E-commerce Customer Service Tools

As commerce continues to shift online, the importance of exceptional customer service for e-commerce businesses cannot be overstated. With fierce competition, simply having a user-friendly website and a quality product is not enough. To truly stand out in the crowded online marketplace, businesses need to prioritize the needs and concerns of their customers, providing personalized experiences and reliable support.

However, maintaining quality customer service and personalized attention can be tricky when businesses grow and expand along with their customer bases. This is where e-commerce customer service software offers innovative solutions to streamline operations and ensure consumer satisfaction.

Whether you’re a small start-up just beginning to build your customer base or a larger enterprise looking to streamline your support operations, the right customer service tools can be effective for your business. These e-commerce customer service software make all the difference in keeping customers happy, building loyalty, and driving growth.

This article will explore some of the top e-commerce customer service software available today. We will highlight their key features and benefits and explain how they can help businesses of all sizes and types achieve their customer service goals.

What are E-commerce Customer Service Tools?

By definition, e-commerce customer service refers to supporting online shoppers via e-commerce platforms and channels. To put it more simply, it refers to how businesses support and help consumers in their online stores. Such services are generally offered across multiple channels to address common queries and manage customer expectations with quick response times.

To achieve such reliable customer service, businesses take the help of e-commerce customer service software. These technology-driven tools provide businesses with solutions focused on helping them streamline customer service by managing various communication methods such as email, live chat, social media, phone, and knowledge base pages. Through the help received from e-commerce customer service software, small e-commerce brands or customer service teams of more prominent brands can resolve queries and issues effectively. 

E-commerce customer service software can manage either one specific communication channel or multiple communication channels in one solution.

What Makes an Excellent Customer Service Tool?

1. Live Chat Software

Live chat is a crucial e-commerce customer care software that allows businesses to engage with their website visitors in real-time using human assistance through a chat window. When a visitor types a message in the chat window, a human operator responds in real-time to answer their questions.

Such real-time interaction between the business and the consumer is made possible by the use of live chat software or customer messaging software. With live chat, you can engage with new website visitors, interact with returning customers, and support existing users.

Benefits of live chat software

Implementing live chat software for your e-commerce website has several advantages. The marketing, sales, and customer support teams can all benefit from using live chat across your customer’s journey.

• Through live chat software, businesses can offer their customers a singular, cohesive experience throughout the different stages of the buyer’s journey.
• Live chat software helps businesses stand out from their competition with personalization options available for every live chat aspect. This way, brands can imprint their identity on the live chat software, offering customers a unique brand-specific experience.
• Several live chat software has real-time data collecting and analysis features, providing businesses with customer insights. Consequently, businesses can alter their products or strategies based on the customer trends on their e-commerce site.
• E-commerce businesses of any size can easily use and afford live chat software. Such software doesn’t require much computer knowledge and can easily be integrated into an e-commerce site.
• The labor cost also decreases with live chat software, with one single chat team member able to address and solve the issues of multiple customers simultaneously.
• Most importantly, live chat software provides an instant solution with an average response and problem resolution time of under 3 minutes and 1 minute, respectively.
• Customer satisfaction rates with live chat have also been high over the last few years. The 2021 data shows an 84% customer satisfaction rate for live chat as an e-commerce customer service software.

Popular live chat software options

Here are some of the best live chat software options available for businesses:

• Zendesk
• FreshWorks
• Tidio
• Chatra
• Olark

Finding the right live chat software for our business

Due to the plethora of options in the market, companies often need help finding live chat software that is tailor-made for their e-commerce business. However, certain factors can quickly help you determine your business’s right live chat provider. 

• E-commerce businesses can either select cloud-based live chat or self-hosted live chat, depending on their needs.
• The company’s size should be considered when picking a live chat software provider.
• E-commerce companies alternate between using chat agents or bots. Deciding on what you want to use will provide you with the correct options.
• Whether you need live chat for customers, sales, or both can help determine the right provider for your business.
• Website integration is crucial, with most e-commerce companies using live chat software that can easily integrate into the existing website.
• Companies can also select live chat software based on the security features offered by specific providers.

2. Knowledge Base Platforms

A knowledge base platform is a centralized repository of information designed to help users find answers to their questions or solve problems. Typically, these e-commerce customer service software provide articles, tutorials, FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and other organized and easily searchable resources.

A knowledge base platform can be used by e-commerce businesses to provide self-service support to their customers, reduce the volume of support tickets, and improve customer satisfaction. Organizations can also use it internally to facilitate employee knowledge sharing, increase productivity and streamline workflows.

