Knowing which features are most essential for your business and your customers is important before you choose a support tool. Below are five top eCommerce customer support software platforms. We also have notes about each platform’s greatest features.
This list will help you find the best support tool for your business. Not in eCommerce? Check out our guide to find the best customer service software in all industries.
Why Is Customer Service So Important in eCommerce
eCommerce has experienced explosive growth in recent times, particularly after the pandemic. Online sales saw a 76% rise year-over-year. Online businesses that offer products or services must provide customer service. This is because customers can’t touch the item, and it has a direct impact on the company’s reputation as well as sales.
First, excellent customer service requires that you deal with increasing customer expectations and the volume of inquiries, objections, and orders. This is often due to increased market competition. You will see happier clients who are more satisfied and have higher Net Promoter Scores, leading to better word-of-mouth marketing and organic sales growth.
This is why once you have chosen your eCommerce platform, you need to leverage customer service tools to improve and automate the support you provide to your customers at all stages of their buyer journey.
Software tools for customer service specializing in eCommerce often offer functions such as order management, customer data collection, or marketing solutions to enhance cooperation and communication. This allows to increase conversion rates and improves customer loyalty.
The Best eCommerce Customer Support Software
We have listed five of the best eCommerce customer service tools. They integrate with major eCommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce and offer other capabilities to improve eCommerce and customer service.
1. Help Scout
Smaller teams often don’t have the resources or time to learn and set up a tool. They need something that is both sophisticated enough to handle all their needs but also simple enough to be up and running quickly and adaptable enough to grow with them.
Help Scout tick all the boxes. Help Scout’s clutter-free shared mailbox keeps everyone on the same page. It also fosters collaboration through features such as private messages and collision detection.
Access to productivity tools such as workflows or saved replies is also available to automate repetitive tasks and give lightning-fast answers to common questions.
Help Scout offers proactive support as well as reactive customer service. You can quickly create a knowledge base with Docs or use the beacon to give customers immediate answers via live chat.
Help Scout offers 24-hour service to all customers six days a week, while competitors offer only full support for clients at higher tiers. Prices start at $20 per user per month. Your customers and team will love the customer support platform.
Help Scout makes it easy to set up teams in minutes. It also doubles the productivity and can save you up to 80% on annual support costs. Get a free trial and see what Help Scout can do for your organization.
2. Avochato
Use Avochato for text messaging-based chat. The tool says that texting is not only the preferred method to communicate with family and friends, but 89% said they would like to use SMS for business communication. Avochato allows teams to use live chat to have meaningful conversations with customers.
Teams can create their Avochato phone number, import customers, and broadcast them to customers without programming. It also integrates with platforms like Salesforce, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. Prices start at $19/user/month.
3. Wix Answers
Wix Answers is the best for Wix users who need omnichannel support. Wix Answers cloud-based help desk software that is specifically designed for Wix websites.
It is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses with a large user base. It allows groups to create a help center, ticketing system, and call center from one platform.
Plus, Wix Answers allows teams to create help widgets that display articles and guides in context along the user journey. Prices start at $24 per Month
4. Sprout Social
SproutSocial is the best for eCommerce social media support. It is a platform that optimizes and manages social media for agencies and brands of all sizes. This platform is a central hub for publishing and monitoring content across multiple social media networks.
Your support team will be able to spot patterns in comments on social media and help you to adjust. Interacting with customers via social media can reduce the number of requests reaching your support queue and allow you to prioritize more complicated issues.
Sprout suite allows you to manage up to five social profiles with the Standard plan and up to ten with the Professional or Advanced plans. Although Sprout Social is practical, it comes at a high price for larger teams.
Unlike other tools in this space, Sprout Social does not offer a team plan. Instead, you pay per user, per month. You can try it out for free before you commit. Prices start at $89/user/month.
5. Hiver
This is best for eCommerce businesses that already use Gmail to provide customer service. Hiver allows teams to deliver customer service using a tool they already know — Gmail. They can now assign, track, and collaborate with customers via Gmail.
Hiver allows teams to collaborate on shared email accounts such as support@ and sales@, without having to leave their Gmail accounts. Prices start at $12/per user per month.
Wrapping up
Each customer service tool described above has unique functions, pricing, and features. You need to understand the market and your expectations. Also, consider the needs of your customers.
You don’t have to be satisfied with your customer service tool, but you want a flexible platform for sales outreach. The one that has CRM features prospecting possibilities and integrates email service is Snov.io.
