Zendesk vs Intercom in 2023: Detailed Analysis of Features, Pricing, and More

Let’s look at how help desk features are represented in our examinees’ solutions. The Zendesk Marketplace offers over 1,500 no-code apps and integrations. Customer expectations are already high, but with the rise of AI, customers are expecting even more. Customers want speed, anticipation, and a hyper-personalized experience conveniently on their channel of choice. Intelligence has become key to delivering the kinds of experiences customers expect at a lower operational cost.

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. We’d also recommend checking out this blog on suspended ticket management in ZenDesk. As we delve into the features of Zendesk, we can identify the following weaknesses regarding user experience.

Traditional ticketing systems are one of the major customer service bottlenecks companies want to solve with automation. Intelligent automated ticketing helps streamline customer service management and handling inquiries while reducing manual work. If you’re here, it’s safe to assume that you’re looking for a new customer service solution to support Chat GPT your teams and delight your audience. As two of the giants of the industry, it’s only natural that you’d reach a point where you’re comparing Zendesk vs Intercom. If you thought Zendesk prices were confusing, let me introduce you to Intercom prices. At first glance, they seem like simple three packages for small, medium, and big businesses.

But it’s virtually impossible to predict what you’ll pay for Intercom at the end of the day. They charge not only for customer service representative seats but also for feature usage and offer tons of features as custom add-ons at additional cost. 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 The latter offers a chat widget that is simple, outdated, and limited in customization options, while the former puts all of its resources into its messenger. A sales CRM should also provide you with the benefits of pipeline management software.

Zendesk vs Intercom: all the functionalities in a glance

Zendesk also packs some pretty potent tools into their platform, so you can empower your agents to do what they do with less repetition. 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. Intercom live chat is modern, smooth, and has many advanced features that other chat tools lack. It’s also highly customizable, so you can adjust it according to the style of your website or product. The Intercom versus Zendesk conundrum is probably the greatest problem in customer service software.

• It also supports email and other channels – like Whatsapp, SMS, social media channels and more, through integrations.
• Zendesk is among the industry’s best ticketing and customer support software, and most of its additional functionality is icing on the proverbial cake.
• HubSpot helps seamlessly integrate customer service tools that you and your team already leverage.
• Intercom and Zendesk offer integration capabilities to help businesses streamline their workflow and improve customer support.
• You can analyze if that weakness is something that concerns your business model.

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. With a very streamlined design, Intercom’s interface is far better than many alternatives, including Zendesk. It has a very intuitive design that goes far beyond its platform and into its articles, product guides, and even its illustrations. 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.

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It’s highly customizable, so you can adjust it according to your website or product’s style. So when I realized lots of companies actually prefer Zendesk over Intercom, I was surprised. Our mission is to break apart what CRM is and means.Here we discuss anything that helps create more meaningful lasting work relationships. Intercom’s native mobile apps are good for iOS, Android, React Native, and Cordova, while Zendesk only has mobile apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. 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.

It provides a variety of customer service automation features like auto-closing tickets, setting auto-responses, and creating chat triggers to keep tickets moving automatically. The highlight of Zendesk is its help desk ticketing system, which brings several customer communication channels to one location. The software allows agents to switch between tickets seamlessly, leading to better customer satisfaction. Whether an agent wants to transition from live chat to phone or email with a customer, it’s all possible on the same ticketing page. Today, amid the rise of omnichannel customer service, it offers a centralized location to manage interactions via email, live chat, social media, or voice calls.

On the other hand, Zendesk is primarily a customer service platform that now offers a sales module. It is designed for larger enterprises and offers more comprehensive features than Intercom. Both Zendesk and Intercom offer compelling features and capabilities aimed at improving customer service through efficient ticketing systems. 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. On the contrary, Intercom’s pricing is far less predictable and can cost hundreds/thousands of dollars per month.

