Fin by Intercom vs. Zendesk Chat

It's great for a web-enabled tool, so there is immediate ability to give feedback or ask questions. It isn't as easy to set up a desktop application as it would require more coding experience. Some older users are skeptical of its abilities, and that it is taking away from customer service, but in our use, it enhances it - that is a tough barrier to breach.

Incentivized

Zendesk Chat is suited for all the support teams that provide real-time assistance. Like if someone wants to block the debit/credit card, it is a high-priority case that needs real-time assistance. Whereas issues like close my account, and invoice request doesn't need real-time assistance, where Zendesk tickets support will be perfect.

• Serves as the first point of interaction.
• Answers questions based on the knowledge base.
• Tries to suggest a solution for reported issues (in some cases).
• Gives the option to improve its answer.
• Learns from other conversations and replies by humans.
• Understands other languages.
• Interprets images (somewhat).

Incentivized

• Extremely fluid chat interface allows for easy communication.
• It can be used directly on a website page or as a widget.
• Allows the end user to translate the chat into their own native language.
• Notifies you with pending chats via on-screen notifications and sound effects.

• While Fin by Intercom AI is great, I think it still struggles a little in giving nuanced answers. For example, we provide a custom product to customers, to the same question may have different answers for different customers. While I don't expect Fin by Intercom to know all nuances etc., Fin by Intercom often gives overly certain or in-flexible answers despite Fin by Intercom guidance etc added.
• Letting conversations go to a teammate: There are times when Fin by Intercom simply keeps trying to answer the customer, even as they get more frustrated or Fin by Intercom is clearly going in loops. We have added guidance that improves it somewhat, but this still happens to an extent. At the end of the day, some queries just need a person, and I think Fin by Intercom should err on the side of caution in this case. No person is going to be unhappy to be offered to speak to a person if it's not needed. But they will get frustrated if it's not offered when needed.
• Repeatable/reliable answers: This one is odd. So often, I have found that Fin by Intercom gives different answers to the same prompt or question, with no changes or updates to the content. This is frustrating as I can work hard one day trying to fine tune an answer Fin by Intercom will give (via content, guidance, and snippets), test the answer, and it is fine, then another test, it gives a different answer. It may be correct, but I don't understand why this happens.
• Fin by Intercom knowledge sources: Sometimes the sources or information Fin by Intercom uses for an answer makes little to no sense. I have seen examples where Fin by Intercom has answered a query with a mainly unrelated source, where a help article which matches a lot of the keywords wasn't used or further down in the list. I feel like there needs to be better control/options in giving feedback to Fin by Intercom which articles or relevant to certain topics.
• AI topics: Not purely Fin by Intercom AI, but AI topics, used in Fin by Intercom AI Analytics, could be better. I wish I could edit or amend them, as they're often a little vague or not useful on their own.

Incentivized

• Linking with a telephone, so the agent is only working on 1 channel at a time
• More simplified way to create and use templates
• Link users who may have provided us a new/different email from what we have on file for them

We have been and will be continuing our journey with Intercom and nothing too concerning has happened that I have experienced or heard of that has us on the edge yet. If it ever happens it will be something along the lines of "Outgrowing" the use of need of the platform.

Incentivized

Due to staffing issues, we have temporarily stopped offering chat as an available channel. We're also interested in the best ways to integrate chat with our FAQs and AI to provide quick responses, either during off-hours or prior to speaking with a live agent. I've also found that reporting is rather limited where some of the interesting and useful data made available and visible during the chat cannot be pulled post-chat; it would be great to pull a high-level report so we can analyze this data.

It's very user-friendly and intuitive to use. We never get any comments from customers saying they don't understand how to use it or what is happening. However, we have had some issues where customers' previous conversation history was being wiped, and it was very difficult to tell if this was an Intercom issue or something on our side, so it took a lot of time to dig into.

Incentivized

As mentioned previously, it's a clunky product that lacks user-friendliness. It feels old and behind the times compared to other products we have used. The inability to have a wrap-up time before a new chat comes in is also a big issue for our team.

Incentivized

always there

Incentivized

works perfect

Incentivized

Intercom is the premier customer support/engagement model and it definitely has one of the top tier customer support teams as well. I don't think I have ever waited more than 5 minutes to get the information I need or get help with an issue. They are incredible and I aim to model our customer service department after them.

Incentivized

Getting assistance and/or troubleshooting anything with Zendesk can be quite frustrating. In my years of experience with Zednesk, I have almost never found the answer to my question without going through multiple articles, ultimately getting frustrated and reaching out to our contact for more assistance. So for a consumer, the support is not as relieving as Zendesk Chat is to our customers in getting the questions answered by us.

Incentivized

Easy to know the learning path

Incentivized

The implementation was surprisingly easy but we are having to adapt from our old process to work well with Intercom.

Incentivized

Fin definitely stacks up pretty much at the same level when it comes to leveraging the input data KB to address customer queries. However reporting flexibility is something missing compared to the two mentioned platforms. The categorization of issues is much easier and accurate making it further analysis less time intensive. Why we selected Finis a difficult question for me to answer as the above platforms are from my previous company and when I moved to my current role Fin was already in place.

Incentivized

Zendesk Chat is far more user friendly than some of the other competitors on the market. It has a very all the features that you require to ensure your customers are contacted in 'real time'. Its main tools include a live chat interface for quick communication, customisable chat widgets to fit your brand, mobile responsiveness for all devices, and canned responses for common questions. The platform can also start chats based on visitor actions, like time on a page or exit intent. A real must for any leading company

Incentivized

• With Fin, we achieved higher customer satisfaction and faster response times.
• It saves time for our support team, allowing them to focus on more complex questions or issues.
• It provides the opportunity for support staff to work at a more strategic level.

Incentivized

• Positive impact - Compared to our old system, this newly updated system provides features and functionality that has increased our agent productivity and provided customer insight like we've never had before. This has resulted in fewer hold times and higher customer satisfaction.
• Negative impact - Our reporting team still struggles with obtaining the right information from time to time with the chats. This leads to loss of productivity and more resources dedicated to reporting.
• Positive impact - Due to Zopim's embed, we are able to more successfully place them on the appropriate self-service portals and pages, reaching a larger audience, and being more readily available to answer our client's questions. This has resulted in an increase in our self-service portal usage, driving down the phone and email support channels, which in turn reduces support costs.

Incentivized