Tag: Automated Customer Service System

Top 12 Best Help Desk Software You Should Use

The success of any organization relies heavily on customer satisfaction. To enhance customer engagement and satisfaction, it is crucial to promptly respond to and support any customer queries. This is where the help desk comes into play—a suite of software tools designed to provide information and assistance to customers regarding their concerns, complaints, or inquiries about products or services. The help desk serves as a centralized platform, integrating queries from various customer-facing support channels such as live chat, email integration, web contact forms, phone, mobile, and social media.

By employing help desk or support desk software, the time taken by support agents to resolve customer issues is significantly reduced. Instead of sifting through endless emails, voicemails, messages, texts, and posts, the software organizes tickets from different platforms into one easy-to-use system. This organized approach allows support agents to provide above-and-beyond customer service efficiently and effectively.

In this blog post, we will delve into the world of help desk software and explore the top contenders for the title of “Best Help Desk Software.” Whether you are a small business owner looking to provide stellar support or a large enterprise seeking to optimize your customer service infrastructure, this guide will serve as your compass in navigating through the multitude of options available.

How to Choose SaaS Help Desk Software?

It can be difficult to choose the best help desk software for your company when there is a plethora of options available. To help you make your choice, here are some features to consider when making your decision:

Ease of Ticketing: Most importantly, you’ll want to determine whether the process of creating, routing, adjusting and closing tickets is on par with what your business needs and expects. You should be able to create a ticket for a customer and route that ticket to the appropriate team or individual who can best address it. You should also be able to make modifications to the ticket as you gain more information on the customer’s situation. And, once the problem has been fully resolved, you should be able to close the ticket and save it in your records as a resource for future inquiries.
Variety of Channels: You could adopt a separate help desk for each support channel you use, but that would be incredibly inefficient, confusing, and wasteful of funds. Rather, you’ll want to find one software that can support all of your communication channels, including email, social media, SMS messaging, and VoIP.
Self-Service Portal: Some questions are so fundamental that customers waste time contacting your support team for an answer. This is where it’s helpful to have a self-service portal that gives users get quick answers to simple questions. And, a self-service portal doesn’t just help your customers. It can also be used as an internal help desk, offering agents step-by-step guides to complex inquiries that can be easily copied and sent to customers. Rather than spending time rewriting the same troubleshooting steps, your reps will have a canned response ready to go for almost every service request.
App Integrations: Help desk software that can integrate with other apps like scheduling, project management, and internal messaging, is significantly valuable to your organization. Information that’s gained through the help desk should be stored and available on every app that you use. Additionally, all data gained externally should be uploaded to your help desk so that your information is stored in one location.

Best Help Desk SaaS Platforms

Help desk software lets you manage customer queries, faster. Support is always a key to business success, and choosing the right helpdesk solution can turn frustration into happy customers. It leads to better customer satisfaction. It also helps your support team to handle issues, queries, and feedback promptly. Let’s explore the following available support desk solutions.

Freshdesk
Zendesk
Intercom
SpiceWorks
HappyFox
LiveAgent
Zoho Desk
JIRA Service Management
Kustomer
Gorgias
Hiver
Help Scout

Freshdesk

Website	www.freshworks.com/freshdesk
Rating	4.5/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Small businesses and Online enterprises

FreshDesk is a customer support solution to boost the productivity of your support team. Make your customer happy and satisfied by leveraging the benefits of Freshdesk. Some questions are repetitive and time-consuming, provide FAQs and a knowledge base to customers and empower them to solve their queries.
Bots are assigned to manage the repetitive task and provide the appropriate articles from a knowledge base. Some queries may need discussion with the team. collaborate effectively with the team on any ticket and provide the accurate answer within the specified time.

Its intelligent ticket assignment system assigns the ticket to the agent based on their skill and workload. Also, whenever you make any reply to an open ticket, the software notifies the customer with an email.

Features of FreshDesk

Categorize and prioritize the tickets to the right agent and make the workflow smooth.
Track all the messages from different channels and manage them in one interface.
Agent collision detection to ensure every employee works on the unique ticket.
Its thank you detector prevents reopening the ticket when a customer says thank you.
Assign different customized statuses to the ticket based on their progress.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Free	Rs 0	Rs 0
Growth	Rs999/agent/month	Rs1199/agent/month
Pro	Rs3599/agent/month	Rs4299/agent/month
Enterprise	Rs5699/agent/month	Rs6899/agent/month

Click here to get Freshdesk

Zendesk

Website	www.zendesk.com
Rating	4.4/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	All types of businesses and Customer Experience Management

The customer support solution by Zendesk is dedicated to enhancing the experience of both the customer and the support team. Seamless connectivity of multiple channels of communication empowers customers to raise their queries and get help on any communication channel they are comfortable with.

Easy to create a dedicated help center with relevant FAQ questions and a community forum. This help center will significantly reduce the workload on an employee by answering the most asked questions. It helps to reduce the response time so that your customer doesn’t have to wait.

Features of ZenDesk

One workspace to manage queries from any communication channel.
Bots are available to answer basic queries and provide appropriate solutions from the knowledge base.
Make the conversation run fast by assigning the tickets to agents based on their workload and availability.
Automated questions to gather information about the query and push it to the appropriate agent.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Suite Team	$49/agent/month	$59/agent/month
Suite Growth	$79/agent/month	$99/agent/month
Suite Professional	$99/agent/month	$125/agent/month
Suite Enterprise	Custom Price	Custom Price

Intercom

Website	www.intercom.com
Rating	4.5/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Making internet business personal

Intercom is a comprehensive Customer Service solution that offers a smooth customer experience through automation and human support, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and cost reduction.

