Zendesk vs Intercom: The Ultimate Comparison Guide for 2024

It enables them to engage with visitors who are genuinely interested in their services. You get to engage with them further and get to know more about their expectations. This becomes the perfect opportunity to personalize the experience, offer assistance to prospects as per their needs, and convert them into customers. If compared to Intercom’s chatbot, Zendesk offers a relatively latest platform that makes support automation possible. So far, the chatbot can transfer chats to agents or resolve less complex queries in seconds.

With industry-leading AI that infuses intelligence into every interaction, robust integrations, and exceptional data security and compliance, it’s no wonder why Zendesk is a trusted leader in CX. Ultimately, it’s important to consider what features each platform offers before making a decision, as well as their pricing options and customer support policies. Since both are such well-established market leader companies, you can rest assured that whichever one you choose will offer a quality customer service solution. Zendesk has a wealth of reporting and analytics features for support teams.

Intercom has a standard trial period for a SaaS product which is 14 days, while Zendesk offers a 30-day trial. Just as Zendesk, Intercom also offers its own Operator bot which will automatically suggest relevant articles to customers who ask for help. It’s modern, it’s smooth, it looks great and it has intercom versus zendesk so many advanced features. But I don’t want to sell their chat tool short as it still has most of necessary features like shortcuts (saved responses), automated triggers and live chat analytics. To sum up, if you are looking for a helpdesk with no advanced AI capabilities, you can choose Intercom.

Unlike Zendesk, which requires more initial setup for advanced automation, Customerly’s out-of-the-box automation features are designed to be user-friendly and easily customizable. Intercom is a customer-focused communication platform with basic CRM capabilities. While we wouldn’t call it a full-fledged CRM, it should be capable enough for smaller businesses that want a simple and streamlined CRM without the additional expenses or complexity.

There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Intercom does have a ticketing dashboard that has omnichannel functionality, much like Zendesk. Luca Micheli is a serial tech entrepreneur with one exited company and a passion for bootstrap digital projects. He’s passionate about helping companies to succeed with marketing and business development tips. What’s more, we support live video support for moments when your customers need in-depth guidance.

That being said, in your search for the best customer support tool, you must have come across Zendesk and Intercom. Test any of HelpCrunch pricing plans for free for 14 days and see our tools in action right away. Say what you will, but Intercom’s design and overall user experience are leaving all its competitors far behind. It’s beautifully crafted and thought through, and their custom-made illustrations are just next level stuff.

Zendesk excels with its powerful ticketing and customer support capabilities, making it ideal for streamlining service operations. Unlike Intercom, Zendesk is scalable, intuitively designed for CX, and offers a low total cost of ownership. You can also use Intercom as a customer service platform, but given its broad focus, you may not get the same level of specialized expertise.

If your team needs Fin to help with more than that, you’ll need to pay an extra $35 per agent per month for unlimited use. Zendesk’s mobile app is also good for ticketing, helping you create new support tickets with macros and updates. It’s also good for sending and receiving notifications, as well as for quick filtering through the queue of open tickets. The main idea here is to rid the average support agent of a slew of mundane and repetitive tasks, giving them more time and mental energy to help customers with tougher issues. Intercom has a full suite of email marketing tools, although they are part of a pricier package.

According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2023, 78 percent of business leaders want to combine their customer service and sales data. The Zendesk sales CRM integrates seamlessly with the Zendesk Suite, our top-of-the-line customer service software. Unlike Zendesk, Pipedrive is limited to third-party integrations and doesn’t connect with native customer support software. Both software solutions offer core customer service features like live chat for sales, help desk management capabilities, and customer self-service options like a knowledge base. They’re also known for their user-friendly interfaces and reliable support team.

Not to brag 😏, but we specifically developed our platform to address the shortcomings in the current market. By going with Customerly for your customer service needs, you can get the best of both worlds (Zendesk and Intercom), plus some extra features and benefits you haven’t even thought of, yet. Zendesk offers a slightly broader selection of plans, with an enterprise solution for customers with bespoke needs. That being said, it sometimes lacks the advanced customization and automation offered by other AI-powered chatbots, like Intercom’s.

