Zendesk vs Intercom: Which is better? 2023

With Overview, you can gain a comprehensive view of all your customer interactions across multiple channels. With Crisp, you’ll be able to engage with customers in meaningful ways – from automated conversations to one-on-one interactions. You can also analyze customer feedback in real-time, allowing your team to proactively address any issues or concerns before they become major problems. And finally, Crisp provides support for multiple channels including email, live chat, SMS messaging, and more – so you can reach out to customers wherever they are. Conversational Support and Engagement – Intercom takes a conversational approach to customer support and engagement.

There are also integrations for other project management and collaboration tools just like Zendesk. The Zendesk Sell plan has the features you need to turn your website visitors into paying customers. It has live chat with AI Chatbot Integrations to help you answer visitors’ questions and pitch your services to them.

OTT Platforms

The more data you have, the longer it will take to transfer it from Zendesk to Intercom. This is because Zendesk has rate limits on how many records can be accessed or transferred per minute or hour. The rate limits also depend on what type of licensing plan you have with Zendesk. For example, an Enterprise plan will allow you to transfer your data at a faster rate than a Professional plan. To transfer your data from Zendesk to Intercom, a script will need to be created by an API developer to use the Zendesk and Intercom APIs to fetch and transfer the data.

I use this experience to work closely with VPS’ customers and platform partners on how to best derive value from our solutions. Some objects are easier to transfer than others, depending on how similar they are between Zendesk and Intercom. For example, transferring companies is relatively easy, as both platforms have a similar concept of a company object with similar fields. Tickets have dependencies on other objects and chronological items like ticket comments that need to be preserved during the transfer.

Customer Outreach and Engagement That Doesn’t Come at a Premium

The latter offers a chat widget that is simple, outdated, and limited in customization options, while the former puts all of its resources into their messenger. 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)? Zendesk also packs some pretty potent tools into their platform, so you can empower your agents to do what they do with less repetition. Agents can use basic automation (like auto-closing tickets or setting auto-responses), apply list organization to stay on top of their tasks, or set up triggers to keep tickets moving automatically. I tested both options (using Zendesk’s Suite Professional trial and Intercom’s Support trial) and found clearly defined differences between the two.

Their help desk is a single inbox to handle customer requests, where your customer support agents can leave private notes for each other and automatically assign requests to the right people. But it’s designed so well that you really enjoy staying in their inbox and communicating with customers. 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. 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.

The Company

Every single bit of business SaaS in the world needs 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. When it comes to self-service portals for things like knowledgebases, Intercom has a useful set of resources. Intercom also has a community forum where users can help one another with questions and solutions. Zendesk has more pricing options, and its most affordable plan is likely cheaper than Intercom’s, although without exact Intercom numbers, it is not easy to truly know the cost. When the company started in 2015, it used Intercom for live chat.

Advanced workflows are useful to customer service teams because they automate processes that make it easier for agents to provide great customer service. Unlock metadialog.com your customer experience (CX) potential with the best customer service software. What makes Intercom stand out from Zendesk are its chatbots and product tours.

AI Automation and Chatbots

This analysis aims to provide guidance in selecting the best alternative to Zendesk, based on various use cases. Although Zendesk is a great customer service solution, with a lot of features built into it there are some limitations and reasons why one might want to switch away from Zendesk. For one, there are some features that may require add-ons in order to fully take advantage of the platform. These add-ons can be quite expensive and may not always be necessary, so it’s important to consider this when deciding which plan is right for you. Looking for alternatives to Zendesk is important if addon costs are piling up for you in Zendesk.

• Zendesk started in 2007 as a web-based SaaS product for managing incoming customer support requests.
• In this detailed comparison, we’ll explore the features and characteristics of Intercom and Zendesk, highlighting each of their unique capabilities, so you can identify the right solution for your needs.
• Intercom features phone support, online support, and a knowledge base.
• Intercom’s live chat reports aren’t just offering what your customers are doing or whether they are satisfied with your services.
• Furthermore, with Groove, users can create support widgets that are displayed on their websites.
• There are also several ticket apps that you can integrate into Zendesk to reduce the time it takes to resolve a ticket.

On top of that, AzureDesk integrates with popular third-party applications like Slack and Salesforce so you can provide even better service to your customers. If you’re looking for a powerful but affordable customer support solution, AzureDesk is worth considering. However, if you are looking for Zendesk features such as live chat, chatbots, etc then Jetdocs is not the platform for you.

Everything you’d expect from a help desk—and more

Intercom recently ramped up its features to include helpdesk and ticketing functionality. Zendesk, on the other hand, started as a ticketing tool, and therefore has one of the market’s best help desk and ticket management features. If you’re exploring popular chat support tools Zendesk and Intercom, you may be trying to understand which solution is right for you.

