In today’s fast-paced business environment, providing exceptional customer care is paramount. Customers expect quick, efficient, and personalized support across various channels. To meet these demands and streamline operations, businesses are increasingly turning to automated customer care tools. These tools not only enhance customer satisfaction but also empower support teams to handle higher volumes of requests effectively. This article dives into a list of the best automated how to improve customer care tools, offering an overview of their features, pricing, and trial options to help you make an informed decision.
1. Zendesk
Zendesk stands out as an award-winning customer service software designed to empower businesses to deliver fast and personalized customer support at scale. Its strength lies in its ability to automate workflows and centralize customer interactions. Agents can seamlessly manage customer requests across any channel from a unified workspace, eliminating the inefficiency of switching between different dashboards. This omnichannel approach ensures no customer query is missed, improving response times and overall customer experience.
Automation is deeply integrated into Zendesk’s agent workspace. AI-powered features intelligently identify and categorize incoming tickets based on priority, intent, sentiment, and language. This smart routing ensures tickets are directed to the most appropriate agent based on their capacity, status, and skills, optimizing workload distribution and reducing wait times. Furthermore, AI assists agents in real-time by providing ticket summaries and offering suggestions to refine the tone of their replies, contributing to consistent and high-quality customer interactions. Built on a foundation of over 18 billion real service interactions, Zendesk’s AI is exceptionally adept at understanding customer service nuances from the outset.
Beyond automation, Zendesk provides advanced reporting and analytics. These tools are crucial for identifying areas for operational improvement and understanding evolving customer needs. By analyzing data, businesses can adapt quickly to changing customer expectations and optimize their support strategies. Zendesk also prioritizes data security with enterprise-class security features, ensuring customer data is protected. Its user-friendly interface and out-of-the-box functionality ensure a quick time to value and low total cost of ownership, making it an efficient and effective solution for businesses of all sizes.
Pricing: Plans start at $19 per agent/month. A 14-day free trial is available.
2. Intercom
Intercom offers a customer support solution that leverages automation and messaging to enhance internal customer service teams. Intercom Messenger acts as a powerful extension to existing support systems, enabling businesses to offer real-time assistance and self-service options. Intelligent routing is a key automation feature, directing inquiries to agents based on skill sets, availability, and customer history, ensuring efficient ticket handling and faster resolution times.
The platform aggregates tickets from Messenger and other channels like email into a shared inbox, providing a centralized view of all customer interactions. Intercom’s AI tool, Fin, delivers conversational support by automatically answering frequently asked questions and suggesting relevant help center articles. This AI-powered self-service reduces agent workload and empowers customers to find quick answers independently. Fin also enhances agent efficiency by summarizing conversations and automatically populating ticket information, saving valuable time and improving data accuracy. With over 350 integrations available in the Intercom marketplace, businesses can further extend its capabilities and connect it with their existing tech stack.
Pricing: Plans start at $39 per seat/month. A 14-day free trial is available.
3. Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud is a robust customer service platform that provides agents with an omnichannel workspace designed to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction. A core feature is its automated omnichannel workspace, enabling agents to manage interactions across various channels within a single interface. This unified view provides agents with complete context for each ticket, including customer details, past interactions, and purchase history, leading to more informed and personalized support.
The platform’s workflow automation capabilities allow businesses to customize processes and automatically route tickets to the most suitable support agent based on predefined rules. The Swarming feature further enhances collaboration by allowing teams to bring in agents with specialized skills into dedicated Slack channels to work together on complex cases. This collaborative approach ensures efficient problem-solving and knowledge sharing within the support team. Salesforce Service Cloud also provides comprehensive reporting and analytics with pre-built dashboards, enabling managers to monitor team performance across channels and identify areas for improvement. While Salesforce is a powerful and comprehensive platform, it’s worth noting that its complexity might require a longer learning curve compared to tools specifically focused on customer experience.
Pricing: Plans start at $25 per user/month. A 30-day free trial is available.
4. Front
Front is a customer service solution focused on streamlining team communication and improving efficiency through automated workflows and a shared inbox. The platform’s core functionality revolves around consolidating customer inquiries from multiple channels into a single shared inbox. This centralized approach eliminates the need for agents to monitor multiple platforms, ensuring no customer request is overlooked and improving response times. Automated routing intelligently directs messages to the agent best equipped to handle the specific inquiry, optimizing workload distribution and agent efficiency.
Front maintains a detailed log of every customer interaction, providing agents with access to complete customer history. This context is invaluable for delivering personalized and informed support. Built-in collaboration features enable seamless team communication on tickets, fostering efficient problem-solving. Unified reporting provides analytics on team performance and customer satisfaction, allowing businesses to track key metrics and identify areas for improvement. Front also empowers businesses to build a help center, facilitating customer self-service and reducing the volume of support tickets. The knowledge base integrates seamlessly with the live chat system, offering customers a smooth transition between self-service and direct support.
