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

Honestly, when it comes to Zendesk, it is not the most modern tool out there. 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 that’s not detailed enough, then surely their visitor browsing details will leave you surprised. This enables your operators to understand visitor intent faster and provide them with a personalized experience.

• Intercom, on the other hand, is ideal for those focusing on CRM capabilities and personalized customer interactions.
• But that doesn’t mean you have to completely switch from your current provider if you’re not quite ready.
• The cheapest plan for small businesses – Starter – costs $89 monthly, including 2 seats and 1,000 people reached/mo.
• The app includes features like automated messages and conversation routing — so businesses can manage customer conversations more efficiently.

Track customer service metrics to gain valuable insights and improve customer service processes and agent performance. Sales teams can also view outbound communications, and any support agent can access resources from the Intercom workspace. Prioritize the agent experience to maximize productivity and customer satisfaction while reducing employee turnover.

Real-time analytics on Zendesk

Customization is more nuanced than Zendesk’s, but it’s still really straightforward to implement. You can opt for code via JavaScript or Rails or even integrate directly with the likes of Google Tag Manager, WordPress, or Shopify. intercom versus zendesk Overall, I actually liked Zendesk’s user experience better than Intercom’s in terms of its messaging dashboard. Intercom has a dark mode that I think many people will appreciate, and I wouldn’t say it’s lacking in any way.

While Zendesk’s emphasis is entirely on customer support, Intercom’s features extend into marketing and sales. Zendesk started as a customer support request SaaS, a legacy that continues today with its robust ticketing and customer messaging solutions. In contrast, Intercom aims to provide an all-in-one business communication platform to support, engage, and convert customers with sales and marketing functions. An example of the platforms’ different focus is that Intercom includes an email marketing feature, whereas Zendesk doesn’t. The comparison of whether Intercom is better than Zendesk depends on your specific customer support and engagement needs and objectives. If you seek to enhance customer engagement through chat-based support, in-app messaging, and proactive outreach, Intercom may be the superior option.

For example, you can easily change the default language, change the appearance of the chat widget, or make it available only for some customers. When you use Intercom to acquire customers, you’ll get a few helpful tools. The customer support platform starts at just $5 per agent per month, which is a very basic customer support tool. If you want dashboard reporting and integrations, you’ll need to pay $19 per agent per month. Multilingual content and other advanced features come with a $49 price per agent per month. Zendesk is another popular customer service, support, and sales platform that enables clients to connect and engage with their customers in seconds.

When it comes to software integrations, Zendesk has Intercom beat by a significant margin. Zendesk has been around much longer and has a larger customer base, offering compatibility with over 1,000 apps in 15 categories. Intercom is better for smaller companies that are looking for a simple and capable customer service platform. Instead, using it and setting it up is very easy, and very advanced chatbots and predictive tools are included to boost your customer service. Zendesk is a great option for large companies or companies that are looking for a very strong sales and customer service platform. 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.

Although you cannot be with your customers all the time in real-time, through Desku’s live chatting, you can actually have their back. Customer support and security are vital aspects to consider when evaluating helpdesk solutions like Zendesk and Intercom. Let’s examine and compare how each platform addresses these crucial areas to ensure effective support operations and data protection. Seamlessly integrate Intercom with popular third-party tools and platforms, centralizing customer data and improving workflow efficiency. Just like Intercom, Zendesk’s customer service is quite disappointing.

The bot feeds customers and employees the relevant articles upon making a query. This makes things faster for support teams to access information without bothering other users. Also, a customer experience form can be found at the end of each article. The answers are analyzed to help streamline the AI and can also be collated into a report for your perusal. 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.

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. 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.

Overview of all products

It uses artificial intelligence (AI) to assist customers through self-help options or access to the relevant articles before connecting them to your team. And this, undoubtedly, leaves your customer support agents free to solve urgent matters. Both solutions provide a campaign tool, live chat, and a knowledge base. We will compare those customer service solutions in terms of functionality and price. Intercom’s focus on instant interactions and personalized engagement is particularly valuable for businesses prioritizing chat-first customer support and real-time communication.

Many use cases call for different approaches, and Zendesk and Intercom are but two software solutions for each case. One more thing to add, there are ways to integrate Intercom to Zendesk. Visit either of their app marketplaces and look up the Intercom Zendesk integration. Like with many other apps, Zapier seems to be the best and most simple way to connect Intercom to Zendesk.

You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. And, thanks to the internet, a few taps will lead them right to your competitor!. Most businesses use live chats as their main customer communication channel. It is handy for both sides since users can get in touch with customer support teams via a chat widget placed right on the website. While there can be add-ons, such as premium customer support, you can generally anticipate what you’ll be paying for your Zendesk subscription.

With its live analytics feature on the dashboard, it makes it easy for you to make instant decisions in no time. Such live insights are very useful in evaluating your customer support process. But, you would not be able to enjoy such a live tracking experience on Intercom. On the other hand, if you prioritize customer engagement, sales, and personalized messaging, Intercom is a compelling option, especially for startups and rapidly scaling businesses.

• After this live chat software comparison, you’ll get a better picture of what’s better for your business.
• Intercom is the new guy on the block when it comes to help desk ticketing systems.
• Is it as simple as knowing whether you want software strictly for customer support (like Zendesk) or for some blend of customer relationship management and sales support (like Intercom)?
• See how leading multi-channel consumer brands solve E2E customer data challenges with a real-time customer data platform.
• Overall, I actually liked Zendesk’s user experience better than Intercom’s in terms of its messaging dashboard.

