Crafting a better work experience

While Intercom is probably the most well-known customer support platform, it comes with a major drawback for any small to medium-sized business (SMB)—the price!

Intercom pricing is somewhat like the Coke recipe, it's a well-kept secret. They only advertise their Starter plan priced at $89 per month for 2 seats or $74 per month if you opt for a 1-year contract.

To get the other pricing options for the Pro and Premium plans which include team inbox, rules, ticketing, role-based permissions, and analytics you need to sign up for a demo to get a custom quote depending on the number of seats and the number of people reached per month.

While most Intercom alternatives may not have all the features of Intercom, they are in general much more affordable.

In this guide, we narrowed down the top Intercom alternatives, from Zoho Desk to Hubspot, that are worth considering and will keep your budget intact.

Let's get started!

16 Affordable Intercom Alternatives for 2025

As a small business owner or decision-maker, you are likely facing the difficult reality of having a limited budget. You may have realized that as great as Intercom is, its hefty monthly price tag is likely too expensive for the features you really need.

In your search for an alternative, you have likely come across Drift, a great and close Intercom competitor. The problem is that, at a whopping $2,500 per month, you were probably looking at a more expensive alternative.

Here's a curated list of the best Intercom alternatives for small businesses that want to provide exceptional support and improve customer engagement without going bankrupt.

1. Missive

Missive is a communication tool that offers a variety of features for businesses, including a shared inbox, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, social media DMs, calls, and more communication channels.

Pricing starts at $0 per user per month. More advanced plans start at $18 per user per month. You can view all pricing details here.

Shared Inbox

Missive's shared inbox feature allows you to share shared aliases or shared accounts with multiple team members so they can access and manage them directly from their accounts. It allows you and your support team to be more efficient when communicating and collaborating.

With a chat available in each conversation, you can discuss with colleagues for help and send files privately. You can also add anyone to a conversation by tagging them in the chat.

Collaboration goes a step further with real-time draft collaboration with team members. Best of all, you can also manage your personal account directly inside the Missive app and benefit from the same features.

Additionally, Missive offers shared contact, shared labels, and shared canned responses to help manage customer interactions. Another feature is the auto follow-up, which allows team members to schedule follow-up messages to customers.

Live Chat

Missive's live chat feature allows your business to connect with your customers in real-time through your website or mobile app. The chat can be customized to fit your brand and translate into any language you’d like.

Additionally, you can set a schedule to display an online/offline status based on your support team's presence. And best of all, they can be easily received in a Team Inbox to benefit from all the advantages of a shared inbox.

Integrations

Missive offers integrations with OpenAI, Hubspot, Shopify, Zapier, and more. You can also build custom integrations from scratch or by using Retool.

This lets you connect Missive with other apps like Pipedrive, a CRM, to make your work easier. It can be really useful if you are already using software and don’t want all of the hassles of migrating to a new solution.

It's integration with OpenAI lets you use AI to reply to your customers using quickly by generating a customized reply based on your canned responses. This feature allows your team to alsways send accurate replies.

Team and assignment

Missive's team and assignment feature allows you or any team member to assign specific people to specific conversations, so it’s easy to know who is responsible for handling them.

The feature also makes it easy to ping someone from the sales team, for example, to get some help. Missive also offers rules to automate workflow, such as round-robin assignments to only online members, SLA rules, auto follow-up, and more.

Missive has lots of the same features as Intercom, but it costs less money.

2. Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer service and support platform that offers a variety of features, including live chat, help desk ticketing, and knowledge management. Its pricing starts at $25 per agent per month for its basic support plan. They also offer various more expensive pricing plans to fit the needs of different businesses.

It sounds pretty similar to Intercom. But is Intercom like Zendesk?

First of all, Zendesk is built with customer service and ticket management in mind while Intercom is built more around sales with a built-in CRM. Zendesk is a better solution for strictly customer support, with self-service features like help desks, but it lacks some of the sales and automated marketing features of Intercom.

Zendesk provides a wide range of customer support features, and its pricing is more affordable compared to Intercom. However, it may not have all the advanced marketing features offered by Intercom.

3. Help Scout

Help Scout is another customer service platform that offers features such as email and live chat support, shared inboxes, a knowledge base, and reporting.

Its pricing starts at $25 per user per month and scales based on the number of users and features you need. Much like Missive, Help Scout uses shared inboxes to help your team work together. It also offers assignments, private notes (which act like chats), saved replies, and tagging.

Help Scout provides a more affordable option compared to Intercom, but it doesn’t have all the advanced sales and marketing features offered by Intercom.

4. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a helpdesk platform that offers features such as a support desk, contact center, and customer feedback management. It offers a free option with basic features. The paid plan starts at $18 per person per month and increases rapidly based on the number of agents and features needed.

However, if you want to get access to a live chat software, you’ll also need to subscribe to their Freshchat tool.

Freshdesk works similarly to Intercom. Unlike Missive and Help Scout, the platform uses a ticketing system for every customer inquiry to help your team prioritize, categorize, and assign tickets.

While Freshdesk’s pricing is more affordable than Intercom, to access all the features that are offered in the latter you’ll need to subscribe to their different platforms tools which can rapidly add up and eat up your budget.

5. Helpwise

Helpwise is a shared inbox platform that allows teams to manage customer service, emails, knowledge base, and live chat in one place. Its pricing starts at $15 per user per month.

Much like Missive and Help Scout, Helpwise is organized like an email client and organizes customer inquiries in inboxes.

It is more affordable than Intercom and is designed specifically for managing shared inboxes. While Intercom also has shared inbox features, it is a more comprehensive platform that includes sales and marketing tools.

Helpwise focuses on shared inbox management can be attractive for your startup. However, you should also consider that Helpwise may not have all the advanced sales and marketing features offered by Intercom.

6. Crisp

Crisp is a messaging platform that offers a range of features, including shared inbox, live chat, CRM, and email marketing campaigns. While they offer a free plan, its features are really limited and don’t support emails or social media.

The paid plans start at $25 per month per workspace for up to 4 users, with additional pricing options available.

If you're familiar with Intercom, you'll notice that Crisp provides many of the same features, but at a more budget-friendly price point. However, it's important to keep in mind that it may not have all the advanced features of Intercom.

7. LiveChat

LiveChat is a customer service platform mainly focused on live chat. in addition to its chat widget, it provides features like a ticketing system, teams, and analytics.

Its pricing starts at $24 per agent per month and scales based on the number of team members and features you need. LiveChat also supports emails, SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger so you can easily connect with your customers. They also offer integrations with Salesforce, Shopify, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.

LiveChat offers a more affordable option compared to Intercom, but not all the sales and marketing features offered by Intercom.

8. Groove

Groove describes itself as a Zendesk alternative. The helpdesk software offers features for customer service with features like shared inbox, live chat, and analytic reporting. Its pricing starts at $25 per user per month.

Groove is similar to Missive, Help Scout, and Helpwise in the sense that it presents itself as an email client and works in the same fashion. You can also assign the conversation to a team member, leave notes in a conversation and mention someone in the conversation just like Missive. However, it doesn’t offer features for sales and marketing that are offered by Intercom.

Groove is more affordable than Intercom, however, you should also consider that Groove may not have all the features offered by Intercom. Additionally, you should verify the ease of use, integrations with other tools, and customer support when comparing Groove and Intercom.

9. HelpCrunch

HelpCrunch is a customer communication platform that combines live chat, email marketing, shared inbox, mobile app support, and other tools for support, marketing, and customer experience. It offers a free trial and its pricing starts at $29 per user per month with 1 000 emails.

HelpCrunch is an affordable alternative to Intercom that offers similar features for support, marketing, and sales. It provides a knowledge base, transparent pricing, and a shared inbox for multi-channel.

The live chat feature allows you to send files, knowledge base articles, or canned responses to website visitors offering a self-service option.

HelpCrunch is organized like an email client and organizes customer inquiries in inboxes, much like Helpwise and Missive. However, HelpCrunch doesn't yet offers AI to reply to email and chatbot.

To sum up, HelpCrunch is a more affordable alternative to Intercom that offers a wide range of features for customer support, marketing, and sales.

10. HubSpot

HubSpot is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform that offers sales, customer service, marketing, and content management software to help businesses grow better. Its pricing starts at $30 per month for its CRM Suite. It also offers a free plan with basic features

HubSpot’s CRM is a powerful tool that provides businesses with a complete view of their customer interactions and data using their analytics.

They also offer AI-powered Smart CRM, to use generative AI to reply to customer issues more easily. HubSpot also offers tools that sync between service, sales, and marketing teams.

In conclusion, HubSpot is a powerful and complete CRM platform that offers a wide range of features for customer service, but also sales, marketing, and even a CMS. Its pricing is more expensive than other solution on the list, but it provides a complete view of your customers.

11. Customerly

Customerly is a customer communication platform that offers a live chat tool, email marketing, and other features for customer support and marketing experience. Its pricing starts at $9 per month for the most basic plan.

It's another affordable alternative to Intercom that offers similar features for support, marketing, and sales at a reasonable price. However, pricing depends on your usage unlike other solutions.

Their live chat features AI with customizable workflows to automate discussions with your website's visitors. With the Premium Plan, you can also have up to five separate widgets, which is helpful if you need to have separate inboxes.

Customerly’s outbound email messages can be created with rules, which will allow you to target certain segments of customers. They also offer analytics to help you understand your messages performance.

Customerly is organized like an email client and organizes customer inquiries in inboxes, much like Helpwise and Missive.

12. Tidio

Tidio is a live chathelp desk software. It offers a free plan with basic features and its pricing starts at $25 per month.

It's main features are:- Live chat that allows you to communicate with your customers in real-time.- Chatbots to automate your conversations, sales, and processes- Lyro AI to provides personalized support without training.- Ticketing system to manage customer inquiries in an inbox.

Tidio is organized like an email client and organizes customer inquiries in inboxes, much like Helpwise and Missive.

Tidio is easier to use, has a better rating for support, is easier to setup, and more affordable than Intercom. However, Intercom provides more advanced features and is more customizable.

13. ClickDesk

ClickDesk is a live chat platform that offers voice, and video support. It offers a free plan and paid plans start at $14.99 per user per month.

While it's a fairly simple solution compared to Intercom and only offers a live chat you can still integrate in with other helpdesk.

14. Olark

Olark is a cloud-based chatbot and live chat solution that lets you interact with your customers through your website.

While tt's not as features packed as Intercom, it's a great alternative if you're looking for a live chat solution to connect with your customers.

And with its pricing starts at $29 per user per month, it's also more affordable than the Intercom.

Olark provides you with analytics, team management features and searchable scripts.

15. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is an omnichannel help desk software. It's a comprhensive solution that can compete with Intercom on many level.

It offers feature like ticket management, instant messaging, multi-brand help center, shared inbox, a call center, social media integrations, live chat, and knowledge base.

It also offers an AI feature called Zia, that can help you team pick the best knowlegde base entry for an inquiry or send it directly to a customer. It can also auto-tag conversations.

Its pricing starts at $20 per month per user.

16. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a help desk software that includes live chat, ticketing, and customer service features.

It has features like live chat with AI chatbots, a service hub for customer interactions, and help desk tools for managing support tickets.

The platform includes chat monitoring, ticket distribution, and reporting features for support teams.

Its pricing starts at $15 per agent per month.