Internal Knowledge Base Platforms	External Knowledge Base Platforms
Employee Handbook	Product & Software Documentation
Sales Documentation	FAQs
Project Documentation	Installation Guides
Process Documentation	User Manuals
Standard Operating Procedure	Troubleshooting Guides

Benefits of knowledge base platforms

There are several benefits to using both external and internal knowledge base platforms.

Here are some benefits of internal knowledge base platforms:

• An improvement in productivity due to knowledge sharing regarding problems leads to more revenue for the e-commerce company.
• Knowledge base platforms allow employers to create a single digital place where different departments in your brand can share and collaborate.
• Decision-making time is also reduced with good knowledge base platforms, with employees making informed decisions quickly.
• Knowledge base platforms can work wonders in increasing employee engagement and retention for your e-commerce brand.

Let us look at some of the advantages of using external knowledge base platforms as e-commerce customer service software:

• Customers are provided with quick answers to general queries while visiting and shopping on an e-commerce site.
• These knowledge base platforms ensure that resources are available 24/7. Consumers can access them anytime they want from anywhere.
• Knowledge base resources allow customer service teams to solve client issues that are more specific and troublesome.
• For an e-commerce brand, knowledge base platforms greatly assist in organizing the content on their website.

Popular knowledge base platforms options

The following are some of the more popular knowledge base platforms:

• Document360
• Zendesk
• HelpJuice
• Heroic Knowledge Base
• Bloomfire

Finding the right knowledge base platform for your business

To ensure that you choose the right knowledge base platform, you must know about the various providers and the type of software your business needs. While investing in this e-commerce customer service software type can be risky, many knowledge base platforms mitigate that risk by offering a free trial.

To help choose the correct provider according to your needs, consider the following factors:

• The documentation format
• The security requirements of your company
• The amount of customization required
• Determining whether your e-commerce business requires a fully-fledged product knowledge base for customer support or internal knowledge management
• Understand whether your e-commerce website needs an advanced content management system.
• Ease of software integration

3. Automated Email Responders

Automated email responders are the most straightforward automation software tools that automatically respond to customers in the email list after a specific condition has been met. The e-commerce business will define this trigger point, and once this trigger condition has been met, the software will send automated emails at defined intervals. 

There are two types of triggers: subscriber-initiated and software-initiated. Subscriber-initiated triggers are based on the subscriber’s actions, such as signing up for an email list or downloading a lead magnet. These actions activate a sequence of automated messages that were primarily created to assist the subscriber in navigating the buyer’s journey.

On the other hand, software-initiated triggers are actions triggered by the marketing automation software itself. For example, a subscriber might receive a tag after completing a specific action or enter a new autoresponder sequence after completing a previous sequence. 

Overall, e-commerce businesses can create powerful, automated campaigns that engage customers and drive sales using this e-commerce customer service software.

There are different types of email autoresponders used by e-commerce businesses:

• Welcoming emails
• Double opt-in or confirmation emails
• Cross-sell and Up-sell emails
• Abandoned cart reminder emails
• Educational and course emails

Benefits of automated email responders

Users in e-commerce and other industries have several advantages from using this type of e-commerce customer service software:

• Such e-commerce customer service software helps in turning new visitors into customers.
• Customers can be directed towards the direction of the e-commerce website or blog.
• Automated email responders assist in gaining the e-commerce business repeat sales.
• Immediate follow-up emails can be programmed to be sent by automated email responders.
• E-commerce businesses are able to build loyal and stable relationships with customers.
• Specific segments of the email list or consumer base can be targeted through automated email responders.
• Businesses have the option to access the data obtained from their email marketing campaign.
• E-commerce brands also experience increased brand awareness due to automated email responders.

Popular automated email responders options

Hundreds of automated email responders are available for e-commerce brands. Take a look at some of the more widely used ones:

• Hubspot
• ConvertKit
• Mailchimp
• Autopilot
• GetResponse

Finding the right automated email responder for your business

Even though several email autoresponders are available, e-commerce businesses should choose an option based on their current and predicted needs.

Some factors need consideration before selecting an email autoresponder:

• Automated email responders should easily integrate with the website and other third-party apps.
• Such tools should be easy and convenient to use.
• Companies should also research the deliverability rate of each email autoresponder.
• The automation tools and the amount of personalization allowed are essential in determining the ideal email autoresponder.
• The ability to target several segments of the emailing list or the customer base must be considered.
• Of course, e-commerce businesses should work with credible email auto-response tools and software providers.

