Customer Experience 
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from customer service software, which can help facilitate customer interactions, streamline customer service from the support side, and provide invaluable insights to improve the customer experience.
And because every business is unique, it’s important to consider your specific needs when choosing customer service software. In this post, we’ll go over common types of customer support software and how to choose one that’s right for you.
What Is Customer Service Software?
Customer service software is a tool or set of tools designed to help businesses manage and improve their interactions with customers. It includes a variety of different tools — including help desk software and customer experience software — all of which seek to help businesses provide better quality support to their customers.
Common use cases typically involve handling customer inquiries, resolving customer issues, and facilitating customer communication across multiple channels.
Functions of Customer Service Software
While multiple types of customer service platforms are available, most tools offer a few core functions.These include the following:
- Ticket management: Track and manage customer requests and issues through a ticketing system, ensuring no queries go unresolved and that concerns are addressed promptly.
- Access to customer data: View customer history, including customer conversations, to offer more personalized experiences and improved solutions to potential concerns.
- Omnichannel support: Integrate with multiple communication channels, including email, live chat software, social media, phone calls, and SMS messaging, so customer service agents can support all types of customers, regardless of how they make contact.
- Knowledge base: Create a centralized repository of information where customers and support agents can find answers to common questions and solutions to recurring problems. Some brands create dedicated internal and external FAQs to streamline support requests.
- Automation: Leverage automation for routine tasks such as ticket assignments, response templates, and follow-up reminders to increase efficiency, streamline repetitive tasks, and improve resolution times.
- Analytics and reporting: Use various essential metrics, such as response times, resolution rates, and customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), to gain real-time insights into support performance and create data-driven strategies to improve team performance.
- Customer feedback: Collect and analyze client feedback to help your business better understand customer needs and improve service quality accordingly.
- Collaboration tools: Facilitate internal communication and collaboration among support team members for more thorough and effective problem resolution, ensuring team members are on the same page and no customer slips through the cracks.
Related: 10 Best Customer Communication Management Software
7 Features to Look for When Choosing Customer Service Software
When choosing customer support software, it’s essential to look for a solution that aligns with your exact needs, provides a strong experience for your customer support agents and customers, and meets the key criteria below.
1. Business size and needs
When assessing customer service solutions, it’s important to choose a platform that can accommodate both your current and future business.
Ensure the software can grow with your business, offering advanced features that you may need later and the option to handle increased customer volume and additional agents.
Look for a customizable solution that allows you to adapt the product to fit your workflows and processes.
2. Integration capabilities
Your new customer support software should integrate seamlessly with your existing tech stack, including your customer relationship management (CRM) platform, enterprise resource planning platform, and other essential business systems to ensure a smooth flow of information.
Consider the ease of integrating with third-party apps that your business already uses, including marketing automation tools and e-commerce platforms.
Remember that some platforms will offer set integrations, and some may offer standard integrations while also allowing customers to use their API for custom data syncing and workflow processes with tools that aren’t yet supported.
3. User experience
You want your customer service solution to be exceptionally easy to use for everyone involved. The interface should be intuitive and easy for agents and customers, minimizing the learning curve. Agents will be able to address customer queries effortlessly, and customers will get support faster.
Because onboarding can be a big undertaking, even with an intuitive tool, assessing the quality of training resources and customer support offered by the software vendor is essential. You want to ensure that your entire team can become proficient quickly.
4. Functionality
Functionality is essential when choosing a customer service platform. While many platforms may have similar features, the devil is in the details.
Core features should include ticketing, reporting and analytics, streamlined communication, and knowledge base tools.
Depending on your business needs, you may also opt for more advanced features like AI-driven chatbots, advanced analytics, and mobile support.
We strongly recommend making a list of tools that your customer support team needs and features that they may benefit from. Be proactive and consider what you need both now and in the future so you can choose a provider that can scale up in functionality and volume if needed.
5. Cost
Cost can be a make-it-or-break-it factor for many businesses when choosing any kind of software. There are a few factors to consider here:
- Pricing model: Understand the pricing structure and ensure it aligns with your budget. Popular pricing structures may include subscription-based, per-user, or per-feature pricing.
- Pricing for needed features: When comparing different providers, look at what’s included in their pricing. Ensure you’ll be able to access the features you need, and at the scale you need, at a price point in your budget.
- Total cost of ownership: Consider the initial price and any additional expenses related to training, implementation, and ongoing maintenance. For example, some platforms may have a one-time activation or setup fee or require one-time purchases for add-on features.