Factors to Consider When Choosing an Alternative to Intercom

Aside from the price, it's important to consider various factors when choosing a cheaper alternative to Intercom for your needs. Here are some key aspects to keep in mind:

Features and Functionality

Make a list of the features and functionalities you need in a customer support tool. This can include things like live chat, shared inbox, auto follow-ups, and more. Ensure that the alternative you choose provides all the necessary features that you need to effectively support your customers.

Integration with Other Tools

Consider the integration options available with other tools and software you use in your business. A good customer service software should easily integrate with your existing tools and workflows, allowing you to streamline your processes.

Ease of Use and User Interface

Choose a customer support tool that is user-friendly and easy to navigate. The tool should be intuitive, so your team can start using it quickly without having to spend too much time on training or adaptation.

Level of Customer Support

The level of customer support offered by the alternative should be considered. Choose a tool that provides excellent customer support and resources to help you resolve any issues that may arise.

For example, Intercom rates 8.7 for the quality of their support on G2, while Missive rates 9.7.

Potential for Scalability

As your business grows, so will your customer support needs. Choose a customer support tool that is scalable, so you can continue to use it as your business expands.

By considering these factors, you can find a more affordable alternative to Intercom that meets your business needs and helps you effectively support your customers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, when it comes to finding a more affordable alternative to Intercom, there are many great options available for small businesses. These options offer similar features and functionality to Intercom, at a more budget-friendly price.

When considering which alternative is right for your business, it's important to think about factors such as the features and functionality you need, the ease of use and user interface, the level of customer support, and the potential for scalability.

Each of these alternatives has its strengths and weaknesses, and by taking the time to consider your specific needs and goals, you can find the perfect solution for your business.

In the end, it's all about finding the right balance between cost and value. With the right tool in place, you can improve customer satisfaction, increase efficiency, and grow your business more effectively. So why not give one of these alternatives a try today?

Help Scout is a powerful help desk software designed to streamline customer communication and support. But as with most software, it has downsides that lead people to look for alternative solutions.

Here are the most common reasons users look for a Help Scout competitor:

• Limited customization options: While Help Scout offers a range of features, it is not always possible to customize the platform to meet the unique needs of your business. As an example, their self-service knowledge base is less customizable as others in the market and they only have 50 integration partners compared to Zendesk's 949 integration partners.
• High costs: While Help Scout can be a great Intercom alternative, it can also be expensive compared to other solutions on the market, making it less accessible for smaller businesses with tight budgets.
• Lack of versatility: Help Scout is exclusively designed for customer support, specifically for ticket management. It cannot be used for any other purpose. Customer service, however, often requires input from multiple people in the company. With Help Scout, it can be hard to streamline your workflow and make customer support processes more efficient.
• Lacks key features: Help Scout lacks some basic features to act as a full-fledged email client for your customer support team, with functionalities like CC missing.

In this article, we narrowed down the best alternatives to Help Scout ensure customer satisfaction. Some are traditional customer service software options, and others are more flexible tools. Keep reading to discover their key features and pricing.

9 Best Help Scout Alternatives

The Best Help Scout Alternatives

• 1. Missive
• 2. Zendesk
• 3. HubSpot
• 4. Zoho Desk
• 5. Freshdesk
• 6. Front
• 7. Helpwise
• 8. Hiver
• 9. LiveAgent

1. Missive

Missive and Help Scout are customer support tools with shared inboxes, live chat, reply templates, and integrations with tools like CRMs. It also offers analytics to get an insight into your team’s performance metrics.

While Help Scout has a help center, it is limited in custom domains support, language support, and customization options. Missive offers more integrations, like with Grammarly, CMS, and can even be AI-powered with OpenAI, and is a more versatile platform for businesses. Missive is the better alternative to Help Scout for teams who value collaboration.

Ticket Management

Missive and Help Scout both offer email and communication management with label/tag options to create a organized ticketing system. Missive offers more advanced search and filtering options and a traditional email client interface, making it easy to manage conversations and find what you're looking for. Missive also allows you to add labels to the sidebar to quickly access communications depending on their status.

Email Management

Missive is a robust email management tool compared to Help Scout, offering a variety of features such as collaboration on email replies, email delegation, and management of multiple email addresses from one Gmail account. It is ideal for startups needing to efficiently manage their email communications. Help Scout, on the other hand, only offers shared inboxes for collaborative service emails, lacking advanced email management capabilities.

Assign Conversations to More Than One Coworker or a Team

Missive offers more flexibility in communication management than Help Scout, with the ability to assign conversations to a whole team, a specific person, or multiple people. Missive also has a Team Inbox feature for team collaboration that is not available in Help Scout.

Native App for All Communications

Help Scout is limited to a web app and a mobile app for iOS and Android with limited features. Missive, on the other hand, offers a native app on multiple platforms with a unified experience for all communications, allowing you to efficiently manage conversations in one place. With Missive, you won’t have to switch between different apps to handle different types of communications.

More Than Just Emails

Missive offers broader support for communication channels, including email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and more, while Help Scout almost only supports emails and live chat. With Missive, you can connect through integrations with your phone app, so you can handle all your communications in one place without having to switch between apps.

Automation With Fine-Grained Control

Missive offers Rules to automate your workflows and routing for incoming/outgoing messages and user actions. Rules can also be a great way to respect your SLAs. This feature allows for a more personalized and customizable automation experience compared to Help Scout, which applies rules to all emails equally and does not work on other channels of communication.

Aliases

Help Scout does not support multiple aliases per inbox, while Missive allows the management of aliases in a traditional email client fashion and supports multiple domain addresses from a single Gmail account.

Draft Collaboration

Missive offers live draft editing for collaboration with team members, while Help Scout does not have the option for collaborative replies.

Chat with Team Members

Missive offers a direct chat feature within any conversation for collaboration and communication between team members, whereas Help Scout only offers the ability to add notes to support emails.

Pricing

Missive pricing is a lot more affordable, with its top-tier yearly plan being 45% more affordable than Help Scout's Pro yearly plan.

2. Zendesk

Zendesk is another alternative to Help Scout for small to medium businesses looking for a support and customer service platform.

Here's why Zendesk is worth considering:

• Offers a wide range of channels for customer communication, including email, phone, chatbots, and social media.
• Comes equipped with a robust set of tools for customer service and support, such as a knowledge base, a self-service portal, and a ticketing system.
• Provides detailed analytics and reporting to help businesses understand customer behavior and team performances.
• Offers a variety of integrations with other popular business tools, making it easy to integrate Zendesk into your existing workflow and automate repetitive tasks.

Overall, Zendesk is a good omnichannel support platform that offers businesses everything they need to provide customer service.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $25 per user, per month for their basic plan. For more features their other plan starts at $69 per user, per month.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is an all-in-one inbound marketing, sales, and service software that offers a complete help desk solution. It's a great tool for companies looking for one software to do it all. It's cloud-based solution offers features like a ticketing system, a live chat, a chat bot builder, a customer portal so customers can access and search help articles, submit tickets, check statuses, through self-service customer portals.

It also offers analytics, an integration with their CRM, and email support. Compared to Help Scout, HubSpot may be a better alternative for companies already using their sales and marketing software who want to add a customer support software.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $30 per user, per month for the starter plan. They also offer a free plan for basic functionnalities.

4. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a help desk and customer support platform offered by Zoho, a suite of web-based tools for businesses. Like Help Scout, it provides functionalities for customer support, knowledge bases, help desk ticketing, and live chat support.

It offers integrations with their other tools like thir sales, marketing, and project management software.

Using their ticket management tool, support agents can view, manage, assign, and resolve support tickets using a simple UI. Tickets can be tagged, prioritized, and automatically routed based on rules.

Zoho Desk provides a full-featured help desk and customer support solution comparable to Help Scout at competitive pricing plan. However, its high level of configurability makes it a good alternative for companies looking for a more customizable support software.

Pricing

Pricing for Zoho Desk starts at $20 per agent/month for their standard plan.

5. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a help desk software for small businesses that offers a range of tools to manage their customer support needs. It’s a cloud-based platform that provides a seamless experience for businesses to handle customer queries via various channels, like email, phone, chat, and social media.

Here are some of the key features of Freshdesk that make it a good alternative to Help Scout:

• Multi-channel support: With Freshdesk, businesses can manage their customer support inquiries through multiple channels, including email, phone, chat, and social media, all from a single inbox.
• Automation: Freshdesk’s automation features help businesses streamline their support operations and save time.
• Collaboration: Freshdesk enables team members to collaborate on support tickets, with options for assigning, commenting, and resolving tickets efficiently.

Freshdesk provides small businesses with a user-friendly, self-service knowledge base solution.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $18 per user, per month for the Growth plan. They also offer a free plan for basic functionnalities.

6. Front

Front is a customer communication platform that offers an alternative to Help Scout. It combines all of your company's communication channels into one place, making it easier to manage customer interactions. Being a less traditional option, it does lack a few customer support features like an out-of-the-box knowledge base.

Here are some key features:

• Multichannel support: Front supports all popular communication channels, including email, live chat, social media, and SMS.
• Team collaboration: Front allows teams to work together more efficiently by providing real-time collaboration and commenting capabilities.
• Customizable inboxes: Front offers customizable inboxes that can be tailored to meet your specific needs.
• Automation capabilities: Front offers a wide range of automation capabilities, including rules and macros, that can be used to streamline your customer support processes.

Front offers a modern platform for customer communication and support.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $19 per user, per month for up to 10 users with a contact of one year.

7. Helpwise

Helpwise is a helpdesk solution that is a good alternative to Help Scout. Here are the key features:

• Shared Inbox: The shared inbox feature allows team collaboration on support requests.
• Collaboration: In addition to the shared inbox feature, Helpwise also has a built-in commenting system.
• Efficient Email Management: Helpwise has an email management system that helps keep track of all support requests, prioritize them, and respond to them.

Overall, Helpwise is a helpdesk solution that offers a set of tools to manage support effectively.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $15 per user, per month for up to 10 users.

8. Hiver

Hiver is one of the more lightweight alternatives to Help Scout.

• Familiar interface: Hiver is built right into the Gmail interface which minimizes any changes to existing email workflows.
• A little bit of everything: Multi-channel support, chatbots, and internal email threads are all features that come with Hiver. Their features don't have a lot of depth or customization, but the suite covers a few core bases.

If you're looking to stay in your Gmail interface, and you don't need a lot of customization or automation, Hiver might be a good option.

Pricing

They have a free plan and their paid plans start at $19 per user, per month.

9. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is the last alternative to Help Scout on the list. It offers a help desk solution for businesses. Here's what you need to know:

• Multi-channel support: LiveAgent supports multiple channels of communication such as email, live chat, social media, phone, and more.
• Advanced reporting: LiveAgent provides advanced reporting and analytics to help you understand your customer interactions and make data-driven decisions.

Overall, if you're looking for a flexible help desk solution, LiveAgent is worth considering.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $15 per user, per month.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Help Scout is a well-established customer support software for support teams. However, there are alternative solutions like Missive, Hiver, Freshdesk, Front, Helpwise, and LiveAgent that offer similar or even better capabilities at a lower cost.

In the end, the best customer support software is the one that fits your business's needs and goals to help you deliver an outstanding customer experience.

FAQ

Is Help Scout a CRM Tool?

Help Scout isn't a CRM tool, but it offers plugins with many CRM tools so you can manage your customer directly into their help desk solution.

What is Help Scout Used For?

