Customer care centers are the frontline of any business, responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty. To effectively manage customer interactions and provide excellent support, businesses need the right tools. This article dives into the best customer support tools available, offering a detailed overview of each software, including key features, starting prices, and trial information to help you choose the best solution for your needs.
1. Zendesk
Zendesk provides award-winning customer service software designed to enable businesses to deliver rapid and personalized customer support at scale. This comprehensive platform empowers agents to efficiently manage customer requests across various channels from a unified workspace, eliminating the inefficiency of switching between different dashboards. Agents gain a holistic 360-degree view of each customer, accessing crucial information like past support interactions, enhanced by over 1,500 readily available integrations. Collaboration is streamlined with built-in integrations for platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, facilitating seamless teamwork across departments directly within Zendesk.
Artificial intelligence is deeply integrated into the agent workspace to enhance productivity and handle increased ticket volumes while maintaining high customer satisfaction levels. Zendesk AI intelligently identifies and categorizes incoming tickets based on key factors such as priority, intent, sentiment, and language, and matches them with agent capacity, status, and skill, ensuring optimal routing. Real-time AI guidance aids agents with ticket summaries and tools to refine the tone of their responses. Leveraging insights from over 18 billion real service interactions, Zendesk’s AI is finely tuned to customer service dynamics, enabling personalized support from the outset.
Robust reporting and analytics tools provide actionable insights into operational efficiency and evolving customer needs, allowing for quick adaptation and improvement. Furthermore, enterprise-class security features ensure the highest standards of data protection for customer information. Zendesk is designed for ease of use, maximizing agent productivity and ensuring businesses can operate at the pace of their customers. It stands out as a complete, out-of-the-box customer service solution that minimizes the need for extensive developer involvement or third-party consultants, offering rapid value and a low total cost of ownership.
Pricing: Plans begin at $19 per agent per month. A 14-day free trial is available.
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2. Intercom
Intercom’s customer support solution leverages automation and messaging to enhance internal customer service operations. Intercom Messenger complements existing business support systems by offering intelligent routing to direct inquiries to agents based on their expertise, availability, and customer history.
The platform effectively manages tickets generated through Messenger and other communication channels like email, consolidating them into a shared inbox. Intercom Messenger facilitates live support via chat and offers self-service options, empowering customers to find solutions independently.
Intercom’s AI tool, Fin, provides advanced conversational support by addressing frequently asked questions and suggesting relevant help center articles. Fin also streamlines workflows by summarizing inbox conversations and automatically populating ticket details. The Intercom marketplace expands functionality with over 350 integrations.
Pricing: Plans start at $39 per seat per month, with a 14-day free trial available.
Recommended reading: Discover the Intercom integration for Zendesk and a detailed comparison of Zendesk vs. Intercom.
3. Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud delivers a comprehensive customer service platform that provides agents with an omnichannel workspace. This platform allows agents to access complete context for each ticket, including customer contact details, interaction history, and purchase records. The Swarming feature enhances team collaboration by enabling agents with specific skills to join dedicated Slack channels for case resolution.
Salesforce Service Cloud empowers agents to customize workflows and automate ticket routing to the most appropriate support agent. Robust reporting and analytics, featuring pre-built dashboards, enable managers to monitor team performance across all channels. Reports can also include Swarming metrics, such as top responders and the proportion of cases opened and resolved.
It’s important to note that Salesforce, while powerful, can be complex and may require a longer learning curve for users. As Salesforce offers a broad suite of products beyond customer experience, businesses specifically focused on enhancing customer service might find solutions specializing in CX to be more streamlined and goal-oriented.
Pricing: Plans begin at $25 per user per month, and a 30-day free trial is offered.
Recommended reading: Learn about the Salesforce integration with Zendesk and a comparative analysis of Zendesk vs. Salesforce.
4. Front
Front provides a customer service solution focused on shared inboxes and automated workflows. It consolidates customer communications from various channels into a unified inbox, automatically routing messages to the most suitable agent.
Front logs each customer interaction, allowing agents to access complete customer history for informed support. Collaboration features are built-in, facilitating team communication on tickets. Unified reporting offers analytics on team performance and customer satisfaction.
Businesses can establish a help center for customer self-service with customizable knowledge base permissions for content creation and management. This help center integrates with the live chat system, allowing seamless transitions between self-service and direct support.
Pricing: Plans start at $19 per seat per month, with a 7-day free trial available.
Recommended reading: See a detailed comparison of Zendesk vs. Front.
5. Tidio
Tidio is a customer service platform tailored for small to medium-sized businesses. It features a comprehensive help desk ticketing system for organizing and managing customer requests within a shared inbox. Tidio converts emails, live chats, and social media messages into tickets routed to the team inbox.
Tickets are fully customizable, allowing users to add notes and custom tags. Tidio automates ticket assignment to agents and closure upon resolution. Automated satisfaction surveys can be sent post-interaction to gather customer feedback.
