Best helpdesk software of 2020: Ticketing and Support
Help desk software is designed to provide a customer with information and support regarding a company’s products or services. Customer inquiries are typically submitted via multiple channels including email, phone, or social media.
Help desk software provides a ticketing system for staff to organize and respond to customer inquiries as well as create information portals on the company’s website. Help desk platforms are used by customer service teams to streamline the support process and provide analytics into customer engagement across all communication channels. Help desk software may contain additional self-service, social customer service integrations or live chat software modules, or they possess those capabilities to create a complete customer service experience. Those that strictly concentrate on customer support tickets often integrate or run side-by-side with these other customer engagement products.
To qualify for inclusion in the Help Desk category, a product must:
* Organize external customer inquiries into tickets for support agents
* Aggregate inquiries from emails and a customer portal
* Assign tickets to support agents for prompt service
Freshdesk
Zendesk
Zoho Desk
Kayako
1. Freshdesk:
Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer service software that enables businesses of all sizes to deliver stellar customer support. Freshdesk converts requests coming in via email, web, phone, chat, and social into tickets, and unifies ticket resolution across channels. Additionally, Freshdesk lets you automate workflows, provide self-service, manage SLAs, and measure metrics, so you can stay on top of all things customer support. Additionally, Freshdesk offers out-of-the-box features like an AI-powered support chatbot, predictive support capabilities, and field service management. Over 150,000 customers including Hugo Boss, Toshiba, Cisco, Honda, The Atlantic, and QuizUp trust Freshdesk to help them provide stellar and seamless customer support.
2. Zendesk:
Customer support software Zendesk has all the elements of an efficient help desk app, including flexible ticketing management, multichannel support, and advanced reporting and analytics. It also features a knowledge base and allows you to build communities. The app fits the needs of a small business but can scale to standard enterprise requirements.
A standout feature, hosting communities enhances the self-service portal. Customers can share and exchange answers in a structured forum, easing the burden off your agents’ shoulders. The self-service module also features a smart search tool and 24/7 access to guidelines and FAQs. You can use it for internal and external users. Other key features include mobile support, off-the-shelf integrations, group rules, macros, and automated processes. Should you like to learn more about this platform, you can try it out at no cost thanks to the Zendesk free trial.
3. Zoho Desk:
Zoho Desk is the cloud-based, helpdesk software offering that focuses on being context aware. It includes features such as prioritization of higher importance or overdue tickets, dashboards to track quality metrics, and the support to create a Knowledge Base for simpler issues that can be self-serviced. Zoho Desk can be used by agents with mobile apps for iOS and Android. Support for using Zoho Desk is provided via a number of avenues, including active user forums, a webinar series, a self-service portal, a user guide, and blogs, but live chat requires the top plan, and no plan has direct phone support.
Unlike their competitors, a strong point of Zoho Desk is their simplified number of tiers which is only three, with the bottom being a free plan with a reasonable limit of three users, and the availability of free 15 day trials for the other tiers. Their most popular plan is the middle Professional Plan, which includes “Customer Happiness Ratings,” and cloud telephony for an affordable $12 per agent per month billed annually
4. Kayako:
Kayako is effortless customer service software that helps teams be more productive and build customer loyalty. Unlike legacy support tools, Kayako brings together your multi-channel conversations and customer information, so you can support customers as a team and keep the personal touch, even as you grow.
