The best customer service software for 2025

Customer service software is the backbone of an outstanding customer experience (CX). You need a tool that can streamline workflows, simplify communication, empower agents to work more effectively—and, most importantly—use AI to tie all those capabilities together. In fact, per the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2025, 70 percent of consumers see a clear gap between businesses that use AI and those that don't.

To achieve your business goals today and tomorrow, you need to partner with a stellar software provider. Our guide covers the basics of customer support software and provides a detailed breakdown of some customer service tools so you can find the right solution.

More in this guide:

• What is customer service software?
• The 17 best customer service software
• Customer service software comparison chart
• Features of customer service tools
• Benefits of customer support software
• Different types of software for customer support
• How to choose the right customer service software for your business
• Frequently asked questions
• Boost your CX with Zendesk customer service software

Customer service software is a set of tools designed to help businesses track, manage, organize, and respond to customer support requests at scale.

Unlike a shared email inbox, customer service software contains a ticketing system that consolidates customer requests across channels, including email, live chat, messaging, and the phone. Support agents can utilize predefined ticket responses, collaborate on tickets, and automatically tag tickets so they are easily referenceable. A customer support system can also empower customers to self-serve via a knowledge base.

With advanced customer service tools—like reporting, analytics, and AI—support teams can automate repetitive tasks, gather insights, and make data-driven decisions to improve support operations.

Let’s drill into the best customer support tools and help desk software to lay out the important details. Here, we’ll provide an overview of the software and a list of features, starting prices, and trial information.

1. Zendesk

Best for: AI-powered CX

Zendesk offers award-winning customer experience software that empowers businesses to deliver fast and personalized customer support at scale.

Agents can seamlessly respond to customer requests across any channel from a single workspace, eliminating the need to switch between dashboards. They can see key information like a customer’s past support issues and seamlessly build a 360-degree customer view with over 1,700 plug-and-play integrations. Agents can also collaborate with other teammates and departments via Slack or Microsoft Teams directly within Zendesk.

Zendesk AI is built on billions of real customer service interactions, and that technology is fused into every customer touchpoint. In the agent workspace, AI can help customer service teams manage greater ticket volumes while maintaining high customer satisfaction. For advanced routing, AI can identify and label incoming tickets based on conversation priority, intent, sentiment, and language—as well as agent capacity, status, and skill—so they get sent to the right agent at the right time. Furthermore, AI agents act as the first point of contact for customer requests and can autonomously resolve even the most complex concerns.

Advanced reporting and analytics help you determine how to operate more efficiently and identify changing customer needs so you can adapt quickly. Plus, with enterprise-class security features, you can ensure your customers’ data stays safe.

Our customer service software is easy to use, maximizing productivity and ensuring you can move at the speed of your customers. Simply put, Zendesk is a complete customer service solution that works right out of the box—without the need for developers or third-party consultants—resulting in a fast time to value and a low total cost of ownership.

User reviews

• “Zendesk is by far the best platform for customer support companies.”
• "Zendesk makes ticketing much simpler."
• "All in One tool to support our clients in different channels."

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per agent/month. A 14-day free trial is available.

Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

2. Intercom

Best for: Conversational support

Intercom’s customer support solution uses automation and messaging to help internal customer service teams. Intercom Messenger works as a supplement to a business’s existing support tools. Intelligent routing lets businesses direct inquiries to specific agents based on skills, availability, and customer history.

The platform generates tickets through Messenger and other communication channels, such as email, and sends them to a shared inbox. Messenger can provide live support through chat or offer self-service options for customers to find answers at their own pace.

Intercom’s AI tool, Fin, offers conversational support by answering frequently asked questions or surfacing help center articles. Additionally, Fin can summarize conversations in the inbox and automatically populate ticket information. Intercom also features a marketplace with over 350 integrations.

User reviews

• "Support Machine"
• "Solid all-round software, but priced aggressively."
• "There's room for development - reports and assignment, as well as support quality."

Pricing: Plans start at $29 per seat/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

Learn more: Learn about the Intercom integration for Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Intercom compare.

3. Salesforce Service Cloud

Best for: Sales teams

The customer service platform from Salesforce provides agents with an omnichannel workspace for customer support. Agents can view each ticket’s relevant context within their workspace, including customer contact details, prior interactions, and purchase history. The Swarming feature lets teams collaborate on cases by adding agents with specific skills to a dedicated Slack channel.

