Zendesk Chat Formerly Zopim vs Intercom: Live Chat Comparison

Compare Intercom Vs Zendesk Chat in 2024

As a free Intercom alternative, tawk.co provides real-time monitoring, allowing agents to view chat history and performance analytics. A few of tawk.to’s features include a native ticketing system, customizable tabs, real-time alerts and notifications, and an activity dashboard. It also features a built-in customer relationship management (CRM) tool that stores customer data collected via methods like email and chat surveys.

An example of the platforms’ different focus is that Intercom includes an email marketing feature, whereas Zendesk doesn’t. Freshdesk, a product of Freshworks, is a customer service software that helps teams provide multichannel support. Its ticketing system offers features like agent collision detection, ticket field suggestions, and prewritten responses. It has automation options, including ticket dispatching that assigns agents to tickets based on skill, or you can configure it for round-robin distribution.

Though the Intercom chat window says that their customer success team typically replies in a few hours, don’t expect to receive any real answer in chat for at least a couple of days. If you’d want to test Intercom vs Zendesk before deciding on a tool for good, they both provide free trials for 14 days. But sooner or later, you’ll have to decide on the subscription plan, and here’s what you’ll have to pay. Zendesk is a ticketing system before anything else, and its ticketing functionality is overwhelming in the best possible way. Intercom does have a ticketing dashboard that has omnichannel functionality, much like Zendesk. For standard reporting like response times, leads generated by source, bot performance, messages sent, and email deliverability, you’ll easily find all the metrics you need.

Startups usually have low budgets for such investments, making it easier for these small businesses to choose the right plan. The features in Zendesk can scale with growing companies, so Startups can easily customize their plan to changing needs. Before choosing the customer support software, it is crucial to consider the size of the business. Some software only works best for startups, while others have offerings only for large enterprises. Let us look at the type and size of business for which Zednesk and Intercom are suitable.

In general, Zendesk offers a wide range of live chat features such as customizable chat widgets, automatic greetings, offline messaging, and chat triggers. In addition to these features, Intercom offers messaging automation and real-time visitor insights. Because Intercom started as a live chat service, its messenger functionality is very robust. It feels very modern, and Intercom offers some advanced messenger features that Zendesk does not.

Intercom’s AI has the transformative power to enhance customer service by offering multilingual support and contextual responses. Fin uses seamless communication across customer bases, breaking language barriers and catering to global audiences. These weaknesses are not as significant as the features and functionalities Zendesk offers its users. The Expert plan, which offers collaboration, real-time dashboard, security, and reporting tools for large teams, costs $139. The Essential customer support plan for individuals, startups, and businsses costs $39. This plan includes a shared inbox, unlimited articles, proactive support, and basic automation.

It’s an invaluable tool for businesses aiming to enhance customer satisfaction, increase conversions, and build lasting relationships. The comparison of whether Intercom is better than Zendesk depends on your specific customer support and engagement needs and objectives. If you seek to enhance customer engagement through chat-based support, in-app messaging, and proactive outreach, Intercom may be the superior option. Determining whether Zendesk is better than Intercom hinges on your unique customer support and engagement requirements. Zendesk excels as a robust and versatile customer support platform, offering comprehensive tools for managing customer inquiries and support operations across various channels. If your business values a feature-rich and customizable solution for customer interactions, Zendesk may be the better choice.

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. Staying updated with the future prospects and developments of Zendesk and Intercom is crucial for anticipating upcoming features and advancements. Examining the roadmap of both platforms helps businesses envision how their customer support needs can align with the evolving market trends and technological innovations.

Help Scout’s customer service software features a shared inbox that allows multichannel support. The shared inbox offers the familiarity of using email but with automation options, collaboration tools, and a sidebar that provides customer data and activities. Help Scout includes features like self-service resources and reporting and analytics tools.