Help Scout is a customer service software made for support teams looking to manage customer interactions in one platform while enabling collaboration between team members.

Is Help Scout Free?

Help Scout isn't free. Its pricing options start at $25/month per user. However, they do offer a free trial for 15 days.

Zendesk is a great product that offers extensive customer service features. But it has a caveat, it’s expensive and complex.

If you’re not a large enterprise, chances are you’ll find Zendesk to be overkill. Especially since there are more user-friendly and affordable Zendesk alternatives that offer a great feature set.

If you’ve faced challenges using Zendesk and need to switch to an alternative, this guide is for you. We did some leg work for you and found the 11 best Zendesk alternatives based on factors like ease of use, feature set, and pricing.

What are the disadvantages of Zendesk?

While it’s hard to argue that Zendesk isn’t a great customer service platform, it does come with disadvantages: High costs and a complex interface.

Here’s a quick overview of Zendesk’s disadvantages as a customer service platform.

Expensive

Zendesk can get quite expensive even if you use its most basic plan. The base plan doesn’t include features like service level agreements (SLA), custom and live analytics, or AI features.

Advanced features are locked behind a paywall. Even essential features like customized support forms are not available on the base plan.

Add-ons with extra cost

Sure, you can buy add-ons to get advanced features on a lower-tier plan. But there is a caveat: Not all add-ons are available on all plans.

If you’re on the base plan (Suite Team) or the next tier (Suite Growth plan), you aren’t eligible for the advanced AI add-on. If you’re eligible, you’ll have to shell out quite a bit for add-ons.

The advanced AI agent, for instance, costs $50 per agent per month.

Complex interface

Zendesk’s extensive onboarding process and complex configurations present a steep learning curve. This can translate to cumbersome onboarding, low employee buy-in, and investments in training.

Even once you’ve dealt with these problems, you might not achieve the same level of efficiency as you would with a more user-friendly platform.

Poor support

Ironically, Zendesk has a reputation for being non-responsive. Don’t take our word for it—here’s a review from a Zendesk user on Capterra:

“If you need support for this software, they take a long, long time to get back to you. You better know what you're doing, because if you need to get a hold of them, I wish you the best of luck.”

Zendesk can be difficult to navigate. The lack of support only exacerbates the problem and leaves teams without dedicated experts on their own.

11 Best Zendesk alternatives for customer service

We’ve compiled the best Zendesk alternatives for customer service below. From basic communication to AI-powered tools, these solutions offer a wide range of features for customer service.

Look for an option that meets your business needs and offers value for money.

1. Missive

Missive is the perfect customer service solution for startups and small businesses. It’s not a full-fledged help desk software, which means you won’t have to spend time navigating through a lot of clutter.

It focuses on features like shared inboxes, live chat, shared labels, flexible email setup, and canned responses.

The platform allows assigning customer conversations to a specific team, person, or multiple people. To automate this process, you can create rules to route conversations to the appropriate location.

Missive integrates with all popular tools like Salesforce, OpenAI, Grammarly, and Aircall. This means you can easily migrate data between Missive and these tools to streamline your workflow.

Built-in email management

Missive offers a comprehensive range of email management capabilities. You can collaborate on customer emails, delegate them to team members, and manage multiple email addresses at once.

Automation features

Missive helps you automate various workflows for incoming and outgoing messages, as well as user actions. There is also an OpenAI integration that acts as an email assistant, helping you be more productive.

Simple and affordable pricing

Missive helps small businesses deliver great customer service without spending a fortune.

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Try Missive today—it’s free. If you want to learn more about how Missive can help your customer service team, you can also book a demo.

2. HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub is a help desk platform that helps manage customer inquiries from its feature-loaded interface. It might be a good fit if you’re an enterprise user and require features like video recordings, the option to create a knowledge base, customer satisfaction surveys, and automation.

HubSpot saves plenty of time by helping you automatically assign incoming messages via chat and email to the right person on the team.

Support agents can use one of the 5,000+ email templates available on HubSpot to quickly respond to inquiries—you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you receive a query about your refund policy.

While HubSpot is almost as complex as Zendesk, it does offer a limited free version and better support quality than Zendesk.

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3. Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce’s customer service help desk solution is called Salesforce Service Cloud. It offers features like case management and omnichannel routing.

If you’re already using Salesforce products, Service Cloud would naturally be an ideal Zendesk alternative.

However, Salesforce will leave many of the Zendesk problems unresolved. For example, Salesforce also has a complex pricing structure and expensive add-ons. It’s also one of the more expensive options on the list.

While Salesforce does offer omnichannel routing, users report that case routing often doesn’t work. Users also cite the complex integration and implementation as a concern.

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4. Zoho Desk

Like Salesforce, Zoho Desk is a comprehensive customer support software solution. The ticketing tool enables you to handle customer requests across multiple communication channels, departments, and products.

Zoho Desk offers omnichannel support, so you can handle these customer requests via live chat, phone, email, web forms, and self-service portals.

Speaking of live chat—Zoho Desk’s AI-powered chatbot (called Zia) elevates the customer experience and simplifies processes for agents.

It automatically fields customer queries from customers by generating responses using information in your knowledge base and other sources. This reduces support desk traffic and earns your agents some time. The AI chatbot also helps support agents find information faster during calls.

You can integrate Zoho Desk with various Zoho products, including Zoho CRM, Analytics (business intelligence software), and Cliq (UCaaS platform), as well as third-party tools like Slack, Mailchimp, and Asana.

Zoho Desk is a lot more intuitive than Zendesk and offers better support. However, the base plan doesn’t offer much. You’re compelled to opt for the second tier to increase limits across features.

5. Help Scout

Help Scout gets many things right. It has a clean and intuitive user interface, helps create customer portals for self-service, and offers features like shared inboxes and in-app messages.

The platform brings various AI features to the table, including AI summarize, which translates email threads into bullet points, and AI assist, which checks the text for grammar, tone of voice, and fragmented thoughts.

The setup is simple and quick, and the pricing structure is easy to understand. But it’s still an expensive solution. If you’re looking to switch to a more affordable Zendesk alternative, Help Scout is not it.

It’s also not the most customizable solution out there, though. If you need extensive reports, you might find Help Scout’s reporting features lackluster.

If you’re looking for a general customer service and ticket management platform with automation features, Help Scout is a great pick.

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6. HappyFox

HappyFox allows you to deliver support via channels like email, live chat, social media, and phone. The platform helps create a knowledge base, which integrates with its self-service portal.

HappyFox’s knowledge base and self-service portal functionalities are a great way to reduce support desk traffic—they help your customers find answers by themselves and track ticket status, previous engagements, and other details without having to contact support.

It’s great that Happy Fox doesn’t limit itself to help desk features like a ticketing system, canned replies, and automated workflows. You also get detailed reports, satisfaction surveys, and built-in task management functionalities.

However, HappyFox does make you pay for these features, so only go for HappyFox if you plan to use the majority of its features.In fact, it’s even more expensive than Zendesk. While you won’t save anything by switching to HappyFox, you might want to consider it if you’re a large business that needs an extensive feature set combined with an intuitive interface.

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7. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a multi-channel support platform that helps you build a call center, interact with customers via live chat on your website or social media, and build a knowledge base.

LiveAgent takes a gamified approach to customer service. Agents can earn badges for completing specific customer service tasks. This gamification can instill a competitive spirit that encourages agents and helps you identify areas where training may be necessary.

The live chat widget is fast and easy to implement. It includes access to unlimited chat and ticket history, chat analytics and tracking, and chat invitations with custom design options.

The platform integrates with over 200 tools, including Zapier, WordPress, Mailchimp, and more. Their extensive integration library is a plus since it helps you connect the customer service platform with your entire tech stack.

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8. Gorgias

Gorgias is best suited for ecommerce brands, but you might consider Gorgias if you want access to features like social media sentiment analysis—a feature not commonly found in customer service platforms.

Because Gorgias targets ecommerce businesses, it integrates with all the popular ecommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce. Their integration with Shopify is especially advanced—it allows agents to edit orders and handle refunds using its own interface.

While Gorgias is a great help desk software solution for ecommerce brands, it’s mostly ideal for small and medium-sized businesses.Large ecommerce businesses that also sell on marketplaces like Amazon and eBay might be better off with a different platform that integrates with these marketplaces.

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9. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a natural alternative to Zendesk since it offers a similar feature set that prioritizes support via multiple channels, AI features, and scalability.

The platform allows you to configure automated workflows to field customer inquiries. The workflows can deliver tickets to the right person on the team and prioritize critical tickets.

The collision detection feature in Freshdesk ensures two agents don’t simultaneously work on the same customer inquiry.Freshdesk is loaded with collaboration features, too. You can use features like team huddle and shared inbox for more effective customer support.

You’re essentially switching to a more affordable version of Zendesk when choosing Freshdesk. It’s also less complex than Zendesk and offers additional features like collision detection.However, Freshdesk lacks customizability. If you’re looking for flexibility, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

10. Intercom

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that enables you to provide multi-channel support via live chat, email, in-app messaging, and push notifications.

At the same time, Intercom helps you build an external knowledge base that allows customers to find answers without speaking to an agent.

Intercom Inbox is a great feature that brings all customer communications to a single interface. It helps you build workflows to automate tasks like routing customers to the right knowledge base content or agent.

You can integrate Intercom with almost any popular app, including WhatsApp, Salesforce, and Facebook.The only downside to Intercom is its steep pricing. If Zendesk’s price is a problem for you, Intercom isn’t the best Zendesk alternative.

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11. Kustomer

Kustomer is known for its ability to tackle a high-traffic support inquiries with ease. It combines robust customer support features with automation to deliver a great customer experience.

While most solutions on the list are standalone solutions, Kustomer is both a CRM (customer relationship management) and a customer support platform. Kustomer’s duality helps you see a complete picture of every customer as well as execute tasks across both systems at once, saving you time.

The AI-powered support platform supports various channels, including email, chat, SMS, social media, and phone.

While Kustomer is a feature-rich Zendesk alternative, it’s far from cheap. It’s significantly more expensive than Zendesk. There are only two pricing plans, so you can’t select a lean basic plan. If you want to use Kustomer, first verify if all the features it offers have value for your customer service processes.

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How to choose the best customer service software for your business

When selecting a customer service platform, here’s what you should consider:

Feature set

Identify your business’s needs—what features do you need in a customer service solution? Do you just need basic ticketing, a chatbot, and social media integration? Or do you need advanced AI features to automate customer support?

This allows you to filter out tools loaded with features you don’t need. When comparing tools, use the features you’ll use regularly as a basis to find the perfect tool.

User-friendliness

Complexity discourages employees from using your software regularly. Ease of use is vital to getting employee buy-in.

When you use complex software, you lose on multiple fronts. You pay a premium for the extensive feature set, and you spend more on training staff.

If a support agent can’t use your customer service solution confidently, they’re more likely to make mistakes. The cost to your reputation in such cases can be rather expensive.

Integrations

Transferring data is easier between integrated software. When your customer service software integrates with CRM like HubSpot, it’s easy for support agents to access customer data and register support tickets and other interactions in the CRM.

Integrations also make automation easier. For example, you could integrate a third-party tool like Asana to automatically create support-related tasks for agents whenever a customer opens a support ticket.

Support quality

A customer service platform’s own customer support team says a lot about the company’s commitment to customer service.

