Intercom System Alternatives You Should Know

The secret sauce to a successful business is its customer service. That’s why it is worth paying attention to your customer support tool. And one of them is the Intercom system. It includes many features that are supposed to provide excellent customer assistance.

But is it really like that?

In today’s blog post, we will look through the Intercom’s capabilities in detail and its alternatives. So, if you’re in two minds about your customer support software, we have a few suggestions you may find interesting.

What is Intercom

Intercom is a customer support software designed for businesses at any stage. For example, it may be a solution for e-commerce, financial services, educational institution, or healthcare.

What Intercom features may benefit your business?

Let’s take a look at some features your customers and business might find relevant.

Live Chat

Intercom makes it possible to chat with your customers in real-time. So if you run an online store - you can assist customers along the way.

Unified inbox

A unified inbox allows you to answer all the messages in one place. It is a very convenient feature. And that’s why all the tools you’re considering for customer service should provide this option.

Customizable bots

Bots are useful when you need to automate your customer service. Intercom enables you to design your bot. This way, you can assist website users or customers as needed. However, this feature is not included in the lowest plan.

Add-on features

Intercom has a solution if you want to take advantage of some of the features but don’t want to upgrade your plan. You can add some of the tools as add-ons to the plan you’re using now.

You need to pay for them. And, similarly to pricing plans,- add-ons prices also need to be more transparent.

Surveys

You can build a survey and choose its color, rating scales, and greetings. Additionally, you get reports on the surveys, but they are not particularly advanced.

Intercom Pricing

You cannot check the Intercom prices on their website. Most of its alternatives show the price, and it’s easy to estimate your customer service budget. But in the case of Intercom, you need to contact the operator using the chat if you want some pricing details. And that can be a waste of time when it turns out that you’re not happy with the offer.

Intercom weaknesses

❌ A price list is not explicitly provided.

❌ There’s no free trial.

❌ To get a demo, you need to contact a salesperson. So there’s no option to try Intercom before investing your time.

❌ There’s no free plan. You can’t check in practice how it works or if you like the UX of the software.

❌ Users complain about the high prices of add-ons and subscription plans.

❌ Also, users report a poor notification system, which risks missing a chat with prospects.

❌ Customer support could be better.

Intercom alternatives you should know

Before you make a decision, you should do the research and check on the Intercom alternatives. And here, we’ve done the homework for you. Below, you will find top Intercom competitors.

1️⃣ Smartsupp

Smartsupp is a cloud-based customer service software. The Smarstupp chatbot and live chat features facilitate customer communication and simplify user interactions.

Take a look at Smartsupp’s features in the following.

What Smartsupp features may benefit your business?

Intuitive interface

An intuitive UX is particularly essential for both customers and your agents. Smartsupp delivers a clear dashboard, so you don’t have to worry about getting lost even if you’re not similar to the platform yet.

However, when you experience any challenges with the software, Smartsupp customer service is on hand to assist.

Chatbot

It is an excellent tool if you want to help your customers 24/7. A chatbot is an automated program that allows you to handle conversations with users. Using Smartsupp, you program your chatbot in a few simple steps without any IT expertise.

Additionally, you can easily customize the Smartsupp chatbot by:

• changing the colors
• setting the conditions when the chat occurs
• adding an agent’s profile photo

When designing conversation roots, use templates. Choose one, change according to your preferences, and take advantage of automated customer service.

Live Chat

With this feature, you can reach out to the customers (or they can contact you) via chat and conversate with a user on the spot.

It is a fantastic way for:

• generating new leads
• assisting website users in using your software (if you have one)
• helping them do shopping

Just to name a few examples. Smartsupp offers fantastic features that increase users’ experience, such as file sharing, an intuitive interface, or a contact form when the agents are offline. You get your customers’ questions answered and gain a new lead.

Video Recording

Video recordings help to understand your customers’ behavior.

For example, you can see each session of your website users and follow and watch them doing shopping or just using your website.

The feature lets you see customers navigating your website - where they click and when. It may lead to many conclusions – such as what’s problematic for them, when they leave, and what their shopping path looks like.

Convenient mobile app

A mobile app enables your agents to stay in touch with website users using a mobile app. It is a very convenient way for your team members to connect with customers and provide them with the necessary service. Additionally, operators don’t have to spend hours sitting at a desk.

A mobile app improves performance efficiency. That’s why you must ensure that your chosen tool provides such a solution.

Automatic messages

In case your customer needs help, you can send them a message! Automatic messages allow you to reach out to customers when some conditions are met (and you decide about them).

You can easily send a message when a website visitor does not interact with your website or visit your online store. Customers will appreciate your personalized approach and your will to help. Just a message like:

Hi! Great to see you again. We’re here to help in case of any questions.

will be highly appreciated by your customers.

Statistics

This vital feature makes it possible to track and improve your customer service. With statistics, you can set goals and support the agents in achieving them.

Information like:

• your average time of response
• conversations you replied to
• average rating

and others will help you to keep track of the progress of your team’s performance. As well as what needs to be improved.

Integrations

Also, Smartsupp is rich in integrations. It means that you don’t have to worry about keeping using your favorite tools like a CRM system or communication channels. Smartsupp connects with PrestaShop, WordPress, Google Analytics, Facebook, and more. See the list of integrations.

Shortcuts

They work similarly to canned responses. All you need to do is create message templates and then use them when needed. It is easily accessible for all your team members. Shortcuts are excellent for reducing writing time and improving average time response metrics.

File-sharing

Being able to send a file to an agent is a real game-changer. Instead of describing the customers’ issues, they can easily send you a screenshot. File-sharing also enables to send other file types.

What makes Smartsupp better than Intercom?