Intercom’s sales automation features encompass advanced functionalities like lead scoring, personalized lead nurturing, and streamlined pipeline management. These capabilities enable businesses to streamline their sales processes, prioritize leads effectively, and manage their sales pipelines with greater efficiency and precision. Intercom focuses on providing personalized customer messaging and support at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Its conversational support approach, powerful automation capabilities, and in-depth analytics empower businesses to deliver tailored and effective customer experiences. Live chat add-on provides you with personal customer communication (via the web, mobile, and conversational messaging) without interrupting their experience.

Reports & Analytics

But, you would not be able to experience such a good in-app messaging service on Zendesk. Amid tight budgeting times, Desku proves to be the buddy for excellent worth and without any costly expenditure. However, the approach is far much wider than merely focusing on what would be more cost-effective but instead exploring ways through which a solution that would suit you best could be realized.

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. The cheapest plan for small businesses – Essential – costs $39 monthly per seat.

Suppose you are thinking that Intercom isn’t offering any attractive features, but it’s actually not true. There is one mind-boggling feature in Intercom, and that is its in-app messaging serving. It’s a very good way of communicating with customers through multi-platform apps.

Zendesk vs Intercom Comparison 2024: Which One Is Better?

We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you’re getting the most reliable resources to enhance your customer support initiatives. Intercom’s live chat reports aren’t just offering what your customers are doing or whether Chat GPT they are satisfied with your services. They offer more detailed insights like lead generation sources, a complete message report to track customer engagement, and detailed information on the support team’s performance. A collection of these reports can enable your business to identify the right resources responsible for bringing engagement to your business.

You can even finagle some forecasting by sourcing every agent’s assigned leads. Zendesk is designed with the agent in mind, delivering a modern, intuitive experience. The customizable Zendesk Agent Workspace enables reps to work within a single browser tab with one-click navigation across any channel. Intercom, on the other hand, can be a complicated system, creating a steep learning curve for new users.

In addition to Intercom vs Zendesk, alternative helpdesk solutions are available in the market. ThriveDesk is a feature-rich helpdesk solution that offers a comprehensive set of tools to manage customer support effectively. Intercom has a different approach, one that’s all about sales, marketing, and personalized messaging. Intercom has your back if you’re looking to supercharge your sales efforts. It’s like having a toolkit for lead generation, customer segmentation, and crafting highly personalized messages.

These tickets can then be systematically tracked, prioritized, and responded to. This structured approach ensures that no customer query goes unnoticed or unattended, regardless of the channel through which it was initiated. When comparing the cost of Intercom to Zendesk, it’s important to consider the pricing structures and potential variations based on your specific customer support and engagement needs. When comparing the pricing of Zendesk and Intercom, there are significant differences to take into account.

Both tools can be quite heavy on your budget since they mainly target big enterprises and don’t offer their full toolset at an affordable price. Is it as simple as knowing whether you want software strictly for customer support (like Zendesk) or for some blend of customer relationship management and sales support (like Intercom)? One place Intercom really shines as a standalone CRM is its data utility.

While both platforms share the common goal of improving customer support, they differ in their approach and specialized functionalities. Understanding these differences is essential in determining which platform aligns better with a business’s specific needs and goals. Although many people tout it as the solution for large businesses, its bottom pricing tier is a nice entry for any small business looking to add customer service to its front page. Zendesk has strong positive reviews especially since the software has mobile apps for access. Though some complained that it’s not easy to check the tickets using the apps. What makes it different from other help desk tools is the Answer Bot.

Zendesk offers a more comprehensive suite of tools, including advanced call center features with Zendesk Talk and modular add-ons like Guide, Chat, and Explore for enhanced customization. It provides versatile communication channels, supporting web, mobile, and messaging, with robust AI-powered chatbots for improved efficiency. Additionally, Zendesk’s extensive analytics and reporting capabilities help businesses tailor their services to elevate customer service experience and increase customer satisfaction. Overall, Zendesk’s extensive features and customization options make it a powerful choice for diverse business requirements. In the dynamic landscape of customer support platforms, choosing between Zendesk and Intercom depends on various factors such as budget, specific business requirements, and long-term goals. Businesses should carefully evaluate their needs and consider scalability, user-friendliness, and integration capabilities before deciding on the platform that best suits their requirements.