Why ProProfs Chat is the Better Alternative to Zendesk & Intercom

The dashboard also provides insights into user behavior and engagement metrics. Intercom’s app store has popular integrations for things like WhatsApp, Stripe, Instagram, and Slack. There is a really useful one for Shopify to provide customer support for e-commerce operations. HubSpot and Salesforce are also available when support needs to work with marketing and sales teams. Intercom focuses on real-time customer messaging, while Zendesk provides a comprehensive suite for ticketing, knowledge base, and self-service support.

From there, you can include FAQs, announcements, and article guides and then save them into pre-set lists for your customers to explore. You can even moderate user content to leverage your customer community. Triggers should prove especially useful for agents, allowing them to do things like automate notifications for actions like ticket assignments, ticket closing/reopening, or new ticket creation. 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.

You can see their attention to detail in everything — from their tools to their website. Intercom doesn’t really provide free stuff, but they have a tool called Platform, which is free. The free Intercom Platform lets you see who your customers are and what they do in your workspace. If you’d want to test Zendesk and Intercom before deciding on a tool for good, they both provide free trials.

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. There are even automations to help with things like SLAs, or service level agreements, to do things like send out notifications when headlights are due. Intercom has a very robust advanced chatbot set of tools for your business needs. There is a conversation routing bot, an operator bot, a lead qualification bot, and an article-suggesting bot, among others. It is also not too difficult to program your own bot rules using Intercon’s system. The best help desks are also ticketing systems, which lets support reps create a support ticket out of issues that can then be tracked.

You can also follow up with customers after they have left the chat and qualify them based on your answers. Chat agents also get a comprehensive look at their entire customer’s journey, so they will have a better idea of what your customers need, without needing to ask many questions. Both Zendesk and Intercom have their own “app stores” where users can find all of the integrations for each platform. After signing up and creating your account, you can start filling in your information, such as your company name and branding and your agents’ profiles and information.

Before you make your choice, check out Messagely’s features and compare them to discover which platform is best for you. This way, your clients will never have to repeat themselves or get frustrated because their new representative doesn’t know their background. However, if you’re looking for a streamlined, all-in-one messaging platform, there is no better option than Messagely. You don’t have to pay per contact on your database, and you there are many free features you can use.

This helps support teams to resolve customer issues without losing context. Handle conversations, manage tickets, and resolve issues quickly to improve your CSAT. Your agents will love the seamless assistance Aura AI provides throughout the entire customer interaction.

Does Spiceworks integrate with Zendesk?

This makes it challenging to customize the software as your business grows. Furthermore, data on customer reviews, installation numbers, and ecommerce integrations is not readily available. The Zendesk marketplace hosts over 1,500 third-party apps and integrations. The software is known for its agile APIs and proven custom integration references. This helps the service teams connect to applications like Shopify, Jira, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Slack, etc., all through Zendesk’s service platform.

It also features an AI-driven ticketing system, an omnichannel dashboard to manage all customer communications in one place, and customizable chat widgets to enhance user engagement. Zendesk offers your agents a unified workspace to collaborate on support tickets. This single window allows your team members to combine several channels for better efficiency and improved customer experience. And according to research, brands adopting omnichannel customer service software experience a decline in cost per contact by 7.5% every year, so having this feature is definitely a plus. Zendesk boasts robust reporting and analytics tools, plus a dedicated workforce management system.

Combine that with their prowess in automation and sales solutions, and you’ve got a really strong product that can handle myriad customer relationship needs. This structure may appeal to businesses with specific needs but could be less predictable for budget-conscious organizations. It provides a real-time feed and historical data, so agents can respond instantly to consumer queries, as well as learn from past CX trends. By using its workforce management functionality, businesses can analyze employee performance, and implement strategies to improve them. On the other hand, Intercom enables agents to convert a conversation into a ticket with one click.

Its proactive support features, unified inbox, and customizable bots are highly beneficial for businesses looking to engage customers dynamically and manage conversations effortlessly. Zendesk excels in providing in-depth performance metrics for your support team. It offers  comprehensive insights on ticket volume, agent performance, customer satisfaction, first contact resolution rates and more. Core features include automated support powered by a knowledge base, a streamlined ticketing system built around messaging, and a powerful inbox to centralize all customer queries.

