A customer communication tool is a medium that facilitates interaction between a brand and the customer. This system allows businesses to fully manage the buyer journey while making data-driven decisions based on insights derived from the conversations to enhance client satisfaction.
Whether you are chatting with customers or collecting feedback, communication is key when running a successful business.
So, let’s dive into how using software can help your strategy and explore what type of software best suits your company.
In this article, we’ll review the following 10 best customer communication software:
| Name | Rating | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | 4.7/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | AI-powered chatbot |
| Intercom | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Omnichannel and multilingual |
| Zendesk | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | Unified workspace |
| Qualaroo | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Feedback management |
| Salesforce | 4.3/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | AI-powered CRM |
| HubSpot | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Customer success workspace |
| Help Scout | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Proactive messaging |
| LiveAgent | 4.5/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Live chat |
| Freshdesk | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ❌ | AI automation and workflows |
| SurveyMonkey | 4.4/5 ⭐️ | ✅ | Pop-up online surveys |
Are you interested in more tools for customer service? Check out these articles:
- The 10 Best Customer Service Software Platforms
- 10 Best Customer Data Management Software for Small Businesses
- 16 Customer Retention Software Tools to Reduce Churn
Make customer communication seamless using the best tool available on the market
So—
Let’s jump straight into it.
Customer communications software companies
Customer support team members can use bots and other systems to enhance the communication strategy. But with so many different platforms out there, which one to choose for your business?
Well—we’ve spent over 40 hours reviewing software based on the features and price-for-value. And here are in-depth comparisons of the 10 best customer communication tools for SMBs and startups.
1. Tidio
Rating: 4.7/5 ⭐️ (1,410+ reviews)
Tidio is best suited for businesses looking to minimize human intervention as they scale. It’s packed with a suite of artificial intelligence features such as the multilingual conversational chatbot, Lyro, and a customizable chat widget to streamline customer-agent interactions. This system frees up agents from doing mundane tasks so they can focus on top-priority requests.
This customer interaction tool also lets you engage with visitors in real time, track their behavior across your website pages, and offer assistance. On top of that, you can handle all client communications from a single dashboard and track the agent performance with analytics and reporting dashboards.
Main features:
- NLP and AI chatbots
- Chatbot builder
- Live chat for sales
- Automated ticketing system
- Real-time visitor view
- Free
- Starter ($29/mo)
- Automation ($29/mo)
- Growth ($59/mo)
- Lyro AI ($39/mo)
- Tidio + (starting from $749/mo)
Read more: Learn how to manage all of your conversations using Tidio shared inbox.
2. Intercom
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️ (2.985+ reviews)
Intercom is a customer communications software that offers fast, personalized support at scale. This AI-driven solution streamlines conversations across multiple channels such as Messenger, live chat, SMS, phone calls, email, chatbot, and more, all in one omnichannel inbox.
Furthermore, your customer service team can utilize workload management tools and permission settings to enhance efficiency. You can also provide convenient customer self-service options including a help center and a knowledge base.
Pros:
- Multilingual support available
- Knowledge base builder
- Automated messaging
Cons:
- Identifying and merging similar tickets needs improvements
- Occasional lag times in speed
- Free 14-day trial available
- Essential ($39/mo/seat)
- Advanced ($99/mo/seat)
- Expert ($139/mo/seat)
Read more: Explore the leading Intercom alternatives, including their advantages, disadvantages, and pricing comparisons.
3. Zendesk
Rating: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (5,855+ reviews)
Zendesk is a communication software for business with a built-in AI functionality that revamps your team performance through workforce management and output optimization. This system is a popular solution for brands that are looking for an easy-to-use and scalable cloud-based system.
This CRM software supports rich conversational experience on mobile apps, websites, and social channels. Meanwhile, this customer communication app provides visitor conversations that are registered in a centralized workspace for agents to keep track of all interactions.
Pros:
- Omnichannel user interface
- Multi-department messaging
- AI and automations
Cons:
- Overwhelmingly extensive features
- Complex customizations
- Free trial available
- Basic Plan ($19/mo/agent)
- Suite Team ($69/mo/agent)
- Suite Growth ($115/mo/agent)
- Suite Professional ($149/mo/agent)
- Suite Enterprise → contact sales team
Read more: Explore some of the top Zendesk alternatives currently available on the market.
4. Qualaroo
Rating: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (45+ reviews)
Qualaroo is a great tool for businesses looking to manage customer feedback. This survey software helps you understand how your client base interacts with your app, website, and other channels.
