If you're looking for an excellent customer service solution for your business, there are two names that stand out. Zendesk and HubSpot are the two most reliable options in the market today. But how do you know which one is right for you? Here's a 2024 comparison guide between Zendesk vs HubSpot to help you decide.
What is Zendesk?
A cloud-based customer support solution, Zendesk helps businesses empower their customer service agents and sales teams. It offers a wide variety of tools to help you provide better customer experiences. As of this writing, it serves over 100,000 customers across a wide range of industries in more than 30 languages. It is developed on an open and flexible platform that is quick to set up and fully customizable.
Key Features of Zendesk
Below is a list of Zendesk's key features that make it a popular choice among many business owners:
Complete customer service solution: Zendesk offers a complete solution for customer support that is easy to use and scalable.
360-degree view of your customer: It lets you resolve issues and queries while tracking agent performance and customer service experience analytics.
Efficient sales CRM: It offers a CRM that helps improve productivity, processes, and pipeline visibility for your sales team.
Unified messaging across channels: Its unified channel API lets you send rich messages that work across the web, mobile, and social media platforms.
Zendesk Sunshine: This feature lets you bring together different conversational systems to create natural conversations. This allows customers to send your business messages as if they're sending them to a friend.
Automation and intelligence: Zendesk enables intelligent self-service with bots and provides instant resolutions with intelligent automation.
Conversational data orchestration: It lets you create a chat experience that switches easily across systems using conversation orchestration.
Pros and Cons of Zendesk
Zendesk is a reliable customer service platform, however, it still has its pros and cons. Below is a breakdown of these:
Pros
- Excels at managing customer interactions on various communication channels such as email, chat, phone calls, and social media.
- Offers a high degree of customization for automation, workflows, and the customer service self-service portal to fit your specific requirements.
- Insightful analytics and reporting: It gives you tools to track customer service performance, identify trends, and measure the effectiveness of your customer support agents.
Cons
- Can be expensive. Zendesk may not be suitable for small businesses or startups.
- Requires a steep learning curve.
Who is Zendesk For?
The following will find Zendesk a valuable tool to add to their workflows and processes:
Large businesses: This platform can scale to accommodate the needs of a growing company and large teams.
Small businesses with complex needs: A small business with a complex product or high customer support value.
Companies that prioritize omnichannel support: Businesses that provide email, chat, phone, and social media communication support.
Businesses with budget: Zendesk can be expensive, especially for plans with advanced features.
Businesses with technical teams: Zendesk will work well for those with teams who will handle the technical side of the platform.
What is HubSpot?
Also a reliable customer service platform, HubSpot offers software, integrations, and resources that connect a business's marketing, sales, and customer service teams. It effectively brings these three aspects of business all in one platform. Each product is connected to the same underlying CRM database to give you valuable insights into every contact at each stage of your customer journey.
Key Features of HubSpot
Packed with unique features, HubSpot offers the following:
Marketing hub: It has a marketing automation software that helps generate leads and automates marketing to drive business growth.
Sales hub: HubSpot's robust sales software helps teams close more deals and deepen relationships while letting you manage your pipeline more efficiently.
Service hub: Its customer service software helps you connect with your customers, exceed their expectations, and convert them into promoters who grow your business.
Content hub: HubSpot has an AI-powered content marketing software to help your marketing team create and manage content that boosts the entire customer journey.
Operations hub: Its operations software syncs with your apps, cleans, and curates customer data while automating the process.
Commerce hub: HubSpot's B2B commerce software is designed to streamline your opportunity-to-revenue process.
Pros and Cons of HubSpot
Below is a list of HubSpot's pros and cons:
Pros
- It consolidates various marketing, sales, and customer service tools, so you won't need any other software.
- Has a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality that's ideal for those without the technical skills.
- It offers extensive educational resources, including an academy with free certifications, blogs, and ebooks.
Cons
- While HubSpot offers a free version, its advanced features require paid subscriptions.
- Not suitable for highly specialized industries.
Who is HubSpot For?
HubSpot is suitable for the following users:
Small and medium businesses (SMBs): It has a free-tier and user-friendly interface that makes it an excellent option for SMBs.
Companies looking for all-in-one solutions: HubSpot provides value to businesses looking to consolidate their marketing, sales, and customer service.
Businesses looking for a user-friendly platform: Those without technical teams will find HubSpot useful as it allows them to try the product for free and familiarize themselves with it before committing.
Zendesk vs HubSpot: Which one should you choose?
In the battle between Zendesk vs HubSpot, the answer lies in what your business needs to focus on. If you want to prioritize a customer service platform with omnichannel support and customization options, Zendesk is what you need. If you have a large team, complex support workflows, and need in-depth reporting and analytics, choose Zendesk.
On the other hand, if you require a one-stop shop for your marketing, sales, and customer service needs, HubSpot is the right choice. If you value user-friendliness in a platform, this is the one you need. If you're unsure what to get and want to try it out, HubSpot's free tier lets you do so.
Conclusion
Both Zendesk and HubSpot offer amazing features that any business will find useful. However, these two have differences in that choosing which to get requires you to look at your business needs closely.
