5 Key Features of the Best Customer Support Software

In today’s fast-paced and competitive business environment, providing outstanding customer support has become crucial in building a successful brand. Businesses rely heavily on customer support software that helps them manage and optimize their customer interactions. 

There are many customer support software options to choose from, which can make it challenging to find the best one that suits all of your needs. In this article, we will explore the top five features that the best customer support software should have and provide a list of the five best software options. It will help you to make an informed decision and improve your customer support relationships.

Why Are Customer Support Software Important?

Customer support software is critical in managing customer interactions and ensuring their satisfaction. With the increasing emphasis on customer experience, businesses must have efficient and effective customer support processes in place. Customer support software can help businesses manage customer queries, issues, and feedback across multiple channels and provide timely and personalized responses. 

It can also enable businesses to track and analyze customer interactions to improve support quality and identify improvement areas. Moreover, customer support software can help businesses build customer trust and loyalty by providing a seamless and consistent support experience. Investing in such software can help businesses increase customer retention, reduce churn, and drive revenue growth.

1. Omni-Channel Communication Support

Omni-channel support is a critical feature of any modern helpdesk software. According to research, the implementation of omnichannel marketing strategies resulted in an average transaction size increase of 15-35% for retailers. Omni-channel communication enables businesses to engage with their customers seamlessly across multiple channels, including email, social media, chat, phone, and more, providing a consistent and personalized experience regardless of the channel used. 

With this feature, users can quickly switch between channels, track customer interactions across all channels, and respond to queries promptly, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, omni-channel support allows businesses to gather valuable customer data, which can be used to improve products, services, and customer experiences. This feature is essential for businesses looking to enhance their customer support and improve customer retention.

2- Live chat support 

Live chat support is a real-time messaging feature that allows customers to communicate directly with support agents through a business’s website or mobile app. It provides customers with a quick and convenient way to receive assistance and support without waiting for email responses or phone calls. 

Live chat support enables businesses to engage with their customers in a personalized and efficient manner, providing immediate answers to their queries and concerns. It also allows support agents to handle multiple chats at once, increasing their productivity and reducing wait times for customers. 

Live chat support is becoming increasingly popular among businesses as it offers a cost-effective way to provide customer support while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Overall, live chat support is essential for businesses looking to enhance their customer support and provide excellent customer experiences.

3- Automation

Automation in a helpdesk ticketing system can streamline support processes, improve efficiency, and reduce manual work for both customers and support teams. With automation, businesses can set up rules to automatically assign tickets to appropriate agents based on their skills, prioritize tickets based on their urgency, and send automated responses to customers to acknowledge their requests. According to market projections, the worldwide market for helpdesk automation is expected to achieve a value of US$21.8 billion by the end of 2027

Additionally, automated workflows can trigger follow-up actions, such as sending surveys to customers after their tickets are resolved or escalating tickets to managers when they exceed the response or resolution time. It helps businesses provide faster and more consistent customer support, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

Integrating automation in the helpdesk ticketing system can benefit businesses in several ways. It can enhance the efficiency of support processes, minimize errors, and allow the support teams to devote their time to resolving intricate issues that demand their expertise.

4- Ticket Prioritization

Ticket prioritization is a critical aspect of managing a helpdesk ticketing system. According to Salesforce, 66% of customers anticipate that companies should understand their distinct requirements.The process involves determining the urgency and importance of a support request based on factors such as the impact on business operations, the severity of the issue, and the customer’s level of satisfaction. 

Prioritization helps ensure that support teams can efficiently manage their workload and respond promptly to critical issues, thereby minimizing any negative impact on the business. Typically, helpdesk ticketing systems use a priority matrix to assign different levels of urgency to support requests, with higher-priority tickets being addressed first. Effective ticket prioritization requires clear communication with customers, prompt escalation of critical issues, and ongoing monitoring to ensure timely resolution.

5- Self-service Portal

A self-service portal is an essential component of a helpdesk ticketing system that empowers customers to resolve issues independently, without human intervention. A study by Zendesk reveals that 67% of customers prefer self-service over conversing with a support agent. The portal provides a centralized location for customers to access information, submit and track support requests, and view relevant updates and notifications. 

