However, some users remarked that a developer is needed to properly install the software or run the risks of problems in the future. The Intercom Messenger, in particular, performs well compared to the Zendesk alternative. As an example, Intercom and Zendesk are scored at 8.9 and 9.7, respectively, for all round quality and performance. Similarly, Intercom and Zendesk have a user satisfaction rating of 96% and 98%, respectively, which shows the general satisfaction they get from customers. Moreover, talk to a current customer of the software and solicit their feedback regarding the solution in question. We’re big fans of Zendesk’s dashboard with built-in collaboration tools, but we wish the Agent Workspace came with the Team or Growth plans–not just Professional.

Basic service`s feature is a huge number of out-of-the-box integrations. You can integrate Smooch profile with Zendesk, Viber, Slack, Telegram, email and many other services. It`s the solution for communication between your website`s support and customers through many different channels. If none of these options helps your customer, there is a ticketing system that notifies you of new issues. When you return to the office, you can use the live chat to respond to your customer’s issues. There is also a help center where customers’ requests can be seen by support staff.

Why Zendesk is the best alternative to Intercom

This is fine, as not every customer support team wants to be so available on the phone. Intercom has a very robust advanced chatbot set of tools for your business needs. There is a conversation routing bot, an operator bot, a lead qualification bot, and an article-suggesting bot, among others. It is also not too difficult to program your own bot rules using Intercon’s system. 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.

Interactive product tours and smart tips significantly improve your user retention. Front is built for collaboration at scale, so customers always get an authentic, thorough reply. In terms of pricing, Intercom is considered one of the hardest on your pocket. Zendesk can be more flexible and predictable in this area as you can buy different tools separately (or even use their limited versions for free).

Which Does Your Small Business Need: Zendesk or Intercom?

Your typical Zendesk review will often praise the platform’s simplicity and affordability, as well as its constant updates and rolling out of new features, like Zendesk Sunshine. For example, you can read in many Zendesk Sell reviews how adding sales tools benefits Zendesk Support users. To sum up this Intercom vs Zendesk battle, Zendesk is a great customer support oriented tool which will be a great choice for big teams with various departments. Zendesk also has the Z Bot, which will take your knowledge base game to the next level instantly. It can automatically suggest relevant articles to customers reducing the workload for your support agents.

Reflect on what your goals are and which features are most important to your business. Choosing the right platform is much easier when you know what you’re looking for. Then, it’s simply a case of testing different options and seeing what works for your team.

Pricing Info

Both app stores include many popular integrations, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Zapier. Intercom stands out here due to its ability  to tailor sales workflows. You can also set up interactive product tours to highlight new features in-product and explain how they work. Intercom offers an easy way to nurture your qualified leads (prospects) into customers with Intercom Series. Because Intercom started as a live chat service, its messenger functionality is very robust.

• The primary function of Intercom’s mobile app is the business messenger suite, including personalized messaging, real-time support tools, push notifications, in-app messaging and emailing.
• Reflect on what your goals are and which features are most important to your business.
• Many people like HappyFox because it makes the process easy for everyone.
• Installing such widgets allows the company to streamline the process of initially engaging with the knowledge base.
• With so many solutions to choose from, finding the right option for your business can feel like an uphill battle.
• This plan is designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses that want a collaboration, help desk service, and project management tool all in one.

Intercom’s starter plan is quite similar to Zendesk for small Businesses. There’s integration for everything, live chat, ticket systems, self-service, etc. This plan is designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses that want a collaboration, help desk service, and project management tool all in one. If you’re a huge corporation with a complicated customer support process, go Zendesk for its help desk functionality. If you’re smaller more sales oriented startup with enough money, go Intercom.

What are customers saying?

Survey responses automatically save as data in users’ profiles, and Intercom provides survey data in analytics and reporting. Intercom’s Messenger lets users schedule timely, targeted, and personal messages sent based on triggers and customer actions, and is automatically translatable into over 30 languages. Community forums enable customers to assist each other by asking questions and sharing tips, experiences, and best practices–creating a unique, user-based, searchable information hub. Zendesk’s Admin Center provides tools that automate agent ticket workflows. With Intercom workload management tools, administrators can ensure that incoming conversations, traffic, and workload are evenly distributed among team members. Design and send out mobile push messages–phone pop-ups containing text and images that prompt customers to take action and redirect to a specific app page when clicked.