Intercom provides a customizable design that allows you to align your brand and business needs. It also helps engage customers in-context and encourages action throughout their journey in the Intercom Messenger. The ticketing system enables handling complex customer requests through asynchronous tickets designed for cross-functional collaboration.

Features of Intercom:

The system can quickly generate responses, summarize conversations for other agents, and produce new help articles.
Colleagues can collaborate easily to solve complex problems and customers can track progress in real time.
View all support conversations in a centralized location.
Collaborate effectively with colleagues in real time.
Increase productivity by utilizing live dashboards, reporting, work management tools, and other optimization techniques.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Price
Starter	$74 / month
Pro	Custom Price
Premium	Custom Price

SpiceWorks

Website	www.spiceworks.com
Rating	4.4/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Free customer support software

Spiceworks provides a cloud-based helpdesk solution that efficiently manages IT tickets and tasks. Because your help desk is stored in the cloud, there is no need to be concerned about server procurement, backups, or maintenance.

Using Spiceworks, agents are able to efficiently track IT incidents, respond to tickets, make private comments, and promptly close them. It is possible to create custom fields to track additional information that is relevant to your business. A customizable user portal has been created for employees and customers to track the progress of their tickets.

Spiceworks also offers inventory management functionality, allowing your team to access information about current orders. This helps the staff inform customers if their order will be shipped late.

Features of Spiceworks:

Tickets are assigned to agents automatically and progress is tracked.
Collaborate with your team members by sharing support tickets and resolving issues more efficiently.
You can generate reports and easily view team performance metrics.
Monitor new tickets and determine the time it takes for your initial response.
Customers have the opportunity to share questions and ideas with others on the Spiceworks community forum.

Pricing Plans

Spiceworks is available free of cost for all users.

HappyFox

Website	www.happyfox.com
Rating	4.6/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Mid sized Companies

HappyFox provides a centralized system for managing customer queries and issues from various channels, such as email, live chat, social media, and more. It incorporates a ticketing system that organizes customer requests, allowing support agents to efficiently track, prioritize, and resolve issues.

Happyfox is loaded with amazing ticketing features that make the task of resolving the ticket much easier. Prioritize the unresponded tickets in the list and ensure timely replies to make customers happy. SLA (service level agreement) is easy to create for your agents to ensure a timely reply and other objectives by setting targets.

SLA will help to maintain a consistent workflow with targets such as time to first response, time to reach, changing status, and many more conditions. The robust dashboard of Happyfox gives a quick insight into agent activity reports, performance reports, and inflow reports.

Features of Happyfox

Classification of tickets into predefined categories.
Solve the customer ticket through collaboration with a team.
pre-fill the required and essential information in the ticket with the ticket templates.
SLA works during office hours only.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Mighty	$29/agent/month	$39/agent/month
Fantastic	$49/agent/month	$59/agent/month
Enterprise	$69/agent/month	$79/agent/month
Enterprise Plus	$89/agent/month	$99/agent/month

LiveAgent

Website	www.liveagent.com
Rating	4.7/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Customer Interaction

LiveAgent is a robust and versatile help desk software that empowers businesses to deliver exceptional customer support across multiple channels. It is a comprehensive customer service platform that integrates various communication channels into one centralized system, allowing organizations to effectively manage and respond to customer queries.

It empowers your support agent with its never-ending features. Omnichannel ticketing, SLA management, and custom fields are just a small portion of the features provided by this software.

It is Fully-focused software that caters to the needs of businesses in terms of providing the best support to its customers. The interface is easy to use and most of the things are customizable.

Features of LiveAgent

Enjoy flexibility with a cloud-based call centre feature.
200+ other tool integration and 130+ ticketing features.
Agent ranking feature to monitor the efficiency of agents, customers can easily rate the service provided by the agent.
Audit log that keeps a record of every activity undertaken by the agent.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Small Business	$9/agent/month	$15/agent/month
Medium Business	$29/agent/month	$35/agent/month
Large Business	$49/agent/month	$59/agent/month
Free	$0/agent/month	$0/agent/month

Try LiveAgent For Free

Zoho Desk

Website	www.zoho.com/desk
Rating	4.5/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Growing Companies

Zoho Desk is a customer service software that delivers its services to help your support team and manage the queries of customers in a much more efficient way. The insightful dashboard of Zoho Desk gives proper insight into ticket traffic and customers’ happiness rating. By monitoring and analyzing the charts on the dashboard, you can easily predict the performance of your support team.

With Zoho Desk, users can easily make custom changes to various aspects of the system. They have the ability to rename tabs, create new departments, customize email templates, define business hours, and establish help folders, all of which contribute to a personalized and efficient support environment.

Features of Zoho Desk

Automatic assignment of support tickets to the right person in the right department to fast forward the process of solving a customer’s problem.
Smooth integration with the other Zoho software.
Workflow automation in ticketing whenever any new ticket meets certain conditions.
Manage all your brands in a company with separate help articles and FAQs, and integrate everything using one software in one interface.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Standard	Rs 800/user/month	Rs 1300/user/month
Professional	Rs 1400/user/month	Rs 2100/user/month
Enterprise	Rs 2400/user/month	Rs 3200/user/month

Try Zoho Desk Now

JIRA Service Management

Website	www.atlassian.com/software/jira/service-management
Rating	4.5/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Atlassian customer and flexible ITSM

Jira Service Management, formerly recognized as Jira Service Desk, is an IT service management solution that leverages the renowned Jira platform. The Jira Service Management was introduced in 2013 by Atlassian that delivers its customer support services to businesses. In the year 2020 Jira service management was launched and merged Jira service desk into it. Now Jira Service Management has features of a service desk along with the additional capabilities of ITSM.

Ticketing, SLA, knowledge base, and help widgets are the common features, on top of that it provides more IT business-centric support. It is focused on delivering the best software for IT service management.