How fast does help come when you need it? Look for answers in user reviews. You can either ask around in your network or explore reviews on websites like Capterra and G2.

There are other ways to assess support quality as well. For example, you can reach out to support yourself to see how quickly they respond.

Read through the SLA to see if the service provider guarantees a resolution or response time.

Customizability

Customizability helps tweak the platform to suit your needs.

For example, not every business has the same escalation procedures for support inquiries. The customer service platform must allow you to configure your process to match your workflow.

Security and compliance

Look for industry-standard encryption protocols like SSL/TLS. Encryption ensures your data remains secure. See if the platform offers role-based access control (RBAC) to limit access to specific functionalities and data based on user roles.

Certifications with regulations and industry standards are a great indicator of a platform’s commitment to data security and compliance.

Look for certifications that confirm compliance with regulations and standards like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), or ISO (International Organization for Standardization).

Reporting and analytics

Reporting and analytics are critical features. It tells you how your current customer service strategy is performing and what you need to change to improve it.

When evaluating a platform’s reporting analytics features, consider the following:

   
• Metrics: See which metrics the platform helps you track. Common examples include resolution time, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), and agent performance.
   
• Customized reports: Does the platform allow customizing reports according to your needs? You should be able to track the criteria that matter most to your customer service team.
   
• Visualization options: Consider visualization formats available on the platform. Ideally, you want to be able to view data in charts, graphs, and tables.

You might even consider looking for AI features that allow automated reporting and trigger alerts when a specific threshold is met.

For example, when you receive more than 1,000 support tickets per month, the platform could automatically notify the support manager so they can make arrangements to tackle the high volume of queries.

Price

Even if a platform checks all the right boxes, you have a budget to stick to. Steer clear of platforms with a complex pricing structure like Zendesk’s.

Look for a simple pricing structure. Factor in the cost of overages (for exceeding usage limits such as the number of tickets or API calls) and add-ons, if any.

Speak to support to learn about any hidden charges, like data storage fees or charges for accessing historical data.Sum up all the costs to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) and compare that with the value the customer service platform offers.

Zendesk's alternatives to elevate your customer service

Zendesk is a great customer service platform. But its broad feature set, complex user interface, and expensive and confusing pricing can be major problems for small and medium-sized businesses.

The best customer service tool is a combination of three things:

   
1. It has the features you need
   
2. It offers great support
   
3. It’s within your budget

If you’re thinking about moving away from Zendesk, give Missive a try. It’s a team inbox and chat app that allows your team to help customers across all popular channels.

Try Missive for free today, or book a demo to learn how Missive can help you improve customer service.

Some hate them, and some praise them, but no matter how we feel about them, emails are the pillar of how most of us communicate in business.

As any entrepreneur knows, email is integral to running a business. But overflowing inboxes can grind productivity to a halt.

But overloaded inboxes can take a hit on our productivity.

In this guide, we'll explore the top email management software options available to help you gain back control over your emails

From tools that declutter your inbox to those that help you better organize your communication and collaborate with others, you’ll find the one that suits your needs.

What Is an Email Management Software

An email management software is a tool that helps you organize and manage your email inbox. It's designed to make email more manageable whatever you're a user dealing with personal emails or a business.

From better organization to automation, email management solutions go beyond what your typical email client can do. Key features like folders, rules, calendars and shared inboxes bring order to chaos and can even in some cases enable collaboration. Integrations also offer context by connecting communications to CRM and project data. They also help you take advantage of the email management best practices.

Plus, they can be used for many use cases like customer support, employee support, sales, and marketing

Top 10 Email Management Software

The best email management application depends on your specific need. Here's our list of tools that cover the most common use cases.

We reviewed the best solutions with a focus on important characteristics including scalability, pricing, integrations, and ease of use.

1. Missive

For small to medium teams looking for the ideal mix of features and affordability.

Missive is an intuitive, and powerful all-in-one email management software built for teams to help them manage communications. It comes with standard features that you would expect from an email management tool like snoozing, multiple account support, and filters.

Missive helps teams collaborate from within their email inboxes with advanced collaboration tools like chat, team inboxes, collaborative writing, assignments, calendar, status, and so much more.

In addition, you’ll gain access to a multitude of tools to help you and your team stay productive. Rules let you automate your team workflow by triggering actions when certain conditions are met. You can also share canned responses or templates with a team or everyone at your company, so they can reply to common questions with little to no time. To make sure you avoid email overload you can merge two related conversations into a single one.

We know we are biased toward Missive. So here's an in-depth review from an actual user.

Missive is probably the best solution out of all the tools on the list for small businesses and customer service.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Intuitive interface for easy collaboration
• Rich feature set for both individuals and teams
• Affordable pricing starting at $18/user

Cons:

• May have a learning curve compared to basic clients
• Some advanced integrations require paid plans

2. Microsoft Outlook

For teams using Microsoft and looking for integration with Microsoft 365 (Office).

Microsoft Outlook is probably one of the most well known email management tools out there. It comes with all the basic features you would expect from software to manage your emails like snoozing, calendar, tasks, team inbox, and contacts.

It has a clean interface that everyone knows and can easily start using. The email client is web-based and is available on the web, on a standalone desktop app, and on mobile.

Another advantage of Microsft Outlook is the integration with other tools from the Microsoft 365 suite like Word, Excel, and Skype.

Outlook is included in Microsoft 365 subscription, which makes it a great option for businesses already using Microsoft 365 and needing a basic email manager.

However, the free version of the software for personal use is supported by ads, which can add some clutter to your experience.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Interface that most are familiar with
• Seamless integrations with MS Office suite
• Included with many business Microsoft 365 plans

Cons:

• Not as collaborative focused as some others
• Basic version includes ads

3. Gmail

For individuals already using the Google suite and don't need collaboration or advanced features.

Gmail is the default email client for Google Workspace users. While compared to email management apps like Missive or Help Scout, Gmail might look limited in terms of team collaboration, it offers the basic features you would be looking for in a tool to help you manage emails.

Gmail is probably the most popular and used email client out there. It offers a simple and clean user interface that is easy to use for everyone. Plus, similar to Outlook, it integrates with other tools from the Google Suite like Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Drive.

It has features like labels to organize your emails, spam protection, and filters to help you manage your email.

Gmail is available via a web browser on desktops and an app on mobiles.

However, if you're looking for an email management software to collaborate with your team, Google Gmail might not be the best solution for you.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Free and widely used personal option
• Clean interface works well for individuals
• Integrates seamlessly with Google Drive/Calendar

Cons:

• Limited collaborative features for teams
• Limited organization features

4. Spike

For people looking for email collaboration in a chat-like package.

Spike is a collaborative email management platform. It has a different approach than traditional email applications, since it organizes messages in a conversation that resembles chat. It helps you to manage your emails by offering a way to unify your emails in one inbox and to collaborate with other people on conversations, tasks, and notes.

Another key differentiator of Spike is that you create groups where you can chat with all the members. It feels more like Facebook Messenger than your typical email client. Email threads are also presented as chat conversations.

Spike also offers a feature that uses AI to categorize your emails and prioritize them based on relevance. This can be useful to help you focus on important messages.

If you're coming from Outlook or Gmail, you'll certainly have to adapt to their unique UI.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Unique chat-based interface for collaborative workflows
• AI features like auto-categorization are helpful

Cons:

• Learning curve to adapt to chat interface
• Fewer integrations than some alternatives

5. Superhuman

For individuals looking to manage their Gmail personal account.

Most email management platform offers some sort of collaboration and team features to help you and your business be more productive with emails. Superhuman differs from the other solution by providing a clean email client for your own Gmail email account.

While Superhuman only supports Gmail and Google Workspace, it offers features to ensure you are efficient and productive with your individual email like automatic email triage with AI, snooze, and follow-up reminders.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• AI-powered filtering helps focus on priority emails
• Simple interface tailored for individual productivity
• No collaboration features for teams

Cons:

• Only supports Gmail, not other email providers
• Pricey at $30/user compared to other options

6. Front

For teams looking for teams collaboration.

As we’ve seen, a lot of email management software let you manage shared email aliases. Front is no exception. Just like Missive, lets you manage shared inboxes as well as your personal inbox.

With Front, you can collaborate around an email with features like chats and assignments, making it a good option for managing team emails. CRM, analytics, and a few other more advanced functionalities are available on the highest plan.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Collaboration tools with shared inboxes
• Customizable automations help with routine tasks

Cons:

• Steep learning curve for more complex solutions
• Subscription tiers can be more costly and only available via a contract

7. SaneBox

For individuals looking for an AI solution to sort their emails.

If you don’t need email collaboration features or use a shared inbox then SaneBox might be a solution for you.

This email manager works with most email providers and uses AI to sort and categorize your emails in folders. SaneBox also offers a feature to filter out distractions by automatically putting them into a separate folder.

8. Helpwise

For teams looking for a web-based customer service platform.

Helpwise is a helpdesk that also offers tools for managing customer service emails. It is designed to help businesses with their customer service operations.

Helpwise offers a variety of features to help you manage emails, including email templates, shared inboxes, notes, rules, and assignments.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Simple interface requires little customization

Cons:

• Not as customizable as other solutions

9. Sendinblue

For teams looking for an all-in-one platform for managing emails and email marketing.

Sendinblue is an all-in-one marketing platform offering email management tools built for marketers and salespeople. The platform makes it easy to create, send, and analyze email marketing campaigns. Their tool lets you send emails to a huge number of recipients.

The tool offers an automation to send emails at the right moment. You’ll also get access to features like A/B testing, metrics tracking, segmentation, and a shared inbox.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• All-in-one platform for both marketing and support
• Analytics offer insights to improve future outreach

Cons:

• Learning curve bigger than basic email clients
• High pricing

10. Help Scout

For teams looking for a customer service platform with a knowledge-based tool.

Help Scout is an email-based customer support platform and knowledge-based tool that can also be used as an email management software.

It offers a suite of tools to help businesses manage their customer support operations, including a knowledge base, a ticketing system, and a CRM system. Help Scout also offers a variety of integrations with third-party applications, shared inboxes, rules, and other collaboration tools.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Feature-rich customer service platform
• Knowledge articles can help reduce emails

Cons:

• Learning curve for agents and admins

Summary

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Essential Features to Look for in Email Management Tool

Managing emails is a lot easy with the proper tool. However, to ensure you choose the right one for the job, you should be looking out for these essential features:

Folders

Folders will help you organize your emails into categories, so you can find them more easily later on.

Labels

Just like folders, labels are a great way to organize emails. They can be used to track the progress of customer inquiries or categorize priorities. Platforms like Missive can even let you share those labels with your whole organization.

Rules

Rules are a great way to automize your workflow with a multitude of actions that are triggered when an event occurs. These actions can range from simply organizing incoming emails into folders or labels to automatically sending an automatic reply when certain conditions are met.

Snooze

Snooze is a neat feature that lets you set a date and time to remind you about an email. It’s a great way to clean up your inbox from emails that don’t require immediate action.

Integrations

Integrations are another essential feature of an email management tool. It can help you connect with other apps that you use like CRM, project management software, or other communications software to receive calls or SMS. These integrations are great for those who have a lot of different tasks and projects going on at the same time.

Saved responses

Canned responses are a time saver when you often need to reply to similar inquiries via emails. It’s especially useful for customer services teams that are used to getting the same questions over and over, as they can quickly select a pre-written answer and reply in no time.

