When it comes to customer support, there are many different types of customer service software options to choose from. Each one has its own unique set of features and benefits. But with customer support being such a complex operation with many moving parts, it can be tough to determine which software is the best fit for your business in the stage that it's in.
We've covered the best customer support software in each category before. However, today we want to dive into the different types of customer support software so you have a better understanding of what's out there and can make an informed decision about which one is right for your business.
What Is Customer Support Software?
Customer support software is a type of software that helps businesses manage customer service operations. This can include tasks such as ticketing, live chat, knowledge base management, and reporting.
The best customer support software will help you streamline your customer service operation so you can provide an excellent experience to your customers while also reducing your operating costs. In fact, 93% of customers are likely to make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service.
If you want to build a sustainable business and improve your retention rate, it's more important than ever to perfect your customer support and choose the right software to support your operation.
The Different Types of Customer Support Software
When choosing your customer service support software stack, you can choose to include as many or as few tools as you need. It's more important to focus on the quality of the tools you're using rather than the quantity. With that being said, in this section, we'll cover the following different types of customer support software you may want to consider for your business:
- Help Desk Software
- Phone Support Software
- Social Monitoring Software
- Shared Inbox Software
- CRM Software
- Knowledge Base Software
- Messaging Tools
- Live Chat Support Software
- Service Desk Software
Help Desk Software
Help desk software is a type of customer service software that helps businesses manage and track customer support requests. This can include tasks such as ticketing, live chat, knowledge base management, and reporting. It allows customers to submit support requests and then provides businesses with a way to track, manage, and resolve those requests, whether they're having an issue with shipping or need help with a product they purchased.
Help desk software is typically used by businesses that have a large volume of customer support requests or are growing and need a more robust solution to manage their customer service operations. This type of software can help you keep track of all your customer support requests in one place so you can provide a better experience to your customers.
Phone Support Software
Did you know that 69% of people prefer to use phone support over chat or "other" support channels? Phone support software is exactly what it sounds like—it's a type of customer support software that helps businesses manage phone calls with customers.
This can include features such as call center management, automatic call distribution, caller identification, and call recording. Phone support software is typically used by businesses that have a high volume of phone calls or need to provide a more personal touch to their customer service. This personal touch can help build relationships with your customers and improve customer retention.
Social Monitoring Software
Social monitoring software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses monitor social media for mentions of their brand. This can include tasks such as listening for keywords, identifying and responding to negative sentiment, and reporting on social media activity.
Social monitoring software is typically used by businesses that want to provide excellent customer service on social media or improve their social media presence. This type of software can help you quickly identify and resolve your customers' issues on social media. For example, if a customer is complaining about a product on Twitter, you can use social monitoring software to quickly respond and resolve the issue.
Shared Inbox Software
Shared inbox software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses manage email communications with customers. This can include tasks such as creating and managing email templates, assigning emails to team members, and tracking email conversations.
Shared inbox software is different than help desk software because it focuses specifically on email communications. It's typically used by businesses that want to improve their email customer service or need a more efficient way to manage customer support requests that come in via email.
CRM Software
CRM software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses manage customer relationships. This can include tasks such as tracking customer interactions, managing sales opportunities and reporting on customer activity.
CRM software is typically used by businesses that want to improve their customer relationships or need a more robust solution for managing their sales and marketing operations. This type of software can help you keep track of your customers and their interactions with your business, which can be helpful in identifying sales opportunities and improving customer retention. Plus, 91% of companies with ten or more employees use a CRM, so if you're not using one, you may be falling behind your competition.
Knowledge Base Software
Knowledge base software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses create and manage a knowledge base. A knowledge base is a collection of articles that provide information about a product or service. Knowledge base software can help you create and manage your knowledge base, as well as track which articles are being viewed and searched for the most.
Knowledge base software is typically used by businesses that want to provide excellent self-service customer support. This type of software can help you quickly resolve customer issues and reduce the number of customer support requests that come in. This type of customer support software is usually used along with a help desk or ticketing system.
Messaging Tools
Messaging tools are a type of customer support software that helps businesses manage communication with customers. This can include tasks such as sending automated messages, responding to customer inquiries, and managing customer conversations. Messaging tools are typically used by businesses that want to provide excellent customer service or need a more efficient way to manage customer support requests.
Live Chat Support Software
Live chat support software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses provide customer support through live chat. This can include tasks such as managing chat conversations, assigning chats to team members, and tracking chat transcripts.
Live chat support software is typically used by businesses that want to find a more efficient way to manage customer support requests. The benefit of using this type of software is that it provides immediate customer support and can help you resolve issues more quickly. This is especially beneficial for businesses that have a high volume of customer support requests.
Some choose to use Chatbot software to manage a majority of their live chat support before it even reaches their agents. Chatbot software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses automate customer support through chatbots. This can include tasks such as managing chatbot conversations, assigning chats to team members, and tracking chatbot transcripts. When chatbots have qualified a customer's issue, they can then escalate the conversation to a live agent.
Service Desk Software
Service desk software is a type of customer support software that helps businesses manage IT services. This is typically different from a helpdesk type of software and is focused more on the internal IT team rather than the customer-facing team.
Service desk software can help you manage and automate tasks such as tracking service requests, managing incident tickets, and monitoring service levels. Service desk software is typically used by businesses that want to improve their IT operations or need a more efficient way to manage bugs reported by customers.
Conclusion
It should come as no surprise that there are many different types of customer support software available on the market. The best way to determine which one is right for your business is to first assess your needs and then look for software that can address those specific needs.Â
Do you need something simple like a shared inbox or something more complex like a full CRM system? Once you know what you need, you can narrow down your options and find the best customer support software for your business so that you can rise above the competition.
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