✔️ A free trial of all the packages.

✔️ A free plan for businesses that need only the basic capabilities.

✔️ Convienient video-recording.

✔️ Affordable and transparent prices.

✔️ Helpful customer support team.

Smartsupp pricing

It starts at €0 with a free plan. There are also two paid plans: Standard at €15/month, PRO at €72/month and Ultimate €2000/year.

2️⃣ ​​​Zendesk

Zendesk is customer service software for startups, small and medium-sized companies, and enterprises. Zendesk provides tools for service and sales teams.

Let’s check its features.

What Zendesk features may benefit your business?

Bots

Zendesk provides a bot for dealing with customer queries on the spot. It is a feature that teams may use as a standalone tool or a complementary solution for live chat.

Live chat

The software also enables customer service representatives to communicate with customers or website visitors using live chat. It can be a proactive pop-up chat window that asks customers if they need assistance.

Ticketing system

A ticketing system is a communication tool to manage customer service requests. By tracking and responding to customer tickets, companies can measure the effectiveness of customer service.

Many tools for customer service

Additionally, Zendesk offers many tools and pricing plans for customer service. It can be both a pro and a con. Navigating around Zendesk’s functionality is a little bit overwhelming, and confusing.

Zendesk weaknesses

❌ It’s a little bit pricy.

❌ To get in touch with customer support, you must leave contact details such as email address and phone number.

❌ Users complain about unresponsive customer service.

How much does Zendesk cost?

Three pricing plans are available:

• Support Team at $19/month/agent
• Support Professional at $49/month/agent
• Support Enterprise at $99/month/agent

There’s also a free trial for those who want to try Zendesk out.

3️⃣ Kustomer

Kustomer is a customer service solution with a built-in CRM platform. Kustomer services are aimed at larger companies rather than small ones.

Here are the features that might interest you.

What Kustomer features may benefit your business?

Chat

Kustomer provides live chat for customers to get help via instant messaging. However, its functionality is quite limited compared to the other alternatives.

Knowledge Base

If you want to provide website users with some self-help tools, Kustomer lets create an external and internal knowledge base. For example, articles and a base for agents to make answering customer queries faster.

Ticket response

Kustomer makes it possible to manage tickets from different channels. However, there are some glitches, like searching and scrolling over tickets. It also doesn’t support Facebook automated messages.

CRM system

Kustomer also provides a customer relationship management system. But having an external tool with a solid set of integrations also enables you to keep using your customer platform without data migration.

How much does Kustomer cost?

There are two subscription plans. Enterprise at $89/month/user and Ultimate at $139/month per user. So there’s no option for smaller businesses that need basic functionality.

Kustomer weaknesses

❌ It’s only for bigger companies.

❌ Dashboard design might be better.

❌ For companies with a small budget, it may be an expensive solution.

❌ Upgrading is limited to one plan.

4️⃣ Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a customer support solution that helps you manage customer interactions.

What Freshdesk features may benefit your business?

Automatic messages

Freshdesk allows sending automatic messages to customers, for example, after office hours.

Freshchat

Thanks to this feature, you and your website visitors can connect via live chat, web, mobile, or contact center support. There’s also a chatbot.

Automatic chat assigning

Freshdesk assigns conversations to agents or the customer service team according to their skills and workload.

Canned responses

You can prepare answers to common questions and then use them in conversations. You will save a lot of time this way.

Freshdesk Pricing

Four plans available in Freshdesk:

• Free at $0
• Growth at $15/month/agent
• Pro at $59/month/agent
• Enterprise at $69/month/agent

Freshdesk is suitable for companies of any size.

Freshdesk Weaknesses

❌ Chatbot solution is available only in the enterprise plan.

❌ The lowest plan has pretty limited reporting and analytics.

❌ There’re some extra add-ons available only from the Growth plan. It means that if you have a free plan, you cannot buy them.

❌ You need to pay extra for a mobile app.

❌ Bot sessions are limited, and there is a fee for extra sessions ($75 for 1000 sessions per month).

5️⃣ LiveChat

LiveChat is a web-based customer service tool for interacting with customers and website visitors.

Find out what the tool offers.

What LiveChat features may benefit your business?

Omnichannel messaging

Thanks to omnichannel communication, you see all the messages in one unified inbox. This feature makes it easier to answer all the customers’ queries on time.

Integrations

Integrating your chat solution to the apps you already use (for example, Facebook Messenger or Google Analytics) will save you time and energy. Additionally, you can create custom integration thanks to API (Application Programming Interface).

Knowledge base software

LiveChat allows for building a knowledge base for support teams and customers. By doing so, you provide a self-service option for website visitors and save agents’ time.

Ticketing system

If a customer sends you a message, you and your customer team receive it as a ticket.

How much does LiveChat cost?

LiveChat pricing is plan-based. There’re four of them:

• Starter at $24/month/agent
• Team at $49/month/agent
• Business at $69/month/agent
• Enterprise (you need to contact dales to get the price)

LiveChat weaknesses

❌ Pricing seems to be promising, but the price changes depending on how many agents you have.

❌ There’s no free plan.

❌ The lowest plan does not include a ticketing system.

❌ Number of visitors that you can track is limited in each plan.

❌Reporting and statistics are very limited in the Starter plan (only daily summary).

❌ A free trial is available, but only for a Team plan.

Wrapping up intercom system alternatives

There are quite a few alternatives to Intercom system for customer service. Each has a unique set of features, and making a decision might be a tough call.

So, take a moment and think about what alternative is the best choice for your business.

However, if you’re in a quandary, our top choice is Smartsupp. The price is affordable, and its packages are great for businesses at any stage of development.

Get started with a free trial today!