Having the best customer service software is crucial in providing a great customer experience as customers nowadays anticipate an immersive and personalized interaction with brands.
With the help of a proper guide, it can be easy to identify the appropriate tools for your business and evaluate providers. We simplify the fundamentals of customer support software and outline the leading customer service software options, enabling you to choose the most suitable one for your needs.
The 24 best customer support tools to enhance the customer experience
1. Zendesk
Zendesk provides customer service software that enables businesses to create effortless customer experiences. Conversations move smoothly across different channels, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency. The Agent Workspace allows agents to easily connect and access a comprehensive view of the customer. This adaptable platform enables agents to quickly deliver personalized responses on any channel through a unified interface.
Features:
- Unified omnichannel experience
- Sophisticated automation and workflows (SLAs and OLAs)
- Help center with intelligent self-service content gap identification
- Custom metrics, reports, and dashboards
- 1,000+ integrations
- Intelligent routing, skills based routing, and omnichannel routing
- No-code chatbot
- Flexible platform
- Trust and security
- AI-powered agent workspace
2. Intercom
Features:
- Live chat for support
- Team inboxes
- Tickets
- Service-level agreement (SLA) rules
- Workload management
- Role-based permissions
- Outcome reporting
- Help articles
- Chatbots
3. Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce’s customer service software offers agents an optimized view for efficient customer support. It combines customer data, previous interactions, purchase history, and ticket information in a single location, enabling agents to access pertinent details and deliver prompt assistance.
Salesforce Service Cloud enables agents to streamline and personalize workflows in order to enhance efficiency. By leveraging omnichannel routing, tickets are automatically directed from various channels (such as messaging, chat, email, and phone) to the most capable support agent for prompt resolution. Moreover, management can effectively track team performance across channels through reporting and analytics features, including pre-built dashboards.
Features:
- Case management
- Knowledge management
- Telephony and voice
- Automation
- Reporting and analytics
- Remote assistance
4. Front
Front is a customer service solution that prioritizes human connection. Its objective is to establish strong, personal relationships instead of viewing customers as mere tickets. Front’s platform includes features that enhance efficiency and productivity, enabling teams to provide an exceptional customer experience on a large scale.
Front features a shared inbox that consolidates customer inquiries from various channels and directs them to the most suitable agent. Every interaction is recorded, ensuring that agents who interact with the account can access customer history for future support. Additionally, Front offers built-in collaboration tools to facilitate team problem-solving.
Features:
- Shared inbox
- Team collaboration
- Customer data
- Omnichannel
- Reporting and analytics
- Automated workflows
- Live chat
- Integrations
5. Tidio
Tidio is a customer service platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses that enables them to deliver outstanding customer service, leading to increased sales. The software includes numerous tools such as live chat for improving proactive communication, automated chat with pre-written responses, and customizable greetings to welcome both new and returning website visitors.
With Tidio’s smart ticketing system, your teams can stay organized and handle customer requests efficiently in a single location. Tidio has the ability to convert emails into tickets, which are then directed to a separate tab, allowing agents to conveniently monitor their statuses. Additionally, tickets can be personalized, enabling agents to include notes and generate custom tags, facilitating seamless collaboration.
Features:
- Live chat
- Canned responses
- Multilanguage
- Visual chat builder
- Post-communication surveys
- AI response bots
- Smart routing to agents
- Omnichannel support
6. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 provides businesses of all sizes with free online customer support software. With this platform, your teams can provide omnichannel support and effectively handle customer requests from one central location. Moreover, you have the ability to arrange requests by channel and customize the software by creating canned responses and setting wait time rules.
Your CRM records every customer interaction from all channels, collecting customer data and generating a new lead for customers without existing profiles. Bitrix24 also provides comprehensive activity reporting features, including both pre-built and customizable options.
Features:
- Time tracking
- Custom reports
- Dashboards
- Knowledge management
- Configurable access permissions
7. HappyFox
HappyFox provides a customer service solution suitable for varying types of companies, including both SMBs and large enterprises. This software aids in team organization and includes a comprehensive view of customers for supporting multiple communication channels. By offering automations and customizable workflows, HappyFox assists in minimizing repetitive tasks and simplifying agents’ daily workload.
