The Top 5 In-App Chat Support Softwares (and which ones you should actually purchase)
In-app chat support software solutions are becoming increasingly popular among businesses as a way to provide real-time support to customers within their applications.
Intercom: Intercom is a popular in-app chat support software solution that provides businesses with a suite of tools to communicate with their customers in real-time. Intercom allows businesses to send targeted messages to their customers based on their behavior and actions within the app. I’ve used Intercom at 3 different companies and my colleagues often joke that I’m a spokesperson for them. The platform is easy to learn, and incredibly powerful. My only complaint is their pricing structure is a little annoying, but they just did a large survey with the intention of re-vamping their pricing. Overall though, Intercom is my number 1 go-to for all things support and customer experience.
Drift: Drift is an AI-powered chatbot and live chat software solution that provides businesses with a suite of tools to communicate with their customers in real-time. Drift's chatbot can help businesses automate their customer support and provide customers with instant answers to their questions. Drift also provides businesses with a knowledge base and help center to provide self-service support to customers. Drift is likely more familiar to you if you have ever worked on the sales side, because it’s often used as an inbound chat for SDRs on the website. They’ve improved a lot over the years, and if you’re working more B2C this could be a solution to explore that connects the dots between the pre-sale and post-sale customer experience.
Zendesk: Zendesk is a customer service and support platform that provides businesses with a suite of tools to communicate with their customers across multiple channels, including in-app chat. Zendesk's in-app chat support solution allows businesses to provide real-time support to customers within their application. Zendesk also provides businesses with a help center and a community forum to provide self-service support to customers. Zendesk is on this list because they’re the OG behemoth, but I am not a fan. Their price point per seat when I used them is $$$, their Jira integration (the sole reason why I chose them originally) is pretty useless, and their support for the SMB clients is absolutely terrible. I purchased Zendesk Connect when I first signed up and it was so bad that my AE recommended I just go use Intercom instead. Zendesk had first mover advantage and name recognition, but their product is frustrating and expensive.
Salesforce Service Desk: Salesforce Service Desk is a highly customizable and integrated platform with powerful automation tools that help businesses provide a consistent and personalized customer service experience. However, its cost, complexity, and potential limitations may require additional support and investment from some organizations. Service Desk also provides users with real-time analytics and reporting capabilities, enabling organizations to monitor their performance and improve their operations over time. On the other hand, the platform's steep learning curve may require dedicated resources and training for optimal use.
Olark: Olark is an in-app chat support software solution that provides businesses with a suite of tools to communicate with their customers in real-time. Olark allows businesses to customize their chat widget and provides them with advanced reporting and analytics. Olark also integrates with other tools like Salesforce and Zendesk to provide a seamless support experience for customers. If you want to marry both tickets + live chat support this is an interesting way to go about it, since Intercom isn’t really known for their ticketing system. If you need everything to flow through your Salesforce instance (and you don’t like Service desk) this is also a viable option, since Intercom doesn’t integrate nicely with Salesforce.
It’s more important than ever to provide real-time support to customers within their applications. Intercom, Zendesk, Drift, ServiceDesk, and Olark are all excellent options for businesses looking to implement an in-app chat support solution, it really just depends what your client expectations are, and your existing data stack demands are.. When choosing an in-app chat support solution, businesses should consider factors like customization, reporting and analytics, and integrations with other tools.
Feel free to message me, as this is a topic I love discussing at great length!
