There is little wonder why so many companies are searching for top platforms for customer communication these days. High competition and market saturation lead to a situation when offering high-quality products or having unique branding might not be enough. Taking this into consideration, more personalized, prompt, and effective communication with customers might well be the thing to set your business apart from others. In the article, we’ll review the key types of platforms for customer communication and top solutions that are currently present on the market.
Types of customer communication solutions
You may need to use a variety of strategies to offer the finest customer service, depending on the size of your company and the needs of your clients. Different situations require different tools and it’s better to avoid what’s so accurately described by Abraham Maslow: “To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.”
- Helpdesks allow customers to submit support tickets via email or special forms on a website and receive responses from a customer service team. These solutions usually come with features that allow to categorize tickets by inquiry and client type, assign them to competent employees, and assess customer satisfaction.
- Live chat widget on a website is a great way to provide real-time customer support. Customers can ask questions without leaving a website to write an email or dial a phone number. Many platforms also allow tracking of website visitors’ behavior in real time.
- Call centers are digital solutions that facilitate the work of support agents and sales reps via a dedicated phone line. They can record conversations, analyze employee efficiency and automatically assign incoming calls to available agents.
- All-in-one messengers are platforms that can integrate with multiple social media and messaging apps, as well as email and free live chat, and allow employees to communicate with clients across all connected channels in a single interface.
- Chatbots and robots. The increasing capabilities of AI make robots great assistants for both text and voice communication. They can provide answers to frequent questions, service information such as tracking info, or route to a relevant specialist, decreasing the workload of human agents.
Top 6 customer communication platforms
For companies that look for customer communication platforms, there are plenty of options available. The choice should be based on the size of your business, its type, and your customer needs. Below, we’ll take a detailed look at six popular customer communication platforms.
LiveAgent
LiveAgent is one of the most popular cloud-based customer service platforms, which helps brands manage customer interactions. Its hybrid ticket system allows customer representatives to communicate via a single ticket with customers that use multiple channels as well as supports automatic or rule-based assigning of inquiries for an even distribution among agents.
Help Scout
The most notable feature of Help Scout customer service platform is Shared Inbox. It makes team collaborations easier, by allowing agents to work together on one ticket, exchange private notes and create automation workflows. HelpScout is available with three types of subscription plans, Standard, Plus, Pro, starting from $20 per user monthly.
Zoho Desk
With extensive AI-powered features and help center tools, Zoho Desk makes it possible to not only communicate with customers across numerous channels but also to automate many routine tasks and create a multi-brand knowledge base or an embeddable self-service plugin.
Umnico Inbox
Am omnichannel messaging platform, Umnico Inbox allows users to communicate with clients via free live chat, instant messengers, email, and social media through one intuitive interface. The platform also supports integrations with popular CRM systems and provides sales funnel and automation capabilities. The price depends on the number of connected and used channels, while a free trial allows users to try all features for free.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a popular helpdesk solution that includes a range of other features as well, including ticketing, live chat, knowledge base, and customer feedback. It also supports integrations with third-party platforms such as Salesforce, Shopify, and Magento. The platform’s pricing depends on the functionality included in a chosen plan and starts from $19 per month.
Qiscus
Along with text-based communication, Qiscus supports voice and video calls for real-time communication with clients. The platform’s dashboard provides extensive and accurate analytics that help marketing, sales, and support teams in managing customers. Qiscus has three paid plans that differ in functionality, the least expensive one is $70 per month for 5 agents.
Overall, there are quite a number of different customer communication platforms available, and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. Base your choice on your business goals and industry specifics, as well as your budget, to pick the right solution for your company.
