In today’s digital world, businesses need to communicate easily and on different platforms with their customers. Whether answering questions, providing help, or keeping potential clients interested, smooth communication is essential. This is where Intercom helps.
What Is Intercom?
Intercom is a customer communication tool that lets businesses connect with their customers through live chat, email, and in-app messaging.
Think of Intercom as a one-stop shop for all your customer conversations. It helps you provide personal support, engage with your audience, and build stronger relationships, all in one place. But what makes the Intercom stand out? Let’s look at its key features.
Key Features of Intercom
Intercom has many tools to improve customer communication and make business processes smoother. Here are some of the most important ones:
1. Live Chat
Live chat is Intercom’s main feature. It lets you talk to visitors on your website and app in real-time, offering quick help and answering questions instantly. This quick communication can greatly improve customer satisfaction.
Benefits of Intercom Live Chat:
- More engagement: You can interact with visitors and guide them through your website or app.
- Better customer satisfaction: Offer immediate help and solve issues quickly.
- Lower support costs: Handle more questions with fewer resources.
Intercom’s live chat also includes:
- Proactive chat: Start conversations with visitors based on their behavior.
- Chatbots: Automate answers to common questions and free up your team for more complicated tasks.
- Automated responses: Send pre-written messages based on visitors’ actions or questions.
2. Chatbots
Intercom’s chatbots automate many tasks. These bots can talk to customers, answer common questions, qualify potential leads, and even provide basic support without needing a human. This allows your team to focus on more complex work.
Chatbots can:
- Qualify leads by asking if they fit your product or service well.
- Answer FAQs instantly, 24/7.
- Schedule product demos or sales calls.
- Collect feedback from customers.
3. Targeted Messages
With Intercom, you can send messages to specific customer groups based on their behaviour or details. This allows you to deliver personalised messages that get their attention.
Examples:
- Onboarding new users: Guide them with tips and resources.
- Announcing new features: Keep users updated on new improvements.
- Promoting special offers: Send promotions to specific customer groups.
- Re-engaging inactive users: Encourage them to return with personalised messages.
4. Help Center
Intercom’s help centre lets you create a library of articles and FAQs. This allows customers to find answers independently, reducing the need for your support team.
Benefits:
- Better self-service: Customers can find solutions by themselves.
- Fewer support tickets: Reduce the number of questions your team has to handle.
- Improved efficiency: Free up your support team for more complex issues.
5. Other Notable Features
Intercom also offers:
- Product tours: Guide users through your product with step-by-step walkthroughs.
- Mobile carousels: Send messages and announcements in your mobile app.
- Series: Automate messages to nurture leads or onboard users.
- Customer data and analytics: Understand customer behaviour and track key stats.
With these features, Intercom helps businesses communicate better, improve customer satisfaction, and grow their business.
Benefits of Using Intercom
Intercom offers a range of tools to help you better communicate with your customers. Here’s how it can benefit your business:
1. Better Customer Engagement
Intercom allows you to connect with your customers more personally and proactively. Instead of waiting for them to reach out, you can start conversations, offer help, and guide them through their journey.
- Personalised Messages: Use customer information to send tailored messages, address them by name, and offer relevant solutions.
- Proactive Support: Contact them at important moments, such as when they sign up, abandon their cart, or face an issue.
- Targeted Campaigns: Send specific messages to different customer groups, making your communication more relevant.
2. Higher Customer Satisfaction
By offering fast and efficient support, Intercom helps boost customer happiness.
- Instant Support: With live chat, you can answer questions in real time and solve problems quickly, reducing frustration.
- Self-Service: A well-organized help centre allows customers to find answers independently, reducing their need for support.
- Personalised Help: Sending customised messages and offering proactive support shows customers you care about their needs.
3. Simplified Communication
Intercom centralises all your customer conversations, so you don’t need different tools.
- Unified Inbox: Manage all chats, emails, and in-app messages from one organised place.
- Clear Communication History: Track every interaction so your team has the full context when helping customers.
- Faster Responses: Streamlined workflows make it easier to reply quickly and effectively.
4. Better Team Collaboration
Intercom makes it easier for your team to work together.