Salesforce Service Cloud lets agents customize workflows and automatically route tickets to the right support agent. Additionally, reporting and analytics features with pre-built dashboards allow management to monitor team performance across channels. Sales teams can also integrate the Service Cloud with other Salesforce capabilities to assist in the lead generation and closing pipeline.

Just note that Salesforce can be complex and may take users longer to learn. Because Salesforce isn’t exclusively a CX tool and offers a product suite for sales and marketing, businesses looking to level up their customer service may find it easier to achieve their goals with software specializing in the customer experience.

User reviews

• "An efficient and scalable customer service solution."
• "Streamlined and Efficient Customer Service Management."
• "It's an option."

Pricing: Plans start at $25 per user/month, billed annually. A 30-day free trial is available.

Learn more: Learn how Salesforce integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Salesforce compare.

4. Front

Best for: Shared inbox management

Front is a customer service solution that allows users to configure automated workflows and integrate additional channels into a shared inbox. The shared inbox helps keep customer inquiries in one place. It automatically consolidates customer inquiries across channels and routes messages to the best-suited agent.

Each customer interaction gets logged, allowing agents who touch the account to access customer history for future customer support. Front includes built-in collaboration features so teams can communicate on tickets. It also features unified reporting for analytics on team performance and customer satisfaction.

Businesses can build a help center to assist with customer self-service. Knowledge base administrators can control user permissions to designate who can create, edit, and publish content. The help center also integrates with the live chat system so customers can toggle between self-service and customer support.

User reviews

• "A sleek, powerful, and simple way of doing email."
• "Many possibilities on a messaging platform."
• "Good tools, but evolutions needed."

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per seat/month, billed annually. A 14-day free trial is available.

Learn more: See how Zendesk vs. Front compare.

5. Tidio

Best for: Small businesses

Tidio is a customer service platform for small and midsize businesses. Featuring a help desk ticketing system, Tidio allows users to organize and manage customer requests in a shared inbox. The software can turn emails, live chats, and social media messages into tickets that route to the team inbox.

Tickets are also customizable, so users can add notes and create custom tags. Tidio can automatically assign tickets to agents and close them upon resolution. The software can also send an automated satisfaction survey once the interaction is over.

Tidio’s live chat tool features prewritten responses that help agents answer common questions. The chat window displays what customers are typing in real time, so the assigned agent can prepare a reply before the customer sends the message. Tidio also has a conversational AI chatbot, Lyro, that can assist customers with automated support.

User reviews

• "I [have been] using Tidio for a bit now, and their app interface is very easy to follow and user-friendly."
• "Great tool for handling customer chats."
• "Honest Review - There are better options out there!"

Pricing: Paid plans start at $29 per month for 100 conversations, billed annually. A free plan and a seven-day free trial are available.

6. Bitrix24

Best for: Unified business management

Bitrix24 offers online customer support software. The platform allows teams to provide omnichannel support and manage customer requests from a single, unified location. Businesses can also configure it to queue the requests by channel. Additional customizations include creating pre-written responses and configuring wait time rules.

Every customer interaction from all channels gets logged into your CRM. The system collects customer data and creates a new lead if the customer does not have an existing profile. Bitrix24 also offers pre-built and customizable activity reporting features.

Bitrix24’s built-in video calling allows agents and customers to connect face-to-face when resolving issues. With screen sharing and recording, agents can demonstrate solutions, walk customers through steps, and capture sessions for reference or training. There’s also videoconferencing for broader team collaboration, enabling group discussions with up to 48 people at a time.

User reviews

• "Bitrix24 Pros and Cons"
• "Very good experience"
• "Useful but with many glitches and limitations."

Pricing: Paid plans start at $49 per organization/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

7. HappyFox

Best for: Scheduling

HappyFox is a customer service solution and help desk management software provider. It features a ticketing system that helps teams organize requests and features a single customer view for omnichannel support. With automation, customizable workflows, and AI-powered chatbots, HappyFox helps automate everyday tasks.

Managers can use HappyFox to coordinate work schedules. They can define the work hours of their team and configure schedules to support service level agreements. The feature can also account for non-working hours when calculating time-based conditions.

HappyFox also offers self-service options, like an online knowledge base, so customers can find answers to questions without generating a support ticket. Customers can also track support tickets, engage in community forums, and refer to help center articles and FAQs—all within a single self-service portal.

