Popular Ecommerce Customer Service Software for 2022
How important is customer service for a business? Well, 84 per cent of consumers say customer service is a crucial deciding factor when choosing which brand to buy from.
Customer service is, in fact, one of the top three priorities for consumers when choosing a brand, along with price and the actual product:
Interestingly, consumers, today will overlook brand reputation for customer service. It is an exciting revelation for e-commerce with massive competition among brands.
However, delivering excellent customer service in today's highly connected and digital world can be challenging. A smile and friendly hello no longer cut it; consumers expect to be engaged over multiple platforms and want answers fast. Anything short of that, and you lose a customer to a competitor.
Customer service is crucial for e-commerce, but you already know that. The question you want to answer is how an eCommerce customer support platform helps you enhance customer experience. Patience, we're getting to it.
How Customer Service Software Will Help You Grow Your Ecommerce Store
The secret lies in the suite of products you get with an eCommerce customer service software. Most solutions include an inbuilt CRM, ticketing tool, analytics dashboard, email and chat functionality, automation capabilities, and social channel integrations. Pretty much everything an eCommerce store needs to run customer-facing processes.
OK, so what does that do for you? With customer service software, you manage to consolidate all support activities onto one platform. Your agents get all customer conversations in one place; they get analytics data, user data, customer service data, automation capabilities, and other tools to enhance customer experience.
Your support and service ecosystem is streamlined, with all information and conversations happening at one location. Think about it, your agents don't have to bounce from one tab to another, so they're happy, customers get quick responses and faster resolutions, so they're happy, and all of this results in positive branding and increased sales, so you're happy. It's a win-win-win.
Still need convincing? Here's an interesting tidbit for you - retailers who deliver an omnichannel experience retain over 89 per cent of their customers and will experience a 9.5% rise in annual revenue. Here's another one - 91 per cent of consumers are happy to look for answers in a knowledge base before contacting support.
But how do you deliver such services? With a customer service platform.
What to Choose eCommerce Customer Support Platform
Now that you believe us about the importance of eCommerce customer service software solutions, let's get you the right platform for your store.
Choosing the right solution is a challenge, considering there are a lot of them out there. An eCommerce customer support platform is an investment and a long-term (possibly permanent) implementation, so you want to try and get it right on the first go.
When it comes to eCommerce, there are specific features that brands need to have to elevate the customer experience. Here are three things you shouldn't compromise on when it comes to your eCommerce support platform:
- A complete ticketing solution - Consumers do not like waiting in the queue, especially when their queries are not critical or time-sensitive. A ticketing helpdesk gives customers a way of reaching you immediately while your agents get some leeway in response time.
- A self-service portal - About 67 per cent of consumers prefer self-service support to talking to a live agent. It's quicker and more convenient. Providing self-service allows customers to take immediate action when they want to cancel an order or request a refund, essential for eCommerce brands.
- Reporting and analytics - To grow your eCommerce store, you need to know what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. You need to understand what customer complaints are, which products are being returned the most, etc. This data will be easy to acquire if the support platform has an in-built analytics and reporting system.
With that addressed, here are the top 5 eCommerce customer service software solutions you can choose from. We have curated this list based on market popularity, features, customer testimonials (pros and cons), and pricing.
Top Customer Service Platforms for Ecommerce Stores
1. Richpanel
Overview
Richpanel is an all-in-one ecommerce customer support software with two modules - a self-service portal for customers and an agent helpdesk for support agents.
The self-service portal is designed to give customers an 'Amazon-like' experience with options to track orders, exchange products, request returns, check product FAQs, get answers to customer queries, and so on, without having to reach out to customer support. The self-service portal UI is designed to instill a sense of familiarity in customers, which helps them trust the brand. This portal can be purchased separately and integrated into your existing customer service software or purchased as a part of the helpdesk.
The agent helpdesk is designed to help support agents manage all customer conversations, whether over email, live chat, calls, or social media, from one location. It also provides a ticketing solution and presents agents with customer information like order history, helping them serve customers better.
Richpanel is one of very few eCommerce support platforms that provide unlimited agent access, enabling eCommerce brands to scale their support and customer service team quickly as the business grows.