Features of Jira Service Desk

Empower the business team, Dev, and IT ops to deliver a smooth customer service experience.
Categorize the queries based on their department.
Focused support solution.
Dedicated templates to streamline legal, HR, Facilities, and General service management.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Free	$0	$0
Standard	$600/agent/year	$21/agent/month
Premium	$1,400/agent/year	$47/agent/month
Enterprise	Custom Price	Custom Price

Kustomer

Website	www.kustomer.com
Rating	4.5/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web
Best For	Omnichannel messaging and small companies

Kustomer is a customer service software solution that offers varieties of features in this domain. Connect with customers and solve their problems on any channel. The task of managing customer interaction is much easier with a timeline view. All the previous interaction is placed in chronological order to deliver the best customer experience.

AI chatbot is available to reduce the workload from support staff and knowledge base to answer the FAQs. Have a quick insight into the performance of your team and individual agents with the robust dashboard of Jira.

Features of Kustomer

Direct integration with social media such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter for instant replies to messages and comments.
Actionable data insights like order details, status, and more to serve the customer quickly.
Natural language processing detects the customer’s intent and suggests shortcuts to agents.
AI to automate repetitive manual work.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Price
Enterprise	$89 per month / per user
Ultimate	$139 per month / per user

Gorgias

Website	www.gorgias.com
Rating	4.7/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Ecommerce business

Gorgias is e-commerce-focused support software that helps to solve e-commerce-related problems. Communicate with the customer and solve their query by having all your customer data in front of your screen. Manage the orders, refunds, subscriptions, and many things without switching to different tabs.

As an e-commerce-centric software, it fetches your e-commerce data from your e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, or big commerce and integrates it with the helpdesk. Alignment of all the previous conversations from different channels at the same interface will help you to know the customer’s perspective more efficiently.

Features of Gorgias

80+ integration options are available to increase the software capabilities.
Each ticket is categorized properly based on the channel it comes from, Like email, live chat, social media, SMS, or voice.
Automatic response to common questions like order tracking, refund status, and cancellation.
Gauge customer satisfaction with feedback and rating.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Starter	Only available for monthly subscription	$10/month
Basic	$50/month	$60/month
Pro	$300/month	$360/month
Advanced	$750/month	$900/month
Enterprise	Custom Price	Custom Price

Try Gorgias Now

Hiver

Website	Hiverhq.com
Rating	4.7/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Google Workspace

Hiver is the first Gmail-based helpdesk that makes it unique from any helpdesk software. It brings simplicity to your business and promotes human-to-human conversation by eliminating chatbots. Focused on providing the user with the best problem-solving experience, it leverages the power of Gmail and its features.

Since live chat is used widely by customers to ask questions, Hiver has integrated it into Gmail to maintain a seamless workflow. Agents do not need to switch between tools to solve problems. Team collaboration is made easier with features like transcript sharing. It helps other agents know the chat history and context of the problem.

Features of Hiver

Top-notch email management without logging in separately.
Monitor the workload on agents in real time and redistribute it in a single click.
Empower your agents to solve the query of customers anywhere, anytime through the Hiver iOS and Android app.
Get help from any specific agents utilizing the feature @mention.
Harvey bot prevents the conversation from reopening by identifying a response like “Thank you”.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Lite	Rs800/user/month	Rs1100/user/month
Pro	Rs2200/user/month	Rs2800/user/month
Elite	Rs3300/user/month	Rs4000/user/month

Help Scout

Website	www.helpscout.com
Rating	4.7/5
Free Trial	Available
Platform Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Emails and Live Chats for Growing Companies

Help Scout helps to provide support to your customers by utilizing its intuitive interface and features. Loaded with all the primary and essential features, it also offers some additional functionalities like instant notification on the browser, custom CSS, custom domain, article suggestions, and much more.

Providing customers with the best support experience is the primary focus of any help desk software, this tool offers all the essential features to hook the customer throughout the problem-solving journey. It suggests the knowledge base articles to users based on the page URL. In simple words, it offers all the features you need to provide the best customer experience.

Features of Help Scout

iOS and Android apps to manage queries on the go.
Search and insert the knowledge base article link without leaving the chat screen.
Organize your inbox and assign different tasks to different teams in their inbox.
Chat when your team is online and provide other options when they are not.

Pricing Plans

Plan	Yearly Price	Monthly Price
Standard	$20/user/month	$25/user/month
Plus	$40/user/month	$50/user/month
Pro	$65/user/month	Annual only

Try Help Scout Now

Conclusion

Effectively managing customer support is always a challenging task. However, with the assistance of a cloud-based helpdesk solution, achieving customer satisfaction becomes more attainable. In today’s market, numerous tools are available, making it overwhelming to find the right one. Instead of being swayed solely by the features of different tools, it is essential to focus on their functionalities and determine if they align with your specific needs.

To gain insights into a tool’s performance, reading user reviews and evaluating real-life scenarios can be immensely helpful. Additionally, taking advantage of free trials offered by vendors allows you to experience the tool firsthand before making a final decision. By following this approach, you can carefully select the perfect tool that suits your requirements and embark on a successful customer support journey.

FAQs

What is support desk software?

Support desk software is a software product that customer service and IT teams use to serve employees or customers. Its core functions are to help service teams systematically manage support requests, provide self-service options, track and report performance and more.

What are the best Support Desk Softwares?

The following are the Best Support Desk Software

Freshdesk
Zendesk
HappyFox
Intercom
SpiceWorks
LiveAgent
Zoho Desk
Jira Service Desk
Kustomer
Gorgias
Hiver
Help Scout

What are the benefits of Support desk software?