But this solution wins because it’s an all-in-one tool with a modern live chat widget, allowing you to improve your customer experiences easily. It has a more sophisticated user interface and a wide range of features, such as an in-app messenger, an email marketing tool, and an AI-powered chatbot. At the same time, Zendesk looks slightly outdated and can’t offer some features. While the company is smaller than Zendesk, Intercom has earned a reputation for building high-quality customer service software. The company’s products include a messaging platform, knowledge base tools, and an analytics dashboard.

Intercom’s integration with these tools allows businesses to track customer interactions, personalize messaging, and automate workflows. Intercom and Zendesk offer a range of features to help businesses manage their customer interactions. While Intercom focuses more on customer messaging and personalization, Zendesk focuses more on traditional customer support ticket management.

For example, you can create a smart list that only includes leads that haven’t responded to your message, allowing you to separate prospects for lead nurturing. You can then leverage customizable sequences, email automation, and desktop text messaging to help keep these prospects engaged. Zendesk offers so much more than you can get from free CRMs or less robust options, including sales triggers to automate workflows. For example, you can set a sales trigger to automatically change the owner of a deal based on the specific conditions you select. That way, your sales team won’t have to worry about manually updating these changes as they work through a deal.

Intercom offers an integrated knowledge base functionality to its user base. 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. This makes it an ideal choice for businesses looking to engage customers directly within their product, app or website. It also supports email and other channels – like Whatsapp, SMS, social media channels and more, through integrations.

Chat features are integral to modern business communication, enabling real-time customer interaction and team collaboration. 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. 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.

Both Zendesk and Intercom have integration libraries, and you can also use a connecting tool like Zapier for added integrations and add-ons. 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. 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.

• Additionally, the platform allows users to customize their experience by setting up automation workflows, creating ticket rules, and utilizing analytics.
• On the other hand, Intercom catches up with Zendesk on ticket handling capabilities but stands out due to its automation features.
• So yeah, two essential things that Zendesk lacks in comparison to Intercom are in-app messages and email marketing tools.

It also offers a Proactive Support Plus as an Add-on with push notifications, a series campaign builder, news items, and more. What better way to start a Zendesk vs. Intercom than to compare their features? G2 ranks Intercom higher than Zendesk for ease of setup, and support quality—so you can expect a smooth transition, effortless onboarding, and continuous success. Whether you’re starting fresh with Intercom or migrating from Zendesk, set up is quick and easy. Now that we know the differences between Intercom vs. Zendesk, let’s analyze which one is the better service option. Grow faster with done-for-you automation, tailored optimization strategies, and custom limits.

Users can submit support tickets through the platform, and customer support teams can manage and track those tickets to ensure they are resolved promptly. This feature ensures that users receive the support they need when needed. Intercom and Zendesk are two of the most popular customer support tools available. Both platforms offer a range of features that enable businesses to communicate with their customers seamlessly. In this section, we will briefly overview Intercom and Zendesk, including their history and key features. With a multi-channel ticketing system, Zendesk Support helps you and your team to know exactly who you’re talking to and keep track of tickets throughout all channels without losing context.

The best help desks are also ticketing systems, which lets support reps create a support ticket out of issues that can then be tracked. 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.

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. Conversely, Intercom has a shared inbox tool that routes conversations from every channel, including live chat, email, SMS, and more, into one place. However, it offers a limited channel scope compared to Zendesk, and users will have to get paid add-ons for channels like WhatsApp. On the other hand, Intercom enables agents to convert a conversation into a ticket with one click. This helps support teams to resolve customer issues without losing context.

Intercom does not have a dedicated workforce management solution, either. Pipedrive offers five total plans, with their entry-level Essential plan offering significantly fewer features than the others. For example, bulk email send, email templates, email scheduling, and automation https://chat.openai.com/ features are only available to those who purchase the Advanced plan and above. With Zendesk, even our most basic plans include a robust selection of features, including custom data fields, sales triggers, email tracking, text messaging, and call tracking and recording.

Yes, Zendesk has an Intercom integration that you can find in the Zendesk Marketplace—it’s free to install. So, you can get the best of both worlds without choosing between Intercom or Zendesk. Check out our chart that compares the capabilities of Zendesk vs. Intercom.