HappyFox provides self-service options that allow both internal and external customers to access help center articles, FAQs, and community forums within the customer portal. These resources enable customers to find answers to their questions without having to generate a support ticket.
Features:
- Ticketing system
- Unlimited custom reports
- Automatic ticket scheduling
- Customizable end-user interface
- Omnichannel agent workspace
- Reporting and analytics
8. NICE inContact CXone
By consolidating customer context and contact center controls into one interface, NICE inContact CXone enables more efficient agents and enhances customer experiences. NICE inContact also offers a wide range of features to support more advanced service operations.
NICE offers workforce and quality management tools that are valuable in enhancing the performance of your service managers’ teams in addition to voice solutions, ticketing routing, and other standard customer service capabilities.
Features:
- Ticket routing
- Workforce management
- Customer surveys
- Live chat software
- Native integrations
- Knowledge base
- API
- Tracking and reporting
- Self-service portal
- Automation
9. Zoho Desk
The customer support software provided by Zoho Desk makes it simple for your representatives to deliver excellent customer service. The platform includes tools and options for automation, which enhance the efficiency and productivity of your agents’ workflows. This software from Zoho Desk offers omnichannel support, allowing agents to handle customer issues from a single location.
Other features of Zoho Desk include self-service resources, SLAs, sentiment analysis, AI, an advanced response editor, and built-in analytics. This platform enables you to monitor crucial customer data in order to provide personalized support.
Features:
- Self-service resources
- Omnichannel agent workspace
- Reporting and analytics
- Mobile optimization
- Ticket collaboration
- Ticketing system
- Routing
10. Boss Solutions Suite
Boss Solutions Suite offers businesses a comprehensive ITIL-based help desk software and IT asset management solution that can be accessed either on-premise or on the cloud. This software primarily caters to larger companies and serves various industries.
Boss Solutions offers asset, incident, and change management capabilities, in addition to ticket routing, knowledge management, and self-service. These capabilities allow businesses to maintain organization and provide service to both internal and external customers.
Features:
- Ticket routing
- Native integrations
- Knowledge base
- API
- Tracking and reporting
- Self-service portal Automation
11. Jira Service Management
Developed by Atlassian, Jira Service Management provides IT teams with a service desk that is ready to use and incorporates ITIL-certified processes. Jira positions itself as the remedy for the barriers that exist between developers, operations, and IT.
If businesses do not prioritize IT customer service, they can still utilize Jira; however, they might discover that the range of features exceeds their requirements. Jira provides a seven-day trial period and a free plan, allowing users to acquaint themselves with the software.
Features:
- Ticket routing
- Live chat software
- Native integrations
- Knowledge base
- API
- Tracking and reporting
- Self-service portal
- Automation
12. LiveAgent
If your service team engages in extensive communication with customers through live chat, LiveAgent is a tool worth considering. LiveAgent enhances the provision of live chat service by offering features such as a real-time typing view, monitoring of customer service websites to encourage chat engagement, and proactive chat invitations that depend on active agents and their availability.
LiveAgent is a reliable option for WordPress users with smaller service teams, as it offers a wide range of native integrations that can be easily incorporated into their current workflows.
Features:
- Ticket routing
- Live chat software
- Native integrations
- Knowledge base
- API
- Tracking and reporting
- Self-service portal
- Community forums
- Automation
13. Freshdesk
Freshdesk offers an intuitive interface and an affordable price, enabling customer service teams to enhance collaboration and automation. The higher-priced plans of Freshdesk encompass all the anticipated features found in customer support management software, such as team dashboards, social signals, ticket routing, and chatbots.
Freshworks Academy also offers the benefit of alleviating some of the responsibilities of training your agents on the new system. Freshdesk provides various support desk or omnichannel service plans.
