grounded answer to the real question – pricing, features, fit – before you ask for their email. Chatref trains on your docs, captures leads in-chat, and ships them to any webhook you like.
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Lead generation with an AI chatbot is the practice of engaging website visitors in natural-language conversation so they get the answer they came for and you capture their contact details in the process. Chatref approaches lead generation answer-first: the chatbot is trained on your own pricing pages, product documentation, FAQs, comparisons, and website content, so it gives answers from your own content instead of a scripted flow or a generic model. Once the visitor is informed, Chatref can present a custom form directly inside the chat to collect name, email, company, or any other field you configure. Every submission is stored as a lead record and delivered via outbound webhook with retry logic, so the lead lands in whatever CRM, inbox, or automation tool you connect. The chatbot also handles human handoff on request, shows a simple calendar picker when you want to offer slots, and supports 10 languages out of the box. Pricing is pay-as-you-go: $50 free credit on signup, 1 to 5 credits per answer, $10 minimum topup, unlimited chatbots, unlimited team seats, and every capability unlocked for every account.
Answer grounded in your docs · capture by form · deliver by webhook
At a glance
The short version.
24/7
Always-on response
<3s
First reply to visitor
10
Languages
$50
Free credit on signup
- Chatref answers pricing, feature, and fit questions from your own content first, then captures the lead – the opposite of forms that gate the answer behind an email.
- In-chat custom forms collect any fields you configure – name, email, company, team size – as a natural part of the conversation instead of a separate form page.
- Every submission writes to a lead record and fires an outbound webhook with exponential-backoff retries, so leads land in your CRM, inbox, or automation with no polling.
- Human handoff is built in. When a visitor asks for a real person, the chatbot captures their email, flips the conversation to handoff mode, and notifies the agent owner.
- Pay-as-you-go pricing means a quiet month costs near zero and a viral week does not multiply your bill by a seat count.
The problem
Why most lead gen setups leak pipeline
Static pages cannot answer the specific question a buyer has in mind. Gated forms scare off the informed buyers who were already close. Slow replies let competitors win the second click.
Answers arrive after the buyer has moved on
Prospects evaluate after hours and across timezones. A form that promises a reply in 24 hours loses to a competitor whose chatbot answered in two seconds.
Reps spend hours on pre-sales FAQs
Pricing tiers, integration compatibility, and trial limits get asked a hundred times a week. Every hour spent repeating yourself is an hour not spent closing the ones worth closing.
Gated forms scare off the serious buyers
The buyers who already read your landing page want specifics before giving up an email. If the form is the gate, the most informed prospects leave to compare alternatives instead.
How it works
From visitor to qualified lead in one conversation
Train on what buyers actually ask about
Upload your pricing page, product docs, feature comparisons, FAQs, and PDFs. Point the crawler at your website. Chatref reads everything and learns from your content so it can answer questions with grounded passages.
Embed where buying intent is highest
Paste the embed script on pricing, product, and landing pages. The widget loads on any stack – Next.js, WordPress, Shopify, Webflow – with the same single snippet.
Answer the question, then offer a form
The chatbot replies with an answer pulled from your content. Once the visitor is informed, it can present a custom form – name, email, company, whatever you configure – inside the chat flow.
Deliver the lead anywhere you route it
Every submission is stored and sent to your webhook endpoint with retry-on-failure. Connect it to HubSpot, Salesforce, a Slack channel, an email inbox, or a Zapier zap – whatever you already use.
In detail
The details.
What you actually get
- In-chat custom forms. Configure any field – text, email, number, required or optional – and the chatbot presents it as part of the conversation. Every submission is persisted and tied back to the conversation it came from.
- Outbound webhooks with retries. Send the payload to any HTTPS endpoint via GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE. Failed deliveries retry with exponential backoff, and each attempt is logged as success, failed, or retrying.
- Handoff and simple slot booking. When a visitor asks for a real person, the bot captures their email, flags the conversation for handoff, and notifies the agent owner. A built-in calendar picker lets you offer available slots without a Calendly account.
Compare
Chatref vs the conversational marketing stack
Traditional lead gen tools charge per seat or per MQL tier and gate core capabilities behind enterprise contracts. Chatref charges per conversation and ships every feature to every account.
| Feature | ChatrefOur pick | Drift | Intercom | Tidio Lyro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay per conversation | Enterprise contract | $0.99/outcome + seat | Monthly plans |
| Seat fees | Per seat | $29+/seat | Tiered | |
| Free credit to try | $50 | Trial | 50 chats | |
| Trained on your own docs | ||||
| In-chat lead forms | ||||
| Outbound webhooks with retries | Zapier | |||
| Native CRM connectors | Webhook or Zapier | Salesforce, Marketo | HubSpot, Salesforce | Shopify, Mailchimp |
| Enterprise sales call to unlock | Higher tiers |
Unlimited chatbots, unlimited team seats, every feature included.
How does Chatref actually capture leads?
You configure a custom form action with the fields you want – name, email, company, team size, anything – and the chatbot presents it inside the conversation when it makes sense. The submission is stored as a lead record and fired to your webhook endpoint with retry-on-failure.
Where do captured leads go?
Wherever you point the webhook. Chatref sends an HTTPS request with the submitted fields to any endpoint you specify. That means your CRM through its inbound webhook, a Slack channel through an incoming hook, your Zapier zap, or a tiny serverless function that drops leads into your inbox.
Does Chatref have native HubSpot or Salesforce integration?
Not as a native two-way connector. Chatref delivers leads via outbound webhook, which works with every CRM that accepts inbound HTTPS posts, and with Zapier for a no-code bridge. If you need deeper two-way sync, build it on top of the webhook or reach out about roadmap.
Can the chatbot book a meeting?
Chatref includes a simple calendar picker tool that surfaces time slots inside the chat, so you can offer available times without a Calendly account. It is not a deep Google or Outlook calendar sync – use the webhook to push selected slots into whatever scheduling system you already run.
Why answer before asking for an email?
Gated forms scare off the buyers who were already evaluating. When the bot answers the real question first – pricing, fit, limits – the visitor trusts the content, stays longer, and is much more likely to share contact details when you ask. Every lead that comes through is already informed about the product.
What does this actually cost?
Chatref is pay-as-you-go. You start with $50 free credit, top up from $10 minimum, and spend 1 to 5 credits per answer depending on length. There are no seat fees, no MQL tiers, no plan gates. A quiet month is nearly free; a busy one scales linearly with real conversations.
Can I run separate bots for different campaigns?
Yes. Every account includes unlimited chatbots. You can run a product-focused bot on the pricing page, a partner bot on the integrations page, and an industry-specific bot for a paid landing page, each pointed at its own knowledge base and its own webhook.
Explore
Keep exploring.
Turn informed visitors into qualified leads
Train a chatbot on your own pricing and product content, capture leads with in-chat forms, and deliver every submission to the tools you already use. $50 free credit, no credit card.