In this article, we’ll compare Zendesk vs Intercom to find out which is the right customer support tool for you. After this live chat software comparison, you’ll get a better picture of what’s better for your business. ProProfs Live Chat Editorial Team is a diverse group of professionals passionate about customer support and engagement. We update you on the latest trends, dive into technical topics, and offer insights to elevate your business.

With all accounted for, it seems that Zendesk still has a number of user interface issues. Since Zendesk has many features, it takes a while to learn how to use the options you’ll be needing. After an in-depth analysis such as this, it can be pretty challenging for your business to settle with either option. That’s why it would be better to review where both the options would be ideal to use. Now that we know a little about both tools, it is time to make an in-depth analysis and identify which one of these will be perfect for your business.

When you onboard a customer support platform, it’s important to consider the level of support the vendor offers. That’s because if there’s a glitch or a system outage, you want an immediate fix or clarity on the resolution. Zendesk excels in providing in-depth performance metrics for your support team. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. It offers  comprehensive insights on ticket volume, agent performance, customer satisfaction, first contact resolution rates and more.

By exploring their distinct offerings, we aim to assist businesses in making informed decisions when selecting a customer service platform. To select the ideal fit for your business, it is crucial to compare these industry giants and assess which aligns best with your specific requirements. If your goal is to deliver outstanding customer support to your audience, then Zendesk is a good option. It comes with a unified omnichannel dashboard, custom reports, and an advanced ticketing system.

NovoChat, on the other hand, is great for businesses that primarily engage with their clients through messaging apps. The program is simple to use and includes all of the necessary capabilities for providing good customer service. Zendesk’s Suite Team plan (the cheapest plan) costs $49 per user per month. You get multiple support channels at no extra cost with over 1000 APIs and integrations. They also offer several other features such as pre-defined responses, custom rules, and customizable online forms. The primary function of Intercom’s mobile app is the business messenger suite, including personalized messaging, real-time support tools, push notifications, in-app messaging and emailing.

Many businesses turn to customer relationship management (CRM) software to help improve customer relations and assist in sales. 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.

If you prioritize detailed support performance metrics and the ability to create custom reports, Zendesk’s reporting capabilities are likely to be more appealing. Both Zendesk and Intercom offer a range of channels for businesses to interact with their customers. While Fin AI Copilot – is included in all paid Intercom plans, you only get to use it for only ten conversations per agent each month.

Our AI also accelerates query resolution by intelligently routing tickets and providing contextual information to agents in real-time. Aura AI also excels in simplifying complex tasks by collecting data conversationally and automating intricate processes. When things get tricky, Aura AI smartly escalates the conversation to a human agent, ensuring that no customer is left frustrated.

It also provides detailed reports on how each self-help article performs in your knowledge base and helps you identify how each piece can be improved further. Zendesk is an AI-powered service solution that’s easy to set up, use, and scale. It works out-of-the-box and is easy to modify when changes arise, helping zendesk vs. intercom businesses move faster. In leveraging cutting-edge AI, Zendesk empowers service teams to resolve customer issues more quickly and accurately. It also provides mid-sized businesses with comprehensive customer relationship management software, as they require more advanced features to handle customer support.

However, Intercom may be the better choice if a business is more sales-oriented. Ultimately, the decision between these two tools will depend on company size, budget, and specific business needs. In 2023, businesses will have an abundance of options when it comes to choosing a customer support and relationship management tool.

Depending on your needs, you can set up Intercom on your website or mobile app and add your automations. Setting up Intercom help centers is also very easy and intuitive, with no previous knowledge required. 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. 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.

Zendesk is suitable for startups, mainly due to its transparent pricing. 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.

It is also ideal for businesses who are searching for conversational chatbot functionality. Their AI-powered chatbot can enable your business to boost engagement and improve marketing efforts in real-time. Discover the ideal customer service platform for your business in our comprehensive blog comparing Zendesk and Gorgias. Intercom, on the other hand, excels in providing a seamless customer service experience by merging automation with human support. Its proactive support features, unified inbox, and customizable bots are highly beneficial for businesses looking to engage customers dynamically and manage conversations effortlessly. 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.