Zendesk vs Intercom: An Honest Comparison in 2024

The platform was created to provide a simple and effective way for businesses to manage customer support tickets. Over the years, Zendesk has expanded its offerings to include features such as live chat, knowledge base, and customer feedback. Intercom is an all-in-one business communications tool that offers support, marketing, and sales features. It is known for its automation options and customizable capabilities, making it a popular choice for small-to-medium businesses. On the other hand, Zendesk is primarily a customer service platform that now offers a sales module.

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. Because of the app called Intercom Messenger, one can see that their focus is less on the voice and more on the text. This is fine, as not every customer support team wants to be so available on the phone. Email marketing, for example, is a big deal, but less so when it comes to customer service. Still, for either of these platforms to have some email marketing or other email functionality is common sense.

We combine enterprise-level security features, advanced encryption keys, and comprehensive audits of our systems to ensure all private information stays private. Conversely, Spiceworks has limited compliance certifications and lacks features like single sign-on (SSO) and lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) login capabilities. 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. Connecting Zendesk Support and Zendesk Sell allows its customer service and sales-oriented wholesale team to work together effortlessly. 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.

Fin uses seamless communication across customer bases, breaking language barriers and catering to global audiences. Integrating AI in the help center helps agents find answers to customer inquiries, providing a seamless customer experience. Zendesk's AI offers automated responses to customer inquiries, increasing the team's productivity, Chat GPT as they can spend time on the most crucial things. In addition to all these features, Suite Growth Plan offers light agents, multilingual support, multiple ticket forms, and a self-service customer portal. On the other hand, Intercom may have a lower ROI when compared to Zendesk due to the limited depth of features it offers.

Zendesk or Intercom: Workflows and automation

By exploring their distinct offerings, we aim to assist businesses in making informed decisions when selecting a customer service platform. For smaller teams that have to handle multiple tasks, do not forget to check JustReply.ai, which is a user-friendly customer support tool. It will seamlessly integrate with Slack and offers everything you need for your favorite communication platform. Intercom's AI capabilities extend beyond the traditional chatbots; Fin is renowned for solving complex problems and providing safer, accurate answers.

While both Zendesk and Intercom offer the essentials, like ticketing, issue resolution, and automation, the devil’s in the details when it comes to which is best for your unique needs. Intercom primarily focuses on messaging but offers limited channel breadth compared to Zendesk, requiring paid add-ons for critical channels like WhatsApp. Zendesk is designed with the agent in mind, delivering a modern, intuitive experience. The customizable Zendesk Agent Workspace enables reps to work within a single browser tab with one-click navigation across any channel. Intercom, on the other hand, can be a complicated system, creating a steep learning curve for new users. Leave your email below and a member of our team will personally get in touch to show you how Fullview can help you solve support tickets in half the time.

Intercom's CRM utility is a solid foundation for managing customer relationships and sales in one platform. 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.

Zendesk offers robust reporting capabilities, providing businesses with detailed insights into consumer interactions, ticketing systems, agent performance, and more. Businesses can also track their performance, identify trends, and make informed decisions using its advanced analytics tool and creative dashboards that can customized according to the business needs. Intercom's CRM can work as a standalone CRM and requires no additional service to operate robustly. It offers comprehensive customer data management and lead-tracking features.

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. When it comes to utility, Zendesk's utility may not be as robust as a pure CRM https://chat.openai.com/ solution. However, customers do have the option to go to Zendesk Sell for a more robust experience. Intercom offers advanced customer service through its automated functions and is suitable for businesses looking for a sophisticated customer support solution.

Customer Support Solution

Intercom is also a customer service software that integrates entirely with third-party vendors, especially those offering messaging services. Using any plan, this integration is available to all customers, making the customer support experience and onboarding smooth. Its messaging also has real-time notifications and automated responses, enhancing customer communication.

If you want to get to the nitty-gritty of your customer service team’s performance, Zendesk is the way to go. It’s built for function over form — the layout is highly organized and clearly designed around ticket management. You get an immediate overview of key metrics, such as ticket volume and agent performance as well as a summary of key customer data points.

With Pipedrive, users have access to visual reporting dashboards, but adding custom fields is limited to their Professional, Power, and Enterprise plans. Zendesk, just like its competitor, offers a knowledge base solution that is easy to customize. Their users can create a knowledge repository to create articles or edit existing ones as per the changes in the services or product.

For real zen, switch to Intercom

Easily reply to customer conversations and manage workload in a smart & automated way. Some of the links that appear on the website are from software companies from which CRM.org receives compensation. However, this is somewhat subjective, and depending on your business needs and favorite tools, you may argue we got it all mixed up, and Intercom is truly superior. Some startups and small businesses may prefer one app, while large companies and enterprise operations will have their own requirements. Every single bit of business SaaS in the world needs to leverage the efficiency power of workflows and automation. Customer service systems like Zendesk and Intercom should provide a simple workflow builder as well as many pre-built automations which can be used right out of the box.

