Zendesk Support app Help Center

Beyond that, you can create custom reports that combine all of the stats listed above (and many more) and present them as counts, columns, lines, or tables. From a customer support operations perspective, the shift here is not just about the quantitative reporting, but the qualitative insights that AI can surface. The report suggests that customer service professionals are well aware that AI is going to change the nature of their work in fundamental ways, with many new opportunities arising out of the transition.

If this becomes a persistent issue for your team, we recommend contacting Zendesk. Yes, you can find the Intercom integration in the Zendesk Marketplace—and it’s free to install. Fintech startup Novo had to pivot to new ways of working in 2020, just like everyone else. But the company’s story isn’t just one of pandemic-induced change—in the first half of the year, Novo’s client base grew from 2,000 to tens of thousands.

Messaging and live chat

HubSpot’s reporting and analytics tools are basic, with only five service analytics reports and dashboards available. However, they are available even to free users, with HubSpot’s free plan offering three dashboards and 10 reports per dashboard. HubSpot CRM’s paid plans provide 10 to 50 dashboards that allow 10 to 30 reports each. Its Professional and Enterprise plans offer users 100 to 500 custom reports, respectively. You’ll also find asset comparison reporting and behavioral triggers included in the reports. All interactions with customers be it via phone, chat, email, social media, or any other channel are landing in one dashboard, where your agents can solve them fast and efficiently.

Their help desk is a single inbox to handle customer requests, where your customer support agents can leave private notes for each other and automatically assign requests to the right people. On one hand, Zendesk offers a great many features, way more than Intercom, but it lacks in-app messenger and email marketing tools. On the other hand, Intercom has all its (fewer) tools and features integrated with each other way better, which makes your experience with the tool as smooth as silk. Again, Zendesk has surpassed the number of reviewers when compared to Intercom.

Zendesk Pros and Cons

No matter how a customer contacts your business, your agents will have access to the tools and information they need to continue and close conversations on any channel. This Intercom competitor can respond to customers across various social platforms and connect them to the appropriate agent for the job. It may appear at first glance that Intercom’s plans are more expensive than Zendesk’s. However, you must take into account that Zendesk’s plans charge per agent per month, while Intercom’s plans are limited to a certain number of seats. In order to determine which solution is more affordable, you will have to determine what features your team needs and how many agents will be providing support. Intercom and Zendesk both have knowledge bases to help you get the most out of their platforms.

• This enables organizations to work more efficiently and easily integrate their software without having to alter their present business processes.
• Zendesk Sunshine is a separate feature set that focuses on unified customer views.
• Both Zendesk Support and HubSpot Service Hub enable smooth integration with third parties.
• Due to its cloud-based nature, your agents can be located anywhere in the world, as long as they have a headset and an Internet connection.
• All plans come with a 7-day free trial, and no credit card is required to sign up for the trial.

In fact, agents can even add customers to private messaging chats when necessary, and the customer will receive the whole conversation history by email to ensure they’re up to date. Collaboration tools enable agents to work together in resolving customer tickets and making sales. An inbound customer message through any of these channels becomes a ticket for your support agents, whose reply reaches the customer through the same channel they originally used. In an omnichannel contact center, agents can manage customer interactions across channels, no matter which channel a customer uses to contact the company.

Customers can search the help center by query keywords and sort through articles in 40 languages. The Zendesk Support app gives you access to live Intercom customer data in Zendesk, and lets you create new tickets in Zendesk directly from Intercom conversations. This gives your team intercom and zendesk the context they need to provide fast and excellent support. But keep in mind that Zendesk is viewed more as a support and ticketing solution, while Intercom is CRM functionality-oriented. Which means it’s rather a customer relationship management platform than anything else.

• Zendesk also has an Answer Bot, which instantly takes your knowledge base game to the next level.
• Customer service systems like Zendesk and Intercom should provide a simple workflow builder as well as many pre-built automations which can be used right out of the box.
• Novo has been a Zendesk customer since 2019 but didn’t immediately start taking full advantage of all our features and capabilities.
• I tested both of their live chats and their support agents were answering in very quickly and right to the point.
• Intercom also excels in real-time chat solutions, making it a strong contender for businesses seeking dynamic customer interaction.

In the category of customer support, Zendesk appears to be just slightly better than Intercom based on the availability of regular service and response times. However, it is possible Intercom’s support is superior at the premium level. There are 3 Basic support plans at $19, $49 and $99 per user per month billed annually, and 5 Suite plans at $49, $79, $99, $150, and $215 per user per month billed annually. These plans make Hiver a versatile tool, catering to a range of business sizes and needs, from startups to large enterprises looking for a comprehensive customer support solution within Gmail.

Drive more sales with chat marketing.

Zendesk team can be just a little bit faster depending on the time of the day. Not only does Zendesk offer a free trial, it’s actually sort of a freemium tool, which means you can choose one their tools (live chat, knowledge base, call center software) and use it for free forever. As any free tool, the functionalities there are quite limited, but nevertheless. If you’re a really small business or a startup, you can benefit big time from such free tools. Today, both companies offer a broad range of customer support features, making them both strong contenders in the market.

It lets customers reach out via messaging, a live chat tool, voice, and social media. Zendesk supports teams that can then field these issues from a nice unified dashboard. Intercom also excels in real-time chat solutions, making it a strong contender for businesses seeking dynamic customer interaction. This unpredictability in pricing might lead to higher costs, especially for larger companies. While it offers a range of advanced features, the overall costs and potential inconsistencies in support could be a concern for some businesses​​​​. Why don’t you try something equally powerful yet more affordable, like HelpCrunch?

Top Features

While Zendesk offers 24/7 support, Intercom only provides support with live agents during business hours. So Zendesk takes the edge when it comes to customer support, but at the end of the day, you will receive great support from either option. While both Zendesk and Intercom are great options for managing your customer service needs, they are missing some important features that will take your support strategy to the next level.

That being said the customer support for both Zendesk and Intercom is lacking. When it comes to the design and simplicity of the software for customer use, Zendesk’s interface is somewhat antiquated and cluttered, especially when it comes to customizing the chat widget. That being said, in your search for the best customer support tool, you must have come across Zendesk and Intercom. Yes, you can install the Messenger on your iOS or Android app so customers can get in touch from your mobile app.

While both platforms have a significant presence in the industry, they cater to varying business requirements. Zendesk, with its extensive toolkit, is often preferred by businesses seeking an all-encompassing customer support solution. Create a help center combining knowledge base articles and a customer contact request form, embeddable into any webpage or mobile app.

These include scalability, conversational insights, and open integrations. Zendesk for sales starts at an affordable monthly rate, but you’ll have to purchase higher tiers in order to integrate with services like Zapier or HubSpot. Finally, their highest tier offers support for unlimited sales pipelines, advanced reporting, and other premium features. The most common complaints in Zendesk reviews mention the lack of features at certain price levels, difficulty navigating its interface, and a slow setup period.