Multi-accounts

Multi-accounts support is a great way to manage all your communications in one place. Depending on the tool you use, you can connect your personal email, work email, and shared account all in the same software. This makes organizing and handling emails a breeze.

Rich contacts information

Handling thousands of communications can quickly become a hassle when you need to research information about your correspondents. Rich contact information gives you context about the sender, like in the previous discussion, directly in a conversation.

Other features made for collaboration are really useful when choosing an email management tool. It makes dealing with customer service and teamwork a breeze.

Shared inbox

A shared inbox will let you collaborate on shared email addresses with your team. Customer support teams or sales teams will benefit a lot from software that can handle shared inboxes, since it will make teamwork more productive by enabling better collaboration.

Chat

Chat is another really useful feature for team collaboration and better email management. Instead of using an email thread to communicate with your colleagues about a particular email, you’ll be able to send messages directly in the conversation to the people you need input.

Choosing the Right Email Management Tool

When it comes to choosing an email management tool, there are a few things you need to take into account.

First and foremost, you need to decide what your needs are:

Do you need a tool that can help you organize your personal inbox, a team inbox for customer service, one that can help you automate your email marketing or a mix of all?

Once you know what you need, you can start looking at different tools and comparing them. Make sure to read reviews and compare pricing before making your final decision.

The last step is to take the time to try out the tool yourself to see if it's a good fit for you.

Benefits of Using Email Management Software

With better management of your inbox, you'll save hours each week.

Here are the benefits you can expect by starting to use one.

Better Productivity

With automated workflows to handle repetitive tasks and better organization, you'll be able to spend less time dealing with emails.

For examples, you could route messages to the right team members based on tags and keywords. Plus, canned replies mean common questions are addressed with a single click.

Better Scalability

Collaboration tools like chat and shared inbox keep everyone on the loop and makes it easy to grow your team without having to worry about forwarding an email to the right person and fragmenting discussion in several tools.

Plus, with rules and integrations it's easy to maintain your high standards for responsiveness, even with larger volumes of emails.

As a small business owner, you know that excellent customer support is essential for customer satisfaction and success in today's competitive business environment.

However, with limited resources and personnel, managing many customer inquiries and support requests at the same time can quickly become overwhelming.

That’s where a help desk software can be a real asset. The  tool that can help you master your support game.

In this guide, we'll help you choose the best customer service software for your needs and by giving you a list of the best software on the market today.

The 10 Best Help Desk Software for Small Business

We reviewed the best solutions with a focus on important characteristics including scalability, pricing, integrations, and ease of use.

1. Missive

Best for companies that want one software for all communications

While Missive might not be the typical help desk, it’s a wonderful tool for companies with limited resources. It provides great features like shared inboxes, live chat, rules, multiple communication channels, shared labels, flexible email setup, canned responses, and a wide range of  integrations with other tools like CRMs.

Missive also gives you the ability to assign conversations to a whole team, a specific person, or multiple people. With rules, you can decide how support conversations are routed to each team member.

Unlike other solutions on the list, Missive isn’t ticket based. It works like a regular email client would. This makes it easier to be used for more than customer service, it is also a Team Inbox and team collaboration tool, enabling all your teams to work together and collaborate on almost any communication they receive.

Pricing

Missive pricing is one of the most affordable on the list. However, small business budget-friendly plans don’t mean that you’ll miss out on features and quality.

2. Help Scout

Best for companies using email primarily and in need of knowledge base

Help Scout is an email-based help desk that also offers some email management software functionalities. It can help you simplify your communications and manage your client service operations.

Help Scout offers features like a knowledge base (self-service portal), ticketing system, and live chat. It also offers integrations with external tools, shared inboxes, and rules.

Just like Missive, Help Scout has a shared inbox, which allows your team to manage shared emails, assign co-members to conversations, chat with teammates, and tag conversations for easy organization. The platform also includes live chat support.

Overall, Help Scout provides companies with a complete solution for their customer service needs.

Pricing

Help Scout pricing starts at $25 per month per user for their basic plan. They also offer a free 15-day trial.

3. Helpwise

Best for companies that need to integrate a Twillio number

Helpwise is a user-friendly help desk aiming at simplifying customer service email management for small businesses. It offers features like shared inboxes, email templates, notes, rules, and assignments to make email collaboration easier and improve customer support.

Similar to Missive, Helpwise provides a shared inbox platform that allows teams to collaborate on SMS, social media, and live chat accounts. It also offers functionalities like assigning team members to conversations, tagging, and internal chatting for better communication.

With Helpwise, you can manage support requests, prioritize them, and respond to them in a timely manner.

In summary, Helpwise is a good helpdesk solution that combines shared inboxes, email management, and live chat in one place, making it a great option for small businesses to provide customer service.

Pricing

Helpwise pricing starts at $15 per month per user for their standard plan. They also a free 7-day trial.

4. Zendesk

Best for companies that are using Zendesk CRM

Zendesk is a popular tool used by businesses to provide customer service. It's a cloud-based solution that can help your small business efficiently manage and resolve customer inquiries and support tickets across different channels.

It offers features like ticketing, a knowledge base, live chat, and reporting. Zendesk makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to interact with customers and deliver great support. Plus, it integrates nicely with their CRM to seamlessly manage customers across their whole journey.

Overall, Zendesk is a good support platform that offers businesses everything they need to provide customer service.

Pricing

Zendesk pricing is for an annual plan billed on a monthly basis. They also offer a free 14-day trial.

5. Front

Best for companies looking for an alternative to Missive

Front is similar to Missive in the sense that it’s a platform that helps teams manage shared email aliases, SMS, social media, and live chat all in one place.

While it’s not a help desk platform, it centralizes customer requests in one place. Front also provides automation capabilities like rules to make everything run smoothly. It is a good solution for businesses looking to efficiently manage their customer support operations.

Front also offers advanced features like CRM and analytics to help you go deeper in metrics. However, as we’ll see below, those features come with a hefty price tag.

Pricing

Front pricing is for an annual plan billed on a monthly basis and starts at $19 per month per user for their most basic plan.

6. Gmelius

Best for companies that want to keep using Gmail

Gmelius is a helpdesk platform that transforms email into a collaborative and efficient tool for customer support. This Gmail add-on offers features like shared inboxes, team collaboration, and workflow automation.

Gmelius makes managing customer inquiries and tickets easier for your team if you’re already using Gmail. Since it adds itself on top of the Google email client, it has an intuitive interface that will help your team resolve customer issues in a timely manner.

Gmelius also offers project management capabilities. It also comes with features like chats with your coworkers in an email thread, adding labels, and assigning team members to an email.

On the downside, Gmelius only support emails as a communication channel and is only an option for Gmail users.

Pricing

Gmelius pricing starts at $15 per month for 10 users on a pay-per-usage plan. They also offer a free 7-day trial.

7. Hiver

Best for campanies looking for an alternative to Gmelius

Hiver is a help desk add-on for your Gmail account. It helps you assign emails to team members, set up reminders, track email threads, and tag emails to keep things organized and efficient.

Some key features of Hiver include shared inbox management, email delegation and assignment, email notes and comments, and email templates for standardized responses. Hiver also offers real-time collaboration features such as internal chat, making it easy for teams to work together on shared emails and tasks.

Hiver makes it easy for teams to manage their help desk operations and improve customer support processes, however it only supports emails and live chat as communication channels. You'll also need to be a Gmail user to take advantage of Hiver.

Pricing

Hiver pricing starts at $19 per month per user for 2 shared email inboxes. They also offer a free 7-day trial.

8. Groove

Best for companies looking for a cheaper alternative to Help Scout

Groove offers a unified inbox for managing your customer communications in one place. It provides features like ticketing, knowledge base, email automation, and reporting improving your customer support processes.

Groove also offers integrations with popular tools, so you can incorporate it into your existing workflow.

Groove is similar to Missive since it is built as an email client and works in the same fashion. It's designed to help businesses deliver exceptional customer service and support through efficient and organized communication management.

You can also assign the conversation to a team member, leave notes in a conversation and mention someone in the conversation just like Missive.

Pricing

Groove pricing starts at $25 per month per user for one mailbox. They also offer a free 30-day free trial.

<table>  <tr>    <th>Starter</th>    <th>Plus</th>    <th>Pro</th>  </tr>  <tr>    <td>$25 / month per user</td>    <td>$50 / month per user</td>    <td>$80 / month per user</td>  </tr></table>

9. Freshdesk

Best for companies using the Freshworks suite

Freshdesk is a help desk software that helps small businesses manage customer interactions across multiple channels such as email, phone, chat, and social media.

Some of its key features include multichannel support, automation, and collaboration options for team members to work together on resolving support tickets.

With Freshdesk, businesses can improve their support operations, save time with automation, and provide a great experience for their customers.

Unlike Missive, which has a more “human” approach to support requests, Freshdesk uses a ticketing system for customer inquiries. It also offers additional features such as a support desk, contact center, and customer feedback management.

Pricing

Freshdesk offers a free option with basic features, and paid plans starting at $18 per person per month, which increase based on the number of agents and features needed. However, to access live chat functionality, a subscription to their Freshchat tool may be required.

<table>  <tr>    <th>Free</th>    <th>Growth</th>    <th>Pro</th>    <th>Enterprise</th>  </tr>  <tr>    <td>$0 / month</td>    <td>$18 / month per user</td>    <td>$59 / month per user</td>    <td>$95 / month per user</td>  </tr></table>

10. Crisp

Best for companies looking for real-time shared browsing

Crisp is a messaging platform that can be used as a help desk. It provides businesses with features to improve their communications with customers. These features include shared inbox, live chat, CRM, and email marketing campaigns. While Crisp does offer a free plan, its features are limited and do not include support for emails or social media.

Crisp's paid plans unlock advanced features and functionalities that can help your customer service team when interacting with customers, improve team collaboration, and improve customer engagement.

Pricing

Crisp offers a free plan with basic features, and paid plans starting at $25 per person per month.

<table>  <tr>    <th>Free</th>    <th>Pro</th>    <th>Unlimited</th>  </tr>  <tr>    <td>$0 / month</td>    <td>$25 / month per workspace</td>    <td>$95 / month per workspace</td>  </tr></table>

What Is Help Desk Management Software?

A help desk software is a specialized tool that helps you organize, manage and respond to customer requests.It makes it easy to receive, track, prioritize, and resolve customer requests and issues by assigning anyone in your team to a specific inquiry.

Help desk software typically includes features such as customer request management, automation, and integration with other tools and communication channels such as email, chat, and social media.

Some help desk management software can also be used to provide self-service options for customers, such as a knowledge base or live chat widget.

Why Do Small Businesses Need a Help Desk Software?

Small businesses often face unique challenges when it comes to managing customer support. Limited resources, small teams, and high customer expectations can make it difficult to provide efficient and effective support. 

Considering that nearly 33% of customers consider switching brand after only one bad interaction with customer service, it's more important than ever to provide good support.

That's where help desk software can come to the rescue!

Using help desk software can help centralize all customer support in one place, making your entire support team more efficient.

Benefits of Using Help Desk Software for Small Businesses

Here are some reasons why it can be beneficial for your business:

 
• Centralized communication: Help desk software provides a single platform to manage all customer requests in one place, making it easier to streamline your customer interactions and respond promptly to important requests.
 
• Improved productivity: Some help desk software comes with automation features that can handle tasks such as assignment and categorization, saving you and your team time and allowing you to handle a higher volume of requests more efficiently.
 