However, over the years, Intercom has evolved into a complete customer communication platform with features like live chat, email marketing, and customer support. 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 businesses move faster. In leveraging cutting-edge AI, Zendesk empowers service teams to resolve customer issues more quickly and accurately.

For basic chat and messaging, Intercom charges a flat fee of $39 per month for its basic plan with one user and $99 per month for its team plan with up to 5 users. If you want automated options, Intercom starts at either $499 or $999 per month for up to ten users, depending on the level of automation you’re looking for. 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.

• Intercom also offers extensive integrations with over 350 tools that include Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Analytics, Amplitude, Zoho, JIRA, and more.
• Pipedrive also has security measures baked into its solution, offering SSO for its users.
• While it helps track some basic support metrics, Intercom’s strength lies in helping companies understand user behavior, product usage, and friction points along the journey.
• It lets customers reach out via messaging, a live chat tool, voice, and social media.
• Additionally, Zendesk offers a wide range of customization options, allowing users to tailor the user interface to their needs.

The Expert plan, which offers collaboration, real-time dashboard, security, and reporting tools for large teams, costs $139. Its ability to scale with the businesses makes it an attractive option for growing companies. Its customizable options enable businesses to quickly gain value from its features by enhancing agility.

Intercom is a customer relationship management (CRM) software company that provides a suite of tools for managing customer interactions. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Intercom's products are used by over 25,000 customers, from small tech startups to large enterprises.

For example, you can read in many Zendesk Sell reviews how adding sales tools benefits Zendesk Support users. 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. Let us look at the type and size of business for which Zednesk and Intercom are suitable.

Zendesk is among the industry's best ticketing and customer support software, and most of its additional functionality is icing on the proverbial cake. Intercom, on the other hand, is designed to be more of a complete solution for sales, marketing, and customer relationship nurturing. You’ll still be able to get your eyes on basic support metrics, like response times and bot performance, that will help you improve your service quality.

Customers have also noted that they can implement Zendesk AI five times faster than other solutions. Intercom offers just over 450 integrations, which can make it less cost-effective and more complex to customize the software and adapt to new use cases as you scale. The platform also lacks transparency in displaying reviews, install counts, and purpose-built customer service integrations. Intercom also has a mobile app available for both Android and iOS, which makes it easy to stay connected with customers even when away from the computer. The app includes features like automated messages and conversation routing — so businesses can manage customer conversations more efficiently. If you thought Zendesk prices were confusing, let me introduce you to Intercom prices.

• There are also several different Shopify integrations to choose from, as well as CRM integrations like HubSpot and Salesforce.
• The platform also lacks transparency in displaying reviews, install counts, and purpose-built customer service integrations.
• It enables you to streamline all incoming customer queries, and ensure your support team is equipped to provide prompt, efficient solutions.
• However, over the years, Intercom has evolved into a complete customer communication platform with features like live chat, email marketing, and customer support.
• Like Zendesk, Intercom offers its Operator bot, which automatically suggests relevant articles to clients right in a chat widget.

It is designed for larger enterprises and offers more comprehensive features than Intercom. In summary, Intercom and Zendesk are powerful customer support tools offering various features to help businesses communicate with their customers effectively. While Intercom has a more modern and user-friendly interface, Zendesk has a broader range of features and integrations. Ultimately, the choice between Intercom and Zendesk will depend on the specific needs of your business. Zendesk offers simple chatbots and provides businesses with straightforward chatbot creation tools, allowing them to set up automated responses and assist customers with common queries.

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. Handle conversations, manage tickets, and resolve issues quickly to improve your CSAT.

There are many powerful integrations included, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Slack, and Zapier. Finally, you’ll have to choose your reporting preferences including details about what you’ll be tracking and how often you want to be reported of changes. On the other hand, it’s nearly impossible to foresee how much Intercom will cost at the end of the day. They charge for agent seats and connections, don’t disclose their prices, and package add-ons at a premium. Although the Intercom chat window claims that their team responds within a few hours, user reviews have stated that they had to wait for a few days. Intercom is the clear victor in terms of user experience, leaving all of its competitors in the dust.

However, it is possible Intercom’s support is superior at the premium level. 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. Intercom is a complete customer communication platform for small businesses. Still, considering that such intercom vs zendesk companies do not have a large budget for investing in CRM software, they should carefully consider all plans. While some of these functionalities related to AI are included in the Zendesk suite, others are part of advanced AI add-ons. If agents want to offer their customers a great experience, they can spend an additional $50 to have the AI add-on.