User reviews

• "Happy Fox, Good mix of tools, capabilities, and customization."
• "HappyFox is a versatile help desk and customer support platform."
• "The dashboard view can be [improved].”

Pricing: Plans start at $24 per agent/month, billed annually.

Learn more: Learn how HappyFox Workflows integrates with Zendesk.

8. Zoho Desk

Best for: Zoho ecosystem users

Zoho Desk offers customer support software with tools and automation options that automate agent workflows. For instance, Zoho Desk’s software provides omnichannel support with a single-view dashboard so agents can handle customer issues in one place. The ticket management system can organize tickets according to status, due date, and priority.

Other Zoho Desk features include self-service resources, SLAs, AI, an advanced response editor, and built-in analytics. The platform allows you to track customer data and generate reports with key performance metrics. Users can create dashboards to visualize and track specific ticket metrics. Teams can also integrate Zoho Desk with other Zoho tools to create a unified ecosystem.

Zoho Desk also features an AI-powered assistant, Zia, which can detect how customers feel based on their language and automatically route tickets to agents with that context. Additionally, Zia can auto-tag tickets and notify agents when unusual activity takes place in the ticket workflow.

User reviews

• "Decent Knowledge base platform"
• "Great product."
• "Half-baked features, avoid ZOHO!"

Pricing: Plans start at $7 per user/month, billed annually. A 15-day free trial is available.

Learn more: Learn how Zoho integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Zoho compare.

9. ServiceNow

Best for: Teams with IT needs

ServiceNow is a cloud-based customer service tool for enterprises. It features a customer self-service portal that allows users to create service requests or find help center articles without interacting with an agent. Customers can join community forums to ask questions and share their experiences.

Businesses can also automate workflows to help agents and IT teams with repetitive tasks. Users can design processes to identify, log, resolve, and close incidents to avoid retyping information. Teams can also create cross-enterprise workflows that provide end-to-end views.

ServiceNow also offers customer service management (CSM) tools with generative AI technology. With its Now Assist tool, users can get AI-powered suggestions for responses. Additionally, ServiceNow’s AI offers suggestions to help agents take the next steps toward ticket resolution.

User reviews

• "Best tool for tracking the issue."
• "Not very intuitive, complicated to execute and triage."
• "Good ticket tracking tool."

Pricing: Contact ServiceNow.

Learn more: See how Zendesk vs. ServiceNow compare.

10. LiveAgent

Best for: Live chat

LiveAgent is a customer service tool that focuses on live chat. It includes features like a real-time typing view, customer service website monitoring for chat engagement, and proactive chat invitations based on active agents and their availability. LiveAgent’s universal inbox collects help requests and routes them to specific agents.

Along with its chat tool, its help desk has built-in call center software with inbound and outbound capabilities, a ticketing system, a knowledge base, and reporting and analytics tools. Businesses can record calls, establish IVR flows, and monitor activity in real time. Customers can make callback requests instead of waiting on hold without losing their place in the queue.

Users can configure LiveAgent’s workflow automation tools with its Rules feature. Rules can automate routing, tagging, and ticket resolutions. LiveAgent is also customizable with a library of integrations to connect with third-party tools.

User reviews

• "Enabled us to have more effective response tools to achieve customer satisfaction."
• "Budgeted and Easy to use."
• "It was ok, but you cannot attach help articles to chats."

Pricing: Plans start at $15 per agent/month, billed annually. A 30-day free trial is available.

11. Freshdesk

Best for: Teams with IT needs

ServiceNow is a cloud-based customer service tool for enterprises. It features a customer self-service portal that allows users to create service requests or find help center articles without interacting with an agent. Customers can join community forums to ask questions and share their experiences.

Businesses can also automate workflows to help agents and IT teams with repetitive tasks. Users can design processes to identify, log, resolve, and close incidents to avoid retyping information. Teams can also create cross-enterprise workflows that provide end-to-end views.

ServiceNow also offers customer service management (CSM) tools with generative AI technology. With its Now Assist tool, users can get AI-powered suggestions for responses. Additionally, ServiceNow’s AI offers suggestions to help agents take the next steps toward ticket resolution.

User reviews

• "Best tool for tracking the issue."
• "Not very intuitive, complicated to execute and triage."
• "Good ticket tracking tool."

Pricing: Contact ServiceNow.

Learn more: See how Zendesk vs. ServiceNow compare.