Pricing: Plans start at $19 per seat/month. A 7-day free trial is available.
5. Tidio
Tidio is a customer service platform specifically designed for small and midsize businesses, offering a user-friendly interface and robust features including a help desk ticketing system. The platform excels in automating ticket management by converting emails, live chats, and social media messages into tickets that are routed to a shared team inbox. This centralized system ensures that all customer requests are captured and organized, preventing any from being missed.
Tickets in Tidio are highly customizable, allowing users to add notes and create custom tags for efficient categorization and tracking. The system can automatically assign tickets to agents based on predefined rules and close them upon resolution, streamlining the ticket lifecycle. Automated satisfaction surveys can be triggered after each interaction, providing valuable feedback on customer experience and agent performance. Tidio’s live chat tool enhances agent efficiency with prewritten responses for common questions, allowing for faster and more consistent answers. The real-time typing view in the chat window allows agents to prepare responses while the customer is still typing, significantly reducing response times. Tidio’s conversational AI chatbot, Lyro, further enhances automation by providing automated support and answering customer queries independently.
Pricing: Plans start at $29 per month. A free plan and a 7-day trial are available.
6. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 provides online customer support software with a strong emphasis on omnichannel support and CRM integration, offering a comprehensive solution for managing customer interactions. The platform allows teams to deliver automated omnichannel support by managing customer requests from a single, unified location. Businesses can configure the system to queue requests by channel, ensuring efficient handling of inquiries from different sources. Customization options include prewritten responses and wait time rules, further enhancing agent efficiency and response consistency.
Every customer interaction across all channels is automatically logged into the integrated CRM system. This seamless data capture ensures a complete customer history is readily available. The system automatically collects customer data and creates new leads if a customer profile doesn’t already exist, enriching the CRM database. Bitrix24 also offers prebuilt and customizable activity reporting features, providing insights into team performance and customer interaction trends. The built-in video calling feature enables agents and customers to connect face-to-face for issue resolution, enhancing communication and personalization. Screen sharing and recording capabilities further aid in demonstrating solutions and training purposes.
Pricing: Plans start at $49 per organization/month. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.
7. HappyFox
HappyFox is a customer service solution and help desk management software provider focused on automating workflows and streamlining ticket management. Its ticketing system is designed to help teams organize requests effectively and provides a single customer view for omnichannel support. Automation is central to HappyFox’s functionality, with customizable workflows and AI-powered chatbots designed to automate repetitive tasks. This reduces agent workload and allows them to focus on more complex issues and customer interactions.
Managers can utilize HappyFox to coordinate work schedules, define team work hours, and configure schedules to align with service level agreements. This scheduling feature optimizes resource allocation and ensures consistent support coverage. HappyFox also offers robust self-service options, including an online knowledge base. This empowers customers to find answers to common questions independently, reducing the need to generate support tickets and freeing up agent time. Customers can also track their support tickets, participate in community forums, and access help center articles and FAQs, all within a unified self-service portal.
Pricing: Plans start at $29 per agent/month. A free trial is available.
8. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk offers customer support software packed with tools and automation options designed to streamline agent workflows and enhance efficiency. The platform provides omnichannel support within a single-view dashboard, enabling agents to manage customer issues from various channels in one place. The ticket management system is highly organized, allowing tickets to be sorted by status, due date, and priority, ensuring efficient ticket handling and prioritization.
Zoho Desk’s features extend beyond basic ticket management to include self-service resources, SLA management, AI-powered assistance, an advanced response editor, and built-in analytics. These comprehensive tools contribute to a well-rounded customer service operation. The platform allows for tracking customer data and generating reports with key performance metrics, providing valuable insights into support operations. Customizable dashboards enable visualization and tracking of specific ticket metrics, facilitating data-driven decision-making. Zoho Desk’s AI assistant, Zia, further enhances automation by detecting customer sentiment based on their language and automatically routing tickets to agents with relevant context. Zia can also auto-tag tickets and notify agents of unusual activity in the ticket workflow, proactively addressing potential issues.
Pricing: Plans start at $7 per user/month. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.
9. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a cloud-based customer service tool tailored for enterprises, focusing on automation and self-service to enhance customer support operations. It features a comprehensive customer self-service portal that empowers users to create service requests or find answers in help center articles without needing direct agent interaction. Customers can also engage in community forums to ask questions and share experiences, fostering peer-to-peer support and reducing the burden on support teams.