If you are looking for a comprehensive customer support solution with a wide range of features, Zendesk is a good option. Zendesk receives positive feedback for its intuitive interface, wide range of integrations, and robust reporting tools. However, some users find customization challenging, and the platform is considered expensive, requiring careful cost evaluation.

Intercom’s messaging system enables real-time interactions through various channels, including chat, email, and in-app messages. Connect with customers wherever they are for timely assistance and personalized experiences. As your business grows, so does the volume of customer inquiries and support tickets. Managing everything manually is becoming increasingly difficult, and you need a robust customer support platform to streamline your operations. Intercom is a customer support messenger, bot, and live chat service provider that empowers its clients to provide instant support in real-time.

And this, undoubtedly, leaves your customer support agents free to solve urgent matters. In the realm of automation and workflow management, Zendesk truly shines as a frontrunner. It empowers businesses with a robust suite of automation tools, enabling them to streamline their support processes seamlessly.

One of the most significant downsides of Intercom is its customer support. Existing customers have complained consistently about how they aren’t available at the right time to offer support to customers. There are even instances where customers don’t receive the first response in more than seven days. Zendesk also offers zendesk chat vs intercom a straightforward interface to operators that helps them identify the entire interaction pathway with the customers. Compared to being detailed, Zendesk gives a tough competition to Intercom. Operators can easily switch from one conversation to another, therefore helping operators manage more interactions simultaneously.

This packs all resolution information into a single ticket, so there’s no extra searching or backtracking needed to bring a ticket through to resolution, even if it involves multiple agents. I tested both options (using Zendesk’s Suite Professional trial and Intercom’s Support trial) and found clearly defined differences between the two. Here’s what you need to know about Zendesk vs. Intercom as customer support and relationship management tools. Use ticketing systems to manage the influx and provide your customers with timely responses. Zendesk provides comprehensive security and compliance features, ensuring customer data privacy. This includes secure login options like SAML or JWT SSO (single sign-on) and native content redaction for sensitive information.

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. What sets Zendesk apart is its user-friendly interface, customizable workflows, and scalability. It caters to a wide range of industries, particularly excelling in e-commerce, SaaS, technology, and telecommunications. It is favored by customer support, helpdesk, IT service management, and contact center teams. Intercom plays a very important role in the customer experience through messaging platforms, team collaboration products, and a valuable knowledge base solution.

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. Zendesk directly competes with Intercom when it comes to integrations. This live chat service provider offers 200+ integrations to its user base. With a mix of productivity, collaboration, eCommerce, CRM, analytics, email marketing, social media, and other tools, you get the option to create an omnichannel suite.

Moreover, these are new prices as they’re in the middle of changing their pricing policy right now (and they’re definitely not getting cheaper). So when I realized lots of companies actually prefer Zendesk over Intercom, I was surprised. I mean I stumbled upon this article where people from Outreach.io were telling why they’d switched from Intercom to Zendesk, then I saw this comparison, where Zendesk seemed to beat Intercom at the end.

Another critical difference between Zendesk and Intercom is their approach to CRM. In addition to its service features, Zendesk offers a fully integrated CRM solution, Zendesk Sell, available for an additional cost, starting at $19/agent/month. It includes tools for lead management, sales forecasting, and workflow management and automation. Its customer data platform lets you manage customer data, segmentation, and automated reminders. However, this may be sufficient for smaller businesses or those using an existing CRM that integrates with Intercom. Zendesk is more robust in terms of its ticket management capabilities, it offers more customization options and advanced features like a virtual call center app.

Intercom offers just over 450 integrations, which can make it less cost-effective and more complex to customize the software and adapt to new use cases as you scale. The platform also lacks transparency in displaying reviews, install counts, and purpose-built customer service integrations. Businesses may configure the activity dashboard to provide insight into website visitors, page views, and chat details. Users can surface historical data and real-time metrics and compare them visually with graphs and charts. The platform also integrates with some third-party apps to help businesses increase its capabilities. Drift allows for handoffs between chatbots and human agents in relevant situations.

