The Chatbot Retainer Curve: Why Managed Conversation Beats One-Time Deployment

AI chatbots have crossed from differentiator to baseline expectation, with 83% of B2C marketing decision makers already working with AI agents. That shift moves the agency opportunity away from one-time bot builds and toward recurring optimization retainers, where the margin lives in knowledge-base upkeep, escalation design, and channel expansion rather than initial deployment.