You can organize support requests, collaborate with customers and teammates, automate repetitive tasks, improve overall customer experience Customize and rebrand to suit your business.

Who can you Support Desk Software?

Support Desk Software can be used by both big organisations as well as small firms. Support Desk Software helps you to manage customers in one place and Manage your customers in one place.

July 11, 2023

A Complete Guide for Using Automated Answering Systems
As a business owner, improving customer satisfaction is crucial to your success. One way to achieve this is by implementing an automated answering system known as an auto-attendant. This phone-based system can handle a high volume of calls, directing them to the appropriate department or individual, eliminating the need for a live receptionist. This makes it an effective solution for businesses operating outside of traditional hours.

When it comes to improving customer satisfaction, companies often take various steps to achieve this goal. However, when faced with a high volume of customer requests, concerns, and complaints, it can be difficult to keep up. Fortunately, with the help of automation, automated answering systems are now available to act as customer service representatives and handle all customer inquiries on your behalf.

Automated answering systems can complement the role of a receptionist by helping to grow your business, manage customer relationships, and streamline processes. They do not replace the need for a human receptionist. It acts as a digital receptionist that is available 24/7 to handle all customer inquiries. This eliminates the worry of missed calls or missed messages, as the service will take care of everything on your behalf. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know about automated answering services.

What is the process of using automated answering systems and how do they function? This guide will provide a basic understanding for beginners.

What Is an Automated Answering Service?
How Does an Automated Answering Service Work?
What Is Call Deflection?
Benefits of Automated Answering Services
Different Sectors That Use Automated Answering Services

What Is an Automated Answering Service?

Several companies have live operators on board to answer phone calls and take down key customer messages. Such companies generally rely on automated answering services that take care of the phone whenever the live operators are busy with other tasks.

Automated answering services are ideal for individuals who frequently receive important calls but cannot answer each call personally. In short, an automated answering service acts as a replacement for a traditional answering service, handling customer requests and inquiries and providing prompt responses without making customers wait on hold.

An automated answering service is a tool that manages inbound calls, as opposed to an automated calling service which primarily handles outgoing calls. It utilizes advanced AI technology to provide self-service options to customers, allowing them to quickly receive answers to their requests or inquiries without having to wait on hold. This makes it an ideal solution for individuals or businesses that receive a high volume of important calls.

How Does an Automated Answering Service Work?

An automated answering service can be customized to fit your business needs. Whether you need to accept payments, route calls to different teams, or perform other tasks, an automated answering service can handle it for you.

In other words, an automated answering service is a digital receptionist that can answer calls on your behalf, direct customers towards the relevant department, or guide them through a series of menus. An automated answering service generally works in three different ways
- Answer the calls on your behalf using your existing phone number
- Play a pre-recorded greeting message that is tailored to your business requirements
- Guide customers through a series of menus and ask them for their intent and gather all relevant information
Global IVR Service Distribution by Region

An automated answering service can gather a significant amount of information, transfer it to the user, and then direct the caller to the appropriate department. Additionally, an answering service can also use a call deflection feature to manage high-volume calls.

What Is Call Deflection?

Call Deflection, as per the name, is an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature that automatically redirects a call from one point to another whenever a particular endpoint is busy. It is one of the many forms of call diversion.

Automated answering services can be tailored and customised to meet your business requirements and the needs of every client. When it comes to answering services, every time you receive a call, it will be directly routed to an operator who will then ask the caller/customer their name and the nature of the call.

Once the operator has obtained the information, they will check if the client has a record in their database. If a match is found, the operator will then route the client to the appropriate party. If no client record is found, the operator will take down the client’s message and then convey it to the client via text message or email.

Benefits of Automated Answering Services

Apart from saving you from high customer service costs, and improving customer services. An automated answering service serves several benefits such as

Professional Imaging

Based on the needs of your business, you can customize your answering service to ensure that all responses are prompt and enhance the company’s professional image.

Tailored Answering Service

An automated answering service can be used for a variety of purposes such as receiving payments, scheduling appointments, recording customer requests/complaints, handling inquiries, and more.

Saves On Operating Costs

An automated answering service acts as a digital receptionist that collects all customer information on your behalf, eliminating the need for a middleman or agent and ultimately reducing customer costs.

Minimum Missed Calls

Not every call requires an agent to be present. An automated answering service can assist by prioritizing important calls and saving time.

Wait Time Expectations/Queue Management

Customers waiting in a queue need to know how long they will be waiting before their request is addressed. An automated answering service can provide wait time expectations for better queue management.

Simplicity And Precision

An automated answering service can connect customers directly to the appropriate agent or department by asking them a few simple questions.

Multiple Routing Options

Many modern answering services have multiple routing options that reduce customer wait times. This allows customers to bypass the queue and speak directly with a designated agent to address their issues.

24/7 Customer Service

An automated answering service allows your business to be available 24/7, providing customers with access to customer service across all time zones.

Added Sales Opportunity

Automated answering machines are beneficial for both small business owners and large enterprises to improve and increase sales. Customized answering messages can be created to provide customers with the latest offers and product updates whenever they call.

Different Sectors That Use Automated Answering Services

As we mentioned earlier in the article, it doesn’t matter whether you are a small business holder or have a large enterprise, having an automated answering service will help your business grow and flourish.

Businesses of every stature and size can avail of the benefits that come with automated answering service to save time and cut down on operator costs. Furthermore, these services are perfect for businesses that run 24/7, have limited resources, and/or have international clients.

Moreover, automated answering services are largely dependent on the type of services businesses offer. Based on the services provided, the following are the places where you can find automated answering services used the most.

MSME: Medium Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME) are some of the best businesses that prefer automated answering services. Although the volume of phone calls might be less, they can still reap the benefits associated with an answering service

HVAC Services: HVAC services, such as plumbers, often receive calls outside of standard business hours. This is where having an active service can come in handy. An automated answering service can take down inquiries and essential messages.

