Intercom Vs. Zendesk: Pricing, Features, Integrations in 2023

Snigdha
By Snigdha | Last Updated on April 9th, 2024 11:52 am

Offering a superior customer experience is important for the success of any business and critical aspects like customer support, communication, and tasks like ticketing and more need to be planned ahead of time. This is where customer service software comes into play. Intercom and Zendesk, two of the most popular customer service platforms have gained popularity and unique clientele for themselves since their launch. While both are customer-centric, it is worth mentioning that when we dig even a little deeper, the differences and similarities become quite apparent, even to a casual observer. The best way, however, to maximize their potential is through Intercom Zendesk integrations on Appy Pie Connect.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Though there are many customer service solutions available online, for the purpose of this blog, I am going to talk about Intercom and Zendesk. I tried each of the platforms and discovered how each can be used to improve a customer’s experience and journey. Ahead, I will list out the features, pricing, and integrations to expand the potential of the platforms.

Intercom Vs. Zendesk - Comparison

Even though the two applications are often mentioned while talking about customer service, there are some glaring differences between them. The main difference between these two is that Zendesk is primarily a customer support platform that has recently added some sales modules and Intercom is more of an all-in-one business communication platform with some built-in tools focused on marketing and sales.Let’s start by taking a look at the features.

Features

Both applications have some common features and a set of their own unique features to set them apart from each other.

  1. Helpdesk & Ticketing

    Zendesk is a clear winner here. Zendesk’s helpdesk feature is considered the best in the industry and has been so since the time of its inception. The helpdesk and ticketing system is where it all started for Zendesk and they have pretty much mastered it since it started. They have a dashboard to bring together customer interactions from all channels, including email, chat, social media, or even phone calls. For larger teams, however, they have advanced features like private notes and ticket monitoring among other things. Intercom, however, started with its chat functionality and offers the helpdesk only as a complementary service that consolidates customer requests in a common inbox and lets the agents leave private notes for each other. The helpdesk feature for Intercom is simple and easy to use but lacks the advanced functionality of Zendesk.

  2. Knowledge Base

    On Zendesk I enjoyed using the intuitive text editor as it allowed me to easily create new articles while categorizing them and customize the knowledge base to fit my brand narrative. Furthermore, the Answer Bot tool can be integrated with your knowledge base. Once I did this, the bot automatically delivered relevant article suggestions in response to any customer query saving time otherwise needed to find solutions and reducing the workload of the customer support executives. Intercom has a comparable help center that let me create knowledge base articles, organize them into categories and integrate them into the messenger, thus offering a streamlined chat experience to the customers. The Operator bot on Intercom also suggests relevant articles on chat. On this particular criterion, both Zendesk and Intercom are quite comparable.

  3. In-app Messaging on Intercom

    Intercom has an edge over Zendesk with its amazing in-app messaging feature. On Intercom, in-app messaging includes sending notifications to those using the app o mobile or desktop devices. In-app messages are a great way to engage with customers who are active on the app. These notifications can be customized to be delivered based on timing and user behavior. It’s a great way to share marketing messages and offer support. Intercom lets you use in-app messaging for user onboarding, user conversion, and garnering user feedback. Zendesk does not offer in-app messaging, so if it is important for the success of your business, consider choosing Intercom over Zendesk.

  4. Email marketing on Intercom

    Email marketing has proven to be the most effective tool for customer communication. Emails are the most versatile marketing medium and can be used to deliver value at any stage of the customer journey. Intercom’s email marketing tool in combination with other tools like in-app messaging and live chat is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to effective customer engagement. In my opinion, once a business gathers a healthy number of subscribers (email addresses) email campaigns can help them establish a healthy relationship with customers. Some of the ways to create interest in your emails are by sending newsletters, onboarding messages, and product setup information. The more value you offer through your emails, the greater would be the chances of your emails being opened.

  5. Virtual call center on Zendesk

    Zendesk Talk - the virtual call center solution from Zendesk is built into its ticketing system where the agents use VoIP technology to offer more personalized support. Zendesk’s virtual call center is easy to set up and manage and since it is cloud-based, agents from anywhere in the world can use it efficiently. Without a virtual call center tool, Intercom cannot handle customer calls through a cloud-based phone system or calling app independently. So, if you want to incorporate this feature, it is possible only through any of the thousands of Intercom integrations available on Appy Pie Connect.

  6. Real-time analytics on Zendesk

    Intercom does not have more advanced real-time analytics while Zendesk does. Zendesk enjoys access to recent and relevant data which can be used by both your agents and customers to help them make informed decisions. I was impressed to see a live feed of real-time analytics on the dashboard which could be broadcasted to the support agents. This information can help the agents or support executives decide the areas they need to focus on.

Pricing

Zendesk has three plans viz. Support Team, Support Professional, and Support Enterprise, starting at $19 per agent per month and going up to $115 per agent per month for their enterprise plan. The base plan offers a ticketing system integrated with email and social media. It also offers pre-configured business rules, customer interaction history, and out-of-the-box reporting and analytics. In the Enterprise plan, you get everything in the lower plans plus skills-based routing, customized agent roles, and Sandbox. Zendesk offers a 14-day free trial for every plan apart from the Enterprise plan.Intercom has a 14-day trial at the end of which you can upgrade to a paid plan or start using the basic free plan. Intercom prices are decided based on the number of seats and contacts. Each of their plans is highly flexible and is tailored to the customer’s specific business needs. Hence, Intercom may be a better choice for small businesses that do not need all the advanced features.

Popular Intercom App Integrations

Popular Zendesk Integrations

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Conclusion

Both Zendesk and Intercom are quite popular and have a comparable set of features. While deciding which one you would want for your organization, it is important to think about the features that are important to you and the pricing that works out for your specific needs. However, it is important to remember that either of the apps may not perfectly fit your needs. In such cases, it is a good idea to choose the best fit and then maximize its functionality using integration with other useful applications. The best way to do this is using Appy Pie Connect the perfect no-code workflow automation platform. Explore Intercom integrations and Zendesk integrations, and you can even connect Intercom to Zendesk to explore Intercom Zendesk integrations.

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Snigdha

Content Head at Appy Pie

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