12. Hiver

Best for: Google Workspace users

Hiver is a multichannel customer service help desk designed to work with Google Workspace. Rather than using a completely new platform, Hiver adds common customer service features to the company’s existing Google programs, including shared inboxes, analytics, and SLAs. Businesses that don’t want to reinvent their existing Google communications can use Hiver.

Hiver’s shared inbox has customizable views that allow users to choose conversation categories and filters to personalize the emails they see. With Conversation ID, users can track email threads by assigning them a number and resurfacing them on demand. It also features notes and mentions that enable users to collaborate without forwarding or copying them into the email thread.

Additionally, businesses can create a knowledge base to house FAQs, instructions, and troubleshooting guides. Customers can navigate through the articles using an embedded search bar. If readers can’t find what they’re looking for, they can submit a support ticket from within the knowledge base.

User reviews

• "Overall, Hiver has helped us organize our inbox and ensure emails are assigned appropriately."
• "Not intuitive for scalability. [The] cancelation process is not easy."
• "My 3 Years Experience With Hiver"

Pricing: Plans start at $19 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

13. ProProfs Help Desk

Best for: Startups

ProProfs offers a help desk for customer support. The software allows teams of all sizes—from startups to larger operations—to manage, track, and close tickets. It includes a shared inbox for team collaboration, allowing agents to view conversations in one place. Agents can prioritize tickets, automate tasks, and tag teammates into the conversation.

Agents can view a customer’s ticket history and export conversations as PDFs. It also features private notes for users to collaborate through side conversations. Collision detection can help avoid having multiple agents unknowingly work on the same ticket.

Some of ProProfs’ additional features include a knowledge base for self-service, allowing customers to access articles and FAQs. And its live chat software allows for real-time support via a web widget. ProProfs also has surveys that help teams collect feedback and track customer satisfaction (CSAT).

User reviews

• "Loaded with robust ticketing features."
• "Their support team is super-friendly & always available!"
• "Powerful Tool for Customer Support."

Pricing: Plans start at $19.99 per user/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

Learn more: Learn how ProProfs integrates with Zendesk.

14. Help Scout

Best for: Collision detection

Help Scout’s customer care software consolidates customer data, interactions, and customer history into a shared inbox, giving agents the appropriate context with each request. Its inbox also offers features like private notes for internal collaboration and collision detection to prevent two agents from working on the same issue simultaneously.

Help Scout’s AI tools include AI Summarize and AI Assist. AI Summarize helps users condense email threads into bullet points, while AI Assist suggests generated text while agents are typing out replies. AI Assist can also improve the content, change the tone, and translate it into other languages.

Businesses can administer short-form surveys and collect customer satisfaction ratings on their website or within their app. Additionally, Help Scout hosts an apps and integrations directory that offers over 100 integrations for support, marketing, e-commerce, communication, CRM, and analytics.

User reviews

• "Down-to-earth product that works."
• "Probably good for some, but not our team."
• "Entry-level customer care platform."

Pricing: Plans start at $50 per month, billed annually. A free plan and a free trial are available.

Learn more: See how Zendesk vs. Help Scout compare.

15. HubSpot Service Hub

Best for: Marketing teams

HubSpot Service Hub offers a shared inbox that provides agents with customer history, ticket information, and queue details. HubSpot Service Hub connects with HubSpot’s CRM to sync information between its suite of tools, including its sales and marketing-focused software. Agents can also work from a mobile inbox to stay active while on the move.

With HubSpot Service Hub, businesses can create customer portals and custom feedback surveys. The customer portal allows customers to view, open, and reply to their support tickets. Customers can also access the company knowledge base from the portal.

Users can automate follow-up responses based on survey results to gather more insights on the topic. Key performance metrics—like rep productivity, response time, and support volume—are available with the reporting and analytics dashboard. Each dashboard can house up to 30 reports.

User reviews

• "A perfect tool for startups, but there's room for improvement."
• "Good product but can be improved."
• "HubSpot was great prior to the latest update."

Pricing: Plans start at $15 per seat/month, billed annually. A free plan is available.

Learn more: Learn about HubSpot for Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. HubSpot compare.

16. Kustomer

Best for: Social media integration

Kustomer is a customer service platform that can help support teams manage customer interactions. It consolidates customer data from multiple sources like CRMs and social media into a timeline view, providing agents with customer history, preferences, and interactions in a chronological conversation thread. Agents can access pre-written replies, suggested actions, and ticket tagging options.