Growing/Transitioning Business: Businesses on the verge of transition or an update too tend to use answering services that are flexible and can adjust to their growing business needs

Real Estate: Real Estate generally happens out of work and on the field. At this time, real estate professionals need someone in the office to attend to client calls and inquiries. This is where a tailored automated answering service comes in handy

Medical And Dental Offices: Thanks to strict HIPAA regulations, medical and dental service providers have to adhere to strictly when taking down customer information over the phone. This is where you can customise an answering service as per HIPAA laws to ensure safe and secure client information

Insurance Companies: Insurance workers, like real estate people, tend to work odd hours to better match their clients’ schedules. Therefore, in such scenarios, even after-hours calls are equally important. Setting up an automated call answering service will help attend to those calls and give potential customers the information they want.

Spas And Salons: Unlike the good old days, modern-day spas and salons require you to make a prior appointment. Setting up an answering machine and customising it will help customers make that appointment with ease.

In short, having an automated answering service is a great option for businesses with multiple operations areas. Therefore, if your business operates in different areas, having an answering service is extremely supportive in growing your business.

Conclusion

Automated answering services can complement traditional agents at a call centre and help grow your business in many ways. With an automated answering service, you have a digital receptionist available 24/7 to handle all customer inquiries. This has made it even more important for businesses to have an automated answering service in place to ensure that they don’t miss any important calls, even when they are not physically present to answer the phone. With an automated answering service, businesses can ensure that all calls are answered promptly and efficiently, regardless of the time of day or the location of the caller.

By having an automated answering service, you can improve customer service, increase productivity, and streamline your business communication. It can also help you save on operating costs, time and staff resources, and provide you with a professional digital presence 24/7.

FAQ

What is an IVR dialer?

An IVR Dialer is an automated dialer that dials numbers from a given database and plays IVR (Interactive Voice Response) messages when connected.

What is an automated answering system?

An automated answering system allows your contact centre to answer phone calls without a customer service agent on the line. Instead of your team answering calls, an automated phone answering machine uses self-service and advanced automated AI to answer.

What is the function of an automated voice answering system?

Interactive voice response is an automated telephone system that combines pre-recorded messages or text-to-speech technology with a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) interface to engage callers, allowing them to provide and access information without a live agent.
January 21, 2023
10 Best Automated Answering Systems in 2023
When working outside of normal business hours, your office may receive a large volume of phone calls from clients and potential clients. Even if you have a receptionist on duty, it may be inadequate if the volume of calls exceeds a certain limit. However, not every business requires a receptionist. An automated answering service can effectively route calls to the appropriate operator and can be customized to suit the specific needs and requirements of your business.

In the business world, second chances are rare. Missing a call can cost you a potential lead, client, or significant business opportunity. But with automated answering services at your disposal, you can ensure that you don’t miss any opportunities.

All answering service portals are user-friendly, so you don’t need a technical expert to set them up. To choose the best-answering service for your business, consider your current business needs and align them with your vision. This will help you make the right and most effective decision.

What Is an Automated Answering Service?
Factors to Consider While Choosing an Automated Answering System
Top 10 Best Automated Answering Systems
1. Nextiva
2. Answer First
3. PATlive
4. Voice Nation
5. Grasshopper
6. Ooma
7. Phone.com
8. Vonage
9. 8×8
10. Aircall
What Is an Automated Answering Service?

Some companies use live operators to handle phone calls and take customer messages, but they also use automated answering services to take care of calls when the operators are busy with other tasks. Automated answering services are also useful for individuals who receive important calls but can’t answer every call themselves.

In simple terms, an automated answering service is a type of virtual receptionist that handles customer requests and inquiries without making them wait on hold. It’s important to note that an automated answering service is different from an automated calling service, as it primarily manages incoming calls rather than outgoing calls. Additionally, an automated answering service typically includes a self-service option that uses advanced AI technology to answer customer questions.

An automated answering service generally works in three different ways
- Answer the calls on your behalf using your existing phone number
- Play a pre-recorded greeting message that is tailored to your business requirements
- Guide customers through a series of menus and ask them for their intent and gather all relevant information
An automated answering service collects information from the caller and routes them to the appropriate department. It can also use call deflection to handle the high call volume.

Factors to Consider While Choosing an Automated Answering System

With the information provided about the top 10 automated answering systems for 2023, there are also other considerations to keep in mind when choosing an automated answering system. By taking these factors into account, you can make a more informed and efficient decision.

Multi-Level Call Attending

Automated answering systems route your client’s call directly to the specified operators by guiding the client through a simple menu. However, in case of multi-level call attending, this service goes up a notch by creating custom paths that allow for multiple callers.
For example, one path might be reserved solely for accounting whereas another might go for technical support.

Account and Call Monitoring

When choosing an automated answering service, it is important to consider the call analytics feature. Many businesses use a dashboard to track customer interactions and this feature is activated every time a customer calls. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that the dashboard is user-friendly, and up-to-date, and allows for easy management of users, permissions and various aspects of phone calls.

Live Call Answering Feature

While automated answering services can be helpful, having a live person available to answer calls can also be beneficial. Some clients prefer talking to an actual person rather than having a machine answer their query. Having a live person on the line can provide customers with better satisfaction as they have direct access to someone who can assist them with their inquiries or concern.

A live call answering feature is a valuable addition to a phone plan. Therefore, it’s important to check if the automated answering service you are considering has this option available.

VoIP Market Size By Region

Flexible Hours

Many businesses operate 24/7 and require answering services that can work continuously. On the other hand, some businesses only require automated answering services during regular working hours. Therefore, it’s important to select a company that offers flexible operating patterns that align with your business hours and requirements.

