Zendesk vs Intercom: Which Is Right For Your Business in 2023?

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. Both Zendesk and Intercom have knowledge bases to help customers get the most out of their platforms. After this, you’ll have to set up your workflows, personalizing your tickets and storing them by topic. You can then add automations and triggers, such as automatically closing a ticket or sending a message to a user. Talking about the Intercom, it has flexible pricing plans that its experts can help adjust as per your requirements to match contacts and number of seats. The good news is that you enjoy a generous free 14-day trial by opting to get an idea if the particular service is suitable for your business or not.

Compare Zendesk versus Intercom to determine who will be the best partner for your business at every phase of the customer journey. This way, your clients will never have to repeat themselves or get frustrated because their new representative doesn’t know their background. With Zendesk, you can anticipate customer questions, allowing for shorter reply periods. With its CRM, you have the ability to place your clients in your sales funnels and follow through with them until conversion.

In-App Messaging Explained (With Examples and Best Practices)

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 is a customer relationship management (CRM) software company that provides a suite of tools for managing customer interactions. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Intercom’s products are used by over 25,000 customers, from small tech startups to large enterprises. Like Intercom, Zendesk has received generally positive customer reviews, with an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on Gartner Peer Insights.

FinancesOnline is available for free for all business professionals interested in an efficient way to find top-notch SaaS solutions. We are able to keep our service free of charge thanks to cooperation with some of the vendors, who are willing to pay us for traffic and sales opportunities provided by our website. Intercom has flexible prices that can change based on what your business needs, and they offer a 14-day free trial. And that’s why it offers a long list of customization options like workflow automation, ticket management system, and layouts. Today, Zendesk is used by over 200,000 businesses worldwide, including Airbnb, Uber, and Slack.

We purposely designed our service so that it operates in-memory when you connect and we don’t even have access to your mailbox at rest. If you forget your password, then you lose your mailbox and need to either recover with offline backups or start over. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. In case you continue having second thoughts about which solution will work best for your company it may be a sensible idea to examine each service’s social metrics.

Intercom vs Zendesk: pricing

A customer service department is only as good as its support team members, and these highly-prized employees need to rely on one another. Tools that allow support agents to communicate and collaborate are important aspect of customer service software. Intercom bills itself first and foremost as a platform to make the business of customer service more personalized, among other things.

• There are many powerful integrations included, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Slack, and Zapier.
• In comparison to that, you enjoy customized agent roles, sandbox, and skills-based routing, besides offering basic functionalities with the expensive enterprise plan.
• Intercom offers a wide range of integrations with various third-party tools, including CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and analytics tools.
• Additionally, Zendesk’s customizable dashboards and reporting features provide valuable insights into customer support performance.
• You can also follow up with customers after they have left the chat and qualify them based on your answers.

We have our dedicated team members always ready to support you with any requests you might have. Its easy navigability allows you to switch between different sections smoothly. Although Zendesk does not have an in-app messaging service, it does have one unique feature, and that is its built-in virtual call assistant, Zendesk Talk. It is a totally cloud-based service; you can operate this VOIP technology by sitting in any corner of the world. Zendesk has been ruling the market for ages due to its multi-communication and ticketing system. Whether it’s about communicating via phone, email, or social media, Zendesk will always stay upfront.

Popular Intercom Alternatives

The best part about Zendesk is that, along with its amazing features, it also provides its users with a magical wand for customizing them. Whether it’s the ticketing system, knowledge base corner, or branding elements, you get the full right to use them as per your brand’s need. Here comes Desku as the strong competitor, which can effectively substitute Zendesk and Intercom.

You will be able to find the most common chatting system with a single communication channel. So, communicating with customers on different communication channels would be difficult on Intercom. Though expensive and quality are synonymous in some worlds, such a principle cannot define Desku where it stands out as one of such affordable companies. However, competitive pricing is a promise and not a compromise to make decent customer support accessible for all. It will help you understand your customer’s issue and solve it instantly.

