Software that helps you manage and organize service requests is called help desk software. While some Help desk software can be used to manage, organize and respond to service-related inquiries. Some help desks are for customers’ external inquiries, while others are for team members’ internal service requests.
A help desk may contain a range of tools, such as a shared mailbox, an knowledge database and a livechat solution. Not all help desks offer all the mentioned tools.
Help desk software can be a great tool to improve customer experience. 75% customers want a consistent experience regardless of how they interact with a company via social media, phone, or in person. Because it consolidates all customer support interactions into one omnichannel platform.
Help Desk Software for Small Business
Every business needs customer support. Small businesses often lack the resources to employ a full team of customer service representatives to address every concern or inquiry.
Help desk software is a great tool to automate this process. You can manage business via email, phone and other channels. These tools will help you and your team scale as your business grows.
1. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk provides omnichannel customer support via phone, email and website. Automate repetitive tasks like scheduling and customer notifications.
Zoho Desk offers an AI-powered assistant that can spot anomalies and analyze customer interactions to determine if further action is required. You can also add FAQs and a knowledge base to assist customers with their customer service queries.
This platform is part of the Zoho ecosystem and integrates with many other tools, including Zoho CRM and Microsoft Teams.
Zoho Desk provides a free plan to support email inquiries up to three agents. The paid plans cost $12- $35 per agent per monthly and include advanced features such as multi-department ticketing, customer happiness ratings, and multi-department ticketing. You can also get a free 15-day trial.
2. Help Scout
Help Scout is a customer support platform that provides all the tools you need to provide exceptional customer service. Sign up for Help Scout to get access to many tools.
Help Scout’s shared mailboxes contain collaboration tools such as @mentions or private messages that allow you to ask for help and to add context to customer conversations.
Collision detection reduces duplicate work, and workflows automate routine tasks and routing.
Saved replies makes it easy to respond to customer routine queries.
Help Scout’s Beacon is a multi-purpose tool that allows you to chat and also offers proactive support via Messages.
Live chat is available online and offline to assist customers in finding the answers they seek, whenever and wherever they are needed.
You can segment your audience based on customer attributes and schedule messages with Messages. You can also see performance data to further refine your efforts.
Help Scout also offers Android apps and iOS for teams that need to receive notifications while on the move or resolve issues while away from their desktop computers.
Although Help Scout has many great features, our greatest asset is our support team. They are available to assist you 24 hours a day. For those who prefer to learn by themselves, we also offer a comprehensive knowledge base.
3. SysAid
SysAid, a help desk ticketing software that handles internal IT requests, is called SysAid. It offers a variety of SLA management features, including ticket and workflow automation to decrease SLAs. A self-service portal is suitable for knowledge management to allow employees to handle simple requests such as password resets.
With a variety of templates and standard forms you can quickly get things moving. Or, you can make your own to meet the specific needs of your company and your team. You can also access third-party integrations because most IT tools are used together.
SysAid’s powerful asset management features make it simple to monitor all assets and view software and hardware for each end user.
4. Zendesk Support
Zendesk provides customer support software to help with both sales and service. This platform provides helpdesk support through a variety channels including voice chat and messaging apps. Customers can access the help center and community forum through a self-service portal. Zendesk offers AI-powered bots and other automation features to provide support in conversations with customers.
Zendesk for Service’s base plan is $49 per agent per monthly. This includes an omnichannel ticketing and self-service knowledge base as well as up to 50 AI automated replies. Plans are available for $79 or $99 per agent per monthly. These plans offer advanced options such as multilingual support and integrated communities forums. All plans come with a free trial.
5. ServiceDesk Plus
ServiceDesk plus from ManageEngine is an IT help desk system. It is available both in cloud and on-premises editions. It allows IT teams create best practices through ITSM workflows. The software also includes code-free customizations and smart automation capabilities. ServiceDesk Plus is suitable with many business tools such as Outlook, Jira Service desk, and Microsoft Teams to ensure smooth operations.
ServiceDesk Plus plans start at $495 and go up to $1,195 per year. Add-ons are available to improve the experience. A custom plan can be created to meet the needs of your IT support team.
6. HelpDesk
HelpDesk is a ticketing system that allows teams to communicate easily. All email communications can be managed in one app, which allows you to save time and reduce customer support calls. Customer support software converts emails into tickets, facilitates team collaboration, and automates repetitive tasks. This help desk system currently supports only email communication. You can however integrate it with LiveChat to provide multi-channel support.
HelpDesk’s base plan starts at $4 per agent per monthly and includes a shared mailbox, reports and collaboration tools. The team plan costs $19 per agent per monthly and includes advanced features such as multiple mailboxes, LiveChat integration, and more. A custom quote can be requested based on the needs of your business. The team plan also comes with a free 14-day trial.
