Good customer service can be the key factor in retaining customers. If your business needs to deal with more than a handful of enquiries, customer service software can help you respond to enquiries effectively. The right software can pay for itself, both improving efficiency and boosting customer satisfaction.
**Prices correct on 12/09/2024 (limited-time offers may be available)
Here’s our guide to some of the UK’s most popular customer service software and how to choose the right solution for your business.
Customer service software and CRM
Some of the best-known customer service packages are part of broader suites of customer relationship management (CRM) software. Customer service software focuses on dealing with customer enquiries and problems. CRM aims to manage wider aspects of the relationship – from marketing and sales to new customers, to maintaining existing relationships.
Salesforce
Salesforce is best known for serving larger businesses.
- Small business ‘Starter Suite’ offers a relatively simple CRM suite, including email lead management and customer enquires via email or web. £20 per user per month.
- Service Professional is a service-focused CRM. It includes computer telephony integration enabling a call centre to link telephones to the software. £64 per user per month.
- More sophisticated packages are also available to suit even the largest businesses.
- Complexity and pricing may be challenging for smaller businesses.
Freshdesk
Freshdesk is part of the Freshworks suite.
- Freshdesk focuses on tracking and dealing with customer enquiries through any channel (email, phone, social media etc).
- A free starter offering (limited functionality for at most 2 users) can be a good way for smaller businesses to try out the software.
- The main packages (with more advanced features such as management dashboards and a customer self-service portal) are priced at £12-£60 per user per month.
- The more sophisticated Customer Service Suite adds features such as intelligent chatbots, with pricing at £25-£89.
- Freshdesk (and Freshworks) may be a more approachable offering for medium-sized businesses than Salesforce.
HubSpot
HubSpot offers a full CRM system, probably best known for its marketing capabilities.
- HubSpot’s free version is a low risk option. It offers most or all of the customer service and CRM capabilities required by a small business.
- HubSpot’s Starter Customer Platform offers a CRM covering up to 1,000 contacts, including email ticketing, live chat and more. From £14 per user per month.
- Comprehensive help desk software for larger businesses starts at £77 per user per month, plus an initial onboarding fee of £1,310.
Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is part of the Zoho software suite. It's not just a CRM package but an entire ‘business operating system’ including financial management, email, ecommerce and more.
- Zoho Desk offers all the core customer service features. £12-£25 per user per month, with simpler Express (£5.60 per user per month) and free versions also available.
- Zoho can be a particularly attractive proposition for businesses that also want to use Zoho CRM, Bigin (Zoho’s simpler CRM for small businesses) or other Zoho software packages.
Choosing one of these market-leading suites can be ideal for businesses that are also looking to implement additional CRM capabilities. Find out more about the best small business CRM software.
Stand alone customer service software
Stand alone customer service software can be a good option. If you are also looking for wider CRM capabilities, you want to be sure that the different packages you buy will work together well.
Zendesk
Zendesk is a leading UK customer service solution, with all the functionality your business is likely to need.
- Small business packages start from £15 per user per month. Optional add-ons include more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
- Although best known for customer service, Zendesk also offers a sales-focused CRM, also from £15 per user per month.
- Comprehensive marketplace of integrations with other software packages.
- Zendesk’s Startups Programme offers qualifying startups (fewer than 50 employees and with outside funding) six months free.
Help Scout
Help Scout prides itself on ease of use.
- Shared inbox, help centre and live chat software.
- New users are claimed to be up and running within an hour, and experts within a day.
- Simple pricing based on the number of contacts rather than per user. From $75 per month (for up to 100 contacts).
HappyFox
HappyFox offers HelpDesk customer support software and a range of different customer service products.
- Handle all email, phone, chat and web enquiries in a single ticketing system.
- A simpler, more affordable alternative to more complex packages aimed at larger businesses.
- Pricing ranges from $9 per user per month (maximum 5 users) upwards.
Groove
Groove is another help desk solution that provides a relatively simple user experience for smaller businesses.
- Shared inbox, live chat and self-service knowledge base.
- Pricing from $16 per user per month (maximum 25 users).
- Groove’s sister company Helply offers an AI agent, trained on your own data, that can automate replies to up to 70% of initial customer enquiries.
Other customer service software
Some software focuses on particular aspects of customer service, or is most suited to particular industries. Examples include:
- Hiver is based around email management. It also allows multi-channel customer service to be run through email rather than a traditional customer service ticketing system. Pricing from $19 per user per month (maximum 10 users) upwards.
- WotNot helps you build your own chatbot. Free simple chatbot builder, starter package (with AI) $99 per month.
- ProProfs offers both employee training and customer support. Self-service customer knowledge base typically $49 per month.
- Customer service solutions such as Customerly and Intercom focus on using AI to automate customer service. Pricing depends on volume of AI usage.
- Gorgias is a specialised customer service platform for ecommerce businesses with an emphasis on automation. Pricing depends on enquiry volume and AI usage.
Choosing the best customer service software
Start by identifying what your customer service needs are. Key questions to ask include:
- What channels do you get enquiries through? For example, email, phone, social media. Do you want to offer ‘live chat’ on your website?
- Do you want to offer self-service customer service? For example, with a knowledge base on your website.
- What volume of enquiries do you get and how responsive do you need to be? For example, offering 24/7 customer service or replying to initial inquiries within four hours?
- Are you likely to get a large volume of similar enquiries that might be dealt with using a template, an internal knowledge base or AI automation?
- What issues are there with sharing and tracking enquiries (particularly for larger businesses)? For example, if an initial inquiry to a customer service agent is passed on to a product expert or someone in your accounts department?
- Do you want management tools to help you manage your customer service operation – for example, analytics and/or a dashboard?
- What other software do you want to be integrated with? Will you need technical help to set up any software integrations?
Cost is inevitably a consideration. A free plan can be very attractive, and is a helpful way of trying out new software. When comparing costs between packages, take into account both monthly costs and any add-ons, initial setup costs and your own internal training costs.
The right package should more than justify its expense by reducing customer service costs, encouraging the use of cheaper methods such as self-service or online rather than phone enquiries. Automation can help further reduce costs. Most importantly, focus on getting software that will help you deliver the right outcome – happy customers who recommend your business and buy from you again.