10 Best Customer Support Tools

In a contemporary competitive business environment, customers who are satisfied are the key to success. Customers also desire fast and responsive answers when they are facing problems or have questions. Customer support tools come into the picture. With such special software programs, businesses can easily chat with their customers and resolve their problems in a flash.

Customer care software has altered the way businesses assist their clients. Rather than long phone calls and long-winded emails that drag on, these new technologies allow companies to respond to queries immediately in a chat, to categorize customer issues more effectively, and even use intelligent computer applications to assist automatically.

You have a small online store or run a large business the right customer support tools can make your customers even happier. Satisfied clients purchase more, refer their friends to your business, and remain with you throughout. We are going to know all about the support tools in easy language that anybody can follow in this article.

What Are Customer Support Tools?

Customer support tools refer to the computer programs that assist businesses in communicating with their customers and resolving their issues. Imagine them as an assistant who does not sleep and can communicate with a great number of customers simultaneously.

These are tools that are deemed a bridge between your business and your customers. These tools enable a customer to contact you when he/she has a question about your product or when he/she want you to help him/her with something. The tools then assist you to sort, monitor, and respond to all these customer messages in a single store.

Why Look for Customer Support Tools?

• Faster Response Times: Customer support tools enable you to respond to customer queries in a significantly lesser amount of time than conventional means.
• Better Organization: The tools store all conversations with the customers in a single place, thereby ensuring that nothing is lost or forgotten.
• Cost Savings: Proper tools can help to minimize the number of large support teams since every individual becomes more productive.
• 24/7 Availability: Most customer support applications can operate 24 hours and even during the sleep time of your staff.
• Happier Customer: Customers feel pleased with your service when you respond quickly and helpfully.

Key Features to Look for in Customer Support Tools

• Multi-Channel Communication: The tool must enable the customers to inquire with you via email, chat, phone, and social media platforms in a single location.
• Ticket Management System: It is supposed to group customer issues into tickets, which are easy to track and handle.
• Automated Responses: Intelligent features that can respond to general questions automatically to save time.
• Reporting and Analytics: There is a tool that will tell you how your support team is performing and where you can do things better.
• Easy Integration: The software must be compatible with other programs that you have implemented in your business.

Top 10 Customer Support Tools

1. Zendesk

Zendesk is among the most popular customer care tools in the world. It began in Denmark, and it is currently helping millions of businesses to communicate with their customers more effectively. It is a helpdesk tool that resembles a smart inbox and differentiates all the messages about customers in various locations to a single, simple dashboard. Zendesk is used by companies of any size because it is powerful and yet is not so complex to learn. The software assists the teams in working more quickly as it automatically sorts the customer requests and offers fast responses to frequently asked questions.

Key Features:

• Ticket management system
• Multi-channel support facilities.
• Built-in knowledge base

Pros:

• Very easy setup
• Excellent mobile apps
• Strong reporting tools

Cons:

• Can be expensive
• Poor customization.
• Complex pricing structure

Best For: Medium-sized businesses

Pricing: Starts at $19 per agent per month

Website: https://zendesk.com 

2. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a customer support solution designed by the Freshworks company. This best customer support software is perfect for businesses that want something powerful but easy to use. Freshdesk cleans up the customer mail, chats, and telephone calls into easy to manage one at a time tickets that your staff can work on. The software is cleanly designed, and hence, the new entrants in the team can pick it easily. A good thing about Freshdesk is that it comes with a free plan available to small teams, which is not common in professional support tools. 

Key Features:

• Smart ticket assignment
• Social media integration
• Time tracking features

Pros:

• Free plan available
• Easy-to-operate interface design.
• Good automation features

Cons:

• More sophisticated features are an added expense.
• Limited reporting options
• Phone support restrictions

Best For: Startups

Pricing: Free plan available, paid plans start at $15 per agent per month

Website: https://freshdesk.com 

3. Intercom

Intercom is a new customer service application, which aims at personalization and friendliness of conversations with customers. This live chat support software is famous for its beautiful chat widgets that appear on websites and mobile apps. Intercom is of the view that customer support must be like a chat with a friendly human being, not a robot. The software integrates live chat, email, and in-app messaging into a single seamless experience. The special feature is that Intercom displays the details of each customer as you talk to them and, therefore, provides more useful and personal replies.

Key Features:

• Beautiful chat widgets
• Customer data integration
• Robotic route of conversation.