Intercom has a community forum where users can engage with each other and gain insights from their experiences. On the other hand, it’s nearly impossible to foresee how much Intercom will cost at the end of the day. They charge for agent seats and connections, don’t disclose their prices, and package add-ons at a premium. Many use cases call for different approaches, and Zendesk and Intercom are but two software solutions for each case. Visit either of their app marketplaces and look up the Intercom Zendesk integration.

You could say something similar for Zendesk’s standard service offering, so it’s at least good to know they have Zendesk Sell, a capable CRM option to supplement it. You can use Zendesk Sell to track tasks, streamline workflows, improve engagement, nurture leads, and much more. Understanding these fundamental differences should go a long way in helping you pick between the two, but does that mean you can’t use one platform to do what the other does better? These are both still very versatile products, so don’t think you have to get too siloed into a single use case. Sendcloud adopted these solutions to replace siloed systems like Intercom and a local voice support provider in favor of unified, omnichannel support.

They offer an advanced feature for customer data management that goes beyond basic CRM stuff. It gives detailed contact profiles enriched by company data, behavioral data, conversation data, and other custom fields. There are 3 Basic support plans at $19, $49 and $99 per user per month billed annually, and 5 Suite plans at $49, $79, $99, $150, and $215 per user per month billed annually. Zendesk for Service, a customer service solution, provides unified customer-facing communication channels, self-service, collaboration, customer routing, and analytics–all organized in one dashboard. Intercom enables customers to self-serve through its messaging platform. Agents can easily find resources for customers from their agent workspace.

• Zendesk wins the collaboration tools category because of its easy-to-use side conversations feature.
• 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.
• Users can benefit from using Intercom’s CX platform and AI software as a standalone tool for business messaging.
• Other email services advertise as open-source, but they do not release the source code to their back-end.

Broken down into custom, resolution, and task bots, these can go a long way in taking repetitive tasks off agents’ plates. 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. 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. Advanced workflows are useful to customer service teams because they automate processes that make it easier for agents to provide great customer service.

You could technically consider Intercom a CRM, but it’s really more of a customer-focused communication product. It isn’t as adept at purer sales tasks like lead management, list engagement, advanced reporting, forecasting, and workflow management as you’d expect a more complete CRM to be. Intercom’s chatbot feels a little more robust than Zendesk’s (though it’s worth noting that some features are only available at the Engage and Convert tiers).

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. Your typical Zendesk review will often praise the platform’s simplicity and affordability, as well as its constant updates and rolling out of new features, like Zendesk Sunshine. For example, you can read in many Zendesk Sell reviews how adding sales tools benefits Zendesk Support users. Check out our list of unified communications providers for more information.

Before you make your choice, check out Messagely’s features and compare them to discover which platform is best for you. There are many powerful integrations included, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Slack, and Zapier. Finally, you’ll have to choose your reporting preferences including details about what you’ll be tracking and how often you want to be reported of changes. In terms of pricing, Intercom is considered one of the most expensive tools on the market.

Tidio Alternatives for Better Customer Service in 2024

But that’s not it, if you want to resolve customer common questions with the help of the vendor’s new tool – Fin bot, you will have to pay $0.99 per resolution per month. Zendesk has an app available for both Android and iOS, which makes it easy to stay connected with customers while on the go. The app includes features like push notifications and real-time customer engagement — so businesses can respond quickly to customer inquiries. Intercom also offers a 14-day free trial, after which customers can upgrade to a paid plan or use the basic free plan.

Basically, if you have a complicated support process, go with Zendesk, an excellent Intercom alternative, for its help desk functionality. If you’re a sales-oriented corporation, use Intercom for its automation options. 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. Whether you’ve just started searching for a customer support tool or have been using one for a while, chances are you know about Zendesk and Intercom. The former is one of the oldest and most reliable solutions on the market, while the latter sets the bar high in terms of innovative and out-of-the-box features.