In addition to the factors mentioned previously, here are some additional features to consider when choosing an automated answering service:
- Web/Mobile Chat
- Post-Call Surveys
- Conference Calling
- Voicemail Transcription
- Call Recording
- CRM Integration
- IVR
Top 10 Best Automated Answering Systems

Selecting an automated answering system is a significant change for businesses of all sizes. When making this decision, it’s important to consider how the system will improve and streamline operations for your business.

In order to make the best choice, you need to have the most suitable automated answering system. With many options available, it can be challenging to make a decision. That’s why we have compiled a list of the top 10 best automated answering systems for the year.

Nextiva

Rating 4.4/5

Best For Small Businesses

Nextiva is a full-service VOIP phone system designed for businesses, but it can also function effectively as an automated answering service. It comes with several features that enable you to create a personalized greeting and set answering rules based on your business hours.

Nextiva

With these features, you can route calls based on factors such as area code, time zone, and other factors that dictate your call-handling process. Nextiva acts as a virtual receptionist, eliminating the need for a physical receptionist to answer calls before, during or after business hours.

Nextiva’s user-friendly administrative portal makes it ideal for small businesses and can be accessed from a computer or the company’s mobile app, allowing you to manage the entire admin portal. Additionally, Nextiva offers scalable features as your business grows, including advanced customer contact features, VoIP, video chat services, virtual voicemail, and more. It also has plans available that include a multi-level auto-attendant for more complex call routing.

AnswerFirst

Rating 4.2/5

Best For 24/7 Customer Handling

Answer First provides businesses with a professional digital presence 24/7 by giving access to features such as message taking and response, appointment scheduling, and assistance with purchasing and ordering. The company has a certified and dedicated customer service team, made up of professionals who have been connecting people with answers since 1998.

AnswerFirst

Here are some of the services that are available to you when you sign up with Answer First: 24/7 Dispatching, Systems and Security Management, Live Transfer, Message Taking, Scheduling and Reservations, Virtual Receptionist, and Voice Mail Services.

Answer First is an advanced automated answering service that offers exceptional customer service to all clients. It offers a wide range of third-party integrations and customizable pricing plans tailored to your specific needs and requirements. With Answer First, you can ensure that you never miss a potential lead, client, or business opportunity, and can always make a positive impression on your customers. The service’s 24/7 availability, live transfer, and message taking feature, scheduling and reservations, virtual receptionist, and voicemail service ensure that you are always reachable and able to provide professional and efficient customer service.

PATlive

Rating 3.9/5

Best For All types of businesses and Customer Experience Management

As a business owner, you are constantly seeking out solutions that can meet all of your business needs, including 24/7 coverage. PATlive’s digital receptionists provide professional customer service around the clock, which can significantly improve your customer relations and strengthen your relationships with current clients. With their help, you can make sure that your customers have a positive experience with your company at all times, even when you are unavailable.

PATlive

Additionally, the digital receptionist service guarantees that you never miss a potential lead or business opportunity, which can help you grow your business. PATlive offers a 14-day free trial feature that allows you to gain a comprehensive understanding of the product before making a decision. Additionally, the bilingual service feature enables you to communicate effectively with people speaking a language different from yours.

With PATlive’s digital agents, you can easily book, manage, and keep track of your appointments using the software’s web-based calendaring service. This feature allows you to schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments, as well as view upcoming appointments in a calendar format. This functionality can help you to manage your time more efficiently and productively.

Voice Nation

Rating 4.3/5

Best For Live Call and Chat Answering

Voice Nation offers top-quality automated answering services that are available 24/7 for your convenience. By signing up with Voice Nation, you gain access to a bilingual virtual receptionist that will answer your calls and respond to texts on your behalf. This feature ensures that you never miss an important call or message and can provide professional and efficient customer service to your clients.

VoiceNation

Additionally, when you sign up with Voice Nation, you also gain access to additional services such as order processing, message delivery, detailed reports, and a dedicated account manager that is included in each plan. With this automated answering service, you never have to send your customers to voicemail again, as you can personally attend to each customer at any time of the day. This can help you improve customer service and strengthen your relationships with your clients.

With Voice Nation, you can customize your call script to match the type of business and clients you have. The service also offers a mobile application that is compatible with both iOS and Android devices, providing you with flexibility and convenience.

Grasshopper

Rating 4.5/5

Best For Solo Enterpreneurs

Every business has a unique selling proposition (USP) that sets it apart from the competition, and it’s important to effectively communicate that USP to customers. Grasshopper’s software includes an auto-attendant feature that allows you to use pre-recorded scripts from the software’s database.

Grasshopper

You can assign different scripts for different client paths to help answer your incoming calls more professionally. For an additional fee, the software also offers a professional voice studio. Grasshopper’s software allows you to switch between live operators and digital receptionists depending on your preference, giving you the flexibility to choose who handles your calls. Grasshopper offers an easy 4-step process to add a business number and integrate your smartphone with a virtual phone system, allowing you to never miss a call and present a professional image to your customers.

Ooma

Rating 4/5

Best For Small Businesses without IT Departments

Ooma is specifically designed for small businesses and includes an auto-attendant feature when setting up an account. It has a text-to-speech enabled feature and callers are greeted by a virtual assistant every time they call. You can select and assign a customized greeting which will be read out by a computer-generated voice to the caller. Additionally, the software’s dashboard includes a control panel that enables you to record audio files, which is a useful option if you are considering a virtual receptionist.

Ooma

Ooma is loaded with numerous features such as HD Audio, low international calling rates, a virtual fax system, mobile app integration, a complimentary toll-free number and free local phone numbers. These features are intended to enhance customer service, boost productivity, and improve overall business communication.