This can be a bummer for many as they can always stumble upon an issue. 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. Compared to Intercom, Zendesk’s pricing starts at $49/month, which is still understandable but not meant for startups looking for affordable pricing plans. These plans are not inclusive of the add-ons or access to all integrations.

Customerly is a forward-thinking, all-in-one customer service platform. Just keep in mind that, while Intercom’s upfront pricing may seem cheaper, there are additional costs to factor in. When factoring in AI-first tools for all agents, multi-channel campaigns, and proactive support, it could easily cost significantly more than Zendesk. Similar to Zendesk, Intercom’s pricing reserves its most powerful automations for higher-paying customers, the good news is that Fin AI comes with all plans. You can then add features like advanced AI agents, workforce management, and QA.

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. Intercom lets businesses send their customers targeted in-app messages.

In leveraging cutting-edge AI, Zendesk empowers service teams to resolve customer issues more quickly and accurately. Built on billions of customer experience interactions, the AI capabilities can be integrated across the entire service experience, from self-service to agent support, optimizing operations at scale. But they also add features like automatic meeting booking (in the Convert package), and their custom Chat GPT inbox rules and workflows just feel a little more, well, custom. I’ll dive into their chatbots more later, but their bot automation features are also stronger. If you’re still on the fence about which platform to choose, consider exploring Tidio as a strong alternative. Tidio stands out with its advanced AI-powered chatbots and seamless automated workflows, making customer interactions efficient and personalized.

Using this, agents can chat across teams within a ticket via email, Slack, or Zendesk’s ticketing system. 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. What’s really nice about this is that even within a ticket, you can switch between communication modes without changing views.

Zendesk is a robust choice for businesses seeking quick setup, scalability, and powerful AI-driven support. Its strength in creating a comprehensive self-service knowledge base and its extensive integration ecosystem make it a versatile option. Zendesk and Intercom offer help desk management solutions to their users. Zendesk and Intercom are both incredibly powerful customer support tools, and they have their own strengths and weaknesses. Zendesk excels in traditional ticket management and offers a robust set of feature.

Zendesk vs Intercom: all the functionalities in a glance

Founded in 2007, Zendesk started as a ticketing tool for customer success teams. Later, they started adding all kinds of other features, like live chat for customer conversations. From analytics to apps and integrations, Spiceworks has restricted capabilities compared to the comprehensive features available with Zendesk. These product limitations may come with the costs of poor support experiences, low efficiency, migrations, and re-implementations. Missouri Star Quilt Company is one of the world’s largest online retailers of fabric and quilting supplies, shipping thousands of orders a day. After struggling with different customer service solutions, Missouri Star Quilt Company turned to Zendesk for service and sales.

Automated triggers, saved responses, and live chat analytics are all baked in. The only other downside is that the chat widget can feel a bit static and outdated. According to G2, Intercom has a slight edge over Zendesk with a 4.5-star rating, but from just half the number of users. Similar to Zendesk, though, users praise its ease of use and feature set. While no area of concern really stands out, there are some complaints about the company’s billing practices.

Additionally, we prioritize an intuitive experience that infuses intelligence into every touchpoint to help teams unlock productivity. Built-in tools like workflow automation and generative AI enable IT teams to do more with less, which saves costs. We are also by our customers’ side every step of the way to help them maximize the value of their investment. Zendesk offers over 1,500 apps and integrations via our Zendesk Marketplace to help you unify your tech stack and streamline your data across systems.

They’ve been rated as one of the easy live chat solutions with more integrated options. After this live chat software comparison, you’ll get a better picture of what’s better for your business. Both Zendesk and Intercom have knowledge bases to help customers get the most out of their platforms.

However, if your focus is on creating a seamless, automated customer service experience with proactive engagement, Intercom could be the ideal choice. Hivers offers round-the-clock proactive support across all its plans, ensuring that no matter the time or issue, expert assistance is always available. This 24/7 support model is designed to provide continuous, real-time solutions to clients, enhancing the overall reliability and responsiveness of Hivers’ services. When you onboard a customer support platform, it’s important to consider the level of support the vendor offers.