Features:
- Ticket routing
- Live chat software
- Native integrations
- Knowledge base
- API
- Tracking and reporting
- Self-service portal
- Community forums
14. Genesys
Genesys, a cloud-based platform, generates customized and forward-thinking customer experiences. Backed by AI technology, Genesys offers scalable customer service systems across three product tiers. Even at its most affordable level, Genesys includes essential features such as unified phone, email, chat, and text for effective customer support.
Genesys provides a range of CS tools, including Genesys Cloud CX 3, which offers a more extensive system featuring voice transcription minutes and workforce engagement management. For bigger enterprise-level companies, there is an option to request information regarding a customized annual commitment.
Features:
- Speech-enabled IVR
- AI-powered voicebots
- Chatbots
- Tracking and reporting
- Outbound scripting
- Detailed records search
- Knowledge base
- API
- Interaction analytics
15. Help Scout
Teams that are growing usually have limited budgets and time to allocate towards implementing and familiarizing themselves with a new tool. Therefore, they require a tool that is advanced enough to address all their needs, yet easy to set up and learn quickly, and adaptable enough to accommodate their future growth. Help Scout fulfills all these criteria.
- Manage email and live chat from one centralized tool.
- Build a customizable help center with Docs to empower customers to get the answers they need on their own while reducing the number of support requests your team has to answer
- Saved replies let support reps create a database of canned responses so they can quickly reply to frequently asked questions, saving your team time and getting customers answers faster.
- Agent-focused features like collision detection reduce hassles for your team by showing if someone’s already working on a ticket.
- With customer profiles, you’re able to see past interactions and customer data from connected apps to help provide more personalized support.
16. HelpDocs
In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on self-service options due to their cost-effectiveness. Many users, totaling up to 67%, prefer self-service tools for support.
By enabling customers to find answers on their own, knowledge bases result in faster resolution times for customers and reduce the number of tickets for your team.
Those who are interested in investing in standalone knowledge base software should consider HelpDocs. With its competitive pricing, comprehensive features, and user-friendly interface, HelpDocs makes it incredibly easy to set up your initial knowledge base.
17. Olark
Live chat is an excellent choice if your team requires real-time communication with customers. It offers the same level of immediacy as phone support but with a more affordable price, which is perfect for small businesses.
Olark can fulfill the requirements of nearly any team due to its features such as team management, robust analytics, smart automations, and many others.
Olark offers transparent pricing options, without any binding contracts for the majority of its plans. Additionally, it allows customization by selectively adding specific features as needed. This feature enables smaller teams to opt for the desired features while avoiding unnecessary ones, making Olark an ideal choice for them.
18. Aircall
Despite the perception that phone support is mainly utilized by larger teams, it remains a crucial component of support for small businesses, particularly those offering intricate products and services. Studies indicate that customers have a preference for resolving complicated problems through direct interaction or by speaking to a representative on the phone.
Aircall provides various plans suitable for teams of any size, all of which encompass essential phone support features such as IVR, customizable business hours, and call queuing. By including these fundamental features in all plans, Aircall enables teams to swiftly establish phone support services.
19. Text-Em-All
When it comes to sending out mass communication over the phone, it can be time-consuming and expensive, but it is sometimes an essential task. To address both these challenges, employing a dedicated tool is beneficial. Text-Em-All is recognized as one of the top choices for automated phone communication in the industry.
The platform provides the option to automate phone calls or handle mass text messaging. This form of communication is ideal for sending service announcements or payment reminders to customers, contacting employees for shift coverage, or collecting feedback via surveys.
Text-Em-All provides transparent pricing which includes a convenient cost calculator on their website. Additionally, they offer a user-friendly platform and excellent support to ensure that all your needs and concerns are taken care of.
20. Helpshift
Helpshift is a renowned company that specializes in offering support within mobile applications, placing particular emphasis on providing in-app support. It enables users to obtain assistance at their convenience through chat and self-service channels. Agents can effectively handle incoming customer messages through a consolidated agent desktop, which grants access to customer data and interaction history, facilitating contextual support.
Helpshift is a great option for those in need of in-app support for their mobile properties due to its flexible, use-based pricing that ensures payment only for necessary features. A free plan is available for teams seeking feedback from users, and Helpshift additionally offers easy setup and strong team support.