This automated answering service also offers a mobile application compatible with both Android and iOS, allowing you to check voicemails on your phone anytime and anywhere. As a small business owner, cost-effectiveness is a priority, and Ooma offers smart plans for every user. As your business grows, Ooma will ensure that your phone bill remains low. Therefore, not only does your business advance, but you also have the opportunity to make significant savings on your phone bill.

Phone.com

Rating 3.9/5

Best For Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

If you are looking for a solution to manage your metered subscriptions, phone.com is an automated answering service specifically designed for businesses with lower or fluctuating call volume. The software offers both metered and non-metered subscription plans. This allows you to customize and integrate your plans based on your specific needs and requirements. Additionally, phone.com provides access to various additional features such as live receptionist, international numbering and dialling.

Phone.com

The global numbers and international calling feature will be particularly beneficial for businesses with multiple marketing campaigns. Additionally, phone.com offers a wide range of features such as voice, video, text, call management, and other collaboration features commonly found in enterprise phone systems.

Furthermore, this answering service is highly versatile and can seamlessly switch between computer and phone. It offers a variety of options such as local, toll-free, and vanity numbers.

Vonage

Rating 3.5/5

Best For All Businesses including Micro Businesses

Irrespective of the type and size of your business, it is important to have a flexible and cost-effective business plan that can help your business to grow without incurring high phone bills. An ideal plan would provide you with the necessary communication tools while keeping costs low.

Vonage

This can include features such as virtual phone numbers, call forwarding, voicemail, and auto-attendant, all of which can help to improve your customer service and increase your productivity. Additionally, many business communication solutions offer affordable pricing plans with different features, so you can choose the one that best fits your business needs and budget.

Vonage offers a variety of flexible options, including over 50 phone features with the ability to add advanced features at an additional cost. The basic plan includes 18 standard features such as call recording, internet fax, conference bridge, virtual numbers and more.

Additionally, a self-service mobile application that is compatible with both Android and iOS is available, enabling you to deploy third-party apps without needing professional services. Vonage offers a wide range of services such as contact centres, customer engagement, mobility, remote work, and more.

8×8

Rating 4.1/5

Best For Unified Business Communication

8×8 is an automated phone attendant service that operates in over 48 countries and is ideal for companies with a large number of international clients. Additionally, the software has an economical subscription plan that allows you to save money on international calls.

8×8

The auto-attendant software has phone number support flexibility in over 100 countries, allowing your business to expand virtually in areas where you do not have a physical presence. However, the software’s collaboration features are currently limited to file sharing and video meetings.

Furthermore, the software utilizes AI to assist you in monitoring and managing your voice interactions, helping your team leaders and managers. The software also has an app that is compatible with both Android and iOS, allowing you to access all your business communication such as chat, video messages, voice calls, and more.

Aircall

Rating 4.3/5

Best For Integration with CRM and Helpdesk Tools

Aircall is a cloud-based auto-attendant software that is perfect for e-commerce companies, enabling them to make their call centre more remote and efficient. It is an IT-approved, cloud-based solution that is ideal for sales and marketing teams.

aircall

This software is also easy to set up and enables you to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world. Aircall also comes equipped with CRM features, helpdesk solutions, and other essential apps that provide all the necessary information to clients when they call.

Aircall allows you to manage and monitor your work, analyze calls, and measure your call metrics to make measurable improvements. It also includes features such as a cloud-based IVR menu, skill-based routing options, and more.

Conclusion

Regardless of the type of business you run, an automated answering service can greatly benefit your business and contribute to its growth. An automated answering service allows you to customize it to provide all necessary information to your callers. By doing so, you can greatly reduce operating costs, time and staff resources. High-quality customer service is heavily dependent on your telephone system, and customer satisfaction improves when exceptional customer service is provided.

FAQ

What is the best phone system for business?

The best Business Phone Systems are as follows
- PATlive
- Nextiva
- VoiceNation
- Grasshopper
- 8×8
- Vonage
- Aircall
What is the automated phone answering system called?

Interactive voice response (IVR) is an automated telephony system that interacts with callers, gathers information and routes calls to the appropriate recipients.

What is an IVR dialer?

An IVR Dialer is an automated dialer that dials numbers from a given database and plays IVR (Interactive Voice Response) messages when connected.

What are the limitations of telephone answering machines?

The Disadvantages of Using an Automated Phone Answering System
- Automated Phone Systems Can Alienate Customers.
- Automated Phone Systems Can Confuse Customers.
- Automated Phone Systems can Malfunction
- Automated Phone Systems can be Inefficient
January 20, 2023
7 Ways to Automate Customer Service | Pros & Cons of Automated Customer Service System
Automation is the term that seems to fit in almost every work situation these days. In this fast pacing time, it is important for people and businesses to automate as much of their work as possible. This not only saves time and energy but also makes the processes more efficient.

When it comes to customer service, some businesses view it as a necessary evil, while others see it as an opportunity to stand out from the competition. Whether you fall into the former or latter category, there’s no denying that automating your customer service can save your business time and money.

For example- Chatbots are a great way to automate customer service as it provides the customers with instant responses 24/7. In the case of the airline industry, customers can look for all the flight information, find the best option, and book a ticket with the help of chatbots. In this way, customers get to have all the necessary details in an easy conversation.

What is customer service automation?

Seven Ways to Automate Customer Service Process
Pros of Automating Customer Service Process
Cons of Automating Customer Service Process

Seven Ways to Automate Customer Service Process

There are a number of ways to automate your customer service. One of the most popular is to use a chatbot. Chatbots are computer programs that can mimic human conversation. They can be used to answer common questions and help direct customers to the right resources. One can also automate customer service using an interactive voice response system. This allows customers to get the information they need without having to speak to a live agent.