It can also offer a knowledge base that contains frequently asked questions, how-to guides, and other helpful resources. By using a self-service portal, customers can save time and effort by resolving issues independently, freeing up support agents to focus on more complex or urgent requests. 

Additionally, a well-designed self-service portal can enhance the overall customer experience by providing 24/7 access to support resources and improving response times. Effective management and utilization of a self-service portal can ultimately lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

How to Select the Best Customer Support Software?

The above five features help businesses select the perfect solution for their customer support needs. It can help to enhance customer relationships, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty. By prioritizing these features, businesses can improve the overall customer experience and build a reputation for excellent customer service.

Top 5 Customer Support Software

Many support software options are available in the market, but not all of them are as effective as they should be. Choosing the best customer support software for your business can be a daunting task. Here are the top five customer support software options to consider for enhancing their customer support.

1- WorkHub Tasks

WorkHub Tasks is an advanced AI-based task management system that simplifies workflows and enhances coordination within the organization. Its AI-supported ticket management improves the user experience and streamlines ticket handling. It provides the following prominent features to handle customer support and task management effectiveness. 

Omni-channels Communication Support 

WorkHub Tasks enables users to easily create tickets from various sources, such as email and the web, making task management hassle-free. It provides a seamless experience for managing open tickets with its Customer Portal. Users can create accounts, reset passwords, and access all their tickets from one place. 

Escalation Management

Its integrated escalation management feature ensures prompt and precise task completion, enabling your team to stay at the top of their game. With WorkHub Tasks, you can rest assured that your workflow will be streamlined, and your team will be empowered to work more efficiently and collaboratively.

It also has flexible creation of escalation rules that improve productivity based on factors such as open time, reply time, and handling time. Users can define actions, including re-assignment and global messaging to the team.

Multi-users Collaboration

One of its powerful features is the ability to add multiple users and collaborators on tickets, forward tickets, add notes, and filter tickets on channels. It also allows users to review ticket history, add labels, record screens, and share videos for creators and assignees. 

The software also offers the Roles & Rights feature that provides flexibility in assigning department, team, and individual roles. Users can grant viewing or answering rights at various levels for easy data privacy management. Additionally, it allows users to create roles based on user needs to allow or disallow certain functionalities. The software integrates with Single Sign-On through Microsoft, Google, and other platforms.

Automation

The software also offers the ability to automate tasks with its Workflows feature, allowing users to create multiple workflows and define triggers for customers, agents, and tickets. Users can set conditions such as email details and select actions like assigning a ticket or sending an auto-response to simplify their workflow.

Competitive Price

WorkHub Tasks is the best customer support software and the most cost-effective task management software that can significantly enhance customer support. Its pricing plans include a Starter package for $39, which up to 5 users can use, a Premium package for $99 that supports up to 15 users, and an Enterprise package for $259, which can cater to up to 50 users. 

It stands out as an ideal option since it comprises all the essential features to handle customer support proficiently. This software is equipped with cutting-edge functionalities available at incredibly reasonable rates, making it a top-notch choice for any organization.

2- Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a popular customer support tool that provides businesses with a comprehensive suite of tools for managing customer inquiries and tickets. It has become one of the leading customer support platforms in the market today.

One of the key features of Freshdesk is its multi-channel support capabilities. It allows customers to connect with businesses through various channels such as email, phone, chat, social media, and even a self-service portal. Freshdesk’s ticketing system ensures that all customer queries are promptly addressed, with the ability to track and manage the status of each ticket.

It also offers an array of collaboration tools for teams working on customer support. The software allows team members to share notes and comments on tickets, set reminders and deadlines, and assign tasks to specific team members. 

Freshdesk’s reporting and analytics features provide businesses with valuable insights into their support operations, enabling them to identify areas for improvement and measure the success of their customer service efforts.

Another notable feature of Freshdesk is its automation capabilities. The software allows businesses to automate repetitive tasks such as ticket routing and categorization, freeing up valuable time for support agents to focus on more complex customer inquiries. 