• Improved customer experience: With features like automated responses and live chat, help desk software enables you to provide quick solutions, resulting in a seamless support experience for your customers.

Give your small business the support it needs with help desk software and enjoy the benefits of streamlined communication, increased productivity, and improved customer satisfaction.

How to Choose a Help Desk Software for Your Small Business

Choosing a help desk software for your small business might not be rocket science, but with so many options out there, it can be hard to choose the right one.

Before digging into the features of each platform, you should ask yourself some questions:

 
• Management system: What type of ticketing/management system do you need? At the very least, the solution should allow you to create conversations, assign them to a team member, and track their progress.
 
• Communication channels: What are the communication channels that need to be supported? Are you using email, social media, SMS, live chat?
 
• Integrations: Do you need to integrate other software you’re using like a CRM?
 
• Mobile app: Do you need it to work while on the go? Is being able to view and manage customer inquiries from anywhere important to you?
 
• Pricing: What is your budget? Does the pricing make sense with all the features and seats you need? There are many free and affordable options that can be great alternatives to Intercom hefty price tag.

While features are an important aspect of the tool you’ll choose, you should also consider other things:

 
• Think big: Your business may grow fast, so choose a solution that can keep up and scale with you.
 
• User-friendly: Complicated software that requires your time and money to learn are not a good option. Do you really want to train employees on new software for multiple days? Find a help desk that's easy to set up, configure, and use.
 
• Support that got your back: The solution you choose should have your back, and that includes customer support. Look for  reliable and responsive support.
 
• Learn from others: Chances are, other customers of the tools we have shared in this list have shared their positive and negative opinion about it. Read reviews and testimonials from other business owners to get insights into the pros and cons of your different options.
 
• Test drive it: Don't commit without trying it out first. Take advantage of free trials or demos offered by the different help desk to see if they suit your needs.

By keeping these tips in mind and choosing the right help desk software, you'll be able to level up your customer support game and keep your customers happy. After all, satisfied customers are the secret sauce to your success.

As a business owner, you already know how important providing excellent customer service is for your growth. Email is still one of the most popular ways customers use to reach out to businesses.

And response time to customer service emails is vital in building trust and loyalty. Surprisingly, 62% of companies don’t respond to their clients’ emails, while 46% of customers expect a fast reply in less than 4 hours.

To make sure you meet your customer’s expectations, you need response time standards and improve your team’s communication skills.

Various customer service email software options are available to help achieve this. In this post, we will explore some of the top solutions to improve your customer service game.

What is Customer Service Email Management Software?

A customer service email management software is a tool that helps your business manage all your customer support emails so you can offer the best service possible. It provides a centralized platform so you can receive, organize, collaborate, and respond to your customer emails.

It makes it easier to follow customer service best practices and manage emails. You can assign them to specific support agents and set up canned responses to common questions or inquiries. By adding these features to your tool kit you can improve your customer satisfaction.

Top 10 Customer Service Email Management Software

If you're looking for the best email management software to improve your customer service, you've come to the right place. Here are the top 10 customer service email management software to manage customer inquiries via email.

From shared inboxes to automated responses, they can make your customer service team more efficient. Let's dive in and explore the best options available.

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1. Missive

Missive is a solution for managing customer service emails with a team. It offers a shared inbox and email management software in one app. Missive was built with collaboration in mind. The goal is to reduce back-and-forth between communication apps.

Missive aims at humanizing customer support interactions.

Its focus is on simplifying communication and collaboration for teams. It offers a user-friendly interface and integrations with popular tools like Salesforce, Pipedrive, Grammarly, OpenAI, and Aircall.

Email Management

Missive is a robust email management tool. It offers a variety of features such as collaboration, email delegation, and management of multiple email addresses. It is ideal for any small businesses needing to efficiently manage their email communications.

You can easily manage emails with labels, assignments, and team inboxes all in a clean interface to is similar to a traditional email client UI. Plus, you can add labels to the sidebar to quickly access communications depending on their status.

Native App for All Communications

With Missive's native app on multiple platforms, you can efficiently manage conversations in one place without switching between different apps. Plus, you can manage all your communication channels inside on inbox and share them all with your team.

Missive offers support for various communication channels, including email, live chat, SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and more.

Automation with Fine-Grained Control

Missive offers rules to automate your workflows for incoming/outgoing messages and user actions, allowing for a more personalized and customizable experience.

Plus you can use our OpenAI integration as an AI email assistant to make you more productive.

Chat with Team Members

Missive offers a direct chat feature within any conversation for collaboration and communication between team members.

You can also edit a live draft with team members in real time, just like you would with Google Docs.

Affordable Pricing

Missive's pricing is one of the most affordable on the list, making it a great fit for small businesses on a budget. Even with a budget-friendly plan, you won't miss out on features and quality.

2. Zendesk

Zendesk is a popular customer service email management software. It helps businesses manage their customer support communications. A range of features are offered to manage email communication with customers. These include ticket management, automation, and collaboration tools for teams.

Its ticketing system allows businesses to prioritize, and assign support requests. It ensures that all conversations get a reply.

Also to email management, Zendesk also provides a range of other tools like live chat, and social media integration.

Pricing

Zendesk pricing starts at $18 per user per month for the basic version. More advanced features are available on higher-tier plans. Zendesk also offers a 30-day free trial for businesses to test out its features.

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3. Help Scout

Help Scout is a customer service email management software to manage customer support messages. It offers a range of features for teams to manage customer requests and track interactions.

Like Missive, Help Scout offers a shared inbox. It allows teams to collaborate on customer emails, assign conversations, and manage customer inquiries. They also have a knowledge base, which helps customers find answers to common questions quickly and easily.

Help Scout also offers a live chat feature to expand the ways customers can reach your business.

Pricing

Help Scout's pricing starts at $25 per month per user for their basic plan with a free 15-day trial.

You can also explore some Help Scout alternatives here.

4. Front

Front is a customer service email management software to manages customer interactions across many channels. Front helps teams to efficiently manage support activities. The platform offers automation capabilities such as rules to save time.

In addition to its basic features, Front also offers advanced features like CRM and analytics. However, these advanced features come with a higher price tag compared to the basic plan.

Pricing

Front's most basic plan starts at $19 per month per user on a one-year contract which only offers the basic feature.

5. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer service email management software to manages customer interactions across email, phone, chat, and social media.

The key features include multi-channel support, automation, and collaboration. Team members can work together to resolve support tickets.

Freshdesk can help your business improve its support with automation.

Unlike Missive which has a more “human” approach, Freshdesk uses a ticketing system for customer inquiries.

Pricing

Freshdesk offers a free option with basic features, and paid plans starting at $18 per person per month, which increase based on the number of agents and features needed. However, to access live chat functionality, a subscription to their Freshchat tool will be required.

6. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is another cloud-based customer service software with a range of features to manage customer interactions.

It offers features like ticket management, automation, multi-channel support, and a knowledge base. With its ticketing system, you can track customer inquiries and support requests.

Like the other tools on the list, they also offer a rule feature to automate some tasks. You could use it to route tickets to the appropriate agent or team, set up response templates, and track SLAs.

Pricing

Zoho Desk pricing starts at $20 per user per month. They also offer a free trial for their paid plans.

7. Hiver

Hiver is a customer service email management software built as an add-on for your Gmail account. With it, your team can manage customer emails received in Gmail. Team members are able to assign emails, set up reminders, track email threads, and tag emails for better organization.

One of the key features of Hiver is its shared inbox management. Similarly to Missive, it allows your team to work together on shared emails and tasks. It also offers email delegation and assignments, email notes, and comments.

However, it's important to note that Hiver only supports emails and live chat as communication channels and you’ll need to be a Gmail user to use it.

Pricing

Hiver pricing starts at $19 per month per user. They also offer a free 7-day trial.

8. Drag

Drag App is a shared inbox software that transforms Gmail into a help desk for customer support. It allows your team to manage customer support emails, tasks, and internal communications in Gmail.

With Drag, your team can collaborate by assigning emails, adding notes and comments, and tracking email progress. Drag uses the same interface as Gmail so it is easier to get started than with some of the solutions on the list.

One of the key features of Drag is the ability to visualize email workflows in Kanban-style boards. This feature makes it easy to manage customer support requests by moving emails across different stages of a workflow.

Pricing

Drag pricing starts at $10 per month per user for their basic plan. They also offer a free plan.

9. Happyfox

Happyfox is a cloud-based help desk software that offers a wide range of features. It offers ticketing, a knowledge base, community forums, live chat, and email management.

Like most tools on the list, Happyfox allows your business to manage customer queries across multiple channels from a single app. It also offers rules to improve support processes and reduce response times.

Pricing

Happyfox pricing starts at $39 per month for their most basic plan.

10. Helpwise

Helpwise is a browser-based customer service email management software designed for small businesses. It's primarily built for customer support. Features range from shared inboxes, email templates, notes, and rules, to assignments.

With the shared inbox you can manage requests from different channels like email, WhatsApp, social media, and live chat. It enables your team to collaborate and ensure that no customer requests are forgotten.

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, Helpwise offers a standard plan starting at $15 per month per user, with a free 7-day trial to test out the platform.

The Importance of Customer Service Email Management Software

Providing excellent customer support is important for any business. But, managing customer inquiries and responding to them in time can be overwhelming. It is especially true as your business grows.

That's where customer service email management software comes in to save the day. This software can help your team be efficient and provide high-quality customer support.

With the right email management software, you can automate repetitive tasks, assign conversations, and respond faster. It will result in improved response times and reduce the workload for your support team. They will be able to focus on providing excellent customer service.

Implementing an email management software can save your business time and resources. Plus, providing excellent customer service can lead to increased revenue and profits.

How to Choose the Right Customer Service Email Software

Choosing the right customer service email software can make an impact on your business' success. But, with so many options available, it can be hard to understand what to look for when choosing the right software.

An email management tool for your customer support should reduce some pain points like slow response time, and inability to collaborate on support inquiries.

Here are some key factors to consider when selecting the right software for your business.

Features

Look for email software that can automate some basic tasks using rules and canned responses. It also needs to offer features to help you rank emails and help your team collaborate on support to provide top-notch customer service.

It can be useful to make a list of the features you need and compare them against the options available.

Scalability

The solution you choose to manage your customer service emails needs to be able to grow with your business. As your company becomes bigger, you'll handle more customer inquiries and have more support agents.

You don't want to switch software down the road. Putting in place a whole new way of working could disrupt your customer service.

Integration

A good customer service email software needs to offer a minimum of integrations so you can integrate the tools you’re already using. For example, it can be a good idea if the solution offers integration with your CRM or a way to connect the two together.

Some tools like Missive, can also be used to manage your social media platforms. This way you can provide a seamless customer experience and keep all your interactions in one place.

Pricing

Check out the pricing options available and choose software that fits your budget and doesn't have any hidden fees. Also, beware of software that lock you in with a contract. For example, looking at the best Intercom alternatives may help you save a lot on your monthly subscriptions.

Reviews & Recommendations

Reviews from other users in your industry can help you get more information bout the software. You can also ask for recommendations from colleagues or other people in your industry.

By considering these factors, you'll be well on your way to choosing the right customer service email software for your business.

Conclusion

In today's always-evolving business world, customer service is more important than ever. It has never been easier for customers to switch to competitors if they feel that their needs are not being met.