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. Our transparent pricing structure gives you the features you need today while offering the flexibility to accommodate your future growth. Additionally, we prioritize an intuitive experience that infuses intelligence into every touchpoint to help teams unlock productivity.

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. Intercom, of course, allows its customer support team to collaborate and communicate too, but overall, Zendesk wins this group. Intercom's AI has the transformative power to enhance customer service by offering multilingual support and contextual responses.

What is the difference between Intercom and Zendesk?

Zendesk's mission is to build software designed to improve customer relationships. There are many features to help bigger customer service teams collaborate more effectively, such as private notes or a real-time view of who’s handling a given ticket at the moment. At the same time, the vendor offers powerful reporting capabilities to help you grow and improve your business. Zendesk has a wealth of reporting and analytics features for support teams. Our reporting and analytics tools allow you to access real-time and historical data to spot any inefficiencies, take action on that information, and improve your IT operations.

While both Zendesk and Intercom offer strong ticketing systems, they differ in the depth of automation capabilities. 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. If delivering an outstanding customer experience and employee experience is your top priority, Zendesk should be your top pick over Intercom.

It also provides seamless navigation between a unified inbox, teams, and customer interactions, while putting all the most important information right at your fingertips. This makes it easy for teams to prioritize tasks, stay aligned, and deliver superior service. 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.

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. 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. Today, both companies offer a broad range of customer support features, making them both strong contenders in the market.

The Professional and Enterprise plans offer advanced features that build on those in the Team and Growth plans, including lead scoring, call scripts, and unlimited email sequences. Intercom’s live chat reports aren’t just offering what your customers are doing or whether they are satisfied with your services. They offer more detailed insights like lead generation sources, a complete message report to track customer engagement, and detailed information on the support team’s performance.

Zendesk started in 2007 as a web-based SaaS product for managing incoming customer support requests. Since then, it has evolved into a full-fledged CRM that offers a suite of software applications to its over 160,000 customers like Uber, Siemens, and Tesco. 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. One stand out automation feature is its co-pilot, also known as Fin AI Copilot.

Additionally, Zendesk offers a wide range of customization options, allowing users to tailor the user interface to their needs. Intercom was founded in 2011 by Eoghan McCabe, Ciaran Lee, Des Traynor, and David Barrett. Initially, the platform was designed to help businesses communicate with their customers through targeted messaging.

Intercom and Zendesk are excellent customer support tools offering unique features and benefits. However, when it comes to choosing between the two, it ultimately depends on the specific needs and preferences of the user. In addition to third-party integrations, Zendesk offers a range of native integrations with its products, including Zendesk Support, Zendesk Chat, and Zendesk Talk. These integrations allow businesses to streamline workflow and provide a seamless customer experience across multiple channels. When it comes to customer support and services, both Intercom and Zendesk offer robust solutions.

Whether you're starting fresh with Intercom or migrating from Zendesk, set up is quick and easy. You can try Customerly without any risk to you as we offer a 14-day free trial. In the process, it streamlines collaboration between team members as well as a unified interface to manage all help resources.

Since Intercom is so intuitive, the time you’ll need to spend training new users on how to interact with the platform is greatly reduced. With all accounted for, it seems that Zendesk still has a number of user interface issues. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. Since Zendesk has many features, it takes a while to learn how to use the options you’ll be needing. Many users complain that Intercom’s help is unavailable the majority of the time, forcing them to repeatedly ask the same question to a bot. When they do respond, they’re usually unhelpful or want to immediately transfer you to the sales department.

Zendesk Explore allows you to create custom reports and visualizations in order to gain deeper insights into your support operations and setup. If your business requires a centralized platform to manage a high volume of customer inquiries across various channels, Zendesk is a solid choice. 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. 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. Essentially, Fin AI Copilot acts as a personal assistant for every support staff, helping them resolve customer issues faster and more efficiently.

It can automatically suggest relevant articles for agents to share during business hours with clients, reducing your support agents’ workload. Chat features are integral to modern business communication, enabling real-time customer interaction and team collaboration. While businesses must constantly focus on developing long-term consumer relationships, they can’t forget about their employees. Creating a positive employee experience (EX) can help an organization streamline internal operations, improve team productivity, and reduce employee turnover.

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. Zendesk Sell provides robust CRM features such as lead tracking, task management, and workflow automation.

If you want to test Intercom vs Zendesk before deciding on a tool for good, they both provide free 14-day trials. But sooner or later, you’ll have to decide on the subscription plan, and here’s what you’ll have to pay. Zendesk is a ticketing system before anything else, and its ticketing functionality is overwhelming in the best possible way.