The following are the seven ways to automate your customer service process:

How do customers perceive chatbots?

Automate Customer Service Processes with a Chatbot

A chatbot can help you automate customer service by providing answers to common questions, routing customers to the right support agent, and even handling simple tasks like scheduling appointments or placing orders. You can create a chatbot using a chatbot platform like Chatfuel or Botpress, or you can use a chatbot builder like Manychat to create a chatbot without any coding.

Use an AI-Powered Live Chat Tool

An AI-powered live chat tool can help you automate customer service by providing instant answers to common questions, routing customers to the right support agent, and even handling simple tasks like scheduling appointments or placing orders. Live chat tools that use AI include Zendesk, Drift, Intercom, etc.

Take Advantage of Automation Tools

One can always take advantage of automation tools. For example- Zapier is an automation tool that lets you connect different apps and automate tasks between them. You could use this tool to automatically add new contacts from your CRM to your live chat tool or to send a follow-up email after a customer support conversation automatically.

Top 7 Customer Retention Tools to Help You Retain Customers

It is crucial for any business to retain its customers for long. Popular customer retention tools include Amplitude, Zendesk, Qualaroo, and more.

StartupTalkyMarlene Ann Anthony

Implement an E-commerce CRM

An e-commerce CRM can help you automate customer service by providing a central place to manage all your customers’ data, contact information, and support conversations. Plus, e-commerce CRM tools can automate tasks like shipping and order tracking, making it easy to keep your customers updated on the status of their orders.

Popular e-commerce CRMs include:
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- Magento.
Best Hosting Provider For Ecommerce 2022

Hosting providers serves website for eCommerce stores. The best eCommerce hosting providers are HostGator, Bluehost, SiteGround, Hostinger, etc.

StartupTalkySubhajit Mitra

Use a Help Desk Ticketing System

A help desk ticketing system can help you automate customer service by organizing and tracking all your customer support conversations in one place. A help desk ticketing system can also automate tasks like assigning tickets to the right support agent and sending notifications when a ticket is updated. Popular help desk ticketing systems include Zendesk, Freshdesk, Zohodesk, and Help Scout.

Use Social Media Automation Tools

Social media automation tools can help you automate customer service by posting updates, responding to comments and messages, and even monitoring for keywords and hashtags. Automated customer service on social media can help you stay connected with your customers and resolve issues quickly.

Social media automation tools include:
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- Sprout Social.
Automate Your Customer Service Reporting

Zendesk Insights

Customer service reporting can be time-consuming, but tracking metrics like customer satisfaction and first-contact resolution are important. Automating your customer service reporting can help you save time by always generating reports on a schedule to have the latest data. Reporting tools that can automate customer service reporting include Zendesk Insights and Helpshift Analytics.

Pros of Automating Customer Service Process

73% of customers consider good Customer service Experience is the key factor in Brand Loyalty

The customer service process is extremely important and automating it can be really effective for a whole lot of businesses. The following points show the pros of it:
- One of the pros of automating your customer service process is that it helps to improve efficiency and productivity within your organization.
- By automating certain tasks, you can free up your staff to focus on important tasks that require more attention.
- Another advantage is that it can help improve the quality of your customer service by ensuring that tasks are completed correctly and in a timely manner.
- It can also help to reduce the overall cost of your customer service operation by eliminating the need for manual labor.
- Finally, automating your customer service process can help improve your customers’ overall satisfaction by providing them with a more efficient and effective customer service experience.
Social Media Customer Service: Best Tricks and Tips

Social Media Customer Service is helpful to build a strong brand image. Learn how it’s helpful and How to plan Social Media Customer Support.

StartupTalkyJhalak Mogra

Cons of Automating Customer Service Process

Automated customer service definitely ups the game for many businesses, but it might just not be the perfect thing for others. The following are some of the disadvantages of automating your customer service process:
- One of the potential drawbacks of automating your customer service process is that it can lead to a more impersonal experience for your customers. Automation might not be the right solution if your goal is to create a more personal relationship with your customers.
- Another potential drawback is that automated systems can sometimes be less reliable than human customer service representatives. If your system goes down, or if there are technical issues, your customers will not be able to get the help they need.
- Automated systems can also be more expensive to set up and maintain than traditional customer service solutions. If you are on a tight budget, then automation might not be the right choice for you.
- Finally, automated systems can sometimes give customers the impression that they are talking to a machine rather than a real person. This can lead to frustration and even cause some customers to take their business elsewhere.
If you consider automating your customer service process, carefully weigh the pros and cons. Automation can offer many benefits, but it is not right for every business. Make sure to consider all of the potential drawbacks before making a decision.

Conclusion

Automating your customer service can provide a better experience for your customers while freeing up your team to work on more important tasks. However, in some cases, automation might just not be the right thing for some businesses. The above-mentioned are some of the most important points that will guide you to automate your customer service process.

FAQs

Can customer services be automated?

Yes, it can be automated. More businesses are now keener to automate customer services as it improves customer experience and employee satisfaction.

What are automated reporting tools used for?

Automated reporting tools are used by professionals to make and share organizational reports at particular intervals without updating the information each time.

Which are the top software to automate customer service?

The Best tools to automate customer service are:
- Zendesk
- Freshdesk
- HelpScout
- Agile CRM
- Groove
- Zoho Desk
What is a help desk ticketing system?

A help desk ticketing system is software used by customer support teams. It is used to create, maintain, and manage lists of customers’ problems.

What are examples of automated customer service system?

Some examples of automated customer service system are:
- Self-service portals
- Standardized email replies
- Live chat and Chatbots
- Virtual Assistant
- Ticketing tool to assign tickets to the relevant team
November 30, 2022