• For businesses looking for an affordable yet feature-rich customer service platform, Gist is a solid choice.
• Ss if you are looking for a proper ticketing experience in your platform you should go with other alternatives here.
• This section will help us understand whether the software is made for your business or not.
• For example, for businesses that want just a couple of features, there are subscription packages.
• Zendesk has received a rating of 4.4 out of 5 from 2,693 reviewers.
• Founded in 2007, Zendesk started off as a ticketing tool for customer support teams.

Zendesk’s chatbot, Answer Bot, automatically answers customer questions asynchronously in up to 40 languages–via any text-based channel. Intercom’s help center allows you to draft and organize collections of articles, accessible to customers via a search bar in the Messenger widget. Operator, Intercom’s automation engine, empowers Intercom chatbots to gather key information from each website visitor to qualify leads and route customers to the right destination. Set automatic triggers so that certain events send push notifications to targeted customers, or use them as part of communication campaigns and series, and run A/B testing to compare two notifications.

Email integration

Groove is an all-in-one customer service platform that helps teams provide personalized and efficient customer service. It’s the perfect solution for small businesses, as it offers an affordable pricing plan and doesn’t require any technical setup or coding. With Groove, you can easily manage multiple channels such as email, live chat, and social media in one central hub. A frictionless, simple, and easy-to-use sales and marketing support IT solution.

Send surveys at key points throughout the customer buying cycle, utilizing multiple types of question formats. Surveys turn customer insights into action, with triggers and campaign response adjustments depending on customer responses. Zendesk Sales Engagement Tools (Reach) uses a credit system to help you find new leads or add information to existing leads. Create entry rules that trigger when the messaging campaign begins, choosing the target audiences and when follow-up messages generate. Create code-free screencast tours of products, websites, webpages, and applications within your website.

Different Intercom & Zendesk Integration Scenarios

Its unlimited seats on the $99/month plan make it an attractive option for growing teams that need a scalable solution without incurring additional costs per agent. Gist offers a range of features, such as live chat, email marketing, and a knowledge base, allowing your team to effectively support and engage with your customers. Finally, for startups or small businesses looking for a cost-effective live chat solution, Crisp.Chat is the best option. Offering a free plan with essential features, such as unlimited chats, mobile apps, and basic customization, Crisp.Chat enables you to provide real-time support to your customers without incurring high costs. As your business grows, you can upgrade to their paid plans to unlock advanced features like chatbots and integrations.

Zendesk would be a perfect option for businesses that are searching for a well-integrated support system. It offers a suite that compiles help desk, live chat, and knowledge base to their user base. This enables them to speed up the support process and build experiences that customers like.

Using the existing knowledge base functionality, they can display self-help articles in the chat window before the customer approaches your team for support. You can create these knowledge base articles in your target audience’s native language as their software is multilingual. Zendesk is another popular customer service, support, and sales platform that enables clients to connect and engage with their customers in seconds. Just like Intercom, Zendesk can also integrate with multiple messaging platforms and ensure that your business never misses out on a support opportunity. Zendesk and Intercom also both offer analytics and reporting capabilities that allow businesses to analyze and monitor customer agents’ productivity. As a result, companies can identify trends and areas for improvement, allowing them to continuously improve their support processes and provide better service to their customers.

One place Intercom really shines as a standalone CRM is its data utility. As with just about any customer support software, you can easily view standard user data within the messenger related to customer journey—things like recent pages viewed, activity, or contact information. Broken down into custom, resolution, and task bots, these can go a long way in taking repetitive tasks off agents’ plates. Zendesk’s help center tools should also come in handy for helping customers help themselves—something Zendesk claims eight out of 10 customers would rather do than contact support. To that end, you can import themes or apply your own custom themes to brand your help center the way you want it. From there, you can include FAQs, announcements, and article guides and then save them into pre-set lists for your customers to explore.

With over 100,000 customers across all industries and regions, Zendesk knows what it takes to interact with customers while retaining and growing relationships. Compare Zendesk versus Intercom to determine who will be the best partner for your business at every phase of the customer journey. Zendesk is a great and robust support too, but is Intercom a replacement for Zendesk in terms of functionality? Just three of the reasons we outperform traditional ticketing systems like Zendesk on G2. Their reports are attractive, dynamic, and integrated right out of the box.

• That’s their main support, so let’s look a little bit beyond email.
• Gorgias automates repetitive tasks, offers order tracking features, and facilitates personalized responses, making it an appealing choice for online retailers.
• Intercom costs can go even higher with custom add-ons such as Product Tours (from $199/month, Advanced lead generation (from $499/month), Advanced customer engagement (from $499/month), etc.
• Agents can use the app to support customers who need help, even while they are away from their desk or working remotely.
• Sales teams can also view outbound communications, and any support agent can access resources from the Intercom workspace.
• Intercom and Zendesk are neck to neck in reviews from various sites such as G2, Capterra, Financesonline, and more.