6 Best Shopify Helpdesk Apps to Integrate in 2023
Shopify is almost becoming synonymous with e-commerce for SMB brands. And rightfully so! The kind of market share they have gained in the last decade is a testament to their product vision. Shopify provides security and reliability that matches a custom-built website without any hassles.
As a business owner, there is enough on your plate, and you can certainly do without worrying about website hosting and server costs.
Shopify offers many essential features. It provides templates for your storefront, handles shipping and payments, and allows you to organize orders. And if you are looking for added functionalities, the Shopify app store has over 20000 apps for you to choose from.
Need a app for returns? Shopify has your back. How about a review management tool or a CRM? No problem!
Much like add-ons in your favorite sandwich order, these apps enhance your whole experience and bring out the best Shopify has to offer.
Not all condiments are made the same, and a Shopify helpdesk towers above all other Shopify apps. For a Shopify eCommerce store, a helpdesk streamlines CS operations, doubles up as a CRM, elevates your customer experience, and improves customer retention. Discover more on Shopify CRM Integration for Ecommerce Store
Learn More:
How to Choose the Right Helpdesk for your Shopify Store:
There are an overwhelming number of Shopify helpdesk software to choose from. All helpdesks vary in their offerings and can help your business grow in different ways. As an independent eCommerce retailer, you should take into consideration the following aspects when selecting a helpdesk software for your business:
1. Scalability
As the number of orders increases, so does the ticket volume. A helpdesk’s primary aim is to solve for scalability, and it can achieve this in many different ways. The most apparent result of using a helpdesk is that it reduces response time, freeing agents to solve more customer queries without expanding your CS team.
Here are some questions to consider before choosing a helpdesk solution for scalability-
- Can the software handle large volumes of customer tickets without glitching?
- Does it connect with all communication channels beyond email?
- Can this helpdesk reduce response time for customer queries?
- Can it reduce the number of redundant queries that agents receive?
- Will I be able to manage multiple stores and multiple brands?
If you’ve got multiple Shopify stores, you should consider if the helpdesk allows you to manage them from a single account or window.
2. Mobile-Friendly
About 90% of your customers use their phones to make purchases or scroll through your website. Because of this, the mobile adaptability of your Shopify helpdesk software matters a great deal. Choose a mobile-friendly helpdesk solution that offers a seamless experience, no matter what gadget your customer uses.
3. Customer Experience
A helpdesk is more than a ticketing solution. A ecommerce customer service tool can help you build a bond with your website visitors and customers. Your helpdesk software should be user-friendly and improve the customer experience. There are several ways a helpdesk can help achieve this-
- A helpdesk should provide a highly personalized experience so that your customers feel valued and connected to your brand.
- Your helpdesk should empower customers to find answers to their queries through self-service flows.
- An interactive interface goes a long way in reducing any fiction your customers face when looking for customer support.
Related Read: How to Improve Ecommerce Customer Experience
4. Agent Experience
Customer service is a demanding profession with a very high churn rate. Most businesses spend a lot of time training customer representatives and still see 30% R. A good helpdesk solves this issue-
Streamlining CS communication is bound to save your agents the trouble of shuffling between multiple windows. But providing access is not enough. A helpdesk can act as a sieve, automating responses to repetitive queries and “filtering” out redundancy.
Your agents can spend their time on complex issues and revenue-generating conversations. A good helpdesk will reduce your agents’ workload and improve job satisfaction.
A helpdesk that aims to improve agent experience should ideally offer all of the following:
- A comprehensive and unified customer profile provides all necessary customer data, so your agents do not toggle between Shopify and the helpdesk to solve simple issues.
- A centralized inbox that connects all your customer communication channels.
- A highly adaptable helpdesk that does not have a complex interface and does not have a steep learning curve.
- Migration support to transfer your customer conversations to the new platform.
5. Robust Automation:
Your helpdesk software should strike the perfect balance between automation and human interaction. It should not deflect customer questions with robotic responses, but it should not make your agents do all the heavy lifting.
The Shopify helpdesk should facilitate better conversations between customers and agents, not replace them. Your helpdesk software should support automation but not rely on it heavily.
Read More: Customer Service Automation Best Practices & Benefits
Essential Features that Shopify Helpdesk Should Have:
Here are some of the most popular and beneficial helpdesk software features you should be looking out for:
1. Automation Flows
Whether routing a conversation to the right person, triggering a canned response, or performing an order action based on the customer’s message, automation is a critical feature that helps improve the customer experience and the internal processes.
Your helpdesk should be capable of performing all redundant tasks with little to no manual oversight. With deep Shopify integrations and highly customizable automation flows, your Shopify helpdesk can empower you to provide better customer service.
Related Read: Guide to Create an Customer Service Helpdesk
2. Customer Self-Service Portal
An empowered customer is a happy customer. Self-service portals enable customers to take control of their situation and find solutions to their problems without contacting a customer service agent.