In addition, you can discover valid insights into why conversions are low by running exit surveys that are more effective than the ones sent via email. This approach helps to collect data in real time and within the context of the website visit.
Pros:
- AI-powered analytics
- Real-time customer feedback
- Advanced targeting options
Cons:
- Dashboard visuals need improvement
- Unable to replicate nudges when using your phone
- Free plan available
- Business plan ($39.99/mo)
5. Salesforce
Rating: 4.3/5 ⭐️ (20,160+ reviews)
Salesforce is a full-suite business communication software. It’s mostly targeted to large companies, helping them deflect client issues while maximizing efficiency. With this system, you can digitally engage your customers across all contact channels.
This digital customer communication solution helps you save on costs while maintaining and optimizing existing manpower through AI-powered self-service features. It also provides personalized support for your customers and monitors agent productivity with automated voice transcriptions.
Pros:
- Customizable CRM platform
- Variety of integrations
- Responsive client support
Cons:
- Difficult to customize
- The maintenance of the system takes time
- Free 14-day trial
- Essentials ($25/month/user)
- Professional ($75/month/user)
- Enterprise ($150/month/user)
- Unlimited ($300/month/user)
6. HubSpot
Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (10,955+ reviews)
HubSpot client communication software lets businesses organize support requests into one inbox. You can use workflow automations to keep the large team in sync while making sure chats aren’t misdirected.
This business communication platform offers AI-powered chatbots that evaluate client interactions helping your sales teams qualify leads, book meetings, offer support, and scale conversations. On top of that, you can run custom chat surveys to uncover growth opportunities from customer feedback.
Pros:
- No coding skills required
- Integrates easily with other tools
- Customizable visualized data dashboards
Cons:
- Merging duplicate records in the database is not always straightforward
- Limited social media capabilities with photo and video upload absent
- Free version available
- Starter customer platform ($20/mo/seat)
- Service Hub Professional ($100/mo/seat)
- Service Hub Enterprise (starts at $130/mo/seat)
- Professional customer platform ($1200/mo/5 seats)
- Enterprise customer platform ($4000/mo/7 seats)
Read more: Discover other HubSpot alternatives with their features compared.
7. Help Scout
Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (400+ reviews)
Help Scout is a customer conversation platform offering a range of features that streamline all client interactions. The CRM applies to small and medium-sized businesses in ecommerce, education, SaaS, and non-profit.
This customer communication system offers a shared inbox for the remote and hybrid client success teams. Moreover, website visitors can directly interact with your team in real-time through the live chat feature. Also, AI-powered customer service tools boost your team productivity in the form of conversation summaries, 24/7 web self-service, and canned responses.
Pros:
- Variety of access permissions for reps
- Ticket segmentation available
- Simple and user-friendly interface
Cons:
- Problematic grouping of tickets based on tags
- Inbox UI needs improvement for a better experience
- Free 15-day trial
- Standard ($25/mo/user)
- Plus ($50/mo/user)
- Pro (Contact sales)
Read more: Discover the best HelpScout alternatives available on the market today.
8. LiveAgent
Rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️ (1,485+ reviews)
LiveAgent is one of the customer communication management tools that’s known for its unrivaled live chat response times and call center software capability. It’s a fast and easy to implement help desk solution that offers a customer portal with a knowledge base for visitors seeking self-service assistance.
This is one of the best customer communication management software that collects all requests into a shared inbox that consolidates all chats, emails, social media mentions, and calls. On top of that, you can integrate the system with social media messaging apps to grow and maintain a loyal audience.
Pros:
- Universal inbox for all interactions
- Customizable workspaces
- Multichannel support
Cons:
- Mobile app performance needs more work
- UX needs improvements
- Free version available
- Small business ($15/mo/agent)
- Medium business ($35/mo/agent)
- Large business ($59/mo/agent)
- Enterprise ($85/mo/agent)
Read more: Read about the most crucial help desk features for your business.
9. Freshdesk
Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (3,125+ reviews)
Freshdesk is a customer communication management solution that enables support teams to engage with clients and merges multiple communication channels into one platform.
This tool offers cloud-based features and on-site functionality for businesses of different sizes. On top of that, Freshdek’s built-in dashboards present an overview of team performance, ongoing or pending conversations, customer satisfaction ratings, and more.