Pros:

• Modern, attractive design
• Superior mobile experience.
• Intelligent automation services.

Cons:

• Expensive for features
• Can be overwhelming
• Limited phone support

Best For: Tech companies

Pricing: Starts at $39 per month for basic features

Website: https://intercom.com 

4. Help Scout

Help Scout is a customer support software that attempts to make customer support more personal and less like that of a giant organization. This customer support desk software will collect customer emails into common inboxes accessible to your entire team and manage emails collectively. Help Scout thinks that customer support must be personal, and therefore, it aims to make every communication feel individual and loving. The software has a simple format that does not present the user with too many buttons and features.

Key Features:

• Shared team mailboxes
• Collision detection system
• Built-in knowledge base

Pros:

• Very intuitive design
• Great team collaboration
• Great customer satisfaction

Cons:

• No phone support
• Minimal automation functions.
• Basic reporting tools

Best For: Small teams

Pricing: Starts at $20 per user per month

Website: https://helpscout.com 

5. Salesforce Service Cloud

Service Cloud Salesforce is a strong customer support tool manufactured by the renowned Salesforce firm. This software is a Swiss Army knife in customer service, as it has nearly all the features you might desire. Service Cloud belongs to the bigger Salesforce ecosystem, which implies that it is compatible with sales and marketing tools of the same company. The software is based on artificial intelligence that assists in forecasting the needs of customers and proposing the most effective solutions to assist agents.

Key Features:

• AI-powered case routing
• Newer analytics dashboard.
• Abilities of the omnichannel service.

Pros:

• Very powerful features.
• Superior scalability solutions.
• Strong AI integration

Cons:

• Very expensive pricing
• Complex setup process
• Very intensive training is required.

Best For: Enterprise

Pricing: Starts at $25 per user per month

Website: https://salesforce.com/products/service-cloud/ 

6. LiveChat

LiveChat is a customer care application that focuses on assisting companies to chat with visitors to their websites. This type of live chat support program is in the form of a small chat box on the websites, where customers are able to pose questions and get them answered instantly. LiveChat is ideal in online stores and service websites since they will be able to attract customers at the point when they intend to make a purchase or require assistance. The software displays to your team who is accessing your site, what they are reading on your site, and the length of time they have been on your site.

Key Features:

• Live monitoring of the website.
• Mobile chat applications
• Chat transcript archives

Pros:

• Easy website integration
• Great mobile support
• Boosts sales conversions

Cons:

• Limited to chat
• No phone integration
• Basic ticket management

Best For: E-commerce

Pricing: Starts at $16 per agent per month

Website: https://livechat.com 

7. Kayako

Kayako is a customer service software that consolidates all customer interactions across the various channels into a single platform. This software is of the opinion that customers ought to be in a position to alternate between email, chat, and social media without the need to recount their problems every time. Kayako also examines a detailed history of all communications with each customer, and, therefore, the support agents have an insight into the entire context and then proceed to help. The software possesses a distinctive strategy known as the unified customer service, where all the conversations form a single continuous relationship with the customer.

Key Features:

• Unified customer timeline
• Multi-channel chat tracking.
• Team collaboration tools

Pros:

• Superb continuity in conversation.
• Strong team features
• Good customization options

Cons:

• Can be complex
• Higher learning curve
• Limited integrations

Best For: Support teams

Pricing: Starts at $15 per agent per month

Website: https://kayako.com 

8. Groove

Groove is a customer support tool that is straightforward and should be used by a small business that does not need a complex tool. This support desk utility dwells on shared email inboxes where your entire team can view and respond to the emails of your customers collectively. Groove is of the view that customer support software must be user-friendly, such that learning how to use it takes one a few minutes rather than hours. The software is clean with a minimal design that does not confuse the user with options.

Key Features:

• Shared email inbox
• Simple automation rules
• Customer satisfaction tests.

Pros:

• Very easy learning
• Clean, simple design
• Good value pricing

Cons:

• Limited advanced features
• No phone support
• Simple reporting functions.

Best For: Simplicity

Pricing: Starts at $16 per user per month

Website: https://groovehq.com 

9. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a customer support application developed by Zoho, a software development company that develops a wide variety of business software. This best customer support software is part of a larger family of business tools that all work together smoothly. Zoho Desk assists in arranging the customer requests into tickets and offering possibilities to solve them effectively. The software has AI customer support tools built in that can automatically categorize tickets and even suggest solutions to common problems.