Most businesses use live chats as their main customer communication channel. It is handy for both sides since users can get in touch with customer support teams via a chat widget placed right on the website. To begin with, putting help desk platforms “side by side” is a thankless job as software differs in functionality, price, and purposes. The compared vendors share a strategy of delivering their services as either separate add-ons or all-in-one tools.

Sales pipeline and lead nurturing

One study found that 67% of customers prefer calling an agent to help solve their query. Some help desk software provides call center tools as one of customer communication channels. Further, if companies plan to create multi-channel campaigns, Intercom makes a great fit. However, customers should keep in mind that Intercom does not offer voice.

Here are our top reporting and analytics features and an overview of where Intercom’s reporting limitations lie. Apps and integrations are critical to creating a 360 view of the customer across the company and ensuring agents have easy access to key customer context. When agents don’t have to waste time toggling between different systems and tools to access the customer details they need, they can deliver faster, more personalized customer service. The two essential things that Zendesk lacks in comparison to Intercom are in-app messages and email marketing tools. 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.

Zendesk Support

Agents can use the app to support customers who need help, even while they are away from their desk or working remotely. Moreover, internal collaboration feels a bit more engaging and effortless with notes and mentions. Intercom is another SaaS company that was founded in 2011 with the aim to help businesses build better customer relationships through personalized, messenger-based experiences. The company caters to businesses across the globe and has offices in San Francisco, Dublin, Sydney, etc.

• If you’re exploring popular chat support tools Zendesk and Intercom, you may be trying to understand which solution is right for you.
• Aside from eCommerce integration, Gorgias also integrates well with social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
• There is a really useful one for Shopify to provide customer support for e-commerce operations.
• Zendesk is billed more as a customer support and ticketing solution, while Intercom includes more native CRM functionality.
• Zendesk also has solutions for small to mid-sized companies as well.
• Automated ticket routing ensures that all tickets have an owner and are shared with the most capable agents.

Next is the Reporting section, where you will get detailed snapshots of ticketing, agents, customers, self-service, and more. Last button on the bottom left corner will take you to your settings where you’ll find all the fine-grained controls for your account. With the increase of AI in every field, Chatbots allow you to free up time by automatically answering common customer questions as they are considered as a perfect solution for customer support service. You don’t worry about being looked at as incompetent, you can help customers resolves issues even when you’re not in the office with AI chatbots. There are also saved responses that provide customers with answers that should resolve their issues. You can also find out your users’ satisfaction with Intercom by collecting feedback.

Available Support

According to its website, Drift’s main goal is revenue acceleration. With Drift, your live chat isn’t limited to support, making this your tool of choice if flexibility is something you’re looking for. LiveAgent is an Intercom alternative you might want to consider as it offers a number of support features that Intercom doesn’t. Built-in call center support, metadialog.com SLA management, audit logs, and success managers are all available with LiveAgent’s tool. Because it offers so many different options, this is a great Intercom alternative for large and enterprise companies who need sales and service solutions at scale. Zendesk chat allows businesses to reach out and connect to customers before they ask a question.

On the other hand, Intercom is more focused on conversational customer support, and has more help desk features suited for live chat and messaging. The company prides itself on building software that offers the best customer experiences. Zendesk stimulates business growth and helps companies to support customers across all channels. The customer service platform helps businesses to personalize users’ experiences to deliver excellent customer service. Founded by Mikkel Svane, Alexander Aghassipour, and Morten Primdahl in 2007, the company has now customers around the world and defines itself as the world leader in the ticketing system industry.

Team inboxes aggregate tickets applicable to the whole team–or a specific department–that any agent can address. It tends to perform well on the marketing and sales side of things, which is key for a growing company. And considering that its tools (including live chat options) are so easy to use, it’s probably going to be easier for a small business to get integrated and set up.