On the other hand, it can also double as a knowledge base with tutorials, educational content, and FAQs that prompt website visitors to purchase. This drives up customer satisfaction and conversion rates as well.
3. CSAT and Reporting
Customer service is a revenue channel that often gets undermined because of a lack of insight. Your helpdesk solution should be able to track the revenue each agent generates through customer service. It helps you identify good performers and even illustrate good conversations during training.
Shopify helpdesks also allow you to track metrics like average response time and median conversation time while providing data about the most common customer complaints. This will enable you to address any issues in areas like customer service, transportation, or even your website pages.
4, Unified Customer Timeline
A helpdesk should aim to empower agents with information and functionality. Doing so allows your agents to provide a seamless and personalized experience even as the ticket volume increases. Your helpdesk should provide complete customer context by providing a unified customer profile that shows their CLV, recent purchases, and past interactions- all in one window.
Your agents can use this information to better address customer concerns without having to use another CRM or switch between Shopify and your helpdesk software.
5. Shopify Integration
The agent and user experience rely heavily on the strength of the integration between your helpdesk and Shopify. Your helpdesk should be able to pull customer data and provide agents with sufficient insights. It should also be able to perform order actions such as cancellation or initiating a refund without having to leave the window or access Shopify admin separately.
6. Integration with your DTC stack
Shopify has a great app selection that allows you to employ different tools for your eCommerce business. As these provide various valuable extensions to the Shopify features, your helpdesk should be able to integrate with the Shopify tools that are integral to your business, such as the tools you use for loyalty programs, returns, tracking, etc.
With these benefits and features in mind, let’s take a look at the most adept Helpdesks for a growing Shopify business:
Best Shopify Helpdesk Apps to Integrate with Store:
1. Richpanel:
Richpanel is a customer support software for eCommerce businesses. It has an excellent helpdesk functionality that stands out due to the following features:
Related Read: Top 11 Help Desk Softwares for 2023 - Ultimate Guide
- Self-Service
Richpanel has the best self-service feature amongst all Shopify helpdesk software. Richpanel’s primary aim is to reduce redundant tickets; the self-service portal allows customers to access a customized knowledge base through the live chat window on your Shopify store. It also allows them to take order actions such as edit and cancel orders, minimizing redundant queries and reducing total ticket volume by 40-70%.
- Agent Experience
Another great differentiator that sets Richpanel apart is the agent experience. Richpanel’s backend is intuitive and designed to look like the messaging window in social media apps such as LinkedIn. It's easy to use and requires little training.
Apart from this, Richpanel also doubles as a CRM, which provides complete customer context. It can pull customer data like CLV, order history, and chat history- showing it all in one window and helping agents make more informed decisions.
- Deep Integrations
Richpanel enjoys a deep Shopify integration, which means your agents can take order actions or view customer information without leaving the Richpanel window! No more multiple clicks and switching between numerous windows for customer requests!
Richpanel also integrates with many popular Shopify tools such as Klaviyo, Aircall, and Returnly, making it easy to manage all order-related tasks from one window.
- Reporting
Richpanel has a robust reporting system that helps track metrics like average response time and conversions driven by the customer support software. This enables you to gain valuable insights into your business and allows you to scale your business.
Review: 5.0 ⭐ (97 Reviews on Shopify Store)
2. Kustomer
Kustomer is an excellent helpdesk for Shopify and comes with a wide range of exciting features, which are listed here:
- Timeline
Kustomer also doubles as CRM and provides agents with customer data like their order history. While this successfully provides agents with all the information they need, Kustomer is slow and tends to hold the agents back from doing their best.
- Kustomer IQ
Kustomer IQ is Kustomer’s self-learning AI tool that studies previous agents' responses to automate conversations. Sometimes, it helps a customer support team reduce their response time effectively. However, automating responses does make a brand sound robotic and makes the customer feel less valued.
- Integrations
Kustomer integrates with eCommerce tools and software such as Zapier, Twilio, Jira, and WhatsApp. It also integrates with eCommerce platforms such as Amazon Connect, Magento, and BigCommerce. While the integrations themselves are beneficial for businesses looking for a helpdesk solution, the drawback is that they can be challenging to set up without technical know-how.
Read Also: List of Kustomer Alternatives & Competitors
3. Gladly
Gladly is another noteworthy helpdesk for Shopify that aims to automate customer support and make the agents’ lives easier. Here are its features:
- IVR
Gladly has a native IVR solution that allows a business to provide customer support outside working hours. It will enable you to record custom messages so when your customers reach you through the phone, they receive their answers through these messages.
It sounds pretty robotic, and it can be tiring to go through a recorded menu when you want quick answers, but IVR is an excellent tool in your helpdesk.