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. However, you’ll likely end up paying more for Zendesk, and in-app messenger and other advanced customer communication tools will not be included. Zendesk chat allows you to talk with your visitors in real time through a small chat bar at the bottom of your site.

Intercom is great for talking to customers in real-time, like through live chats or in-app messages. Zendesk is more about organizing customer requests with a ticketing system and talking to customers through many channels like email, phone, or chat. Intercom and Zendesk offer robust integration capabilities that allow businesses to streamline their workflow and improve customer support. Choosing Intercom or Zendesk will depend on your specific needs and requirements. One of the standout features of Intercom’s user interface is the ability to view customer conversations in a single thread, regardless of the channel they were initiated on.

Rightly Planned For Customer Service Needs

However, the right fit for your business will depend on your particular needs and budget. If you’re looking for a comprehensive solution with lots of features and integrations, then Zendesk would be a good choice. On the other hand, if you need something that is more tailored to your customer base and is less expensive, then Intercom might be a better fit. This integration allows companies to quickly collect feedback from their customers and use it to improve customer service.

Then, you can begin filling in details such as your account’s name and icon and your agents’ profiles and security features. Intercom works with any website or web-based product and aims to be your one-way stop for all of your customer communication needs. Zendesk has over 150,000 customer accounts from 160 countries and territories.

With this kind of organization, you will not only find your favorite apps but also discover new ones to meet your needs. However, the Intercom app store is far more intuitive and is much easier to navigate. It not only shows you all of the apps you can use, but it also divides these into topics and categories. By the end of the article, you’ll not only know all of the main differences between Zendesk and Intercom, but you’ll know which is the right tool for you. To sum things up, one can get really confused trying to make sense of the Zendesk suite pricing, let alone calculate costs.

Messagely’s chatbots are powerful tools for qualifying and converting leads while your team is otherwise occupied or away. With chatbots, you can generate leads to hand over to your sales team and solve common customer queries without the need of a customer service representative behind a keyboard. On the other hand, Zendesk’s customer intercom vs. zendesk support includes a knowledge base that’s very intuitive and easy to navigate. It divides all articles into a few main topics so you can quickly find the one you’re looking for. It also includes a list of common questions you can browse through at the bottom of the knowledge base home page so you can find answers to common issues.

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. There is power to be realized in partnerships and the strategic combination of forces, and companies using chatbots for customer service can further enhance the CX, taking it to new heights.

However, Zendesk’s pricing is generally more affordable for smaller businesses, while Intercom’s pricing tends to be higher but offers more advanced features and capabilities. Intercom and Zendesk are excellent customer support tools offering unique features and benefits. However, when it comes to choosing between the two, it ultimately depends on the specific needs and preferences of the user. Intercom has received generally positive customer reviews, with an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars on Gartner Peer Insights. Customers appreciate the platform’s ease of use, flexibility, and robust feature set. However, some users have reported issues with the platform’s pricing and customer support.

Community forums enable customers to assist each other by asking questions and sharing tips, experiences, and best practices–creating a unique, user-based, searchable information hub. Zendesk’s chatbot, Answer Bot, automatically answers customer questions asynchronously in up to 40 languages–via any text-based channel. 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. While Intercom lacks some common customer-service channels like voice calling and video conferencing, it supports other unique features that transfer across channels.

Such metrics are frequently an indicator of how popular a given solution is and how wide is its online presence. When it comes to customer communication, Intercom has a perfect layout and customer information storage system. Based on such information, you can easily communicate with your customers and resolve their queries instantly. But, you would not be able to experience such a good in-app messaging service on Zendesk. Automating onboarding messages, product guides, newsletters, and the list goes on. Intercom understands very well that email marketing is no more than a magic wand for building strong customer relations.

Users can also access a resource library to stay updated on the latest trends, product announcements, and best practices. Intercom regularly hosts webinars that are recorded and stored for future reference. What better way to start a Zendesk vs. Intercom than to compare their features? Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Zendesk is designed to fit your business needs whether you’re a fast-growing startup or a well-established company.