• It’s great, it’s convenient, it’s not nearly as advanced as the one by Zendesk.
• There are pre-built workflows to help with things like ticket sharing, as well as conversation routing based on metrics like agent skill set or availability.
• As for Intercom’s general pricing structure, there are three plans, but you’ll have to contact them to get exact prices.

However, I do recommend Intercom for eCommerce stores that may need to integrate the features with their store. Intercom gives you the ability to see who your customers are and what they do in your web and mobile apps in real time. Intercom features phone support, online support, and a knowledge base. One of these differences is the ability for agents to connect to customers through their own apps versus using a collaboration feature. So, by now, you can see that according to this article, Zendesk inches past Intercom as the better customer support platform. Zendesk’s mobile app is also good for ticketing, helping you create new support tickets with macros and updates.

This is an AI assistant that will help anyone navigate Guide by providing results as you type your query. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. The bot also ensures that the customer or employee will find the right article before contacting an agent. Intercom has Articles as a knowledge base solution for self-support, as well as internal support. This feature is available on all the channels your customers use to get in touch with your brand. For instance, Intercom can guide a new software user through each feature step by step, providing context and assistance along the way.

As for the category of voice and phone features, Zendesk is a clear winner. Zendesk Support has voicemail, text messages, and embedded voice, and it displays the phone number on the widget. The learning and knowledgebase category is another one where it is a close call between Zendesk and Intercom. However, we will say that Intercom just edges past Zendesk when it comes to self-service resources. Easily track your service team’s performance and unlock coaching opportunities with AI-powered insights. It also offers a Proactive Support Plus as an Add-on with push notifications, a series campaign builder, news items, and more.

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). Though Intercom chat window says that their team typically replies in a few hours, I received the answer in a couple of minutes. Their agent was always trying to convert me into a lead along the way, but heck, that’s a side effect of our job. Honestly, when it comes to Zendesk, it is not the most modern tool out there. What can be really inconvenient about Zendesk, though is how their tools integrate with each other when you need to use them simultaneously.

Many use cases call for different approaches, and Zendesk and Intercom are but two software solutions for each case. No matter what Zendesk Suite plan you are on, you get workflow triggers, which are simple business rules-based actions to streamline many tasks. Every single bit of business SaaS in the world needs https://chat.openai.com/ to leverage the efficiency power of workflows and automation. Customer service systems like Zendesk and Intercom should provide a simple workflow builder as well as many pre-built automations which can be used right out of the box. You get call recording, muting and holding, conference calling, and call blocking.

However, if businesses seek a more personalized customer experience, Intercom’s advanced features could be beneficial. However, customer service (and the ways how a company delivers it) creates a centerpiece of a brand. But if you’re not familiar with them, think of the software as an online human resource department. For instance, customers and staff alike can channel messages through it. The methods that help desks use, however, are meant to cater to possibly thousands to millions of messages.

While both platforms have a significant presence in the industry, they cater to varying business requirements. Zendesk, with its extensive toolkit, is often preferred by businesses seeking an all-encompassing customer support solution. Intercom has a wider range of uses out of the box than Zendesk, though by adding Zendesk Sell, you could more than make up for it. Both options are well designed, easy to use, and share some pretty key functionality like behavioral triggers and omnichannel-ality (omnichannel-centricity?). But with perks like more advanced chatbots, automation, and lead management capabilities, Intercom could have an edge for many users.

But unlike Zendesk, its software has limited features, channels, and integrations. It’s a customer service software that offers tools to provide multichannel support through a shared inbox. In navigating the dynamic landscape of customer service software, understanding the strengths and capabilities of Zendesk and Intercom is crucial for making an informed decision. Both platforms offer powerful features tailored to meet the evolving demands of 2024 customer service trends.