3- Zendesk

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer support software that offers a wide range of tools for businesses of all sizes to manage and improve their customer support operations. The platform is designed to streamline customer communication across multiple channels, including email, chat, phone, social media, and self-service portals. 

With Zendesk, businesses can create a unified view of their customer interactions, allowing them to provide personalized and efficient customer service. The platform provides a wide range of features, including ticket management, automation, analytics, and reporting, that enable businesses to track and manage their customer support activities.

One of the key benefits of Zendesk is its flexibility and scalability. The platform can be customized to fit the unique needs of any business, regardless of its size or industry. It also offers a wide range of integrations with other business applications, including Salesforce, Slack, and Shopify, allowing businesses to streamline their workflows and improve efficiency. 

Another key feature of Zendesk is its focus on customer experience. The platform offers a range of tools and features that enable businesses to deliver personalized and responsive customer support. For example, it provides a self-service portal where customers can find answers to their questions and submit support tickets, reducing the need for manual intervention. It also offers automated responses and workflows that enable businesses to respond quickly to customer inquiries and issues.

Overall, Zendesk is a powerful and user-friendly software that enables businesses to streamline their customer support operations and improve customer experience. 

4- Salesforce 

Salesforce is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software that helps businesses to manage customer interactions, sales, and marketing. The platform provides a wide range of tools and features to help businesses streamline their sales processes and improve customer engagement. With Salesforce, businesses can manage leads, contacts, opportunities, and customer data in one central location, making it easy to track and analyze customer behavior and improve sales effectiveness.

Salesforce also offers a range of marketing automation tools, helping businesses create and execute effective marketing campaigns. The platform allows businesses to create and manage email marketing campaigns, track website visitors, and analyze customer behavior to personalize marketing efforts. 

Additionally, Salesforce provides advanced analytics tools, making it easy to track sales performance, measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and gain insights into customer behavior.

With Salesforce, businesses can improve customer engagement, streamline sales processes, and gain valuable insights into their sales and marketing efforts.

5- HubSpot’s Service Hub

HubSpot’s Service Hub is a powerful suite of tools designed to help businesses effectively manage and improve their customer service operations. It is a comprehensive platform that offers a range of features, including ticket management, automation, knowledge base creation, customer feedback gathering, and more.

One of the key features of Service Hub is its ticket management system, which allows businesses to manage customer requests, issues, and inquiries easily. Tickets can be created and tracked, and businesses can assign them to specific team members for resolution. 

Another important aspect of Service Hub is its automation capabilities. The platform can automate repetitive tasks, such as ticket routing and follow-up emails, freeing team members to focus on more complex tasks. It can lead to increased efficiency and productivity and improved customer satisfaction.

Service Hub also allows businesses to create a knowledge base, a library of resources that customers can use to find answers to common questions or issues. It can reduce the number of tickets that need to be handled by support teams, as customers can find answers to their questions on their own. 

Overall, HubSpot’s Service Hub is a comprehensive platform that can help businesses improve their customer service operations. By streamlining ticket management, automating tasks, and providing a knowledge base. It can help  businesses improve their efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

In today’s business landscape, customer support software is essential for effective customer service operations. These tools automate processes, resulting in better service and increased efficiency. Businesses can offer improved service by simplifying customer support, reducing manual labor, and providing detailed reports on customer interactions, resulting in greater customer satisfaction.

For optimal performance, the best customer support software should provide a range of features, including omni-channel communication support, automation, live-chat support, ticket prioritization, and self-service portals. These features enable organizations to provide exceptional customer support efficiently.

Understanding these features is key to selecting the optimal solution for delivering excellent customer support. WorkHub Tasks, Freshdesk, Zendesk, Salesforce, and HubSpot’s Service Hub are the top five customer support software options currently available.

WorkHub Tasks is the preferred choice among these options, as it offers all the latest features at a highly competitive price. Additionally, its AI capabilities enable organizations to take customer support to the next level.
To experience the benefits of WorkHub Tasks for your organization, book a demo to learn how it can enhance your customer support and task management efficiency.