Help Scout vs. eDesk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Help Scout
Score 9.6 out of 10
N/A
Help Scout is help desk software. The vendor’s value proposition is that that their solution reduces time spent on training users because Help Scout is simple to use and set up and scales like any enterprise product. This solution includes multiple mailboxes to support as many email addresses as needed in order to work collaboratively across teams, and manage several products or brands from one account. Reports on conversation trends, team performance, productivity, and customer happiness are…
$20
per user/per month
eDesk
Score 10.0 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
eDesk is an eCommerce Help Desk purpose built for online sellers. eDesk integrates with marketplaces, channels, webstores and social channels and consolidates them into one shared dashboard. The solution provides tools and order data to help users to speedily turn around issues. eDesk allows users to respond to customer queries and meet their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Amazon and eBay. eDesk is designed to provide all the order, product, and delivery data within customer…
$0
per month
Pricing
Help ScouteDesk
Editions & Modules
Standard
$20
per user/per month
Plus
$35
per user/per month
Company
Contact sales team
Shopify Entrepreneurs - 300 Tickets
$39
per month 300 Tickets
eDesk Team
$69
per month per user
eDesk Professional
$109
per month per user
Shopify Entrepreneurs - 2,000 Tickets
$158
per month 2,000 Tickets
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Help ScouteDesk
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsThese are yearly plans paid monthly for using eDesk. Month to month plans are available
More Pricing Information
Features
Help ScouteDesk
Incident and problem management
Comparison of Incident and problem management features of Product A and Product B
Help Scout
9.8
18 Ratings
21% above category average
eDesk
10.0
1 Ratings
23% above category average
Organize and prioritize service tickets9.018 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Subscription-based notifications10.010 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Ticket creation and submission10.017 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Ticket response10.018 Ratings10.01 Ratings
ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Self Help Community
Comparison of Self Help Community features of Product A and Product B
Help Scout
8.5
16 Ratings
9% above category average
eDesk
10.0
1 Ratings
25% above category average
External knowledge base9.015 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Internal knowledge base8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-Channel Help
Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of Product A and Product B
Help Scout
7.8
18 Ratings
2% above category average
eDesk
8.5
1 Ratings
10% above category average
Email support9.018 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Help Desk CRM integration6.510 Ratings00 Ratings
Social integration00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Help ScouteDesk
Small Businesses
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Agiloft Flexible Service Desk Suite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
Salesforce Service Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Help ScouteDesk
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(18 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Help ScouteDesk
Likelihood to Recommend
Help Scout
Small businesses that want a conversational type of customer support experience. Nothing wrong with support tickets, but it does make you feel like a number. Also, we needed to get up and running quickly so the "inbox" feel of the dashboard was already familiar with the team so they could adopt the new software quickly.
Read full review
eDesk
Great for companies that sell on marketplaces and want to merge all of their communications. It saves our customer service agents tons of time, and it also connects easily with ChannelAdvisor. It would not be appropriate for a company that does not sell on marketplaces.
Read full review
Pros
Help Scout
  • Extremely simple to use and understand as a user - treats communications like human beings and provides a much more personal feel to communication (as opposed to making people feel like numbers).
  • The email newsletter.
  • They are super responsive. They are pretty rad and transparent: if something goes wrong on their end they are not afraid of admitting fault. Which leads me to trust them because I can believe them. I know that tells you very little about the product, but as leadership, that's something that I really need
  • Help Scout does exactly what it needs to (facilitate organized, efficient conversations between customers and support people) without getting in the way.
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eDesk
  • Easy to use for customers
  • Maintains marketplace standards for communication
  • Is the only platform that offers these services
  • Connects with Channel Advisor
Read full review
Cons
Help Scout
  • Trying to group tickets is a bit unflexible. You can create folders which can be part of a workflow (automatic trigger) but you can't create a folder based on tags. This needs to be improved because there's a need to create smarter segments and mix them.
  • Metrics are useful but there needs to be more details about them. You can drill down in some but others are still not very actionable or visible (ok, that number went down, but what was the cause? what's the criteria with what you measure that?)
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eDesk
  • I wish the filters displayed closer to the top of the inbox vs the bottom
  • The new and to-do tabs can be confusing at first
  • Agents must take ownership once in the message; it is not auto-assigned when you click into a message, so there is room for duplication.
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Likelihood to Renew
Help Scout
We are receiving feedback from the organizational level that they may want us to transition to a different solution to provide consistency across the company.
Read full review
eDesk
No answers on this topic
Usability
Help Scout
It is simple and intuitive. I haven't run into difficulty using any of the features that I have wanted to use. Additional help in the form of documentation or support is available as needed, and their response times are pretty good :)
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eDesk
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Help Scout
Only have minimal experience with G-Suite for a much smaller company. This worked well for that organization but did not have similar specialization functions that suite our larger organization very well. Help Scout's pricing makes sense, and continues to service our needs well. Minimal usage of other programs, but have no need to explore alternatives at this time.
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eDesk
They were not even close to offering what xSellco has and the ease of using the platform. eDesk by xSellco is a great price point, is very easy to use, and it also integrates with ChannelAdvisor and Big Commerce, which was a determining factor for us. It also is an Amazon partner and ensures that they are adhering to all of the strict communication rules Amazon has.
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Return on Investment
Help Scout
  • We are able to retain our customer base due to the outstanding customer service our Customer Experience department provides. Without an organized tool like Help Scout, this would not be possible. We pride ourselves in quick response times to customers and are able to do so by effectively routing tickets to the right agents.
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eDesk
  • Saves agents lots of time
  • Creates better communication with customer with less time in between messages
  • Helps us provide great customer service
  • Has helped us meet marketplace communication standards and receive more feedback/reviews
Read full review
ScreenShots

Help Scout Screenshots

Screenshot of Build better relationships with your customers, and work together better as a teamScreenshot of Tools designed specifically for team collaboration on customer supportScreenshot of Docs Knowledge Base provides self-service that sets your customers up for successScreenshot of The conversation report can change the conversation with your customers from problems to praise by pinpointing what they write in about and when.Screenshot of Productivity Reports track your team's customer-helping velocity and identify sticking points to push through with even greater momentum.Screenshot of Happiness Reports are the closest you can get to your customer's true feelings without hiring a telepath.

eDesk Screenshots

Screenshot of Multichannel messages are kept in one placeScreenshot of Customer support is faster with AI automationScreenshot of Live Chat to turn online browsers into buyersScreenshot of Key support metrics and trendsScreenshot of A 360° view of buyers to personalize customer serviceScreenshot of