Kustomer offers AI tools that use natural language processing to detect customer intent. It can analyze conversations and track customer sentiment so businesses can identify happy or upset customers. Support teams can also use Kustomer’s AI to classify and route conversations based on the customer’s historical data.

The platform includes live reporting and analytics dashboards displaying real-time customer service metrics. Kustomer can retain data for reporting for up to two years. Users can make one-time data exports or establish regularly scheduled report exports.

User reviews

• "Highest level of flexibility for a CRM."
• "Average CRM."
• "Not too user-friendly when it comes to reports."

Pricing: Contact Kustomer.

Learn more: See how Zendesk vs. Kustomer compare.

17. Gorgias

Best for: E-commerce websites

Gorgias is a customer service software solution that offers a help desk with a shared inbox system for support teams to collaboratively manage customer queries. Gorgias integrates with e-commerce sites, like Shopify, so agents can access customer details, such as customer data, order information, and order history.

The software offers automation features like AI-powered responses, prewritten responses for FAQs, and templates to handle repetitive inquiries. AI can scan incoming tickets to identify their intent. It automatically closes spam messages and answers legitimate requests, like order statuses.

Gorgias also has a customizable interface, allowing businesses to build workflows that automatically assign, tag, and close tickets. Prewritten responses allow agents to provide standardized answers to customers. The system can also accommodate rules that identify VIP customers to prioritize their requests.

User reviews

• "The Ultimate Customer Support Platform."
• "Solid Helpdesk, could use more BigCommerce integration."
• "Gorgias lacks urgency and features for businesses that want to provide more immediate support."

Pricing: Plans start at $8 per month for 50 tickets. A free trial is available.

Learn more: See how Zendesk vs. Gorgias compare.

We've compiled a list of the best customer service software for 2024. Our comparison chart offers swift insights into pricing, free trial options, and key features so you can make informed decisions that align with your customer support needs.

While different customer support software may offer different tools, there are several core features most customer service software solutions provide. Here are a few of the top features to look for.

AI-powered tools

Modern customer service software uses AI, automation, and automated ticketing systems to streamline workflows and help teams do more with less. AI-powered help centers use content cues to identify gaps in knowledge base content and assist users in writing new articles.

AI agents can link to backend systems to surface these articles and help customers with even the most complex tasks from start to finish. If the ticket calls for human assistance, the AI agent can automatically route the ticket to the most qualified agent.

AI-powered customer service tools can also support workforce engagement management (WEM) initiatives. Automated workforce management (WFM) capabilities can provide AI-powered staffing forecasts, create optimized schedules, and help teams track employee activity in real time. Quality assurance (QA) tools can review 100 percent of employee conversations to identify top performers and areas of improvement, spotlight problem areas, and provide performance trends.

Ticketing system

An AI-powered ticketing system acts as a central hub for all your customer questions, requests, and concerns. It can aggregate customer communication from different mediums like email, messaging, social, and AI agents to give support teams a complete picture of each customer. When a support agent is actively helping a customer, they can review all customer information like order history, loyalty status, and web activity, so they can provide faster, more personalized service.

Messaging system

Messaging systems help businesses deliver rich conversational experiences across their website, mobile apps, social media, and business channels. Some systems may utilize chatbots, while more comprehensive options like Zendesk integrate features like AI agents to provide 24/7 support.. Teams can also implement third-party integrations like live location maps or custom bots and engage with group messaging to connect all relevant parties.

Voice system

Voice systems help businesses integrate customer phone calls with all other communication channels. Teams can use this technology to direct and route calls within the same workflow to help support agents maintain a comprehensive view of the customer. Advanced options like Zendesk can implement AI agents to answer, solve, and route inbound calls, automatically summarize call transcripts, and identify churn risks and outliers.

Unified omnichannel agent workspace

An omnichannel agent workspace provides a dashboard with a unified view of customer data, interactions across channels, and ticket history (aka the entire customer journey) for all departments to access. An omnichannel workspace allows businesses to meet customers where they are. It gives agents, management, sales reps, and anyone who interacts with consumers the context they need to deliver a high-quality customer experience at scale.

Pre-built and custom reporting

Customer tracking software and reporting tools let you measure and analyze customer history, behavior, and customer service metrics. This data is essential because it tracks how many requests you receive, how many tickets are open, when agents manage those tickets, and how satisfied the customer is with the experience. Most service desks with customer tracking and reporting tools will also auto-generate graph reports for simple viewing and analysis.