Some platforms may have confusing pricing. Assessing customer reviews on websites like G2 or Capterra can easily reveal if a company’s pricing isn’t transparent.
6. Security and compliance
A critical part of customer service management is security and compliance, even if it’s sometimes overlooked. This typically includes two key components.
The first is data protection. You want to ensure that the software you choose adheres to industry data security and customer privacy standards. There should be features in place designed to protect sensitive customer information.
You also want to check that your software complies with all relevant federal, local, and industry regulations and standards. Examples may include GDPR for businesses with European customers or HIPAA for businesses in the healthcare industry.
7. Customer reviews and vendor reputation
While you should seek detailed, up-to-date information from the provider regarding current features and pricing, you should also consider customer reviews.
Look for reviews and testimonials from other businesses in your industry to gauge the software’s functionality, reliability, usability, and performance. A provider may assure you that onboarding is easy, but customer reviews will be more truthful about the learning curve and onboarding processes.
Assess the vendor’s track record, looking at their historical performance, customer base, and overall reputation on the market. Ideally, look for reviews within the past year; a lot can change quickly for software businesses.
Related: Best Support Desk Software for Managing Service Requests
6 Popular Customer Service Software Solutions
Looking for a new cloud-based customer service solution for your business? Let’s discuss some of the best customer service software options in 2024.
1. Nextiva
Nextiva provides a comprehensive suite of communication tools for a unified customer experience, creating an all-in-one solution for businesses of all sizes. It offers a flexible and scalable contact center solution that prioritizes a 360-degree customer view for personalized support experiences.
Key features include:
- CRM integrations
- Omnichannel support
- Conversational AI
- Customer conversation history
- Smart chatbots
- Automated outbound campaign functionality
- Auto-transcription for agent calls
- Customizable interaction scripting
- Intelligent ticket routing to connect customers to the agent best suited to help them
- Advanced analytics for small to large businesses
Nextiva offers options for small businesses and customer service call centers, allowing you to scale up and down significantly over time as needed. The company also has transparent pricing, dedicated customer support, and exceptional reliability.
2. Zendesk
Zendesk is known for its robust ticketing system and comprehensive analytics. It’s a popular help desk software solution that can streamline customer support ticket resolution.
It offers the following features:
- Live chat support software
- Self-service portal and knowledge base
- AI-based customer resolution features
- Personalized messaging
- Pre-built analytics dashboards
Zendesk also has a sales product, and existing customers should note that both products must be purchased separately.
3. Freshdesk
Freshwork’s Freshdesk offers a user-friendly interface and streamlines repetitive tasks using customer service automation.
Key features include:
- A unified workspace
- Self-service customer portals for FAQs
- AI-powered automations and workflows
- Machine-learning insights
- No-code bots
4. Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce’s Service Cloud is a popular customer support tool for existing Salesforce customers. It integrates seamlessly with the company’s other products, and it provides advanced AI features.
Some standout features include:
- Intelligent omnichannel routing
- Einstein bots to assist waiting customers
- Generative AI-powered replies
- A straightforward knowledge base
- “Swarm” in Slack for improved team collaboration
5. HubSpot Service Hub
HubSpot’s Service Hub — like Salesforce’s — is a great choice for the company’s existing customers. It integrates well with HubSpot’s marketing, sales, and operations hubs, making it easy for customers to create a unified experience.
Some key features of HubSpot’s Service Hub include:
- Ticketing
- Team email, with email templates
- Live chat and phone support
- Ticket creation bots
- Meeting scheduling
6. Zoho Desk
Last but not least, we have Zoho Desk, which integrates seamlessly with Zoho’s CRM. Its customer support system makes heavy use of generative and automation-driven AI.
Key features include the following:
- Omnichannel support
- Self-service portals
- Guided conversations
- Service level agreements
- Ticket prioritization systems
- Advanced reply editors and AI-generative responses
Customer Service Teams Love Nextiva
If you’re looking for the right customer service software for your business, take a close look at your existing customer experience. What are you doing well? Where are things falling short? How could your agents be better supported to assist your customers better?
Make a list of all the key features you need and the ones you’d like. These features should help improve customer interactions by offering more personalized conversations, cross-platform support, and streamlined resolution times.
Contact centers that field customer service interactions should look closely at Nextiva’s contact center software, which is designed to facilitate customer communication, boost team collaboration, and improve the overall customer experience.
Related: How Social Media Customer Service Platforms Help Your Business
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