Intercom Review—Is It the Right Helpdesk Solution for You?

In today’s crowded marketplace, simply having a good product or service just doesn’t cut it. Developing personalized and engaging relationships with customers can make all the difference.

If you show your customers you value them and create a sense of trust, they will eventually become loyal. And loyal clients are not only big spenders but also unofficial spokespeople for your product or brand—free marketing.

All this begins with good communication. Help desk systems like Intercom can help you achieve that and more with minimal effort.

The unique conversational relationship platform improves communication with customers through contextual, messenger-based experiences.

A pioneer in conversational CRM with tons of positive Intercom reviews by satisfied users, the platform has built a name for itself.

Does it still live up to it?

Let’s see.

What Is Intercom?

Intercom is the world’s first conversational relationship platform (CRP). It helps companies build better relationships with their customers through personalized, communication-based experiences.

It uses a four-step approach—engagement through conversational tools, management with a collaborative inbox, analysis with a customer data platform, and automation with integrations.

Intercom Features

Intercom has all the features you need to scale conversations and create engaging experiences for your customers—all without overwhelming your workforce.

Universal Inbox

The team inbox acts as a central point of contact and an Intercom help desk where you can organize and manage all conversations—from live chat and mobile apps to email and social media.

It also facilitates collaboration between teams. For example, you can create separate inboxes for your sales and support teams to segment information and ensure no overlap.

With the help of the chatbot, you can create a help desk ticketing system and automate your workflows—all in the inbox. The bot can collect information about the client upfront, so you can identify and prioritize urgent queries.

You can then route specialized conversations to the respective agents.

Analytics

Analytics for Intercom is a paid add-on that lets you track key metrics with zero setup. With the detailed Intercom reports, you’ll always be up-to-date with the state of your customer service.

The main dashboard displays big-picture stats. These include the number of daily and monthly active users, their country, browser, and more.

From there, you can drill down the reports to more nuanced metrics. A few examples are the number of unqualified leads; daily, weekly, or monthly acquired users; and retention rates in those same periods.

More advanced analytics allow you to look at user trends over time. This could be vital in planning and adjusting your strategies to your customers’ needs.

Custom Bots

The Intercom software allows you to build custom bots to speed up query resolution and qualify leads and grow your sales pipeline. The bot can collect key information from clients upfront, prioritize queries, and automatically route them to available agents.

The easy-to-use chatbot builder requires no coding experience at all. You can design a custom bot in minutes and set it up on your website.

That way, your sales and support teams can provide 24/7 service and proactively engage qualified leads, saving you time and energy.

Customer Data Platform

The Customer Data Platform combines all kinds of data, from personal details to behavioral information. This gives you the context you need to personalize interactions.

The Intercom customer support helper allows you to prioritize important clients (based on metrics like average spend) and send their issues to the top of the queue. You can also use this data to segment visitors based on who they are, where they’re from, and what action they take—or don’t take—on your website or app.

This valuable data ensures you always have meaningful conversations with your customers, building better relationships with them.

Integrations

Intercom integrations allow you to connect the Intercom software with powerful apps to help increase team efficiency, elevate customer experiences, and close more deals faster.

It integrates with analytics tools like Heap, an issue tracking system like GitHub, an incident management tool like Jira, and cloud-based phone systems like Toky.

Let’s see a few other examples.

Salesforce

The Salesforce integration allows your marketing team to create and send targeted outbound campaigns using Salesforce data.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics completes your Intercom analytics features, allowing you to measure the impact of Intercom Messenger on website conversions, track website visitor interactions, and more.

Aircall

Aircall is a cloud-based online phone system. When integrated with Intercom, it enables you to make and receive phone calls right from the Intercom inbox.

Zapier

Zapier lets you connect with over 1,000+ other solutions. You can pick the ones you’re already using or add new solutions to your toolbox.

Intercom Downsides

• The Intercom pricing structure is a little confusing.
• Billing is based on the number of contacts in your database. It becomes costly once you start upgrading, especially for smaller businesses.
• The Intercom reporting and analytics function could be a little stronger. You currently can’t drill down to advanced metrics unless you use the Google Analytics integration.
• Unless you’re ok with out-of-the-box functionality, you might be frustrated with the subpar customization capabilities.

Intercom Plans & Pricing

Intercom’s pricing structure is a little confusing, but we managed to figure it out.

Special Offer For Very Small Businesses

Intercom stimulates startups by allowing them to apply for a special-price advanced package. They can be eligible for the Early stage company plan, starting from only $65/month for up to a year.

Support

Getting in touch with Intercom customer support was effortless—the live chat on the Intercom website is proactive.

After the initial interaction with the responsive and intuitive bot, we were transferred to an agent named Lizzie. She was very helpful and courteous.