Key Features:

• Machine-learning-based ticket classification.
• The ability of multi-product integration.
• Context-sensitive help proposals.

Pros:

• Great Zoho integration
• AI customer support
• Low-cost pricing model.

Cons:

• Can be overwhelming
• Little third-party integrations.
• Steep learning curve

Best For: Zoho users

Pricing: Starts at $14 per agent per month

Website: https://zoho.com/desk/ 

10. Front

Front is a customer support tool that reinforces email as a team game rather than an individual activity. The software will transfer your ordinary email to an interactive boardroom in which your entire staff can view, deliberate, and reply to customer messages collectively. Front thinks that customer service is optimized when the members of the team are able to assist one another in solving challenging issues with minimal difficulties. The software displays all the talks with the customers in a common inbox, yet allows the team members to have some discussion on how to deal with certain situations privately.

Key Features:

• Shared team inboxes
• Internal team discussions
• Advanced email automation

Pros:

• Exceptional group work.
• Strong automation choices.
• Large third-party integrations.

Cons:

• Expensive for features
• Complex setup requirements
• Poor mobile features.

Best For: Collaboration

Pricing: Starts at $19 per user per month

Website: https://front.com 

How to Choose the Right Customer Support Tools

• Consider Your Team Size: Small teams should have easy-to-use tools, and big companies require more features and scale.
• Think About Your Budget: Customer support software is between free and costly, and thus select one that suits your budget.
• Check Integration Options: Ensuring that the tool is compatible with other software that you already have in use in your business is important.
• Test Your Communication Channels: Select the tools that enable all the most popular methods of contacting your customers (email, chat, phone, social media).
• Look for Growth Potential: Select customer support applications that will scale with your business as you expand with more customers and staff.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Choosing Too Many Features: You should not necessarily choose complicated customer support tools with functionality you will never require – simple can be good.
• Ignoring Mobile Experience: Ensure that the tools that you have selected are phone-friendly because a large number of customers have mobile devices.
• Forgetting About Training: The most appropriate customer care instruments cannot be helpful until your staff is aware of how to operate them appropriately.
• Not Testing First: Never pay till you have tested it to ensure that the software is compatible with the team’s working style.
• Ignoring Customer Preferences: Use pick tools that fit the way your customers like to communicate, not the ones that are just convenient to you.

Conclusion

Customer support tools have emerged as a necessity for businesses that desire to make their customers happy and successful. These effective software applications assist businesses in reacting quickly, planning more efficiently, and offering more valuable service to every person who calls them. Simple shared inboxes and sophisticated AI-based customer support technologies are available to any business size and budget.

The trick to successful support tools lies in the selection of the appropriate tool in a particular case. Small businesses may take well to less ambitious low-priced alternatives such as Freshdesk or Groove, whereas big companies may require the might of Salesforce Service Cloud or Zendesk. Note: the costliest tool is not necessarily the correct tool – the correct tool is one that your group will effectively utilize.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the customer support tools, and why do businesses require them?

Customer support tools refer to computer programs that assist companies in interacting with customers and addressing customers’ problems effectively. The reason why businesses require these tools is that they make customer service faster, more organized, and available 24/7.

2. What are the typical costs of customer support tools?

The customer support tools are offered at varying prices depending on the features and number of users. Free packages, such as Freshdesk basic plan, are free, but the number of features available is limited. The average price of most professional tools ranges between 15 and 50 dollars per staff member per month. Costs of enterprise solutions such as Salesforce may be billed at 100s of dollars per user per month.

3. What’s the difference between helpdesk tools and live chat support software?

Helpdesk tools organize and manage all customer requests through tickets, usually handling email, phone, and various channels in one system. The support software needs to be live chat, namely, where the software is dedicated to real-time communication with the visitors of the websites in terms of chat windows. 

4. Can small businesses benefit from AI customer support tools?

Yes, small businesses can greatly benefit from AI customer support tools. Such intelligent capabilities are able to provide answers to frequently used questions automatically, classify customer queries, and recommend solutions to support agents.

5. What is my understanding of whether my existing customer support resources are performing as expected?

Success can be gauged by the response rates (how swiftly you can respond to customers), the resolution rates (how swiftly you can solve a problem), and customer satisfaction levels. When the customers are complaining about how long it takes to respond, your team is overwhelmed, or you are losing track of what customers are saying, it may be time to upgrade.