Navigating the help desk software market can be overwhelming for small businesses. With a multitude of options available, finding the right solution to efficiently manage customer inquiries and support requests can be a daunting task.
We understand the disappointment of sifting through countless tools only to find they don’t meet your specific needs.
That’s why we’re here to simplify the process. We have tested and evaluated small business tools and identified the best help desk software to streamline your customer support operations.
In this easy guide, we’ll introduce you to some of the top help desk software alternatives on the market, making it easier for you to choose the perfect fit for your business.
Before that, you should know why you need help desk software.
A. How Does Help Desk Software Prove Beneficial to Every Organization?
Help desk software automates essential functions to enhance the responsiveness and efficiency of support staff. Central to these solutions is the “ticketing” system.
Regardless of the channel a customer uses, every request is converted into a digital ticket containing all relevant information: a summary of the request or issue, customer ID, time reported, channel used, and the assigned service representative.
But what about customers who dislike automated service systems and quickly disengage? They may be fewer than you think.
A report from the Capgemini Research Institute found that “customers increasingly opt for voice assistants,” and 58% of organizations in the study said the benefits of automated voice response and chat “met or exceeded their expectations.”
The way a system manages these tickets is the primary differentiator between help desk solutions, so consider this aspect carefully when making your purchasing decision.
B. Best Help Desk Software For Better Customer Experience
1. Help Scout
Help Scout is one of the most popular all-in-one help desk software solutions available, and for good reason. It includes nearly every feature necessary to streamline your customer support process and more.
Help Scout allows you to administer all your chat and email support requests from a single location. This means your customers can pick their preferred method of contact while your support team can handle all requests from a unified queue.
To expedite support, you can create saved replies for common questions, enabling your team to respond instantly.
A standout feature is the SEO options for the knowledge base. Available in all plans, Help Scout allows you to create search-engine-optimized articles in your help center using an automatically generated sitemap.
Pricing: The Standard plan starts at $20 per user per month (with a limitation of 25 users) and includes 2 shared mailboxes, live chat, 1 knowledge base, and 100+ integrations. A free 15-day trial is available.
Why you should choose Help Scout: As a top-rated help desk software, Help Scout offers essential features along with advanced options that can enhance your support team’s capabilities. If it fits your budget, we totally recommend using Help Scout.
2. Groove
Among all the help desk platforms we’ve tested, Groove stands out as one of the most affordable and user-friendly. It offers all the essential features needed to provide fast, personalized support to your customers at a price that’s ideal for small businesses.
Groove’s intuitive shared inbox allows you to manage customer conversations across email, live chat, and social channels like Facebook Messenger and Instagram, ensuring you can engage with users on their preferred platforms. Additionally, you can create a self-service knowledge base that is accessible 24/7, reducing the number of support requests.
Groove also provides easy-to-read reports to help you track your customer support team’s performance. These reports include key metrics like average first response time, average resolution rate, total resolutions, and happiness rate.
Pricing: The Standard plan starts at $4.08 per user per month and includes 2 channels, 2 email inboxes, live chat, and more. A free 7-day trial is available with no credit card required.
Why you should choose Groove: Groove delivers an excellent end-to-end customer support experience. It combines email support, live chat, and a knowledge base into one user-friendly and affordable platform.
3. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a widely-used cloud-based help desk software option for businesses, known for its user-friendly interface and robust features.
Firstly, the help desk system includes AI automation rules that automatically assign tickets based on specific criteria. For example, tickets with refund-related keywords in the subject can be automatically routed to the appropriate agent.
A standout feature of Freshdesk is its ticket conversion capabilities. You can convert phone calls, social media direct messages, and even brand mentions into tickets, allowing your team to handle these issues and provide an omnichannel customer experience.
Pricing: The basic version costs $15 per agent per month. There is also a free version that supports up to 10 agents, though it only includes ticketing and knowledge base features. A 14-day free trial is available.
Why you should choose Freshdesk: Freshdesk is an excellent choice for those seeking a user-friendly yet powerful help desk tool. While it’s not as inexpensive as Groove, it remains more affordable than more well-known options like Help Scout.
4. Nextiva
Nextiva stands out as the premier business phone service for small businesses. Besides offering robust phone support, Nextiva provides a comprehensive multichannel support solution ideal for both small business owners and large call centers.
It allows our teams to manage customer calls from anywhere in the world without using their personal cell phone numbers.
The integrated help desk solution is outstanding, enabling communication across various channels like phone, email, and team messaging from a single app. The ticket management system is user-friendly, allowing you to set priorities, send reminders, and message your team effortlessly.