- Automation
Gladly allows you to route conversations to the best-suited agents for the job. It will route the conversations about refunds to agents with expertise in handling such queries. It helps manage the internal processes. However, if it routes the conversation to an agent, others can’t access the query even if they are ide, which increases wait time in certain instances. Read more on Gladly alternatives
4. Gorgias
Gorgias is leading Shopify helpdesk software with the following features:
- Sentiment Analysis
Gorgias offers sentiment analysis to help agents read between the lines and help customers based on their mood or “sentiment.” The issue with this feature is that it is not executed correctly and misses the mark on various occasions.
- Integrations
Gorgias has a deep integration with Shopify, which is excellent for businesses operating on Shopify. However, it does not have a WhatsApp integration, making it difficult to converse with customers who prefer this channel. Learn More on Richpanel vs Gorgias
Related Read: Gorgias Customer Service Helpdesk Alternatives
5. Zendesk
Zendesk is a customer support tool for various industries such as manufacturing, eCommerce, etc. It has the following features:
- Reporting
Zendesk has a highly customizable reporting tool you can tweak to suit your business requirements. It has an overwhelming number of options to meet the needs of different types of businesses, but this makes it somewhat challenging to set up and makes the learning curve steeper.
- Integrations
Zendesk has integrations with tools like Hubspot, Salesforce, and Slack. It is part of a family of devices, including Zendesk Chat and Zendesk Live. Combined with these tools, Zendesk provides complete helpdesk functionality. However, all these tools are paid for and can prove expensive for SMBs. Learn More on Zendesk Alternatives
Read Also: Gorgias vs Zendesk - Customer Service Helpdesk
6. ReAmaze
ReAmaze is a popular helpdesk tool that aims to improve Shopify customer support functions. Here are some of its features:
- ReAmaze Chatbot:
ReAmaze has a chatbot feature that helps erase the agents’ workload. It helps provide customer support when agents aren’t available and can help approach website visitors. However, it does occasionally misinterpret user sentiment and hence can be offputting.
- Integrations:
Like its counterparts, ReAmaze supports integrations with various eCommerce tools and Shopify. However, these aren’t deep integrations, and agents often need to use several clicks to finish simple tasks. Learn more about Reamaze alternatives.
Best Shopify Customer Service App
The helpdesk acts as the bedrock of the customer service stack for an E-commerce business. And it should work well with other applications and products that are part of your customer's journey.
Here is a list of tools that would complement your core helpdesk and help improve your customer's experience with your brand:
- Aircall
Aircall is a cloud-based voice system that enables you to provide phone support to your customers. It integrates seamlessly with tools like Hubspot and Salesforce. As far as Shopify helpdesks are concerned, Aircall integrates with Richpanel, Gorgias, Zendesk, and Kustomer.
- Returnly
Returnly is a smart returns solution that automates the returns and exchanges for your business so you can provide quick, practical solutions. It also adds more transparency to the process, improving customer perception of your brand. You can integrate your Returnly account with Richpanel, Gorgias, Zendesk, and ReAmaze.
- Loop Returns
Loop Returns is an exchange-first solution that helps you automate exchanges on your Shopify store. It allows you to upsell revenue bought in from an exchange or provide store credits for the same, making the process transparent and seamless for the users.
- Yotpo
Yotpo is primarily a reviews platform. It also offers other marketing solutions such as SMS marketing, loyalty programs, and a subscription system, making it an excellent tool for your Shopify Business. Yotpo integrates with Richpanel, Zendesk and Gorgias. Discover More on Best Shopify Review Apps
- Aftership
Aftership is a shipment tracking platform that allows you to create a branded tracking page so that your customers can track their order status with just a few clicks.
- Stellaconnect
StellaConnect helps you measure CSAT scores after every interaction and help you analyze your agents’ performance and train them accordingly. Stellaconnect integrates with popular helpdesk software like Richpanel, Gladly, Kustomer and Gorgias.
- Klaviyo
Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform that allows you to turn customer data into SMS and mail campaigns to scale your business. It integrates with Richpanel and Gorgias and helps target the right audience for your marketing campaigns.
- Smile.io
Smile.io is a great app that allows you to create loyalty programs, collect reviews from your customers, and help drive customer loyalty. Smile.io seamlessly integrates with Richpanel and other Shopify helpdesks like ReAmaze and Gorgias.
Read more: Best Shopify Apps for Ecommerce
Your Shopify helpdesk software isn’t just a way to respond to customer queries and resolve tickets. It is a great way to bond with your customers and provide pre and post-purchase customer support. The right helpdesk solution can help you scale your business and drive revenue. Looking for a well-rounded customer support solution that offers automation, self-service, and data analysis capabilities are best.
Looking for Helpdesk software to streamline your customer service? Book a Demo with Richpanel today!
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