Zendesk vs Intercom: Which Solution to Choose in 2024?

zendesk and intercom

Its ability to seamlessly integrate with various applications further amplifies its versatility. Intercom’s user interface is also quite straightforward and easy to understand; it includes a range of features such as live chat, messaging campaigns, and automation workflows. Additionally, the platform allows for customizations such as customized user flows and onboarding experiences. Intercom also offers a 14-day free trial, after which customers can upgrade to a paid plan or use the basic free plan. Unlike Zendesk, the prices for Intercom are based on the number of seats and contacts, with each plan tailored to each customer, meaning that the pricing can be quite flexible. This is especially helpful for smaller businesses that may not need a lot of features.

Our integration with Intercom enables bi-directional contact and case synchronization, so you can continue using Intercom as your front-end digital experience and use Zendesk for case management. Brian Kale, the head of customer success at Bank Novo, describes how Zendesk helped Bank Novo boost productivity and streamline service. HelpScout, Freshdesk, Drift, and LiveChat are some other popular choices. Find reporting for all articles (including synced articles) in the Articles report. How to set up a regular sync of all public articles from your Zendesk Guide Help Center into Intercom.

Zendesk also offers callback requests, call monitoring and call quality notifications, among other telephone tools. For those of you who have been waiting for the big showdown between these two customer support heavyweights, we are glad to present the ultimate Zendesk vs Intercom comparison article. Before you start, you’ll need to retrieve your Zendesk credentials and create a Zendesk API key. You can do this by going to your settings within Zendesk (click on the cog on the left hand side), and navigating to API in the ‘Channels’ section. Customers of Zendesk can purchase priority assistance at the enterprise tier, which includes a 99.9% uptime service level agreement and a 1-hour service level goal. At all tiers, there is an additional fee to work with a member of the Zendesk success team on unique engagements.

Intercom vs Zendesk: Pros & Cons

It’s also good for sending and receiving notifications, as well as for quick filtering through the queue of open tickets. Because of the app called Intercom Messenger, one can see that their focus is less on the voice and more on the text. This is fine, as not every customer support team wants to be so available on the phone.

When a customer asks a question in the Messenger widget, the Operator automatically suggests a handful of relevant articles based on keywords to help customers resolve their own issues. Self-service tools let customers resolve their own issues quickly and 24/7, improving satisfaction and reducing excessive agent workload. Intercom wins the automation and AI category because its chatbots have some impressive capabilities, like lead qualification and advanced routing. Zendesk wins the ticketing system category due to its easy-to-use interface and side conversations tool. Zendesk for Service transforms customer queries and conversations from all channels–call, web chat, tweet, text, or email–into tickets in the Agent Workspace. If you’re not ready to make the full switch to Intercom just yet, you can integrate Intercom with your Zendesk account.

zendesk and intercom

Zendesk Sunshine is a separate feature set that focuses on unified customer views. Help desk SaaS is how you manage general customer communication and for handling customer questions. Zendesk is quite famous for designing its platform to be intuitive and its tools to be quite simple to learn. This is aided by the fact that the look and feel of Zendesk’s user interface are neat and minimal, with few cluttering features. Once connected, you can add Zendesk Support to your inbox, and start creating Zendesk tickets from Intercom conversations. It is none other than the modern customer support software of Helpwise.

Intercom focuses on real-time customer messaging, while Zendesk provides a comprehensive suite for ticketing, knowledge base, and self-service support. The strength of Zendesk’s UI lies in its structured and comprehensive environment, adept at managing numerous customer interactions and integrating various channels seamlessly. However, compared to the more contemporary designs like Intercom’s, Zendesk’s UI may appear outdated, particularly in aspects such as chat widget and customization options. This could impact user experience and efficiency for new users grappling with its complexity​​​​​​.

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Help desk software creates a sort of “virtual front desk” for your business. That means automating customer service and sales processes so the people visiting your website don’t actually have to interact with anyone before they take action. On the other hand, if you prioritize customer engagement, sales, and personalized messaging, Intercom is a compelling option, especially for startups and rapidly scaling businesses. So, get ready for an insightful journey through the landscapes of Zendesk and Intercom, where support excellence converges with AI innovation. Zendesk’s mobile app is also good for ticketing, helping you create new support tickets with macros and updates.

zendesk and intercom

Premiere Zendesk plans have 24/7 proactive support with faster response times. Other customer service add-ons with Zendesk include custom training and professional services. Intercom also excels in real-time chat solutions, making it a strong contender for businesses seeking dynamic customer interaction. This unpredictability in pricing might lead to higher costs, especially for larger companies. While it offers a range of advanced features, the overall costs and potential inconsistencies in support could be a concern for some businesses​​​​.

Conversations allow you to chat to your customers in a personal way. Use them to quickly resolve customer question on, for example, how to use your product. You can then create linked tickets for any bug reports or issues that require further troubleshooting by technical teams. In a nutshell, none of the customer support software companies provide decent assistance for users. But it’s designed so well that you really enjoy staying in their inbox and communicating with clients. The Intercom versus Zendesk conundrum is probably the greatest problem in the customer service software world.

