5 Best Help Desk Software Tools For Exceptional Customer Service

The best help desk software in our opinion is Zendesk, Help Scout and Zoho Desk. We reviewed the top help desk tools, taking into account depth of features, collaboration, ease of use, value and customer reviews.

The history of help desk software can be traced back to early customer support systems, where basic methods were employed to handle customer inquiries and resolve issues.

In ancient civilizations, merchants and craftsmen relied on face-to-face interactions and handwritten records to address customer concerns and maintain relationships.

As societies grew more complex, written correspondence and telephonic communication became vital for addressing customer support needs.

Today, help desk software has transformed into a sophisticated and indispensable aspect of modern businesses, encompassing a wide range of software solutions designed to streamline customer support processes and enhance communication.

Organizations worldwide now rely on these advanced tools to effectively manage customer inquiries, support requests, and technical issues, ensuring excellent customer experiences and fostering long-term relationships.

But which is the best tool for you? 

What Is The Best Help Desk Software?

Just to recap, our top three options are:

1. Zendesk
2. Help Scout
3. Zoho Desk

In this review, we’ll give you a breakdown of each product.

• Including an overview of the platform and its best features.
• As well as its biggest pros and cons.
• We’ll also cover its support and pricing.
• Plus, we’ll take a look at how it performs on independent review sites.
• Finally, we’ll give you our all-important verdict on each product.

Let’s get started.

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1. Zendesk

What Is Zendesk?

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer support platform that helps businesses manage their customer interactions across various channels. It allows businesses to streamline their support process by managing support tickets, automating workflows, and tracking performance metrics.

So, what Are The Pros and Cons of Zendesk?

Let’s start with an overview of the product itself.

• Zendesk is a complete customer support tool that offers features including AI-powered automations, community forums, help center resources and chatbots.
• It makes it easy to interact with customers through multiple channels such as live chat, social media, phone and email.
• Zendesk is used by over 169000 companies including big brands like Tesco, Uber and Netflix.
• It offers integrations with over 1000 different tools tools including Jira, Salesforce, Aircall and a number of Google tools. This makes it possible for businesses to manage their customer support from a single, centralized location.
• The data analytics allow users to accurately measure performance and improve their customer service.
• Users love the intuitive user interface and find the platform easy to use.
• Users also like the wide range of customizations that Zendesk offers.
• Some users do complain that the price is too high compared to competitors.

What About It’s Customer Support?

Zendesk offers a range of training material through it’s blogs and webinars, as well as phone, email and chat support. They also have a helpful community space where users can network with one another. Users are generally positive about the customer support offered by Zendesk.

Is Zendesk Free?

No. However, Zendesk does offer startups a free license for six months.

How Much Does Zendesk Cost?

Zendesk offers 4 different pricing plans ranging from $19 per agent per month to $150 per month. They also offer custom pricing plans for larger

So, What Do Other Customer Reviews Say?

• “Zendesk Service is very easy to use and the integration with our other systems has been seamless. The reporting and analytics capabilities have allowed us to gain insights into our customer support process and make data-driven decisions.”
• “The platform is very intuitive and the ability to customize it to our specific needs has been a huge benefit. The automation features have saved us a lot of time, and the customer support has been very responsive.”
• “Zendesk Service has been a game-changer for our customer support team. The platform is very user-friendly and we’ve been able to easily manage our support tickets and interactions with customers.”
• “The cost is ever increasing while they shift features away from lower tiers and pay wall them behind more expensive tiers of their service.”

Finally, Is Zendesk Worth It?

2. Help Scout

What Is Help Scout?

Help scout is a cloud-based customer support software that allows businesses to manage customer interactions across various channels, including email, chat, and social media. Help Scout provides features like shared inboxes, automated workflows, chat bots and reporting tools that help teams collaborate and manage their support tickets effectively.

So, what Are The Pros and Cons of Help Scout?

Let’s start with an overview of the product itself.

• Help scout is a suite of customer support tools including a chat bots, automations and a knowledge base builder.
• The shared inbox feature makes it easy for to teams to collaborate on customer problems and is popular with users.
• It’s used by over 12000 businesses including big brands like YETI and Litmus.
• It comes with out of the box reporting making it easy to track performance and implement efficiency improvements.
• Help Scout integrates a number of other tools and platforms such as Slack, Salesforce, and HubSpot. This makes it easy for businesses to manage their customer support from a single location.
• Users especially love the simplistic user interface which makes the tool ver easy to setup and use.
• They also praise the easy collaboration that it offers and the time saving automations.
• However, users find the reporting to be limited compared to competitors.