Integrations

The right integrations can help your team complete tasks faster and streamline internal and external communication. Consider customer service software that offers no-code integrations—like Slack, Zoom, and WhatsApp—that allow you to hit the ground running, as well as third-party integrations to supercharge your software. For example, Zendesk Marketplace offers more than 1,700 apps and integrations to help you create a 360-degree view of your customer.

Customizable platform

A fully customizable platform allows businesses to tailor their software to meet their organizational needs, now and in the future. Open and flexible software enables teams to unlock customization options with apps and integrations, both code and no code. For example, businesses without developer budgets can utilize no-code integrations to quickly and easily extend the capabilities of their software. But companies wanting to create more complex use cases should consider an open platform like Zendesk, which lets developers customize the code to their heart’s content.

Data privacy and protection

Data privacy and protection allow teams to provide the best CX possible without worrying about data breaches or mishandling sensitive information. Features like access logs can help teams monitor who accesses confidential data, data masking limits what agents can see, and advanced data retention allows teams to create custom data policies and schedule what information they can delete. Most importantly, advanced BYOK encryption keys empower users to hide personal data from unauthorized third parties.

Customer service platforms can benefit companies of all sizes and types. From global enterprises to small businesses, customer support software can help teams in various ways. Here are a few benefits to consider.

Drive customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty

Customers go out of their way to buy from brands they love—and stronger loyalty usually means more sales. Customer service software can facilitate better customer support practices, help your business meet the growing demand for personalization, and empower teams to achieve performance goals that greatly influence customer satisfaction.

Customer service software that enables omnichannel support lets you meet the customer on their preferred channel for fast and convenient support, resulting in a better CX. Additionally, predictive analysis tools and issue tracking software can anticipate potential issues based on ticket volume and customer behavior, helping you proactively address problems to prevent customer churn.

Reduce costs

Implementing tools—like self-service or AI and automation—helps businesses reduce costs by accomplishing more with less. Businesses can handle the same amount of inquiries by streamlining workflows, automating tasks, and allowing customers to help themselves without increasing headcount or sacrificing customer service quality.

Improve agent well-being and the employee experience

The right customer service tools can boost team morale and enhance the employee experience. Simplified and streamlined workflows, automated routine tasks, and intuitive workspaces create an environment that helps agents thrive. For example, AI agents can handle repetitive requests, so your support reps can focus on addressing more engaging questions and complex issues. Agents will stick around and grow with companies that give them the best tools for the job, which comes with the additional benefit of reducing the costs associated with finding new talent to fill vacant roles.

Gain insights for informed decision-making

Customer service software with reporting and analytics tools and customer feedback mechanisms can provide valuable insights for decision-makers. With real-time reporting dashboards and omnichannel analytics, management teams gain visibility into ticket queues, team bandwidth, and performance.

This information allows management to see where teams or individual agents are excelling and where they may need to improve. They can also quickly determine where to allocate resources or make adjustments in real time to optimize workflows.

Boost productivity and efficiency

Customer service platforms with built-in AI and automation can improve team productivity by lending agents a helping hand and reducing manual work. For example, generative AI tools can streamline knowledge management by flagging articles that are ready for a refresh and helping agents write new pieces. AI can also quickly scan ticket content and provide a summary so agents can jump in and resolve the issue faster. Additionally, automation can ensure tickets get routed to the right agent for the task.

Customer support software can come in many forms, but the best solutions enable businesses to provide support across numerous channels and tools within a single workspace. Here are some primary resources businesses use to connect with and assist customers.

1. Phone (voice) support

Phone support software streamlines and enhances voice-based customer interactions. It typically includes intelligent call routing, call recording and transcription, caller ID and customer history display, and IVR. Phone support software can improve call resolution times, agent efficiency, and overall customer satisfaction by automating tasks and providing agents with real-time information.

The Salvation Army connected its phone and ticketing system so every incoming call automatically creates a new ticket. This allows agents to focus on serving the customer and avoids mistakes in the ticket creation process.

2. Live chat

Live chat software provides a real-time chat interface for customer support interactions directly on business websites or mobile apps. It empowers agents to handle multiple chats simultaneously, reducing wait times. Live chat helps increase website conversions and improve customer satisfaction with timely and convenient support.