7. Jira Service Desk
Jira Services Desk from Atlassian is an IT help desk solution. This tool allows IT teams to manage service requests from customers and teams. To empower your team members, you can create a self-service portal that allows them to quickly find assistance. Jira Service Desk is a single platform that streamlines IT support tasks. It integrates with Microsoft Teams and Slack to enable employees to request help on the platforms they already use.
A free help desk software is available for up three agents and one site. The cost of paid plans is $20 to $40 per agent per calendar month. These plans include additional features such as audit logs and service status pages. They can support up to 55,000 support agents. You can also request customized enterprise pricing.
8. Freshdesk
Freshdesk , a customer service software by Freshbooks, is . This help desk platform allows you to manage tickets across all platforms, including email, phone, and social media. Freshdesk offers automation tools that are easy to use to assist teams in setting up complex workflows. You can also use no-code bots for common customer queries. Freshdesk also offers a wide range of third-party apps and partners, such as Shopify, Office 365 and Slack. You can use the tools that you already have. This allows customer service departments to easily customize the platform to meet their needs and scale it to suit their needs.
Freshdesk offers a free plan which supports unlimited agents via email and social media ticketing. The monthly cost of a paid plan ranges from $15 to $99 for each agent. They also offer advanced features such as time tracking, automation, round robin routing, and automation. All features are eligible for a free 21-day trial.
9. Hiver
Hiver offers a shared inbox with helpdesk that is hosted in Gmail. This feature is ideal for teams who already use Gmail but want to offer a service desk to customers without learning a new platform. To indicate which messages have been closed, addressed, assigned or sent, you can create categories in the shared invoice. You can assign tasks to teams and attach notes to every customer interaction. Hiver also provides metrics that is suitable to measure the performance of your team and improve customer experience.
Plans start at $7-$57 per user per monthly. The basic plan offers one shared mailbox for up to 10 users. Upgraded plans include auto assigning and custom user roles. You can also get a 14-day trial for free.
10. Front
When communicating with customers, most teams opt to use a group email address (e.g., [email protected]) to accept support tickets. Some teams prefer to communicate using their personal email addresses, but still need the help desk software functionality.
Front allows you to connect email, SMS and social media accounts into a shared mailbox. It also offers productivity features such as internal notes and automation to help reduce manual work. You can also get analytics and integrations on the higher-end plans.
Front does not include a FAQs section or a live chat tool to provide real-time support, as many of the other options in our list.
Price: Starting at $19/person per month.
11. Cayzu
Cayzu is a cloud-based help desk that allows you to track conversations from multiple sources and keep them all in one place. It features an intuitive interface and automation tools to make it easier for you to create time-saving workflows. You can also create a self-service portal and knowledge base with your brand, provide support for communication via mobile apps and gain analytics to help improve business communications. Cayzu is suitable in multiple verticals such as IT services, construction companies, and marketing agencies. A general SMB version is also available. This allows small helpdesk teams to be more efficient.
Cayzu’s basic plan costs $4 per agent per year and includes email, social media, a web widget and self-service knowledge base. The other plans cost $9-$39 per month and offer advanced options such as asset management and custom fields. All plans come with free trial. Pricing is based on the number of users. A larger team can result in a lower price per agent.
12. Gorgias
Gorgias, a help desk solution that focuses primarily on ecommerce, is called Gorgias. It provides access to a shared email inbox, knowledge base, and live chat. BigCommerce, Shopify and Magento integrations are the main difference to other options (although Magento integration is available only on the higher-tier plan).
These integrations allow you to view order details, edit orders and even issue refunds right from your help desk. This can be a time-saver for your team and save you countless hours of work and frustration. One problem is that their plans all have ticket limits. This means your costs can vary from month to month depending on how many orders you place.
Their base plan has 350 monthly tickets. This is approximately 12 tickets per day for most teams. An additional $25 is charged for each 100 tickets.
Price: Starting at $60 per month.
Which help desk software is best for customers?
The type of customer service inquiries you receive will determine which software is the best. A full-service solution such as Freshdesk or Zoho Desk is best if customers reach you via multiple channels. You may prefer a more specific solution such as Jira Service Desk, ManageEngine or ManageEngine if you are providing IT support. Hiver and HappyFox are simple options for those who want to be more focused on self-service features or easy use.
What is the best free helpdesk software?
Small business users can get free help desk support from a variety of solutions, including Freshdesk and Zoho Desk. Zoho Desk offers email support up to three agents. Freshdesk also offers unlimited agent support via email and social networking ticketing.
What is a helpdesk ticketing system?
A help desk ticketing system, a software program that manages all customer service interactions, is one type of software. These could include phone, email, live chat or social media inquiries. Each interaction is recorded and the software assigns tasks to ensure that every concern is addressed.
What help desk software does Microsoft provide?
Microsoft does not provide a standalone help desk solution. There are many options that can be connected to various Microsoft platforms. Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides help desk functionality in its suite of business apps. Microsoft AppSource also offers third-party apps such as HelpDesk and Help Desk PLUS that are hosted on Microsoft SharePoint.