Simplicity is an important consideration when selecting the best customer service software. Having easy-to-use software is far more controllable and saves time whether you’re a tiny and growing business or a massive multinational. It’s clear that both of these tools are designed for different use cases. Intercom is geared toward sales, whereas Zendesk includes everything a customer service rep desires. Zendesk also has the Answer Bot, which can take your knowledge base game to the next level instantly. It can automatically suggest your customer relevant articles reducing the workload for your support agents.

Zendesk AI is the intelligence layer that infuses CX intelligence into every step of the customer journey. In addition to being pre-trained on billions of real support interactions, our AI powers bots, agent and admin assist, and intelligent workflows that lead to 83 percent lower administrative costs. Customers have also noted that they https://chat.openai.com/ can implement Zendesk AI five times faster than other solutions. Zendesk’s user face is quite intuitive and easy to use, allowing customers to quickly find what they are looking for. Additionally, the platform allows users to customize their experience by setting up automation workflows, creating ticket rules, and utilizing analytics.

The dashboard provides an overview of ticket volume, agent performance, and other key metrics. The ticket view often includes detailed information about the customer, history of interactions, and other details. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. 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 Versus Zendesk: Support

Zendesk also has an Answer Bot, instantly taking your knowledge base game to the next level. It can automatically suggest relevant articles for agents to share during business hours with clients, reducing your support agents’ workload. So when it comes to chatting features, the choice is not really Intercom vs Zendesk. The latter offers a chat widget that is simple, outdated, and limited in customization options, while the former puts all of its resources into its messenger. Intercom is more for improving sales cycles and customer relationships, while Zendesk, an excellent Intercom alternative, has everything a customer support representative can dream about.

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. As I’ve already mentioned, they started as a help desk/ticketing tool, and honestly, they perfected every bit of it over the years. As it turns, it’s quite difficult to compare Zendesk against Intercom as they serve different purposes and will fit different businesses. Starting at just $19/user/month, Hiver is a more affordable solution that doesn’t compromise on essential helpdesk functionalities.

Just like Intercom, Zendesk’s customer service is quite disappointing. The only relief is that they do reach out to customers, but it gets too late. In terms of customer service, Zendesk fails to deliver an exceptional experience.

What’s even cooler is its ability to use AI to forecast customer behavior. Agents can use this to anticipate and proactively address issues before the escalate, or even arise in the first place. While clutter-free and straightforward, it does lack some of the more advanced features and capabilities that Zendesk has. With over 160,000 customers across all industries and regions, Zendesk has the CX expertise to provide you with best practices and thought leadership to increase your overall value. But don’t just take our word for it—listen to what customers say about why they picked Zendesk.

essential customer service skills to develop in 2024

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. On the other hand, Zendesk’s customer 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.

You can test any of HelpCrunch’s pricing plans for free for 14 days and see our tools in action immediately. To sum up this Intercom vs Zendesk battle, the latter is a great support-oriented tool that will be a good choice for big teams with various departments. Intercom feels modern and is more client-success-oriented, but it can be too costly for smaller companies. To resolve common customer questions with the vendor’s new tool, Fin bot, you must pay $0.99 per resolution per month. You can publish your self-service resources, divide them by categories, and integrate them with your messenger to accelerate the whole chat experience.

Struck not in a bad way, more like in a very neutral ‘huh, this may be interesting’ way. But you also need to consider the fact that Intercom has many add-ons that cost extra, especially their AI features. In this guide, I compare Zendesk and Intercom – on pricing and features – to help you make an informed decision. Our mission is to break apart what CRM is and means.Here we discuss anything that helps create more meaningful lasting work relationships. Keeping this general theme in mind, I’ll dive deeper into how each software’s features compare, so you can decide which use case might best fit your needs. Grow faster with done-for-you automation, tailored optimization strategies, and custom limits.