Upwork integrates its live chat with chatbots to deflect incoming requests to self-service resources. Now, only 42 percent of chat interactions require support team involvement.

3. Social media messaging

Social messaging software allows agents to interact with customers directly on social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Agents can manage conversations, respond to messages, and resolve issues directly within the familiar social media environment. This type of software helps support teams meet customers where they already are, offering personalized and convenient support.

BoxyCharm uses social media messaging to gain an omnichannel view of its customers within its broader customer service system. Doing this has helped the team improve their response time and ensure all private social media tickets get resolved.

4. Email management

Email management software tackles the often overwhelming task of handling customer email inquiries. It offers features like automated ticket creation and routing, team collaboration tools, and prewritten responses.

The Georgia Housing Voucher Program (GHVP) used to manage emails with shared inboxes which made it difficult to take ownership of tickets and maintain accountability. Switching to an email management system allowed the GHVP to gain full visibility of its workflows. Staff can take control of email requests and communicate with coworkers when collaboration is required.

5. Text (SMS) messaging

Text messaging software enables businesses to interact with customers directly through text messages. This convenient and fast channel allows agents to send proactive updates on orders and appointments, answer quick questions, and offer support in bite-sized pieces.

Moving company Storage Scholars uses texting to deliver a more personal touch to customer interactions. While bots help deflect basic questions, knowing a human agent is available on the other end prompts customers to trust the company with their belongings.

6. Mobile SDK

Mobile SDKs (software development kits) are like tiny toolboxes for developers building customer service features directly into mobile apps. These kits provide prebuilt code and resources that simplify adding things like in-app chat, ticketing systems, or knowledge base access directly within a company's app.

Big Fish Games uses the Zendesk mobile SDK to embed its help center into game apps. The players can conveniently access knowledge base articles without leaving the app, leading to a more immersive playing experience.

7. Knowledge base software

Knowledge base software serves as a centralized hub for self-help information. This online library contains answers to common questions, step-by-step guides, and troubleshooting tips. Customers and agents can search through FAQs, articles, and even video tutorials to find solutions independently, reducing pressure on your support team.

Online marketplace MyDeal uses its knowledge base to help onboard new users. The team monitors customer inquiries and service tickets to inform which content to update or add to the knowledge base.

8. Community forums

Community forum software establishes a space for peer-to-peer support. Imagine a virtual town square where customers can ask questions, share experiences, and help each other. This software empowers customers to learn from each other and find user-generated solutions. Features often include discussion boards, topic categories, user profiles, and moderation tools.

Discord uses community forums to gauge user sentiment about possible service updates. Product teams quickly get customer feedback in a centralized place so they can prioritize which new features or fixes should come next.

9. Service desk software

Service desk software and request management software act as the backbone of IT support, designed specifically to manage internal requests from employees or more technical customer issues. Employees can submit tickets for tech malfunctions, password resets, software access requests, and other IT-related needs. Service desk software streamlines workflows and offers features like ticket tracking, automated routing, prioritization, knowledge base access, and reporting.

Before Nottingham Trent University

used service desk software, the IT department was considered an ineffective call center. The IT team struggled to track and close student requests. Adding Zendesk service desk software allowed the department to manage and close tickets efficiently. As a result, the organization increased its CSAT to 96 percent.

Your customer service software is critical to your support team’s day-to-day operations, so finding the right mix of tools is a big deal. Here are a few things to consider when choosing the right customer service software for your business:

• Consider time to value (TTV) and total cost of ownership (TCO): Fast TTV means your software is easy to set up and use, so you can quickly maximize the benefits. Vendor-supplied IT support helps manage updates and bug patches, so you don’t need an in-house dev team, leading to a low TCO.
• Ensure security and reliability: The software should have compliance certifications for cloud-based and on-premise servers, including application, data, network, and product security that offers two-factor authentication (2FA) and single sign-on (SSO) options.
• Determine product scalability: The software needs an infrastructure to run smoothly while adapting to your ever-changing needs. Service desk software should have options to accommodate a growing company, like seamlessly adding or removing channels and integrating new systems and software.
• Utilize free trials: Free trials allow you to test software and assess its capabilities and usability before locking into a long-term investment. This information can help you determine if the software aligns with your business needs and if you can achieve your customer support goals.
• Explore quality support and partnership: Customer service software vendors should provide customer advocates to help businesses maximize their investment. The advocacy support team can answer questions and resolve issues throughout the lifetime of your plan.