Pricing: Nextiva’s plans start at $23.95 per user per month. You can also use our Nextiva coupon to receive a 21% discount.
Why you should choose Nextiva: While ticket, chat, and knowledge base support are useful, many people prefer direct assistance via phone. We find Nextiva ideal for connecting with these customers.
5. LiveChat
Looking for live chat support as your primary help desk service? LiveChat is your best option. You can use it across all your eCommerce projects to support our pre-sales staff, and it seamlessly integrates with HelpDesk.
The setup is quick and straightforward. We simply created a LiveChat account, installed the LiveChat plugin on WordPress, and signed in through the plugin page. Instantly, the LiveChat widget appeared on our website.
LiveChat offers mobile, desktop, and tablet apps for Android and iOS, allowing your support team to handle requests without logging into the WordPress dashboard.
We also appreciate LiveChat’s work hours feature. Agents’ statuses automatically switch to accepting chats during business hours and not accepting them when offline. This ensures agents can complete ongoing conversations or transfer them to colleagues before logging off.
Pricing: Plans start at $20 per person per month, with a 14-day free trial available. You can also use our LiveChat coupon to get an exclusive 30% discount.
Why you should choose LiveChat: Having used LiveChat for our own projects, we are confident it’s an excellent fit for those seeking chat support for their help desk. It’s easy to set up in WordPress and won’t slow down your website.
6. ChatBot
Live chat and ticket support are effective but require human agents to operate and maintain. Sometimes, you may lack the resources to hire staff or the time to respond to customer inquiries.
This is where ChatBot becomes invaluable. This AI chatbot software allows small businesses and startups to create chatbots that can answer questions around the clock. It enhances customer service efficiency and frees up time for your support staff.
ChatBots are used in several SaaS businesses to handle pre-sales questions and forward users to live support teams when needed. ChatBot integrates easily with WordPress, WooCommerce, LiveChat, HelpDesk, or your preferred customer service software.
Pricing: Plans start at $52 per month, billed annually, for up to 1,000 monthly chats, with higher tiers available. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial, allowing you to test the service.
Why you should choose ChatBot: This help desk software is perfect if you lack the resources to hire support agents but still want to offer chat support. It can also complement your existing support options, ensuring 24/7 availability.
7. WPForms
If you need a contact form to submit tickets, consider WPForms. It’s the top contact form plugin for WordPress, used on over 6 million websites. With the drag-and-drop builder and customizable support ticket template, creating a contact form is quick and easy.
The free version of the plugin allows you to build a basic contact form with features like spam protection and email notifications.
The pro version extends these capabilities, transforming the plugin into a powerful service desk tool. It presents advanced features such as conditional logic, form abandonment functionality, geo-location, and more.
Pricing: The Basic plan starts at $49.50 per year for simple form creation. For advanced features like user journey reports and integrations, the Pro plan is $199.50 per year.
Why you should choose WPForms: For small business websites needing a simple ticket submission solution, WPForms is an excellent choice. It also integrates seamlessly with popular service desk software like Freshdesk.
C. Summarizing Best Help Desk Software
As your company expands and acquires new clients, your customer service team will need to keep pace with the rising demand for support. Implementing help desk software will enable your reps to efficiently organize requests, manage ticket volumes, and deliver effective support.
Help desk software is also a business tool that has been fundamental for businesses in terms of optimizing customer service operations. It provides many features from ticketing and live chat to automation and analytics-all mainly aimed at ensuring a seamless support experience.
Companies with the right helpdesk solution can help reduce response times, push up customer satisfaction, and optimize internal workflows.
If you are managing some small teams or large-scale enterprises, you can easily find support desk software that suits the need and budgetary constraint of your organizations.
Suggested read: Efficient Ticket Management System: Streamline Customer Support
D. Common FAQs on Best Help Desk Software
Can help desk software support multi-channel customer service?
Yes, many help desk software solutions support multi-channel customer service, including email, phone, live chat, social media, and more. This ensures you can meet your customers where they are and provide consistent support across all platforms.
Can help desk software help with tracking customer satisfaction?
Yes, many help desk software solutions offer built-in survey tools or integrations with third-party survey platforms to gather feedback and track customer satisfaction. This data helps businesses understand areas for improvement and measure the effectiveness of their support efforts.
How does help desk software ensure data security and privacy?
Help desk software providers prioritize data security and privacy by applying robust security measures such as encryption and compliance with industry standards such as GDPR and HIPAA. They also offer features for data backup and recovery to prevent data loss.