Tidio’s live chat tool includes prewritten responses to aid agents in answering common questions quickly. The real-time typing view allows agents to see customer input as it’s typed, enabling faster response preparation. Tidio also features Lyro, a conversational AI chatbot for automated customer support.
Pricing: Plans start at $29 per month. A free plan and a 7-day trial are also available.
6. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 delivers online customer support software that enables omnichannel support and centralized management of customer requests. The platform supports request queuing by channel and offers customizations like prewritten responses and wait time rules.
All customer interactions across channels are logged into the integrated CRM, automatically creating new leads for new customers. Bitrix24 includes both prebuilt and customizable activity reporting features.
Bitrix24’s built-in video calling allows direct face-to-face interaction between agents and customers for issue resolution. Features like screen sharing and recording facilitate solution demonstrations and session capture for training or reference. Videoconferencing supports broader team collaboration with up to 48 participants.
Pricing: Plans start at $49 per organization per month. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are offered.
7. HappyFox
HappyFox is a customer service and help desk management software provider. It features a ticketing system to organize requests and a unified customer view for omnichannel support. Automation, customizable workflows, and AI-powered chatbots help streamline routine tasks.
HappyFox assists managers in coordinating work schedules, defining team work hours, and configuring schedules to meet service level agreements. It also accounts for non-working hours in time-based condition calculations.
Self-service options include an online knowledge base that allows customers to find answers independently. Customers can also track support tickets, participate in community forums, and access help articles and FAQs within a single self-service portal.
Pricing: Plans start at $29 per agent per month. A free trial is available.
Recommended reading: Explore how HappyFox Workflows integrates with Zendesk.
8. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk offers customer support software equipped with automation tools to streamline agent workflows. It provides omnichannel support through a single-view dashboard, allowing agents to manage customer issues efficiently in one place. The ticket management system organizes tickets by status, due date, and priority.
Additional features include self-service resources, SLAs, AI, an advanced response editor, and integrated analytics. The platform enables tracking of customer data and generating reports with key performance metrics. Customizable dashboards visualize and track specific ticket metrics.
Zoho Desk’s AI assistant, Zia, detects customer sentiment based on language and intelligently routes tickets to agents with relevant context. Zia also auto-tags tickets and alerts agents to unusual activity in ticket workflows.
Pricing: Plans start at $7 per user per month. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.
Recommended reading: Learn about Zoho’s integration with Zendesk and a comparison of Zendesk vs. Zoho.
9. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a cloud-based customer service tool designed for enterprise-level operations. It features a customer self-service portal that allows users to create service requests or access help articles without direct agent interaction. Community forums enable customers to ask questions and share experiences.
Workflow automation within ServiceNow helps agents manage repetitive tasks efficiently. Users can design processes to streamline incident identification, logging, resolution, and closure, reducing redundant data entry. Cross-enterprise workflows provide end-to-end process visibility.
ServiceNow CSM (Customer Service Management) tools include generative AI technology. The Now Assist tool offers AI-powered response suggestions and guidance for agents to determine next steps toward ticket resolution.
Pricing: Contact ServiceNow for pricing details.
Recommended reading: Compare Zendesk vs. ServiceNow.
10. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a customer service tool with a strong focus on live chat functionality. Key features include real-time typing view, website monitoring for proactive chat engagement, and intelligent chat invitations based on agent availability. LiveAgent’s universal inbox gathers help requests and routes them to appropriate agents.
Beyond chat, LiveAgent’s help desk includes built-in call center software with inbound and outbound call capabilities, a ticketing system, knowledge base, and reporting and analytics tools. Features include call recording, IVR flow setup, and real-time activity monitoring. Customers can request callbacks, preserving their place in the queue without waiting on hold.
Workflow automation is customizable through LiveAgent’s Rules feature, automating routing, tagging, and ticket resolutions. A library of integrations allows connection with various third-party tools.
Pricing: Plans start at $9 per agent per month. A free plan and free trials of 7 or 30 days are available.
11. Freshdesk
Freshworks’ Freshdesk is a customer service platform that enables support teams to manage, prioritize, and respond to customer requests from a central location. Its ticketing system consolidates requests from multiple channels into a team inbox. Trend reports analyze ticket activity to inform support strategies.
Customizable ticket fields facilitate automated routing, categorization, and prioritization of incoming requests. Custom ticket statuses provide clear visibility into ticket progress. The system intelligently detects conversation endings, such as “Thank you” messages, preventing accidental ticket reopening.
However, the Freshworks platform is composed of separate systems—Freshdesk, Freshchat, and Freshcaller—each with its own workspace. Agents may need to navigate between multiple tabs to access comprehensive customer information, which could potentially slow down service and risk overlooking crucial details.
Pricing: Plans start at $15 per agent per month. A free plan and a 14-day free trial are offered.