Businesses can leverage ServiceNow to automate workflows, freeing agents from repetitive tasks. Users can design automated processes for incident identification, logging, resolution, and closure, eliminating manual data entry and ensuring consistency. Cross-enterprise workflows provide end-to-end visibility and control across different departments involved in customer service processes. ServiceNow also incorporates customer service management (CSM) tools with generative AI technology. The Now Assist tool provides AI-powered suggestions for agent responses, improving response quality and speed. ServiceNow’s AI also offers proactive suggestions to guide agents towards ticket resolution, further enhancing efficiency and reducing resolution times.
Pricing: Contact ServiceNow for pricing details.
10. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a customer service tool that prioritizes live chat functionality while offering a comprehensive suite of features including help desk, call center, and knowledge base. Automation in LiveAgent focuses on workflow management and efficient ticket handling. Features include real-time typing view, customer service website monitoring for proactive chat engagement, and proactive chat invitations based on agent availability, enhancing customer engagement and responsiveness. LiveAgent’s universal inbox centralizes help requests from various channels and intelligently routes them to the most suitable agents.
Beyond chat, LiveAgent’s integrated help desk includes call center software with inbound and outbound call capabilities, a robust ticketing system, a knowledge base, and reporting and analytics tools. Call recording, IVR flows, and real-time activity monitoring enhance call center operations. Customers can request callbacks, eliminating wait times and improving satisfaction. LiveAgent’s Rules feature allows users to configure workflow automation tools for routing, tagging, and ticket resolution, streamlining processes and improving agent efficiency. Customization is further enhanced by a library of integrations connecting to various third-party tools.
Pricing: Plans start at $9 per agent/month. A free plan and free trials of 7 or 30 days are available.
11. Freshdesk
Freshdesk, a customer service product from Freshworks, provides a comprehensive platform for support teams to manage, prioritize, and respond to customer requests efficiently. Its ticketing system is designed to automate ticket routing and management, sending requests from various channels to a centralized team inbox. Trend reports provide valuable insights by analyzing ticket activity, allowing businesses to identify patterns and optimize support strategies.
Users can customize ticket fields to automate routing, categorization, and prioritization of incoming requests, ensuring tickets are handled efficiently and effectively. Custom ticket statuses provide agents with clear visibility into the ticket lifecycle. The system is also intelligent enough to detect when a customer indicates conversation closure with phrases like “Thank you,” preventing accidental ticket reopening and improving ticket management accuracy. However, it’s important to note that Freshworks platform comprises three separate systems: Freshdesk, Freshchat, and Freshcaller, each with its own workspace. This separation might require agents to switch between tabs to access complete customer information, potentially impacting efficiency.
Pricing: Plans start at $15 per agent/month. A free plan and a 14-day free trial are available.
12. Hiver
Hiver is a multichannel customer service help desk uniquely designed to integrate seamlessly with Google Workspace. Rather than introducing a completely new platform, Hiver enhances existing Google programs with customer service features, including shared inboxes, analytics, and SLAs. This approach is ideal for businesses deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem who prefer to leverage their existing infrastructure. Automation in Hiver is centered around email management and team collaboration within the familiar Google environment.
Hiver’s shared inbox offers customizable views, allowing users to personalize their email display with conversation categories and filters. Conversation ID enables tracking of email threads by assigning unique numbers, facilitating easy retrieval and management. Notes and @mentions within the shared inbox promote internal team collaboration without the need for forwarding or copying emails, streamlining communication and improving efficiency. Hiver also facilitates customer self-service with a knowledge base for FAQs, instructions, and troubleshooting guides. An embedded search bar within the knowledge base allows customers to easily find information, and a seamless integration allows them to submit support tickets directly from within the knowledge base if needed.
Pricing: Plans start at $15 per user/month. A 7-day free trial is available.
13. ProProfs Help Desk
ProProfs Help Desk offers a user-friendly solution for customer support, focusing on automated ticket management and team collaboration. The software allows teams to efficiently manage, track, and close support tickets. A shared inbox facilitates team collaboration by providing a centralized view of all conversations. Agents can prioritize tickets, automate routine tasks, and tag teammates into conversations for efficient problem-solving.
Agents have access to a customer’s complete ticket history and can export conversations as PDFs for record-keeping or further analysis. Private notes enable internal team communication within tickets, while collision detection prevents multiple agents from unknowingly working on the same ticket simultaneously, improving efficiency and avoiding redundant effort. ProProfs also provides self-service options with a knowledge base for FAQs and articles, empowering customers to find answers independently. Integrated live chat software allows for real-time support through a web widget. Customer feedback is facilitated through surveys, enabling teams to collect feedback and track customer satisfaction (CSAT).
Pricing: Plans start at $19.99 per operator a month. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.
