Top 3 Zendesk Alternatives for Customer Service

Research shows that customer support teams are under immense pressure to deliver efficient, timely, and high-quality support to customers. Traditionally, desk software like Zendesk has been instrumental in enabling customer support teams to manage customer interactions effectively. However, there are alternatives to Zendesk in the market, which can better suit diverse business and customer support team needs.

In this article, we evaluate Zendesk and 3 Zendesk alternatives for customer service.

What is customer support software?

Customer service software (also called customer support software) is a type of program or system used by organizations to manage customer communication and service requests. This software typically includes a wide array of features such as: 

The key objective of customer support software is to facilitate efficient handling of customer queries and complaints, thereby enhancing the quality of service provided.

There are several benefits to using customer service software:

• It enables efficient and centralized management of customer requests, reducing response times and improving service levels.
• It can provide detailed analytics and reporting, allowing companies to track service quality, identify common issues, and improve overall customer satisfaction.
• It automates routine tasks, freeing up customer service agents to focus on more complex issues.

Key components of customer service technology

2 main tech solutions that constitute a successful customer service are:

1- Customer service software

Handling customer support on various platforms and meeting escalating customer expectations can pose a significant challenge for customer service teams. To address this problem, many businesses utilize a customer support software solution. These tools simplify support operations, improve response times, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Most of customer service tools include:

However, extra distinctive features are required to select the best software among others. Some extra features that can be taken as a selection criteria are:

2- Customer self service tools

Customer self service tools are designed to allow customers to access information and perform tasks without the need for direct interaction with customer support agents. They can be already integrated in a customer service software or can be utilized individually. These tools include: 

• Automated responses
• Knowledge base articles
• Customer forums
• Chatbots
• Self service portal

The main advantage of these tools is that they can offer immediate assistance.

According to these, below we evaluated Zendesk’s customer service software and Zendesk alternatives.

Zendesk evaluation

Features

• Intelligent chatbots
• Customer feedback and survey tools (in premium plans)
• 1000+ software integrations
• 40+ supported languages
• Self service options
• Facebook, Instagram, Twitter integration

User ratings (out of 5)

Pricing

• Starting from $49 per seat/month
• 14 days free trial

Cons

• Some users find Zendesk’s out of the box functionality and customization flexibility restrictive.
  
• Tickets can be suspended from time to time according to some users.
  

Top 3 Zendesk alternatives

1- Salesforce Service Cloud

Features

• Intelligent chatbots (in premium plans)
• Customer feedback and survey tools (in premium plans)
• Software integrations (not detailed)
• 30+ supported languages
• Self service options (add-on)
• Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube integration

User ratings (out of 5)

Pricing

• Starting from €25 per seat/month
• 30 days free trial

Pros

• Salesforce’s starting price is cheaper than the other 2 alternatives.
• Free trial period is longer than the other alternatives.
• Salesforce Service Cloud has a wide range of social media integration opportunities.
• The platform offers generative AI assistance to its users, which is appreciated by users.
  

Cons

• Salesforce Service Cloud can require additional packages for having the best of its capabilities.

• Small business users have difficulty in using Desk.com, which is a small business version of Salesforce Service Cloud.
  
• Some users find it hard to set up and get used to the platform.
  

2- Hubspot Service Hub

Features

• Intelligent chatbots
• Customer feedback and survey tools (in premium plans)
• 1000+ software integrations
• 10+ supported languages
• Self service options
• Facebook integration

User ratings (Out of 5)

Pricing

• Starting from $150/month (up to 5 seats)
• Free version available

Pros

• HubSpot Service Hub offers integration possibilities with other business apps and software.
• Users find HubSpot’s knowledge base very successful.
  

Cons

• Hubspot Service Hub’s social media integrations are limited.
• Its multilingual options are limited.
• Users complain that the interface is too complicated to proceed smoothly.
  

3- Intercom

Features

• Customer feedback and survey tools (add-on)
• 350+ software integrations
• 35+ supported languages
• Self service options
• Facebook and Instagram integration

User ratings (Out of 5)

Pricing

• Contact Intercom for pricing
• 14 days trial for 2 seats

Pros

• Users state that the Intercom platform has a user friendly interface and is easy to navigate.
  

Cons

• Pricing policy is not transparent.
• Intercom doesn’t offer intelligent chatbots, which are important tools for today’s customer service.
• Some users indicate that the tool can slow down occasionally.
  

For more on customer service

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