What About It’s Customer Support?

Help scout offers a wide range of useful tutorials, a large knowledge base and detailed documentation. In addition, they offer responsive support through phone, email and chat. Users give very positive reviews about the customer support that is offered by Help Scout.

Is Help Scout Free?

No. However, Help Scout does offer a 15 day free trial.

How Much Does Help Scout Cost?

It has three pricing plans ranging from $20 per user per month to $65 per user per month. They also offer special pricing plans for charitable organizations and startups.

So, What Do Other Customer Reviews Say?

• “Help Scout has been a fantastic addition to our customer support process. The shared inbox feature has helped us collaborate and respond to customer inquiries in a timely and efficient manner.”
• “Help Scout is an excellent tool for managing customer support. The interface is very user-friendly and the reporting tools have allowed us to gain insights into our support process.”
• “is easy to use, our customers like it because our emails look just like normal emails. Their support team is great, we always get quick and relevant answers.”
• “Help Scout’s reporting capabilities are limited and not very robust. It’s difficult to get the insights we need to make data-driven decisions.”

Finally, Is Help Scout Worth It?

3. Zoho Desk

What Is Zoho Desk?

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based customer support software that helps businesses manage customer interactions across multiple channels. It provides a ticket management system that allows businesses to organize and track support inquiries from a single location. It also comes with a range of collaboration and automation tools that help businesses improve their customer support process.

So, what Are The Pros and Cons of Zoho Desk?

Let’s start with an overview of the product itself.

• Zoho is an all in one customer support tool that offers a ticketing system, process automation, multi-channel communications (phone, social, email and chat) and
• It is used by more than 100,000 businesses including big brands such as Daimler and McAfee.
• Zoho Desk provides collaboration tools that enable teams to work together and resolve customer inquiries quickly.
• The analytics and reporting make it easy to track performance and improve efficiency.
• Zoho Desk integrates with other Zoho apps and popular third-party platforms, allowing businesses to manage their customer support from a single platform.
• It also comes with a mobile app for Android and iOS.
• Users particularly love how easy it is to handle customer communications from across multiple channels, including phone, email and chat.
• Although most users find the tool very user friendly, others have complained that it is difficult to set up.
• Some users have also complained that the pricing could be more transparent.

What About It’s Customer Support?

Zoho Desk has a large knowledge base, community forums and plenty of useful documentation to help get up to speed with the tool. They also offer email and chat support, including 24/7 support for all paid plans.

Is Zoho Desk Free?

Yes, there is a free version but it has very limited features. Zoho also offers a 15 day free trial for all paid plans.

How Much Does Zoho Desk Cost?

There are three paid plans ranging from $14 per user per month up to $40 per user per month. Zoho also offers a basic ticketing system that costs $7 per user per month.

So, What Do Other Customer Reviews Say?

• “Zoho Desk has been a great addition to our customer support process. The ticket management system is easy to use, and the automation features have saved us a lot of time. The analytics and reporting tools have also allowed us to gain insights into our support process.”
• “It is very easy to use, and the integration with other Zoho tools has been seamless. The collaboration features have also been great for working together on support inquiries.”.”
• “Zoho Desk has helped us improve our response time and overall customer experience. The ability to manage support inquiries across multiple channels from a single platform has been a game-changer for our team.”
• “When it comes to cost, Zoho should be more transparent.”

Finally, Is Zoho Desk Worth It?

Those are our top three, what are the best of the rest?

4. Freshdesk

What is Freshdesk?

Freshdesk: your ultimate help desk software solution! Transform customer support and elevate your business with this powerful tool.

Who is Freshdesk for?

Perfect for businesses of all sizes, Freshdesk simplifies customer support, streamlining communication, and issue resolution.

Main Features and Functionality of Freshdesk

Freshdesk comes with an easy-to-use interface, powerful automations, and multi-channel support capabilities.

What are Freshdesk Pros and Cons?

Pros:

1. User-friendly: Freshdesk review raves about its intuitive design!
2. Time-saving: automated workflows, goodbye manual work!
3. Multi-channel support: email, chat, phone, and social media – all in one place.
4. Customization: tailor Freshdesk to your company’s needs.
5. Scalability: grow with your business, from startups to enterprises.
6. Reporting and analytics: data-driven decisions, all day every day!
7. Integrations: connects with your favorite tools.

Cons:

1. Pricing: premium features may be costly for smaller businesses.
2. Limited customization: some features might not be fully adaptable.
3. Occasional glitches: minor technical issues reported in Freshdesk review.

What is Freshdesk’s Customer Support Like?