- Shared Inbox: Multiple team members can access customer conversations, ensuring no message is missed.
- Internal Notes: Add private notes to share context with your colleagues during conversations.
- Assign Conversations: Easily assign chats to the right person or department.
5. Data-Driven Insights
Intercom provides useful data about customer behaviour.
- Track Key Metrics: See how engaged your customers are, how happy they feel, and how your support team performs.
- Spot Trends: Understand customer needs and preferences by analysing data.
- Improve Communication: Use insights to refine your strategies and offer personalised experiences.
Pricing and Plans
Intercom has different plans to suit various business needs:
| Plan | Starting Price | Key Features | Ideal for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | $29/month billed annually ($348/year) | Basic live chat, chatbots, ticketing system, public help centre, basic automation, proactive support with Fin AI Agent and Fin AI Copilot | Individuals, startups, and small businesses with basic communication needs |
| Advanced | $85/month billed annually ($1,020/year) | All Essential features plus team inboxes, tickets portal, private help centre, AI Compose, AI Autofill, AI Summarize, multilingual help centre, workflows for advanced automation | Growing support teams who need powerful automation tools and AI features |
| Expert | $132/month billed annually ($1,584/year) | All Advanced features plus multiple help centres, workload management, multi-brand messenger, single sign-on, real-time dashboard | Large support teams who need collaboration, security, and reporting tools |
Note: Prices may change. Visit the official Intercom pricing page for the latest details.
Intercom and PressOne: A Perfect Match
PressOne Africa offers cloud-based phone systems to improve business communication. By integrating PressOne with Intercom, you can enhance your customer interactions and streamline your processes.
How It Works
The integration links your phone system with Intercom, so phone calls, logs, and caller details are automatically synced. This gives you a full view of customer interactions.
Benefits of Integration
- Improved Communication: When a customer starts a live chat on Intercom, you can instantly see their call history, past conversations, and any issues they’ve had. This helps your team offer more personalised support.
- Streamlined Workflow: Manage all communication (calls, chats, and messages) in one platform, saving time and avoiding missed information.
- Better Insights: Combine call data from PressOne with customer data from Intercom to get a clearer picture of your customers and tailor your communication.
Ready to improve your customer communication with PressOne and Intercom?
- Learn more about PressOne’s cloud-based phone systems.
- Book a live demo to see how the integration can help your business.
Exploring Intercom Alternatives
Intercom is a great customer communication tool, but it may not fit every business. Budget, specific features, and company size can affect your choice. If you’re looking for other options, here are some popular alternatives that also integrate well with PressOne:
- Zendesk is a well-known customer service platform offering ticketing, live chat, and a knowledge base. It’s also known for its strong reporting and analytics tools.
- Freshdesk: A user-friendly platform that supports multiple communication channels. It offers live chat, email, social media integration, and a self-service portal.
- Help Scout: A customer service platform focused on delivering a personal touch. It provides shared inboxes, live chat, a knowledge base, and good reporting tools.
- Crisp: A messaging platform aimed at small and medium businesses. Crisp offers live chat, chatbots, a knowledge base, and CRM integrations.
Comparing the Alternatives
Here’s a quick comparison of these platforms to help you decide:
- Pricing: Freshdesk and Crisp are generally more affordable than Intercom and Zendesk.
- Features: Zendesk offers complete features, while Help Scout focuses on a simple, user-friendly experience.
- Scalability: Zendesk and Intercom are great for large businesses with more complex needs, while Freshdesk and Crisp are better for smaller businesses.
- Integrations: All platforms connect with other business tools, but Intercom and Zendesk have the widest range of integrations.
Conclusion: Boost Your Business Communication
Good customer communication is crucial for any business. Intercom provides a powerful platform to connect with customers, offer support, and build stronger relationships. You can simplify communication and improve customer satisfaction with features like live chat, chatbots, and a help centre.
Integrating Intercom with PressOne allows you to take your communication to the next level. Sync your phone system with Intercom to gain valuable insights and streamline your processes.
Ready to improve your customer communication? Sign up for PressOne Africa and discover our cloud-based phone solutions.