• If you require a robust helpdesk with powerful ticketing and reporting features, Zendesk is the better choice, particularly for complex support queries.
• If that’s not detailed enough, then surely their visitor browsing details will leave you surprised.
• Unlike Zendesk, which requires more initial setup for advanced automation, Customerly’s out-of-the-box automation features are designed to be user-friendly and easily customizable.

Zendesk has great intelligent routing and escalation protocols as well. Zendesk also offers digital support during business hours, and their website has a chatbot. 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. Zendesk is among the industry’s best ticketing and customer support software, and most of its additional functionality is icing on the proverbial cake.

Although quite functional, Zendesk’s interface can sometimes feel a bit dated compared to other helpdesks. While it is designed to help support agents be efficient,  it might not be as visually appealing or intuitive for users who aren’t very tech-savvy. The platform converts all customer queries into “tickets” that agents can handle with ease and track till the point of resolution. Because of the app called Intercom Messenger, one can see that their focus is less on the voice and more on the text.

In this article, we comprehensively do a comparison of Zendesk vs Intercom, examining their key features, benefits, and industry use cases. By exploring their distinct offerings, we aim to assist businesses in making informed decisions when selecting a customer service platform. You could technically consider Intercom a CRM, but it’s really more of a customer-focused communication product.

As the more recent of the two, offering a modern look-and-feel and frictionless experience is a key magnet for Intercom. It effortlessly brings together in-app chat, automated chatbots, and a unified inquiry inbox in its help center. One of Zendesk’s other key strengths has also been its massive library of integrations.

Additionally, our employee portal software allows users to submit ticket forms with or without SSO and LDAP capabilities. Zendesk has sales forecasting features that leverage previous sales data to help predict future outcomes, including revenue growth, cash flow, and the likelihood of winning a deal. This data can help eliminate unwanted surprises and give your sales team valuable insights to improve their strategy.

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. There’s a plethora of features to help bigger teams collaborate more effectively — like private notes or real-time view of who’s handling a given ticket at the moment, etc. On the other hand, Intercom prides itself on being the only complete customer service solution that provides a seamless experience across automation and human support. By aiming to resolve most customer conversations without human intervention, Intercom allows teams to focus on higher-value interactions.

• However, if you’re interested in understanding customer behavior, product usage, and in need of AI-powered predictive insights, Intercom’s user analytics might be a better fit.
• You can create these knowledge base articles in your target audience’s native language as their software is multilingual.
• They offer an omnichannel chat solution that integrates with multiple messaging platforms and marketing channels and even automates incoming support processes with bots.
• So yeah, all the features talk actually brings us to the most sacred question — the question of pricing.
• The company’s products include a messaging platform, knowledge base tools, and an analytics dashboard.
• It’s characterized by a clear, organized layout with a strong focus on ticket management.

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.

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. They have offices all around the world including countries such as Mexico City, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Singapore, São Paulo, London, and Dublin. Intercom also does not offer a free trial period for users to examine the software prior to joining up for their services.

As the name suggests, it’s a more sales-oriented solution with robust contact and deal management tools as well. With this data, businesses identify friction points where the customer journey breaks down as well as areas where it’s performing smoothly. Intercom’s reporting is less focused on getting a fine-grained understanding of your team’s performance, and more on a nuanced understanding of customer behavior and engagement. Right off the bat, Intercom’s Chatbot is more advanced and customizable. If you prioritize seamless, personalized customer interactions, it’s arguably the better option of the two.

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. Although it can be pricey, Zendesk’s platform is a very robust one, with powerful reporting and insight tools, a large number of integrations, and excellent scalability features. Zendesk is a customer service platform that allows you to communicate with customers via any channel.

It works seamlessly with over 1,000 business tools, like Salesforce, Slack, and Shopify. With its features and pricing, Zendesk is geared toward businesses that full in the range from mid-sized to enterprise-level. Intercom is an all-in-one solution, and compared to Zendesk, Intercom has a less intuitive design and can be complicated for new users to learn. It also offers a confusing pricing structure and fewer integrations, making it less scalable and cost-effective. Customer expectations are already high, but with the rise of AI, customers are expecting even more.