The customer support can be contacted via chat, phone, and email. User reviews are generally positive about the customer support offered by Freshdesk.

Freshdesk Pricing

Freshdesk has four paid plans ranging from free to $79 per agent per month. They also offer a 21-day free trial for all new customers.

5. Jira Service Management

What is Jira Service Management?

Jira Service Management is a help desk software solution designed for IT and software development teams.

Who is Jira Service Management for?

Ideal for IT and software development teams, Jira Service Management enhances collaboration, issue tracking, and incident resolution.

Jira Service Management main Features and Functionality

Experience Jira Service Management’s seamless integration with other Atlassian tools, powerful automation, and robust reporting capabilities.

What are Jira Service Management Pros and Cons?

Pros:

1. Streamlined workflows: Jira Service Management review praises its agile capabilities!
2. Scalable: supports businesses from startups to large enterprises.
3. Integrations: works seamlessly with Atlassian ecosystem.
4. Customizable: mold Jira Service Management to your team’s needs.
5. Robust reporting: data-driven insights at your fingertips.
6. ITIL framework: aligns with best practices for IT service management.
7. Strong community: extensive resources and support available.

Cons:

1. Learning curve: can be overwhelming for new users.
2. Pricing: may be costly, especially for smaller businesses.
3. Limited non-IT use: primarily geared towards IT and software development teams.

What is Jira Service Management’s Customer Support Like?

User reviews highlight the responsive customer support via email and phone. Jira Service manegement also has an extensive on-line knowledge base.

Jira Service Management Pricing

There are three different pricing plans offered by Jira Service management ranging from free to $47 per agent per month. They also offer custom pricing plans for larger organizations.

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What is help desk software?

Help desk software is a centralized platform that streamlines customer support by managing inquiries, requests, and issues efficiently from a single location.

By consolidating communication channels, automating tasks, and providing valuable analytics, it enhances customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

Key features of help desk software include ticket management, customizable workflows and integrations with other tools.

Ultimately, help desk software fosters positive customer experiences, long-term relationships, and business growth.

Why use help desk software?

Help desk software is essential for businesses aiming to deliver exceptional customer service, maintain brand reputation, and drive growth.

By centralizing communication channels, streamlining support processes, and automating repetitive tasks, help desk software enhances efficiency and productivity.

It enables support teams to prioritize and resolve issues effectively while providing valuable insights for data-driven decision-making.

Ultimately, investing in help desk software leads to improved customer experiences, stronger long-term relationships, and increased customer loyalty. All of these are vital for a thriving business.

What are the features of help desk software?

Help desk software offers a range of features designed to streamline customer support and enhance team productivity.

Key features include ticket management for organizing and prioritizing inquiries, customizable workflows to adapt to business processes, and multi-channel support to consolidate communication channels.

The software also provides automation for repetitive tasks, a knowledge base for self-service solutions, and reporting and analytics for data-driven decision-making.

Integration capabilities with other business tools further boost efficiency and collaboration among team members.

How to choose help desk software

When choosing help desk software, consider your business’s specific needs, size, and goals.

First, assess the software’s ease of use and its ability to scale as your business grows.

Next, ensure it offers multi-channel support and customizable workflows to adapt to your processes.

Evaluate the available automation features, knowledge base capabilities, and reporting and analytics tools for data-driven insights.

Examine integration options with your existing business tools for seamless operations.

Finally, compare pricing plans, taking into account your budget and the value offered.

By carefully considering these factors, you’ll be well-equipped to select the help desk software best suited for your business and customer support requirements.

Who uses help desk software?

Help desk software is used by businesses across various industries and sizes to streamline their customer support processes and enhance overall customer experiences.

It is especially beneficial for support teams, IT departments, and customer service representatives who handle customer inquiries, technical issues, and support requests.

The software is also utilized by managers and decision-makers to analyze performance data and make informed decisions.

Furthermore, help desk software can be adapted to the unique needs of specific sectors, such as healthcare, finance, retail, and more.

Ultimately, any organization seeking to improve customer satisfaction, maintain a positive brand reputation, and drive growth can benefit from implementing help desk software.

Final summary: Which is the best Help Desk Software to Use?

Overall we rated the best help desk software as Zendesk, Help Scout and Zoho Desk.

However, there were some very worthy runners up, including Jira Service Management and Freshdesk.

If we were pressed for a number one option to go with it’s Zendesk. A wide range of customizations, very user friendly – and it has great customer support.

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We hope you found this article useful – let us know which software you think is the best, and don’t forget to subscribe to us on social @thesoftwarepig.