We looked around the self-help center page to learn more about the pricing structure, among other things. The Intercom knowledge base has countless articles with advice and answers to common questions.

The Intercom support portal also has a community forum. There, you can troubleshoot issues, ask questions, share knowledge, get updates, and even access resources like ebooks, guides, and others.

Once you sign up, you’ll get access to several Intercom training courses.

These include resources for sales reps, guides for support collection, and help with the setup process.

Ease of Use

Many users highlight the incredible ease of use of the software in their Intercom reviews, and we can attest to it. Everything from interface to functionality is built simple.

Since there’s no Intercom desktop app, you don’t have to download and install anything. You can just sign up and get started.

The recently upgraded Universal Inbox has the intuitive design of Facebook Messenger.

The left panel displays all conversations organized in a few categories like mentions, unassigned, and VIP support. When you click on an exchange, you will see the user’s information and the conversation history on the right-hand panel.

If you need some help along the way, you can watch the Intercom demo videos, read the articles in the knowledge base, or take one of the courses in the Intercom Academy.

Intercom User Reviews

We read through numerous Intercom reviews on sites like G2, GetApp, TrustRadius, Capterra to get a sense of how people feel about the service.

Intercom has outstanding ratings on all those platforms, including FeatureCustomer, where it holds a 4.7/5 rating based on 1,723 reviews. Even Intercom reviews on Reddit are positive!

Some customers highlight the ease of setup and use of the service; others appreciate that it isn’t too obstructive. It provides an effective way for businesses to talk to customers and engage new leads, and people love that.

Of course, there are some negative opinions online too.

For example, one Intercom review on Reddit included comments about the less-than-advanced reporting and analytics capability.

Most complaints we found on ​​Trustpilot were about the confusing pricing structure and the lack of transparency.

Despite these setbacks, we have no doubt that the number of positive Intercom reviews in 2022 will continue to grow.

Is Intercom Worth It?

Intercom is a unique platform. Its focus on customer conversation makes it ideal for companies looking to build better relationships with their clients.

The business messenger has a live chat to engage and support customers. The conversational chatbot helps you speed up resolutions, qualify leads, and grow your sales pipeline. The customer data platform acts as an Intercom CRM to collate data and give you context.

You can manage interactions across multiple platforms with the universal inbox. The visual campaign builder helps you create personalized messages that drive action and keep existing clients engaged.

All these tools make Intercom well worth the cost.

Intercom Alternatives

Intercom is one of the best customer communication platforms on the market and an industry leader. Still, we decided to check out the Intercom competition to give you more options.

Intercom vs Freshdesk

When making this best help desk comparison, we considered three factors—price, features, and functionality.

Freshdesk is one of the best help desk software on the market. It has a free version with limited features and paid plans with 24/7 email and 24/5 phone support. The Intercom cost isn’t publicly available for most of its plans, but they offer great functionality.

The two solutions are slightly different in terms of functionality.

Freshdesk is more of a traditional online help desk with features like ticket management and monitoring, multichannel support, and real-time customer analytics.

Intercom is more focused on customer communication and offers tools like a business messenger and customizable bots.

If you’re looking for a customer service platform, then Freshdesk is the best option. Intercom is better for lead generation and customer retention.

Intercom vs HubSpot

HubSpot Service Hub is a worthy alternative for Intercom. It’s a customer service management software that enables you to scale your support.

It includes conversational tools like live chat, help desk, ticket automation, and much more. You can use some of its services, like HubSpot Chat, for free, and free is hard to beat.

Intercom comes with a business messenger, user management tools, and a customer data platform, among others. It helps you get more leads and retain clients.

If you want to increase your sales and leads, then Intercom is the service for you. HubSpot Service Hub might be a good option as an alternative to a traditional help desk.

Intercom vs Zoho

Intercom may be a great customer communication solution, but Zoho is more than up to the task.

Zoho SalesIQ is more affordable than Intercom, with plans starting at $7. It also has essential features that Intercom doesn’t. These include chat monitoring, lead scoring on your own terms, mobile notifications for new visitors, and more.

Plus, if you’re already an existing Zoho customer, SalesIQ works seamlessly with other Zoho products, like Zoho Desk, CRM, and Campaigns.

Final Verdict

All in all, it’s an excellent platform. In an overpopulated market where every business is vying for customers’ attention, building a strong relationship with your clients is more important than ever.

Intercom isn’t a one-trick pony. It focuses on conversational marketing through intelligent automation. It also offers conversational support through business messenger tools and the Intercom ticketing system.

On top of that, it helps you interact better with customers—potential, new, and existing—through live chat, conversational bots, targeted messaging, and email campaigns.

We hope this Intercom review helped you decide whether this is the right solution for you.