We have looked at some of the top email management software solutions available on the market today. By using one you can improve customer satisfaction, reduce response times, and grow your business.

So why not give one of these platforms a try and take your customer service to the next level?

FAQ

How Do I Create a Customer Service Email?

Creating an effective customer service email requires paying attention to several key elements to make sure that the communications are clear and stay positive. We recommend that you have a look at our guide but here's a summary of the most important element:

1. Respond Promptly
2. Personalize Your Responses
3. Use Clear & Concise Language
4. Show Empathy & Understanding
5. Provide Detailed & Relevant Information
6. Proofread & Edit
7. Offer Additional Assistance
8. Follow Up & Close the Loop
9. Monitor & Improve

What is the Most Popular Customer Support Software?

There are many popular customer support software on the market. They all have their unique strengths and features. It is impossible to determine the most popular tool since it will vary depending on the industry, company size, and features required. However here are some of the most popular customer support email software:

1. Missive
2. Zendesk
3. Help Scout
4. Front
5. Freshdesk
6. Zoho Desk
7. Hiver
8. Drag App
9. Happyfox
10. Helpwise

What is the Best Customer Service Email Format?

The best format for your customer service email is one that is clear, concise, and focus on resolving your customer inquiry. However, there's not one size fits all customer service email format. It will always depend on your business brand and on the need of your client.

Here are some general tips that can help you format your customer service email in an effective way.

• Use your customer’s name to make it more personal.
• Read each customer message carefully to make sure you understand what they’re communicating is also important.
• Structure your email with sections and use bullet points or numbered lists to make it more readable.

In today's never stopping business world, managing your email inbox can be an overwhelming task. With so many emails to read, respond to, and organize, it can be difficult to keep up and attain inbox zero. However, with the growing popularity of AI and tools like ChatGPT, managing your inbox has never been easier.

Using an AI email assistant tool brings many benefits. They can save you time and energy by automating repetitive tasks, such as crafting responses and correcting grammar and spelling errors.

In this article, we will explore the best AI email assistants available to help you write and reply to your emails more efficiently.

What are AI Email Assistants?

AI email assistants are tools that use artificial intelligence to help you manage your emails. They are built to analyze and generate emails for you according to your instructions (commands or prompts) or the context from previous messages.

AI email assistants use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to understand the context and intent of your prompt to craft an email tailored to your need. Language models are trained with tons of data to make sure they are able to understand a wide variety of topics.

Some tools we’ll explore below can also understand the messages you receive and the sentiment behind them, and craft responses that are customized to your recipient according to your specific instructions.

Why You Should Use an AI Email Assistant?

Using an AI email assistant lets you unlock the full potential of your email communication and take your productivity to the next level.

While canned responses are helpful in eliminating the tedious task of typing out the same responses over and over again, an AI email writer truly comes in handy when you need personalized emails.

AI email assistant lets you communicate effectively and efficiently while spending less time managing your inbox.

But that's not all. An AI email writer will also help you avoid common mistakes such as grammar and spelling errors, making sure that the messages you send are mistake-free and professional.

Another important advantage of using AI for your business emails is that it can help your team communication, by providing a consistent and professional tone throughout all of your emails, no matter who’s sending the email. It can be especially useful for your team to provide better customer service.

With all that in mind, here is our curated list of the best AI assistant you can use to write better emails in less time.

The Best AI Email Assistants to make you more efficient in your inbox

Imagine having a virtual assistant to who you can delegate email responses, freeing up your time for more important tasks. An AI that understands the context of your emails and provides accurate responses, saving you the time of crafting the perfect response.

The AI email assistants we’ll explore are meant to help you write and (sometimes) reply to emails more efficiently.

Let's dive into the best AI email assistants.

1. Missive

Missive is a team email and collaboration tool that allows you to manage your inbox and shared business mailboxes, collaborate on emails, and assign tasks all in one place. It's available on the web, Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and iPadOS. It supports all email providers like Gmail and Outlook, as well as SMS, WhatsApp, social media, and more.

With the OpenAI integration, you can quickly create and reply to emails, fix grammar and spelling errors, translate messages, and even customize the AI to your specific needs using your own prompts. Because the integration is fully integrated into Missive, it is intuitive, and agnostic of the platform you're using.

Plus, since Missive is a collaborative tool meant for businesses, you can save and share your custom prompts with your team in Missive.

One of the key features of this integration is the ability to let the OpenAI model use your canned response to generate replies for you. This way, your support team could use the integration to instantly reply to customer requests with the best answer according to your company information.

For example, your customer support team could generate accurate replies to any request using AI. The same method can be used by the sale team or any other department.

Plus, Missive lets you select between the ChatGPT 3.5 and ChatGPT 4 version to have faster responses or better and more accurate generated replies with the latter.

Best of all the OpenAI integration works on all platforms, so you can quickly reply or send emails using AI even when you’re on the go. Another advantage over the competitors is that it supports almost all languages.

Price

Missive offers multiple pricing tiers, including a free plan. However in order to use the OpenAI integration you need to subscribe to at least the Productive plan at $30/month. A free 30-day trial is available.

You will also need to have an OpenAI account and pay per usage. However, the cost is minimal compared to the fixed plan offered by other solutions. From our test, a month of use costs less than a fancy coffee.

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2. Flowrite

Flowrite is an AI-powered email writer tool that can help you be more productive in your inbox. The tool utilizes NLP and ML to understand the context and intent of your emails, allowing it to craft messages accordingly.

Flowrite offers a selection of predefined templates to create emails ranging from sales to customer support, passing by HR. The tool integrates with popular email clients such as Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and iCloud Mail via a Chrome extension.

However, there are some limitations to consider when using Flowrite. The email client integration only works on Chrome, so you will need to use the standalone web app if you are not using Chrome or if your email client is not supported. And since it acts as an add-on to your email client on the web, we found that it isn’t always intuitive to use. Additionally, Flowrite only works on desktops and only works in English.

Price

$16.20 /month (€15 /month) with a 30-day free trial.

3. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is an AI-powered writing tool that assists you in writing more efficiently and effectively. It can generate many types of content such as emails, social media posts, and more. The tool offers a pre-defined selection of prompts for generating new content. Additionally, it can improve writing quality by providing suggestions for grammar, style, and tone.

However, it is limited in its capabilities for email writing since it only offers a handful of templates, such as “cancellation emails”, “catchy email subject lines”, “confirmation emails”, “follow-up emails”, “thank you notes”, and “welcome emails”. Another downside of this tool is that it cannot understand messages and generate replies to them.

Also, you may be required to switch between the Copy.ai app and your email client since their Chrome extension worked alternatively in our tests.

Price

Free: Up to 2,000 words per month.

Pro: $49 /mo for unlimited words.

4. Compose.ai

Compose.ai is an AI-powered email writing tool that utilizes OpenAI and GPT-3 to help you write better and more personalized emails. It is available for free, with additional advanced features available through a subscription.

A great feature of the tool compares to the other one on the list is autocomplete which can help you complete sentences faster. It acts similarly to the feature Google offers in their online document editor and in Gmail.

However, it should be noted that the integration pop-up box can be hit or miss, and support may not be uniform across all apps. Customization options are also limited, and the text-expanding feature did not work well. The quick reply feature also had mixed results in our testing.

Price

Free

There’s also a subscription offered for more advanced features. However, we couldn’t find the details.

5. Rytr

Rytr is an AI-powered writing tool that can be used for a wide range of content creation, including website copywriting, marketing sales copy, and full blog posts. However, the feature that is the most interesting for us allows you to write emails. They also offer a Chrome extension that makes the process even more convenient when using an email client in your browser like Missive, Gmail, or Outlook.

From our test, we saw that Rytr supports and works in more apps than Compose.ai. It also offers a free version that generates content of relatively good quality.

One of the downsides is that their email writer tool is quite simple as you can only create new emails by selecting the language, the tone, and the key points you want to cover. Rytr also cannot be customized and doesn’t work with a long selection to paraphrase. Additionally, it cannot understand messages and create replies automatically. To be able to do that, you will need to provide it with all the information from the previous messages. It’s important to note that their Chrome extension is still in beta.

Price

Free: Up to 10,000 characters per month.

Saver plan: $9 /month for 100,000 characters per month and custom use case.

Unlimited plan: $29 /month for unlimited characters per month and custom use case.

6. Warmer.ai

Warmer.ai is an AI-powered email personalization tool that uses natural language processing and machine learning to help you write more effective and personalized outreach emails.

It is built specifically for sales emails, as it automatically analyzes the business or person to which you want to pitch and crafts a personalized email for them.

Their goal is to help you increase open rates and conversions by personalizing subject lines and email content based on the recipient's profile and your goals. It can help you understand your email audience better and segment them based on different characteristics.

However, the drawbacks of the tool is that it can only be used to create outreach emails and the pricing may be too high for some users.

Price

Starter: $59 /month for 150 credits per month.

Basic: $97 /month for 325 credits per month.

Plus: $279 /month for 1,500 credits per month.

7. Grammarly

The last one on the list is not an AI assistant that can write emails, and reply for you like the others on the list. However, it comes in really handy when you need to improve your writing quality.

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing tool that uses natural language processing and machine learning to provide suggestions for grammar, spelling, punctuation errors, style, and tone when you’re writing emails or any other type of document.

It also offers suggestions for vocabulary and can help you to avoid common mistakes. Grammarly can be used as a browser extension on most major browsers, and via their desktop and mobile app. It is also integrated into Missive to help you write better messages.

It can be used for your personal and professional emails. They also offer a feature to help you improve the readability of your writing with their subscription.

However, it’s important to note that only English is supported.

Price

Free: Grammar, spelling, punctuation, conciseness, and tone detection.

Premium: $30 /month for everything in free, full-sentence rewrites, word choice tone suggestions, and citations.

Business: $75 /month for 3 users with everything in Premium, style guides, snippets, and brand tones.

Honorable Mentions

Jasper

Jasper.ai is an AI-powered content creation platform. While they offer an extension that can be used in Gmail to create emails using their AI. It is primarily built for longer-form content creation like blog posts, making it an expensive tool if only used for emails.

You

You is an AI search engine, and while its primary focus is to provide you with the best result for your research, they do offer a basic email writer. It’s not the most elaborate tool but offers an easy and free option for people who rarely need help from an AI tool. You’ll also need to switch back and forth between their web app and your email client.

How to choose the right tool for you?

Choosing the right AI tool for your emails can be a daunting task, but luckily all the tools on the list offer a free trial or a freemium version which lets you try them and find the one that fits you the most.

It's important to consider the specific features and capabilities that you need. Making a list of the features that are most important to you before exploring each option can help you when evaluating each option.

Additionally, it's also important to consider the cost of the tool and whether it fits within your budget. Most tools offer a fixed plan no matter your usage. As attractive as this might be, from our experience, the fees are often a lot more expensive than paying by usage like you would with the OpenAI integration in Missive.

Another factor to consider is the level of integration with your email client. From our test most tool that works via an extension work only with Chrome and doesn’t integrate well with email clients other than Gmail.

Conclusion

AI email assistants are a powerful tool for streamlining communication and increasing productivity by helping you generate emails, create replies, translate, and fix your grammar and spelling mistakes.

Some tools like the OpenAI integration in Missive also let you customize your prompts so the AI response can be even more personalized.