21. HubSpot Service Hub
You are probably aware of HubSpot for its CRM or marketing resources. Its customer service offering, Service Hub, includes the typical advantages of a shared inbox, team email, live chat, email templates, canned snippets, and reporting dashboards.
Service Hub is especially beneficial for teams who are already utilizing HubSpot products, specifically its CRM. The integration of these products is flawless, and the availability of contextual data assists agents in customizing their support endeavors more effortlessly.
22. ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a platform for managing service tickets that assists you in handling internal requests.
To enhance productivity, ServiceNow provides advanced features such as ticket routing with AI assistance. Employees can obtain prompt answers through self-service options and virtual assistants, while performance tracking and identification of areas for improvement can be achieved through reports.
23. Zoho Desk
Zoho is primarily recognized for its CRM, but it has also ventured into help desk software. Zoho Desk comprises various features such as shared inbox, phone integration, and chat. Nevertheless, a few of these features, such as chat, are restricted to the most expensive plan.
Zoho Desk offers a wide range of integrations to connect with your other technology. Additionally, larger teams can benefit from team management features such as time tracking. AI options for self-service are also provided, but only for the highest-cost plan.
24. Buffer
If a majority of your support requests are received through social media channels, then you may find a standalone social media management tool like Buffer to be a suitable option. This platform enables you to interact with customers across numerous social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Help desks often have the capability to handle customer requests related to social media, but Buffer, as a tool, goes a step further by allowing you to schedule and publish content on social platforms and oversee your company’s content calendar. In addition to the mentioned features, Buffer also offers reporting functionalities that aid in monitoring performance and engagement with posts.
Buffer’s free plan is ideal for beginners in social media, as it provides one user seat and the ability to manage three social channels. For more advanced teams in their social media strategy, Buffer has paid plans that bill per channel, with higher-tier plans providing unlimited user seats.
What are the different types of customer service software?
The process of developing a customer service program is comparable to constructing a chair. In theory, you could use only two or three tools to build either of them, but the overall effectiveness and productivity of your endeavors would be significantly affected.
No matter if you’re constructing a chair or forming a support team, there is a range of tools available that vary from general to specific. The tools that you choose to invest in will indicate the point you are at in your expertise and the resources accessible to you.
To choose the appropriate tools for your needs, carefully consider the nine categories of customer support software provided below.
1. Help desk software
Help desk software is generally an early investment for teams. It aids in centralizing all customer interactions related to services. In addition, it can manage support requests from various channels such as email, live chat, social media, and phone, depending on the specific tool being used.
Help desk software enables you to effectively handle and enhance customer conversations, leading to improved customer experience and agent experience.
Customer service software FAQs
To make a significant decision, you need to carefully select the appropriate customer service software for your business. The following additional information will assist you in determining the most suitable solution for your needs.
What are the benefits of using customer service software?
It is possible to provide excellent customer support without utilizing specialized software, and numerous online businesses initially rely solely on a complimentary email account. However, as these companies expand, they often encounter certain constraints and inefficiencies.
There are several ways in which you can utilize a specialized customer service system to create a better customer experience that enhances customer loyalty.
By providing dedicated support software features such as automated workflows, tagging, knowledge base integration, saved replies, and more, your team will be able to offer more responsive and consistent support. This will allow them to spend less time dealing with their tools and more time assisting customers.
In a systematic manner, gather customer insights by identifying, collecting, and organizing all the useful feedback, feature requests, bug reports, and use cases to enhance customer satisfaction.
By working together more efficiently, customer service software allows you to minimize repetitive tasks, monitor customer inquiries, collaborate on a response across multiple teams, and provide current answers.
Use the internal reporting tools of customer support software to examine and provide information on alterations in support volume, team efficiency, customer type and size, and numerous other factors.
As you expand, ensure that your service remains at a high standard by utilizing tools that can effectively manage numerous teams of agents and cater to a large customer base. These tools should possess organizational functionalities, automations, and the ability to integrate with third-party systems.
Using specialized customer service software is the appropriate choice when there are more than a few individuals working collectively to assist customers.
