Intercom vs Zendesk Why HubSpot is the Best Alternative

As well as Intercom, it allows sharing of private notes with other support agents. Apart from a live chat, it has a feature called ‘Business Messenger’ that comes with its own AI chatbot. Moreover, Intercom bots can converse naturally with customers by using conversation starters, respond with self-help, and knowledge base articles. However, if you compare Zendesk vs Intercom chat in ease of use, the letter wins. Create a chatbot with minimal coding and customize it to your heart’s content.

If not, then you should because it will ease much of your workload as you would not have to waste your precious time in finding the helpdesk operator, plus zero management issues. Analytics features Intercom has is done through add-ons such as Google Analytics, Statbot, Microsoft Teams, and more. 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.

Popular Intercom App Integrations

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. It’s known for its unified agent workspace which combines different communication methods like email, social media messaging, live chat, and SMS, all in one place. This makes it easier for support teams to handle customer interactions without switching between different systems.

Evaluate factors such as scalability, user-friendliness, integration capabilities, and the type of customer experience you aim to provide before making a decision. The ease of use and customization options play a significant role in the seamless integration of a customer support platform within existing business operations. Analyzing the user-friendliness and customizability of Zendesk and Intercom provides insights into their adaptability to diverse business environments. On the other hand, Intercom, starting at a lower price point, could be more attractive for very small teams or individual users.

Support Capacity: Who Can Deliver the Goods?

Once you add live chat to your website, your visitors will be able to reach you through the chat widget. However, the 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 online human resource departments. For instance, customers and staff alike can channel messages through it.

• If your company is looking for customer support software, you have likely heard of Intercom and Zendesk.
• A collection of these reports can enable your business to identify the right resources responsible for bringing engagement to your business.
• Track customer service metrics to gain valuable insights and improve customer service processes and agent performance.
• Its strengths are prominently seen in multi-channel support, with effective email, social media, and live chat integrations, coupled with a robust internal knowledge base for agent support.

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. It’s much easier if you decide to go with the Zendesk Suite, which includes Support, Chat, Talk, and Guide tools. There are two options there — Professional for $109 or Enterprise for $179 if you pay monthly. The difference between the two is that the Professional subscription lacks some things like chat widget unbranding, custom agent roles, multiple help centers, etc. Intercom is 4 years younger than Zendesk and has fancied itself as a messaging platform right from the beginning.

MParticle is a Customer Data Platform offering plug-and-play integrations to Zendesk and Intercom, along with over 300 other marketing, analytics, and data warehousing tools. With mParticle, you can connect your Zendesk and Intercom data with other marketing, analytics, and business intelligence platforms without any custom engineering effort. Both Zendesk Messaging and Intercom Messenger offer live chat features and AI-enabled chatbots for 24/7 support to customers. Additionally, you can trigger incoming messages to automatically assign an agent and create dashboards to monitor the team’s performance on live chat. If you are looking for more integration options and budget is not an issue, Intercom can be the perfect live chat solution for your business. It is also ideal for businesses who are searching for conversational chatbot functionality.

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. In terms of pricing, Intercom is considered one of the hardest on your pocket. 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.

One place Intercom really shines as a standalone CRM is its data utility. You can create articles, share them internally, group them for users, and assign them as responses for bots—all pretty standard fare. Intercom can even integrate with Zendesk and other sources to import past help center content. I just found Zendesk’s help center to be slightly better integrated into their workflows and more customizable. 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.

When comparing the omnichannel support functionalities of Zendesk and Intercom, both platforms show distinct strengths and weaknesses. When comparing the user interfaces (UI) of Zendesk and Intercom, both platforms exhibit zendesk vs intercom distinct characteristics and strengths catering to different user preferences and needs. While both Zendesk and Intercom offer ways to track your sales pipeline, each platform handles the process a bit differently.

While this resource center can reduce the dependency on agent assistance, it lacks the interactive element found in Intercom’s onboarding process. Determining whether Intercom can effectively replace Zendesk depends on your specific customer support and engagement requirements. In contrast, Intercom follows a pricing structure that can be straightforward for businesses looking for specific functionalities. However, it’s important to note that Intercom’s pricing can vary depending on factors such as the number of users, conversations, and additional features you require. In some cases, Zendesk may be considered a more cost-effective option compared to Intercom, particularly for businesses with smaller budgets or those looking for more predictable pricing.

• The overall sentiment from users indicates a satisfactory level of support, although opinions vary.
• I’ll dive into their chatbots more later, but their bot automation features are also stronger.
• The main difference is its connectivity with the Intercom Team Inbox.
• Assessing how Zendesk and Intercom integrate with other systems and tools used within the organization is critical for achieving operational synergy and efficiency.

It actively collects and utilizes customer data to facilitate highly personalized conversations. For instance, it can use past interactions and behaviors to tailor recommendations or responses. If your organization aims to enhance customer engagement through live chat, in-app messaging, and proactive outreach, Intercom might serve as a viable alternative to Zendesk. However, it’s essential to recognize that Zendesk has its own array of strengths, particularly in its comprehensive and versatile customer support platform. To begin with, putting help desk platforms “side by side” is a thankless job as software differs in functionality, price, and purposes.

Can Zendesk replace Intercom?

When comparing the pricing of Zendesk and Intercom, there are significant differences to take into account. Zendesk’s pricing offers a range of plans, including a tiered model with different levels of features and capabilities. While the pricing can be flexible, it may become more costly as your organization’s requirements and usage increase. Whether Zendesk can fully replace Intercom depends on your specific customer support and engagement requirements. Suppose you are thinking that Intercom isn’t offering any attractive features, but it’s actually not true.