Help Scout ALTERNATIVE

Help Scout is not for eCommerce

Help Scout does not integrate well with Shopify. They don’t even build their own WooCommerce plugin. Why settle?

Help Scout makes eCommerce customer service harder

Lacks full customer context

Customer service agents need full customer data in one view to avoid constant tab switching or using other applications.

Automation is painful

eCommerce customer service managers must be able to create rules and automations easily (based on channel, buyer, priority, etc.) to save time. Helpscout setup is painfully slow.

Social channels not table stakes

eCommerce happens on social media. If buyers cannot contact you from their social media accounts, you’re losing business. Based on Help Scout pricing plan, social channels are Plus-only, instead of being table stakes.

Richpanel is a better Help Scout alternative

There are a number of Helpscout alternatives. But, if you’re considering Help Scout vs Zendesk or Help Scout vs Gorgias, we invite you to consider Richpanel’s customer service software.

Purpose built for eCommerce

Richpanel’s helpdesk and customer service software is built for agents. It surfaces the customer data you need and integrates with your cart, returns app, reviews, subscriptions app, and other parts of your tech stack so that agents can simply focus on resolving complex issues.

Self-service resolutions

More than 50% of eCommerce customer queries are repetitive. But, showing customers FAQ links and using auto-responders does not actually resolve tickets. With Richpanel, your customers can edit, cancel, return orders and manage their subscriptions. All by themselves, without needing agents.

Unified omnichannel inbox for customer service

eCommerce customers seamlessly use email, live chat, social media, SMS, and phones to contact you. With Richpanel, agents can see history across all channels in one inbox. What’s more, agents can even organize their inbox their way, based on channels, urgency, language or type of inquiries.

Help Scout vs Richpanel: Hear from users

The integration with Shopify leaves much to be desired… While working in the Help Scout, the sidebar only displays a some order numbers and totals, without providing information on shipping addresses, tracking, or customer extra details. To access this information, you must leave the Help Scout platform and open a new window.

Help Scout recently announced a new integration with messenger, which is great news for their users. However, I find it disappointing that this integration is only available for their Pro and Plus plans. In a market where most ticketing and support services offer real-time chat with customers across all plans, it feels unfair to limit such a useful feature to the most expensive tiers.

Richpanel is great, it has pretty much everything you could need in a platform at a very cost effective price. The customer service is also amazing, they always get back to me the same day and are very helpful.

Their self-serve platform makes life so much easier for our customer service team. They also listen to our issues and continually build solutions to address.

Customer service teams love Richpanel

Richpanel is used by 2000+ ecommerce merchants on Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento. And their customer service teams love Richpanel. Listen to some of them:

5,000 tickets/mo → 2,500 tickets/mo. After 1 year of Richpanel.

Saved $100K+ by cutting down outsourced agents. $30M Annual Sales.

Building customer trust w/ self-service. $100M+ Annual Sales.

The problem with Help Scout pricing...

Help Scout pricing is mostly fair, however it's worth noting a few details about Help Scout pricing that is relevant for eCommerce customer service teams.

Help Scout pricing starts at $25 per user per month..

but..

this plan does not include social channels

Help Scout is great for businesses in most industries..

but..

their limited feature set for eCommerce makes it a somewhat expensive option compared to Richpanel

Basic eCommerce customer service functionality is available

but..

only from Help Scout’s Plus pricing plan

FAQs

Q: Is Help Scout on Shopify a good application for customer service?

Help Scout is a good customer service software. But, their integration with Shopify is not great. Even standard features like Helpscout live chat are difficult to install.

Q: But Help Scout reviews seem mostly positive?

Yes, Help Scout has a number of solid reviews on G2. But, we encourage you to read Helpscout reviews from eCommerce merchants, which are not enthusiastic. In fact, there are only nine Help Scout reviews on Shopify and they have a 3.3 rating despite being available on Shopify since 2014.

Q: Help Scout pricing seems much simpler than Gorgias pricing or Zendesk pricing. What about Richpanel pricing?

Help Scout pricing is certainly much better than Gorgias pricing and Zendesk pricing. We believe Richpanel pricing is ideal for scaling eCommerce companies. Richpanel pricing is built so that you can scale your eCommerce business without proportionate massive increases in helpdesk software costs. Our pricing is simple to understand and gives you certainty.

Q: Which are the top Help Scout alternatives?

There are a number of Helpscout alternatives for eCommerce such as Richpanel, Zendesk, Gladly, Gorgias, and Kustomer. They are all good software and likely meet the needs of most customer service teams.

Q. How reliable is Help Scout customer service?

Based on the reviews of existing users on websites such as G2, it appears that Help Scout customer service is quite good. In fact, Help Scout customer service is rated much better than Zendesk and Gorgias customer service, which are both large organizations with a focus on enterprise clients.

Richpanel is probably the best Helpscout alternative if customer service is important for you. Richpanel reviews often mention our incredible support team, apart from our ease of use and great customer service software.

Q: I would like to learn more about migrating from Help Scout to Richpanel. What next?

Thank you for your confidence. Help Scout is a good product. We understand migrating from Help Scout can be a big decision. However, we assure you that we will do our best to ensure Richpanel meets your needs.

We would love a chance to earn your trust and business. Please schedule time with us here and we will show you Richpanel and how the migration from Richpanel will work.

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