“All of Intercom” (Messages + Inbox + Articles)

The result is that Zendesk generally wins on ratings when it comes to support capacity. Many use cases call for different approaches, and Zendesk and Intercom are but two software solutions for each case. One more thing to add, there are ways to integrate Intercom to Zendesk. Visit either of their app marketplaces and look up the Intercom Zendesk integration.

We will also consider customer feedback and reviews to provide insights into the usability of each platform. One of Zendesk’s standout features that we need to shine a spotlight on is its extensive marketplace of third-party integrations and extensions. Imagine having the power to connect your helpdesk solution with a wide range of tools and applications that your team already uses. Whether it’s syncing data with your CRM, enhancing communication via messaging platforms, or automating tasks with productivity apps, Zendesk makes it possible. It is great to have CRM functionality inside your customer service platform because it helps maintain great customer experiences by storing all past customer engagements and conversation histories.

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Sendcloud adopted these solutions to replace siloed systems like Intercom and a local voice support provider in favor of unified, omnichannel support. Sendcloud is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that allows users to generate packing slips and labels to help online retailers streamline their shipping process. Intercom is the new guy on the block when it comes to help desk ticketing systems. This means the company is still working out some kinks and operating with limited capabilities. Track customer service metrics to gain valuable insights and improve customer service processes and agent performance.

With this feature, businesses can easily handle and keep track of customer requests, making sure that no issues get lost. Zendesk’s analytics features are also often praised; they help businesses learn a lot about how customers connect with them, how well agents do their jobs, and overall support trends. The Zendesk support system stands out in particular because of its enormous integration ecosystem, which includes a wide variety of plugins and applications developed by third-party developers. The availability of this variety enables users to link Zendesk with a wide range of applications and services in a seamless manner, which results in a workflow that is more streamlined and efficient. Considering the huge number of connectors that Zendesk provides, it appears that the company takes a holistic approach to meeting the varied requirements of businesses. Zendesk is one of the biggest players in the realm of customer support platforms.

Our guide breaks down the details of how profit margins work, provides formulas for different types of margins, and gives real-world examples of various businesses calculating profit margins. Plus, we have a free gross profit margin calculator to help you quickly crunch your numbers. Profitability is one of the key metrics that define the success of a company. Many small-business owners need to keep a sharp eye on their revenue and find creative ways to keep generating profit year after year. As your business grows, a reliable profit margin calculator can give you the valuable data you need to make informed financial decisions—so should your profit margins.

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. Agents can respond in any channel by typing in the text box and have access to deep customer experience history and background in the right-hand column. Behavior-based messaging allows you to customize every last detail of triggers and rules including–which channel sends the message, when it sends, where it sends, and who gets targeted. If a customer isn’t satisfied with Answer Bot’s response, Answer Bot quickly routes them to an agent best suited to help.

The two essential things that Zendesk lacks in comparison to Intercom are in-app messages and email marketing tools. On the other hand, Intercom lacks many ticketing functionality that can be essential for big companies with a huge client support load. Intercom live chat is modern, smooth, and has many advanced features that other chat tools don’t. It’s highly customizable, too, so you can adjust it according to your website or product’s style.

Their AI-powered chatbot can enable your business to boost engagement and improve marketing efforts in real-time. Intercom offers an integrated knowledge base functionality to its user base. Using the existing knowledge base functionality, they can display self-help articles in the chat window before the customer approaches your team for support.

zendesk and intercom

The right side of the screen displays all customer contact information and company interaction history, and the agent can contact the customer via any channel with just a few clicks. Intercom offers admin full visibility and control over all company inboxes, as well as agent access controls and role management. Intercom’s Messenger lets users schedule timely, zendesk and intercom targeted, and personal messages sent based on triggers and customer actions, and is automatically translatable into over 30 languages. Zendesk also makes it easy to customize your help center, with out-of-the-box tools to design color, theme, and layout–both on mobile and desktop. Zendesk’s Admin Center provides tools that automate agent ticket workflows.

View your users’ Zendesk tickets in Intercom and create new ones directly from conversations. Easily reply to customer conversations and manage workload in a smart & automated way. Here is a Zendesk vs. Intercom based on the customer support offered by these brands.

Zendesk offers various pricing tiers depending on the functionalities needed, with plans ranging from $49 to $215 per agent per month. This gives businesses the flexibility to choose a plan that best suits their needs and budget. Both Zendesk and Intercom provide omnichannel messaging dashboards, which allow companies to communicate with customers through various channels in a seamless manner. However, you’ll likely end up paying more for Zendesk, and in-app messenger and other advanced customer communication tools will not be included. Intercom isn’t as great with sales, but it allows for better communication. With Intercom, you can keep track of your customers and what they do on your website in real time.

