As startups bring on new customers and scale their business, they inevitably—and quickly—reach a point where existing processes begin to break down.
This is a good problem to have, as it's indicative of success and can be overcome by utilizing the right software. Selecting a system to help you effectively manage and respond to customer service requests gives you the opportunity to improve customer experience while continuing to grow your business.
There are multiple tools out there to choose from, and it can be a bit overwhelming to sort through them all on your own.
In this post, we'll take a look at five web-based support ticketing tools for your startup to consider. We selected these options based on their usability for small and midsize businesses, as well as a lack of general difficulty in getting started.
Email support isn't scalable.
Customer support comes in many—often frustrating—forms. Phone trees and long wait times. Maddening chatbots. Website forms that are addressed via email responses.
While directly responding to customer service requests via email may have worked in your business' early stages, it's simply not scalable as you grow. The more customers you have, the more customer support requests you'll receive. A slow trickle of emails can quickly become a flood.
Your business can't afford to let customer service requests slip through the cracks; according to Oracle's Customer Experience Impact Report, 50% of consumers give companies only one week to respond to a question before they stop doing business with them.
That's where help desk ticketing software comes in.
Choosing the right software for your business
There's a lot riding on your help desk software choice. After all, your customers' happiness is at stake. As Alex Bard, CEO of Campaign Monitor, says, “Support the customer, or there will be no customer to support!"
Don't worry; we're here to help. Here are five help desk ticketing software options for startups looking to scale their customer support with their growth.
1. Zendesk
Zendesk is a market leader in help desk ticketing software, as evidenced by the company's 200,000+ customers and 500+ reviews on Capterra.
Standout features and pricing:
Pricing starts at $9 per user, per month
Multi-channel functionality, meaning that tickets can be submitted via email, social media platforms, chat, talk, text, and messaging
Creation of saved, common responses to answer frequently asked questions
Pathfinder component, which shows the steps the customer took before and after submitting a support ticket
Zendesk Pathfinder screenshot
Best for:
Zendesk is a good fit for larger customer service teams who will enjoy its advanced features and customer success-oriented functionality as they scale. It's worth noting that while Zendesk starts at $9/month, the low price point only gives you access to a limited version of the product.
2. Outseta
Outseta is a software platform designed to support the basic needs of SaaS startups and other subscription businesses.
User feedback collected by Outseta shows that the product offers a simple and easy-to-use customer support ticketing system designed for startups transitioning to using help desk ticketing software for the first time.
Outseta also offers fully integrated CRM, email marketing, knowledge base, subscription billing, and reporting tools.
Standout features and pricing:
Outseta is free for unlimited users
Tickets are submitted via email to a custom email address of your choosing (such as support@capterra.com)
Tickets can then be assigned, privately commented on, and responded to; responses appear as personalized emails
All customers receive access to Outseta's CRM, email marketing, knowledge base, subscription billing, and reporting tools at no additional charge
Outseta screenshot
Best for:
Outseta is designed for early-stage startups, SaaS and subscription businesses, and small companies with 10 or fewer support staff members.
3. Groove
Groove builds simple help desk software for small teams. Founded in 2013, the company has grown rapidly and now serves more than 6,000 customers. Capterra reviewers have consistently cited Groove's simple design and described it as a good value.
The company's blog is a a great resource for entrepreneurs, containing routinely published content about Groove's own entrepreneurial journey.
Standout features and pricing:
Pricing starts at $22 per user, per month
The interface looks and feels like an email client
Allows easy collaboration on emails, social media posts, live chats, and calls
Provides basic customer service metrics reports
Groove screenshot
Best for:
Groove is a good fit for companies who value a seamless customer and agent experience to make sure customer service requests don't slip through the cracks above bells and whistles.
4. Intercom
Intercom focuses on helping sales, marketing, and support teams communicate better with prospects and customers. The company streamlines incoming requests through channels including email, social media platforms, in-app, and Slack, bringing all interaction threads into the same interface. On Capterra, reviewers consistently report that the software continues to improve over time and has helped them consolidate customer communications.
Standout features and pricing:
Pricing starts at $53 per month to talk to up to 250 people
Operator Bot automates tasks such as contact information collection and suggesting help articles
Intercom Messenger, a live chat tool that can be used on your website, mobile devices, and in your app
Intercom screenshot
Best for:
Intercom is a great fit for companies looking to streamline conversations and provide up-to-date customer interaction threads to their sales, marketing, and customer support teams.
5. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is another market leader in the help desk ticketing software category with over 100,000 customers and 200+ reviews on Capterra.
Standout features and pricing:
Free limited functionality version available for unlimited users
Allows support in more than 30 languages and across time zones
Allows support for multiple product lines
Freshdesk screenshot
Best for:
Freshdesk is a great fit for scaling teams that need to provide support for multiple products, languages, and across time zones.
Conclusions
With more than 200 products listed in Capterra's help desk software directory, you have access to more helpful customer service tools than ever before.
Numerous options mean that the right software for your company is out there, you just have to find it.
It's important that you do; according to a Bain & Company study, 80% of companies believe that they provide superior customer service while only 8% of customers believe that they receive superior customer service.
Selecting and leveraging the right help desk ticketing system is a great opportunity for your business to help close that gap.
Take the time to fully understanding the unique attributes of a software's offerings. Your team—and your customers—will thank you.