14. Help Scout
Help Scout’s customer care software focuses on consolidating customer data and interactions into a shared inbox, providing agents with the context needed for efficient and personalized support. The shared inbox is enhanced with features like private notes for internal collaboration and collision detection to prevent duplicate efforts. AI-powered automation is integrated into Help Scout through features like AI Summarize and AI Assist. AI Summarize condenses lengthy email threads into concise bullet points, saving agents time in understanding conversation history. AI Assist provides real-time text suggestions while agents are typing replies, improving response speed and consistency. AI Assist can also refine content, adjust tone, and translate text into different languages, enhancing communication effectiveness and personalization.
Businesses can administer short-form surveys and collect customer satisfaction ratings directly on their website or within their app, gathering valuable feedback at key touchpoints. Help Scout also features an extensive apps and integrations directory with over 100 integrations across support, marketing, e-commerce, communication, CRM, and analytics, allowing businesses to extend its functionality and connect it with their existing tools.
Pricing: Plans start at $20 per user/month. A 15-day free trial is available.
15. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub provides a powerful shared inbox and integrates seamlessly with HubSpot’s CRM, offering a unified platform for customer service and relationship management. The shared inbox provides agents with immediate access to customer history, ticket information, and queue details, empowering them to deliver informed and personalized support. The seamless connection with HubSpot CRM ensures data consistency and a holistic view of the customer across sales, marketing, and service functions. Agents can also utilize a mobile inbox for on-the-go access and responsiveness.
HubSpot Service Hub enables businesses to create customer portals and custom feedback surveys, enhancing customer self-service and feedback collection. The customer portal allows customers to view, open, and respond to their support tickets, and access the company’s knowledge base, promoting self-sufficiency and reducing support inquiries. Automation features include automated follow-up responses based on survey results, allowing businesses to gather deeper insights and address customer concerns proactively. Comprehensive reporting and analytics dashboards provide key performance metrics such as rep productivity, response time, and support volume, enabling data-driven optimization of support operations. Each dashboard can accommodate up to 30 reports, offering granular insights into various aspects of customer service performance.
Pricing: Plans start at $18 per month for two users. A free plan is available.
16. Kustomer
Kustomer is a customer service platform designed to help support teams efficiently manage customer interactions by providing a consolidated view of customer data and interactions. The platform aggregates customer data from multiple sources into a chronological timeline view, giving agents a complete history of customer interactions, preferences, and past issues. AI-powered automation is a core component of Kustomer, with features like prewritten replies, suggested actions, and ticket tagging options designed to enhance agent efficiency and consistency.
Kustomer’s AI tools utilize natural language processing to detect customer intent and analyze conversations to track customer sentiment. This sentiment analysis allows businesses to identify both satisfied and dissatisfied customers, enabling proactive engagement and issue resolution. The AI also assists in classifying and routing conversations based on customer history, ensuring efficient ticket handling and personalized support. The platform includes live reporting and analytics dashboards displaying real-time customer service metrics, providing immediate insights into operational performance. Kustomer retains data for reporting for up to two years and allows for both one-time and regularly scheduled report exports, facilitating comprehensive data analysis and trend identification.
Pricing: Plans start at $89 per user/month.
17. Gorgias
Gorgias is a customer service software solution specifically tailored for e-commerce businesses, offering a help desk with a shared inbox system designed for collaborative customer query management. Automation in Gorgias is heavily focused on e-commerce integrations and efficient handling of order-related inquiries. Gorgias integrates seamlessly with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, allowing agents to access crucial customer details directly within the support interface, including customer data, order information, and order history. This deep integration provides agents with the context needed to quickly and effectively resolve e-commerce related issues.
The software offers a range of automation features, including AI-powered responses, prewritten responses for FAQs, and templates for handling repetitive inquiries. AI scans incoming tickets to identify their intent, automatically closing spam messages and efficiently answering legitimate requests such as order status inquiries. Gorgias features a highly customizable interface, allowing businesses to build automated workflows for ticket assignment, tagging, and closure, streamlining support processes. Prewritten responses ensure consistent and efficient handling of common queries. The system also supports rules to identify VIP customers, enabling prioritization of their requests and enhanced service for high-value customers.
Pricing: Plans start at $10 per month. A free trial is available.
Conclusion
Implementing automated customer care tools is no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses aiming to deliver exceptional customer experiences in today’s demanding environment. The tools listed above represent a range of solutions, each with unique strengths and features tailored to different business needs and scales. From AI-powered automation and omnichannel support to self-service knowledge bases and efficient ticketing systems, these tools empower support teams to work smarter, not harder. By carefully evaluating your specific requirements and exploring the trial options available, you can select the automated customer care tools that will best enhance your customer support operations and drive greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. Choosing the right tools is a strategic investment that will pay dividends in improved efficiency, enhanced customer relationships, and ultimately, business success.