Understanding the unique attributes of Zendesk and Intercom is crucial in this comparison. Zendesk is renowned for its comprehensive range of functionalities, including advanced email ticketing, live chat, phone support, and a vast knowledge base. Its ability to seamlessly integrate with various applications further amplifies its versatility. The sophisticated nature of its chatbot makes it more than a task automation tool — it takes customer interactions to the next level.

What companies use Zendesk?

This is an AI assistant that will help anyone navigate Guide by providing results as you type your query. The bot also ensures that the customer or employee will find the right article before contacting an agent. While Zendesk is a widely used and versatile customer support and engagement platform, it’s important to consider whether there might be a better software solution tailored to your specific needs. Choosing the right customer service platform is pivotal for enhancing business-client interactions. In this context, Zendesk and Intercom emerge as key contenders, each offering distinct features tailored to dynamic customer service environments.

On the other hand, Intercom is more focused on conversational customer support, and has more help desk features suited for live chat and messaging. Just like Zendesk, Intercom also offers its Operator bot, which will automatically suggest relevant articles to customers right in a chat widget. The latter intercom zendesk integration offers a chat widget that is simple, outdated, and limited in customization options, while the former puts all of its resources into its messenger. So you see, it’s okay to feel dizzy when comparing Zendesk vs Intercom for customer support. Without proper channels to reach you, usually, customers will take their business elsewhere.

Apart from this feature, the customer support options at Zendesk are quite limited. First, you can only talk to the support team if you are a registered user. They also have an integrated capability where you see everything related to the one customer in one spot – all their interactions with you, and can move the customer through your custom stages. If you do go with ActiveCampaign, I HIGHLY recommend that you take their paid training. It will really help you get up faster and understand the product deeper, and not waste time.

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. 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. Zendesk is ideal for companies interested in a well-integrated support system. 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.

This enables them to speed up the support process and build experiences that customers like. Zendesk is a customer service software company that provides businesses with a suite of tools to manage customer interactions. The company was founded in 2007 and today serves over 170,000 customers worldwide. Zendesk’s mission is to build software designed to improve customer relationships. AI and ML make customer service functionalities like chatbots, sentiment analysis, ticket creation, and workflow automation possible.

Is Zendesk better than Intercom? Our final points

All these features are necessary for operational efficiency and help agents deliver fast, personalized customer experiences. Furthermore, there are over 100 languages available within the platform, so language barriers will never be a problem with this customer messaging software. This is because they offer many paid add-ons that allow you to customize their platform to meet the needs of your business. However, Intercom offers more customization when it comes to appearance and layout, while Zendesk limits chat widget functionality for those not using their default theme.

Sign up for Appy Pie Connect today and start exploring the possibilities of app integration. Whether you’re a small business owner or part of a large enterprise, integrating Zendesk with Intercom can bring a host of benefits. Find out how easy it is to connect tools with Unito at our next demo webinar.

But with perks like more advanced chatbots, automation, and lead management capabilities, Intercom could have an edge for many users. As you can imagine, banking from anywhere requires a flexible, robust customer service experience. Test any of HelpCrunch pricing plans for free for 14 days and see our tools in action right away.

In general, Zendesk offers a wide range of live chat features such as customizable chat widgets, automatic greetings, offline messaging, and chat triggers. In addition to these features, Intercom offers messaging automation and real-time visitor insights. Because Intercom started as a live chat service, its messenger functionality is very robust.

One of Zendesk’s standout features that we need to shine a spotlight on is its extensive marketplace of third-party integrations and extensions. Imagine having the power to connect your helpdesk solution with a wide range of tools and applications that your team already uses. Whether it’s syncing data with your CRM, enhancing communication via messaging platforms, or automating tasks with productivity apps, Zendesk makes it possible. Zendesk would be a perfect option for businesses that are searching for a well-integrated support system. It offers a suite that compiles help desk, live chat, and knowledge base to their user base.

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. Research by Zoho reports that customer relationship management (CRM) systems can help companies triple lead conversion rates. Those same tools also increase customer retention by 27% while saving 23% on sales and marketing costs. Intercom also has an omnichannel customer service solution, but it’s fairly limited, with no native voice capabilities and minimal voice integrations. So yeah, two essential things that Zendesk lacks in comparison to Intercom are in-app messages and email marketing tools. Intercom on the other hand lacks many ticketing functionality that can be essential for big companies with a huge customer support load.

Both offer powerful solutions for businesses looking to enhance their customer service capabilities. In this article, we will compare Intercom and Zendesk, highlighting their features, benefits, and drawbacks. Intercom is the go-to solution for businesses seeking to elevate customer support and sales processes. With its user-friendly interface and advanced functionalities, Intercom offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to effectively communicate and engage with customers. Zendesk directly competes with Intercom when it comes to integrations. This live chat service provider offers 200+ integrations to its user base.

The only requirement is that the service you’re integrating has a widget. Note that any code you add here will apply the widget site-wide (see below if you only want the widget to appear on certain pages). The Tray Platform enables better cross-team collaboration, easier sharing of data in real time, and transparency across the client lifecycle. For Zendesk, it’s as easy as setting a trigger, and adding a web hook. We’ll use the Zendesk API to make changes to the existing ticket (all changes made are internal and won’t directly be seen by the customer). Give your analysts, data scientists, and other team members the freedom to use the analytics tools of their choice.

The end-to-end digital marketing campaigns and ability to grow SMBs in challenging markets make it an all-in-one suite of tools for startups and large enterprises. At $29/agent/month, you get premium chat features, unlimited chat buttons, and social networks. Built on its leading and free CRM, HubSpot Service Hub has a suite of inbound tools from sales to marketing.