Pros:
- Data-backed insights on customer conversations
- Analytics and unified dashboards
- Self-service portal with help guides and FAQs
Cons:
- The mobile version is limited
- Reporting can be improved
- Free version is available
- Growth ($18/mo/agent)
- Pro ($59/mo/agent)
- Enterprise ($95/mo/agent)
Read more: Check out the best Freshdesk alternatives and find the right one for your business.
10. SurveyMonkey
Rating: 4.4/5 ⭐️ (22,825+ reviews)
This AI-powered client communication platform is unmatched in collecting customer feedback across multiple channels and delivering actionable insights. As a business, SurveyMonkey is essential in identifying pain points and increasing retention while boosting conversion.
On top of that, the intuitive analysis features show real-time metrics and generate filtered summaries driven by advanced logic.
Pros:
- Variety of integrations with multiple apps
- Segmentation based on client interests and behavior
- Automation tools like transactional emails, and retargeting ads
Cons:
- Occasional crashes and server issues
- Requires time to get used to for first-timers
- Premier annual ($99/mo)
- Standard monthly ($35/mo)
- Team advantage ($25/mo/user)
- Team Premier ($75/mo/user)
- Advantage annual ($34/mo)
- Enterprise—contact sales
Read more: Check out the best AI sales assistant software on the market today.
Now that we have examined the tools above, we can look at a few example cases.
Best client communication tools examples
You can use chat tools throughout the customer journey to improve the user experience and satisfaction with your brand. But some tools are better for monitoring brand image online and others aim to solve customer issues. So, what are the types of customer communications? Let’s have a look at the top use cases.
Help desk software
This is one of the communication tools for business that connects your brand’s inbox, ticketing, and help center into a single centralized workspace. Intercom is a good example of an enterprise help desk ticketing system.
Live chat software
A live chat app is best suited for customer engagement. It offers smart routing and visitor tracking tools and allows for real-time conversations between visitors and support agents. LiveAgent is an example of this software.
AI chatbot software
An AI chatbot handles customer inquiries around the clock, automatically qualifies leads, and book appointments. One of the best conversational AI chatbots available on the market is Tidio’s Lyro.
Email marketing software
This system allows data-driven customer interactions based on behavior, preferences, and demographics. It helps with a consistent multichannel messaging across email, mobile, social media, and the web, keeping interactions seamless. Salesforce is a good example as it lets you personalize email campaigns, push notifications, and text messages.
Social media monitoring tool
This software employs social media monitoring usually through add-ons. For example, with Zendesk Support you can integrate social messaging channels like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to track social interactions.
With the examples of business communication tools, let’s jump into the advantages you can expect from implementing them.
Benefits of customer communication software
Keeping track of customer data as well as managing all interactions across different messaging platforms can be hard. Especially when you also want to exceed client expectations and grow the business. But tools can help you with that.
Here are three benefits of customer messaging software:
- Data-driven insights—customer communication tools analyze data points and generate important reports including content usage delivery stats. This is important as 92% of analytics professionals say that the need for data in modern-day businesses is greater than ever.
- Improved customer service—automation can help to speed up support and boost client experience with real-time communication. Research shows that 77% of agents experience complex workloads, so it’s even more important that agents have the required time to handle these complicated tasks.
- Workflow automation—automating repetitive tasks such as follow-ups, ticket triaging, and notifications streamlines the workflow and overall team collaboration. Salesforce research shows that 83% of managers are planning to invest deeper in customer automation software over the next year.
Since you already know the benefits of software when it comes to managing your customer base, it’s time to pick the right system for your brand. But how to do that?
Let’s find out.
How to choose customer communication management software?
First of all, you should figure out what’s important to you. Maybe you need templates and drag-and-drop chatbot builder. Or maybe your business wants some help with the customer relationship management and analytics?
Once you answer this question it’s going to be much easier to find the right customer communications platform for your brand.
Here are a few things you should keep in mind when choosing the best customer communication platform for your business:
- Ease of use—installation and getting everyone up to speed should be quick and straightforward
- Scalability—as a business on a growth trajectory, you need a software solution that can handle a significant increase in customer traffic or business staff growth
- Costs of the software—ensure the installation and maintenance costs fall within the allocated budget
- Relevant features—take time to examine the features the tool offers and have an experienced member of your support or IT team give their opinion on the suitability for your business at both present and future
Whether your company is revamping its customer communication management strategy or looking for new insights, you shouldn’t wait to implement the right tools.
Tidio offers all of the key features mentioned above and more. Why not try today?
Boost your customer communication using the best software on the market
