Item: Freshdesk
Rating: 6
Author: Dan Knauss

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Freshdesk as a hub for customer support, sales, and member relations for our large Slack-based community. We also have it set up to receive automated notifications from our website. This form a useful searchable record for the whole team to have access to, like WooCommerce orders and reporting from other services we use.

Pros and Cons

Basic Support Desk
Automations
Email/Gmail integration

Interface/UX — not the easiest to navigate
Mobile App — especially hard to use
Integrations — limited options for WordPress and Slack

Return on Investment

Adds a lot of work
Increases customer satisfaction
Adds significant business intelligence

Implementation Rating

It takes a LONG time to set up Freshdesk to be useful in your organization. You need to think through, test, and revise automation rules, team organization, documentation, etc. The email setup has become more challenging over time rather than easier. It takes time to use and adapt Freshdesk to your needs — and not be overwhelmed.

Customer Satisfaction

It would be hard to say anything about customer retention being increased by using Freshdesk, but it is likely helping in this area. Closing out their tickets promptly and well does make happy customers. The Twitter integration is not ideal, but it's a helpful tool when someone DMs you for help or has questions.

Alternatives Considered

Zendesk Chat

I've used Freshdesk for a long time, so there's not much I can say in detail about other services. I haven't used ZenDesk in a long time, but I do remember it for its too-big, bloated, and irritating user experience. Freshdesk could do better at simplifying itself, but until that happens, it's passable.

Key Insights

Do you think Freshdesk delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Freshdesk's feature set?

Yes

Did Freshdesk live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Freshdesk go as expected?

Would you buy Freshdesk again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Yoast WordPress SEO Plugins

Likelihood to Recommend

Freshdesk works well as a traditional support desk, and the automation feature can help filter incoming contacts very well. It's great for a single user or a large team. It is minimally passable for integrating with other apps and sites, however. The WordPress and Slack integrations seem especially mediocre. The sales and documentation pages for them are confusing, and they do not seem to be actively developed and maintained.

Freshdesk review

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Freshdesk