Using an AI email writer is a great way to help manage emails, but I suggest you follow our best strategies to overcome email overload to help you and start using a great email management software to avoid a cluttered inbox.

FAQ

Is there an AI that helps write emails for free?

The best way to get started with an AI to help you write emails for free is by using the free version of ChatGPT on your browser. However, you'll need to create your own prompts and copy/paste emails and the generated reply between your email client and OpenAI conversational AI UI.

What is the AI that helps you write emails?

At the moment, most AI email assistants are usingOpenAI and more specifically ChatGPT as their AI model to help you write emails.

Can AI write an email for me?

Yes, artificial intelligence can write emails for you. However, you should always double-check the generated response to make sure it answers your needs and that all the information is factual.

Customers needing support prefer live chat over other methods of communication. It's got the personalized feel of a phone call and the accuracy of an email. Also, consumers are more likely to buy from a company that offers live chat support. That's a fact.

Small businesses could be hesitant about the idea of adding live chat to their websites. Will it generate a lot of extra work? More demanding customers? Will I lose focus on the other aspects of the company?

These are all real concerns, but with a proper deployment strategy, live chat can be a very powerful weapon and it's highly scalable. So how can small businesses implement this new channel of communication successfully?

Here are some of the best tips for a fruitful customer service in a small company:

1. Roll it out to a few select pages first

Instead of adding the live chat bubble to all pages at once and risk getting swamped with requests, do a selection of the pages where customers struggle the most. You might also want to consider this:

• If possible, offer live chat to paying customers only.
• For a sales-oriented live chat, display it only on your pricing page.
• For a technical-oriented live chat, display it in your documentation guides.

2. Set expectations and fulfill them

Don't start by offering 24/7 support. Your team will suffer and customers will be disappointed. It's better to start offering live chat during your business hours.

A good tip is to only show the bubble when someone from the team is online and open to respond to live requests. If you stick to this strategy customers will be happy because they know that if they can access the chat they will get help promptly.

I don't know about you, but when I use a company's live chat that says "We respond within 2 or 3 hours" I immediately feel disappointed. I'm not saying there's something wrong with not being able to offer immediate support, but if that's the case ask people to email you instead. A live chat should be… live.

3. Share the workload

In the case of small companies, I'm a firm believer in sharing the support workload amongst all coworkers. It's a great way to have contact with customers, take in observations, and make the product/service better.

Even if it's just a few hours per week you can get more valuable feedback from exchanging words with a customer than spending hours going through analytics or metrics.

It's also a good idea to pass a customer's case between coworkers as seamlessly as possible. This might be due to a shift ending or someone requiring other areas of expertise.

4. Prepare as much as possible

Chances are you already know which questions are asked the most. Maybe you already have an FAQ section on your website. Either way you should set up templates of these questions, so you can send them quickly.

This way you avoid losing time and focus your attention to more complex queries or other sales efforts.

Also, try to send links to help articles as much as possible. If you don't have a knowledgebase, build one as early as possible. It's one of the best investments you can make, support-wise.

5. Be cordial and transparent

This might sound obvious, but doing customer support is not always easy. Always greet people, be agreeable and show that you want to help.

If you don't have the answer to a question, simply say that you will follow-up by email. The same applies if you need time to fix a problem. It's best not to keep the customer waiting.

To learn more about delivering stellar customer support, read this post.

6. Use the right tool

Live chat tools abound. If you're depolying an omnichannel strategy, then look for a tool that allows centralizing all your communications into a single place, may that be email, live chat, SMS, etc. Missive is one of those tools.

We offer a live chat solution that is greatly suited for small companies looking to dip their toes into live support. You can add schedules, create automatic responses, send proloaded responses, share the workload automatically, and more. Oh, and if you have less than 200 active chats per month, it is free!

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Missive Chat can be added to any webpage. If you're using a CMS or ecommerce builder, be sure to check out our guides to set up live chats on them:

• How to add live chat to WordPress
• How to add live chat Shopify
• How to add live chat to Squarespace

Millions of entrepreneurs around the globe have leveraged the internet to increase sales. Now more than ever, current world events have driven many businesses to jump into the ecommerce world in a matter of months.

Shopify is one of the leaders in the ecommerce building space. They claim businesses using their service have generated over 200 billion USD in sales. It's amazing.

But let's not forget that having a medium where you can sell stuff is only half the battle. Providing quality customer support is just as important as offering a quality product.

In today's fast-paced world, customers expect fast, reliable service. With so much competition out there, failing to do so can result in decreased brand loyalty and fleeing customers.

In the online world, live chat is often the most effective channel of communication. According to eConsultancy:

Live chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, with 73%, compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone.

In other words, live chat makes for happier customers.

In this article, we will explain how you can add live chat to a Shopify ecommerce site.

Choosing a live chat service to add to Shopify

There are many options out there. But if you are part of a small/medium ecommerce team that is looking to collaborate around live chat, email, and other communication channels, then Missive is the way to go.

Missive Live Chat is powered by Twilio. Right off the bat, it is free, and you can have up to 200 active chats per month. After that, you will pay a low fee, starting at $0.03 for each additional one.

Setting up Missive Live Chat

Once you have created your Missive account, go to your Settings and click Accounts then Add account.

Select the Missive Live Chat option.

As we stated before, Missive Live Chat uses Twilio's Conversations API, so you must first sign up to Twilio. Monthly fees (after the 200 active chats per month) will be charged to your Twilio account.

Once you've signed up, you will have access to the dashboard, where you will be able to see two important pieces of information: your Account SID and Auth Token.

Back in Missive you can continue the process.

Missive is, above all, a tool to collaborate around different channels. You will be asked to choose whether you want the chats shared with teammates or not.

We suggest you choose the first option and share it in a Team Inbox. This will lead all incoming chats into a shared inbox where many teammates can assign cases to each other and work more efficiently.

After that, you will need to enter the Account SID and Auth Token from your Twilio account as well as a Chat service name.

Your live chat is almost ready to be plugged into Shopify.

Setting up Missive Live Chat in Shopify

It's very simple to install Missive Live Chat in Shopify.

STEP 1

Go to your Online Store Dashboard > Settings > Actions > Edit code

STEP 2

Click on the file theme.liquid that's inside the Layout folder.

STEP 3

Go back to Missive and copy the code snippet. You can find it in Settings > Accounts > Missive Chat > Setup > Code Snippet.

STEP 3

Go back to Shopify, and paste the code right before the </head> tag.

Congratulations! You now have a live chat on your website. But it's not in sync with the site's branding. Yet.

Customizing the live chat window

Inside the Missive Live Chat settings, you can:

• Change the main color
• Customize various messages such as welcome, help, error, title, etc.
• Change the position of the bubble
• Show online status
• Show avatars
• Show names
• Ask for name and/or email
• Require name and/or email
• Change the bubble messages
• Change the User Interface messages
• Identify and verify users
• And more

The widget is highly customizable. For all options, see the documentation.

Here's the final version of our chat bubble. It looks great, right?

Managing the live chat

Missive Live Chat is the perfect way to interact with visitors and users from your website without creating additional silos of communication.

Whenever someone sends a message through the live chat on your website, it will instantly appear in your Missive app, and like all other channels (email, SMS, social media messages), you decide where these messages land. You may choose for them to arrive in a Team Inbox or everyone's Inbox.

Missive Live Chat offers you fantastic features:

• Identify visitors & authenticate users
• One-to-many interactions
• Customizable widget
• Schedules
• File exchange
• Automation
• Read status
• Attach and display metadata
• Emojis

Go here to learn more about each feature.

We hope this article helped you add a live chat to your Shopify site.

Everyone has a website these days. How can you make yours stand out from the crowd? I think there are three principal elements; First, offer a great product. Second, create a beautiful website, and third, deliver outstanding customer support.

Squarespace is a website builder that allows people to easily create alluring websites in a short time and without any coding skills. They've distinguished themselves by their aesthetic pre-built templates that cater mostly to the creative industry. By building a website with them, you're on the right path to standing out from the crowd!

Now let's talk about customer service. In today's fast-paced world, customers expect fast, reliable service. With so much competition out there, failing to do so can result in decreased brand loyalty and fleeing customers.

In the online world, live chat is often the most effective channel of communication. According to eConsultancy:

Live chat has the highest satisfaction levels for any customer service channel, with 73%, compared with 61% for email and 44% for phone.

In other words, live chat = happier customers.

In this article, we will explain how you can add live chat to a Squarespace site.

Choosing a live chat service to add to Squarespace

There are many options out there. But if you are part of a small/medium team that is looking to collaborate around live chat, email, and other communication channels, then Missive is the way to go.

Missive Live Chat is powered by Twilio.  Right off the bat, it is free, and you can have up to 200 active chats per month. After that, you will pay a low fee, starting at $0.03 for each additional one.

Setting up Missive Live Chat

Once you have created your Missive account. Go to your Settings and click Accounts then Add account.

Select the Missive Live Chat option.

As we stated before, Missive Live Chat uses Twilio's Conversations API, so you must first sign up to Twilio. Monthly fees (after the 200 active chats per month) will be charged to your Twilio account.

Once you've signed up, you will have access to the dashboard, where you will be able to see two important pieces of information: your Account SID and Auth Token.

Back in Missive you can continue the process.

Missive is, above all, a tool to collaborate around different channels. You will be asked to choose whether you want the chats shared with teammates or not.

We suggest you choose the first option and share it in a Team Inbox. This will lead all incoming chats into a shared inbox where many teammates can assign cases to each other and work more efficiently.

After that, you will need to enter the Account SID and Auth Token from your Twilio account as well as a Chat service name.

Your live chat is almost ready to be plugged into Squarespace.

Setting up Missive Live Chat in Squarespace

It's quite easy to install Missive Live Chat in Squarespace.

STEP 1

Go to your Squarespace Dashboard > Settings > Advanced > Code Injection

STEP 2

Go back to Missive and copy the account id from the code snippet. You can find it in Settings > Accounts > Missive Chat > Setup > Code Snippet.

It looks like this number:

2846475-c2324-232344-235-dsfds34ffdf233

STEP 3

Go back to Squarespace and paste the code in the HEADER tag.

Congratulations! You now have a live chat on your website. But it's not in sync with the site's branding. Yet.

Customizing the live chat window

Inside the Missive Live Chat  settings, you can:

• Change the main color
• Customize various messages such as welcome, help, error, title, etc.
• Change the position of the bubble
• Show online status
• Show avatars
• Show names
• Ask for name and/or email
• Require name and/or email
• Change the bubble messages
• Change the User Interface messages
• Identify and verify users
• And more

The widget is highly customizable. For all options, see the documentation.

Here's the final version of our chat bubble. It looks great, right?

Managing the live chat

Missive Live Chat is the perfect way to interact with visitors and users from your website without creating additional silos of communication.

Whenever someone sends a message through the live chat on your website, it will instantly appear in your Missive app, and like all other channels (email, SMS, social media messages), you decide where these messages land. You may choose for them to arrive in a Team Inbox or everyone's Inbox.

Missive Live Chat offers you fantastic features:

• Identify visitors & authenticate users
• One-to-many interactions
• Customizable widget
• Schedules
• File exchange
• Automation
• Read status
• Attach and display metadata
• Emojis

Go here to learn more about each feature.

We hope this article helped you add a live chat to your Squarespace site.

You now have the tools to create a great website and offer fantastic customer support. Now focus all your energy on developing an excellent product or service!