Recommended reading: Explore a comparison of Zendesk vs. Freshdesk.
12. Hiver
Hiver is a multichannel customer service help desk specifically designed to integrate with Google Workspace. Instead of a standalone platform, Hiver enhances existing Google tools with customer service features like shared inboxes, analytics, and SLAs. It’s ideal for businesses preferring to leverage their current Google infrastructure.
Hiver’s shared inbox offers customizable views, enabling users to personalize email categories and filters. Conversation ID allows tracking of email threads by assigning unique numbers for easy retrieval. Collaboration features include notes and @mentions for team communication without forwarding emails.
Businesses can also create a knowledge base within Hiver to host FAQs, instructions, and troubleshooting guides. An embedded search bar helps customers navigate articles, and a support ticket submission option is available directly from the knowledge base.
Pricing: Plans start at $15 per user per month, with a 7-day free trial available.
13. ProProfs Help Desk
ProProfs Help Desk offers customer support software focused on managing tickets efficiently. It allows teams to manage, track, and resolve tickets, featuring a shared inbox for team collaboration and centralized conversation viewing. Agents can prioritize tickets, automate tasks, and tag teammates for input.
Agents can access customer ticket history and export conversations as PDFs. Private notes facilitate internal team discussions, and collision detection prevents multiple agents from working on the same ticket simultaneously.
Additional features include a self-service knowledge base for customer support and live chat software for real-time assistance via a web widget. ProProfs also provides surveys to gather feedback and track customer satisfaction (CSAT).
Pricing: Plans start at $19.99 per operator per month. A free plan and a 15-day free trial are available.
Recommended reading: Learn about ProProfs integration with Zendesk.
14. Help Scout
Help Scout’s customer care software consolidates customer data, interactions, and history into a shared inbox, providing agents with essential context for every request. The inbox includes private notes for internal collaboration and collision detection to prevent overlapping agent efforts.
Help Scout’s AI tools, AI Summarize and AI Assist, enhance agent productivity. AI Summarize condenses email threads into concise summaries, while AI Assist suggests text completions and improvements during agent responses, including tone adjustment and translation capabilities.
Businesses can deploy short-form surveys and collect customer satisfaction ratings directly on their website or within their app. Help Scout also features an extensive app and integration directory with over 100 options for support, marketing, e-commerce, CRM, and analytics enhancements.
Pricing: Plans start at $20 per user per month, with a 15-day free trial available.
Recommended reading: Compare Zendesk vs. Help Scout.
15. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot Service Hub provides a shared inbox that equips agents with customer history, ticket details, and queue information. Integrated with HubSpot’s CRM, Service Hub ensures data synchronization across HubSpot’s suite of tools. A mobile inbox allows agents to manage support on the go.
HubSpot Service Hub enables businesses to create customer portals and custom feedback surveys. Customer portals allow customers to view, open, and respond to their support tickets and access the company knowledge base.
Automated follow-up responses based on survey results help gather deeper customer insights. Reporting and analytics dashboards provide key performance metrics such as agent productivity, response time, and support volume, with each dashboard supporting up to 30 reports.
Pricing: Plans start at $18 per month for two users. A free plan is also available.
Recommended reading: Learn about HubSpot for Zendesk and a comparison between Zendesk vs. HubSpot.
16. Kustomer
Kustomer is a customer service platform designed to streamline customer interaction management for support teams. It consolidates customer data from multiple sources into a chronological timeline view, providing agents with complete context including history, preferences, and past interactions. Agents have access to prewritten replies, suggested actions, and ticket tagging options.
Kustomer’s AI tools utilize natural language processing to discern customer intent, analyze conversations, and track customer sentiment to identify customer satisfaction levels. AI also assists in classifying and routing conversations based on historical customer data.
Live reporting and analytics dashboards provide real-time visibility into customer service metrics. Kustomer retains data for reporting for up to two years, supporting both one-time and scheduled data exports for in-depth analysis.
Pricing: Plans start at $89 per user per month.
Recommended reading: See a comparison of Zendesk vs. Kustomer.
17. Gorgias
Gorgias is a customer service software solution featuring a help desk with a shared inbox system for collaborative customer query management. It integrates seamlessly with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, enabling agents to access crucial customer details such as data, order information, and history directly.
Automation features in Gorgias include AI-powered responses, prewritten answers for FAQs, and templates for handling repetitive inquiries. AI scans incoming tickets to identify intent, automatically closing spam and addressing legitimate requests like order status updates.
Gorgias offers a customizable interface, allowing businesses to create automated workflows for ticket assignment, tagging, and closure. Prewritten responses standardize answers, and rules can be set to prioritize VIP customer requests for enhanced service.
Pricing: Plans start at $10 per month. A free trial is available.
Recommended reading: Explore a comparison of Zendesk vs. Gorgias.