In 2016, Zendesk reported that 87,000 paid customers from over 150 countries used its products. Zendesk’s chatbots are simple to deploy and are highly effective in providing automated customer support. They can handle simple queries, freeing up your support agents to deal with more complex issues. Its sales CRM software starts at $19 per month per user, but you’ll have to pay $49 to get Zapier integrations and $99 for Hubspot integrations.

zendesk and intercom

Intercom enables customers to self-serve through its messaging platform. Agents can easily find resources for customers from their agent workspace. Intercom’s integration capabilities are limited, and some apps don’t integrate well with third-party customer service technology. This can make it more difficult to import CRM data and obtain complete context from customer data. For example, Intercom’s Salesforce integration doesn’t create a view of cases in Salesforce. To increase revenue and profit margins, identify which products or services sell the best and have the most potential to deliver the most profit for your business.

Zendesk:

The three tiers—Suite Team, Suite Growth, and Suite Professional—also give you more options outside of Intercom’s static structure. Suite Team is more affordable than Intercom’s $79/month tier; Suite Professional is more expensive. Overall, Zendesk wins out on plan flexibility, especially given that it has a lower price plan for dipping your toes in the water. And considering how appropriate Zendesk is for larger companies, there’s a good chance you may need to take them up on that.

Their template triggers are fairly limited with only seven options, but they do enable users to create new custom triggers, which can be a game-changer for agents with more complex workflows. Use ticketing systems to manage the influx and provide your customers with timely responses. When it comes to advanced workflows and ticketing systems, Zendesk boasts a more full-featured solution. Due to our intelligent routing capabilities and numerous automated workflows, our users can free up hours to focus on other tasks. Provide self-service alternatives so customers can resolve their own issues. This serves the dual benefit of adding convenience to the customer experience and lightening agents’ workloads.

  • Suite Team is more affordable than Intercom’s $79/month tier; Suite Professional is more expensive.
  • You can construct an omnichannel suite by combining productivity, e-commerce, CRM, analytics, social media, and other applications.
  • They have a 2-day SLA, no phone support, and the times I have had to work with them they have been incredibly difficult to work with.
  • Easily reply to customer conversations and manage workload in a smart & automated way.
  • Explore alternative options like ThriveDesk if you’re looking for a more budget-conscious solution that aligns with your customer support needs.

While the company is smaller than Zendesk, Intercom has earned a reputation for building high-quality customer service software. The company’s products include a messaging platform, knowledge base tools, and an analytics dashboard. Many businesses choose to work with Intercom because of its focus on personalization and flexibility, allowing companies to completely customize their customer service experience.

  • Survey responses automatically save as data in users’ profiles, and Intercom provides survey data in analytics and reporting.
  • You can even moderate user content to leverage your customer community.
  • Both Zendesk and Intercom provide omnichannel messaging dashboards, which allow companies to communicate with customers through various channels in a seamless manner.
  • Retaining customers and building customer loyalty are reliable ways to increase your profit margins.

In fact, acquiring a new customer costs five times more than selling to an existing one. By providing excellent service, personalizing customer interactions, and offering perks like loyalty programs, you can create a dedicated customer base that consistently buys from you. Intercom is second to none when it comes to providing great customer service, particularly in terms of proactive contact and the customisation of in-app experiences. The extensive automation and robust ticketing operations that Zendesk offers are among the numerous capabilities that the company possesses. Intercom is a great choice for companies seeking a more rounded solution for managing customer relationships, with strong sales and marketing features.

Having more connectors accessible gives organizations the flexibility to select software that meets their specific needs. Zendesk is primarily a ticketing system, and its ticketing capability is overwhelming in the best conceivable manner. All client contacts, whether via phone, chat, email, social media, or any other channel, land in one dashboard, where your agents can quickly and efficiently resolve them. Zendesk’s per-agent pricing structure makes it a budget-friendly option for smaller teams, allowing costs to scale with team growth.

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On the other hand, Intercom brings a dynamic approach to customer support. Its suite of tools goes beyond traditional ticketing and focuses on customer engagement and messaging automation. From in-app chat to personalized autoresponders, Intercom provides a unified experience across multiple channels, creating a support ecosystem that nurtures and converts leads. Intercom’s ticketing system and help desk SaaS is also pretty great, just not as amazing as Zendesk’s.

The Zendesk Support app gives you access to live Intercom customer data in Zendesk, and lets you create new tickets in Zendesk directly from Intercom conversations. This gives your team the context they need to provide fast and excellent support. Intercom is ideal for personalized messaging, while Zendesk offers robust ticket management and self-service options. Compared to Zendesk and Intercom, Helpwise offers competitive and transparent pricing plans. Its straightforward pricing structure ensures businesses get access to the required features without complex tiers or hidden costs, making it an attractive option for cost-conscious organizations. Zendesk has a help center that is open to all to find out answers to common questions.

While both offer a wide number of integration options, Zendesk wins the top spot in this category. Whatever you think of Intercom’s design and general user experience, you can’t deny that it outperforms all of its competitors. Everything, from the tools to the website, reflects their meticulous attention to detail. When it comes to the design and simplicity of the software for customer use, Zendesk’s interface is somewhat antiquated and cluttered, especially when it comes to customizing the chat widget. It can be classified as a chatbox for average users, just like the ones found on a variety of websites. The user experience is similar to that of a Facebook Messenger chat.