Providing excellent customer service is crucial for any business to succeed and grow. With the right customer service software, you can streamline support workflows, improve response times, and deliver exceptional service.
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll compare the top 9 customer service software tools to help you find the right solution for your business needs and budget.
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Why Invest in Customer Service Software?
Quality customer service keeps customers happy and loyal. In fact, 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience.
Customer service software gives your team the tools to provide quick, consistent and personalized support across every channel – email, phone, chat, social media and more.
Benefits of using customer service software:
- Improved response time and first contact resolution
- Increased customer satisfaction through omnichannel support
- Powerful automation to resolve common requests faster
- Valuable customer data and insights
- Scalable systems as your business grows
- Streamlined workflows to boost team productivity
Top 9 Customer Service Software Compared
Here are the best customer service software platforms for businesses:
1. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a full-featured helpdesk software loved for its simplicity and ease of use.
Key features:
- Intuitive ticket management with custom views and workflows
- Multi-channel support via email, phone, live chat, social media and more
- Knowledge base to easily find answers to common questions
- Powerful automation with macros, canned responses and triggers
- Robust reporting for actionable customer insights
Pricing: Starts at $15 per agent per month for the basic plan. Omnichannel suite pricing starts at $79 per month billed annually.
Best for: Small to medium businesses that want an affordable yet robust customer service software with excellent usability.
2. Zendesk Support
Zendesk Support is a customizable help desk software trusted by over 200,000 organizations worldwide.
Key features:
- Sophisticated ticketing system with quick views, advanced search and tagging
- Multi-channel support via email, live chat, voice and social media
- Self-service portal with knowledge base, community forum and help center
- Powerful automation with macros, triggers and custom agent workflows
- In-depth analytics and custom reports for data-driven decisions
Pricing: Starts at $5 per agent per month for basic features. Advanced plans start at $49 per agent per month billed annually.
Best for: Large companies that need enterprise-grade, highly customizable support software with robust reporting.
3. Help Scout
Help Scout is the top-rated email support software loved for its simplicity, automation capabilities and excellent user experience.
Key features:
- Shared team inbox with conversations grouped by customer
- Powerful automation with macros, saved replies and custom workflows
- Integrated knowledge base to deflect support requests
- Easy-to-use interface and top-notch customer support
- Useful reports on team productivity, resolution time and more
Pricing: Starts at $20 per month per user. Volume pricing available for larger teams.
Best for: Small businesses that want uncomplicated, affordable email support software with automation.
4. LiveChat
LiveChat is the leading live chat software with powerful features, exceptional customizability and ease of use.
Key features:
- Real-time chat widget for instant customer engagement
- Smarter chatbot conversational flows powered by AI
- Visitor tracking to understand user journeys and behavior
- Customizable chat window, web widgets and chatbot themes
- Integrations with top apps like Shopify, WordPress, Salesforce and more
Pricing: Starts at $16 per month per agent for Starter plan. Premium plans with more features start at $33 per month per agent.
Best for: eCommerce stores, travel sites, and other online businesses that want to provide quick live support.
5. Intercom
Intercom is an all-in-one customer messaging platform for sales, marketing and support.
Key features:
- Chat, email and bot support in one unified inbox
- Lead generation and conversion tools for sales
- Visitor tracking across web and mobile to engage users
- Help articles and FAQs to reduce support requests
- Custom bots with advanced conversational flows
- Powerful segmentation and targeted messaging
Pricing: Starts at $119 per month for up to 1,000 contacts. Scales up based on number of contacts and features.
Best for: High-growth startups that want an end-to-end platform with marketing automation capabilities.
6. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a feature-rich helpdesk software with excellentTicketing management capabilities for effective collaboration.
Key features:
- Shared team inbox with ability to assign, comment and collaborate
- Customizable support workflows and ticket assignment rules
- Integrated live chat and voice call support
- Self-service portal with knowledge base and community forums
- Hundreds of integrations with marketing, sales and collaboration tools
Pricing: Free for up to 3 agents. Standard plan starts at $12 per agent per month billed annually.
Best for: Growing companies that want affordable but powerful shared inbox management for collaboration.
7. HappyFox
HappyFox offers an easy-to-use helpdesk built for collaboration, with excellent automation capabilities.
Key features:
- Shared team inbox with ability to transfer, assign and comment
- Conversation tagging, custom filters and advanced search
- Multi-channel support via email, chat and social media
- Visual workflow builder to automate ticket routing and responses
- Built-in knowledge management and community forums
Pricing: Starts at $9 per agent per month billed annually for Team plan. Scales up to add more capabilities.
Best for: Small businesses that want an intuitive, easy-to-use shared inbox software with workflow automation.
8. Freshservice
Freshservice offers robust ITIL-based service desk software with capabilities to streamline workflows.
Key features:
- Shared inbox to collaborate and resolve customer queries faster
- Custom service catalogs to standardize support process
- Visual workflow editor to model processes
- Change management capabilities for IT service desks
- Robust SLAs, alert escalations and performance reports
- Time tracking and billing for IT managed service providers
Pricing: Starts at $19 per agent per month for basic shared inbox features. Scales up based on required capabilities.
Best for: IT teams and managed service providers that need advanced service desk software with ITIL workflows.
9. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub brings together tickets, live chat, knowledge base, and bots on one connected platform.
Key features:
- Unified inbox across multiple channels – email, live chat, social media
- Suggested articles from knowledge base during support
- Chatbot tools for common question automation
- Ticket assignment rules and routing workflows
- Reporting to monitor resolution time, customer satisfaction
Pricing: Free version available. Paid plans start at $45 per month with more features, storage and support.
Best for: Growing companies that want unified customer service software deeply integrated with their marketing automation.
Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Customer Service Software
With so many options for customer support software, here are some important factors to consider when choosing the right platform for your business:
Channels offered: Determine what channels your customers prefer to engage on – email, phone, live chat, social media etc. Then choose software that allows your team to support those channels. For example, Intercom and Zendesk Support offer multi-channel support while Help Scout focuses primarily on email.
Integration needs: Understand what other software you use for marketing, sales, ecommerce and select a platform that integrates well with them for a unified workflow. For instance, HubSpot integrates deeply with their marketing platform while Freshdesk offers over 250 other integrations.
Self-service options: Evaluate if you need knowledge base, community forums or chatbots for customers to find information themselves before contacting support. This helps deflect volume from agents. Tools like Zendesk and Intercom have built-in self-service capabilities.
Team size: Consider number of agents who‘ll need access and choose software with appropriate pricing models. For very large teams, enterprise-grade options like Zendesk Support may be better than tools like Help Scout designed for smaller teams.
ITIL capabilities: If you have an IT service desk, evaluate tools like Freshservice and Zendesk with advanced ITIL workflow support, change management and service catalog features.
Reporting needs: Identify what customer service KPIs you want to track like resolution time, CSAT, agent workload etc. and choose software that provides relevant reports. For example, Freshdesk offers more advanced analytics compared to simpler tools like HappyFox.
By carefully evaluating your needs against solution capabilities, you can identify the best customer service software for your business requirements, industry and budget.
Get Started with Excellent Customer Support
Businesses today need to provide high-quality, responsive customer service to win over buyers and build loyalty. Investing in a customer service software platform is essential for scaling your support operations efficiently.
This guide has compared the top solutions based on key features, pricing and best use cases. Use it as a starting point, evaluate a few options that fit your needs and try out free trials before choosing the perfect platform for your team.
The right customer service software will help you delight customers, creating happy brand advocates that will return and recommend you to others. So take that first step to customer support success and transform how you connect with customers!