Pros and cons
Richpanel Pricing
- Tier 1 - Free, 100 Conversations Incl.
- Tier 2 - $300 per month / unlimited agents / 1000 conversation Incl.
- Tier 3 - $600 per month / unlimited agents / 2000 conversation Incl.
- Tier 4 - $900 per month / unlimited agents / Upto 5000 conversation Incl.
- Tier 5 - Custom plan created on request
Who is Richpanel Best for?
eCommerce stores of all sizes looking to deliver and manage all support features from one single portal.
2. Zendesk
Overview
Zendesk is quite a popular ecommerce customer service platform with features for omnichannel customer service. It lets you integrate all conversation channels like voice, chat, email, and social media and manage them using a single platform. The platform lets you deliver digital and phone support.
The platform also provides a ticketing system, workflow automation, analytics, and other features.
Pros and cons
Zendesk Pricing
- Suite Team - $49 per agent per month, billed annually
- Suite Growth - $79 per agent per month, billed annually
- Suite Professional - $99 per agent per month, billed annually
Who is Zendesk Best for?
The pricing and setup complexity make it best for large eCommerce stores but not small or mid-sized ones.
3. Freshdesk
Overview
Freshdesk is another popular ecommerce customer support platform in today's market. Freshdesk provides features for real-time conversation (calls and chats), customer support FAQs, automated workflows and so on. Freshdesk is popularly used by businesses that want to implement a complete call centre solution, with digital and phone support.
Pros and cons
Freshdesk Pricing
- Free - up to 10 agents
- Growth - $15 per agent per month, billed annually
- Pro - $49 per agent per month, billed annually
- Enterprise - $79 per agent per month, billed annually
Who is Freshdesk Best for?
Freshdesk is great for businesses looking to implement a complete call centre solution.
4. Gorgias
Overview
Gorgias is an excellent eCommerce customer service for brands looking to digitize service and sales functions. It provides features like reporting and analytics, order history management, customer interaction data, and so on that help sales and support agents serve customers better.
Gorgias integrates with all the popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce and lets you manage all customer-related tasks directly from the platform.
Pros and cons
Gorgias Pricing
- Basic - $50 per month, billed annually, and includes 300 tickets
- Pro - $300 per month, billed annually and includes 2,000 tickets
- Advanced - $750 per month, billed annually and includes 5,000 tickets
- Enterprise - Custom plan created on request
Who is Gorgias Best for?
Gorgias is great for eCommerce brands of all sizes.
5. Live Chat
Overview
Although named 'Live Chat', it is a complete customer service platform built for eCommerce stores. One of its core features is enabling omnichannel support by integrating all modes of customer communications, like email, Whatsapp, SMS, live chat, social media messages, etc. The omnichannel platform also tracks customer interactions.
Live Chat also integrates with marketing platforms such as Mail Chimp and Google Analytics, allowing you to extend your customer support team's functionality.
Pros and cons
Live Chat Pricing
- Starter - $16 per agent per month, billed annually
- Team - $33 per agent per month, billed annually
- Business - $50 per agent per month, billed annually
- Enterprise - Custom plan created on request
Who is Live Chat Best for?
Live Chat is a great solution for eCommerce brands looking to deliver an omnichannel presence.
Conclusion
Yes, there are loads of customer support tools to choose from, and we're sure each has its USP, but not all are perfect for eCommerce brands. Support in the context of eCommerce is different from other business models. In eCommerce, it's all about speed - how fast you respond, how quickly a customer finds an answer, how quickly an issue is resolved, etc. Delay equals losing a customer; they have many options, after all.
Choose a platform that brings all support activities onto one platform - whether storing information or chatting with a customer. Remember the three key features we listed earlier - ticketing, self-service, and analytics. They are a must for eCommerce brands.
We'll leave you with one final tip. Most support platforms offer a free trial, so you can take their software for a test drive and see if it suits your needs. Take advantage of this fact and try out the platform you choose before committing. If you want to know how this works, why don't you try out our eCommerce support platform for free? It's so feature-rich; we're sure you'll decide to stick with it.