4. Online Ticketing System Providers

A ticketing system is an effective solution to manage customer queries efficiently. All communication channels are streamlined and brought into a single view by converting every customer query into a ticket. 

Businesses capture conversations across customer channels like phone, messaging, email, and social media into a single, easily accessible dashboard with the help of a ticketing system. As a result, customer support teams stay on top of customer queries. By automating routine support tasks and leveraging third-party integrations, businesses are also effective in increasing the efficiency of their customer support team. 

Benefits of online ticketing systems

When companies integrate online ticketing systems into their e-commerce sites, they get several benefits:

• Customer experience and loyalty improve when an excellent ticketing system is in place.
• With an online query ticket system in place, e-commerce companies can be active 24/7 for customers.
• Online ticketing systems often come with live chatbots, FAQ portals, and knowledge bases that lead to customers solving their problems independently.
• E-commerce businesses can upsell from online ticketing systems, and better systems allow customers to add items to their shopping carts.
• Overall efficiency is increased using online ticketing systems, as most routine tasks and jobs regarding customer queries can be automated.
• Online ticketing systems will also minimize human errors on your e-commerce website.
• When online ticketing systems come with the help desk feature, e-commerce businesses can manage all their channels from one platform.
• Like most e-commerce customer service software, online ticketing software gathers user data and trends. Such data can be used by e-commerce businesses to improve their sales and products.

Popular online ticketing system providers options

Even though there are various online ticketing system providers, there are a few reliable ones:

• Zoho Desk
• HappyFox
• Freshdesk Supporting Desk
• Front
• Help Scout

Finding the right online ticketing system provider for your business

Choosing the right ticketing software ensures your team can handle customer queries effectively and provide a seamless customer experience.

Here’s a list of factors that e-commerce brands must evaluate before selecting an online ticketing system provider:

• An online ticketing system should be convenient to use. A simple and clean UI helps customer support agents resolve issues easier.
• If you have an expanding business, select cloud-based providers that help access your support data from anywhere and on any device. Cloud-based ticketing systems are also known for their reliability, security, low maintenance requirements, and the ability to scale up.
• Learning about the different supporting tools that can be integrated within the ticketing software is vital before zeroing in on one provider. Furthermore, an ideal online ticketing system will integrate with your website hassle-free.
• E-commerce businesses must check whether an online ticketing system provides multi-channel support.
• Choosing a ticketing system with advanced routing and assigning options is essential in improving your support team’s performance and delivering excellent customer service.
• To increase productivity, e-commerce companies should always use online ticketing systems that support automation.

5. Social Media Management Tools

Social media management software is a tool that helps e-commerce businesses manage multiple social media accounts. This e-commerce customer service software allows businesses to create, schedule, and post content to these accounts from one interface. 

Benefits of social media management tools

For e-commerce businesses, investing in a social media management tool becomes necessary for the following reasons:

• These tools help e-commerce businesses manage and post on different social media accounts from a single platform.
• Social media management tools help e-commerce businesses by reminding them about important notifications that might have been missed.
• With such e-commerce customer service software, businesses can schedule posts for specific audiences days and months in advance.
• One of the benefits of using these tools is the ability to keep track of all conversations in a single place. This saves time and ensures you get all crucial messages and mentions.
• Keywords are a critical aspect of social media marketing. Many social media management tools help e-commerce businesses understand customer trends through keyword analysis.
•  E-commerce companies can build a brand identity and raise awareness about their brands through social media management tools.
• These management tools make content curation over social media channels more straightforward.
• Increased customer engagement is an added benefit of using social media management tools.

Popular social media management tools options

Here are some of the social management tools you can use for your e-commerce brand:

• Sprout Social
• Buffer
• Zoho Social
• Hootsuite
• SocialPilot

Finding the right social media management tools for your business

Social media marketers have a lot of tasks to complete daily, from content creation and publishing to analytics and reporting. Fortunately, several excellent social media management tools are available to make these tasks more manageable.

However, there are things to remember while choosing the ideal one for your e-commerce business:

• As in the case of selecting other e-commerce customer support software, ease of use and convenience are essential when choosing social media management tools.
• Hassle-free platform integration is also something many brands look for in social media management tools.
• An ideal social management tool selection depends on the total number and types of accounts managed.
• It is better to select tools covering most social media platforms. An increased number of supported social media platforms equals more reach for your brand.
• Social media management teams have different individuals who must access the tools at different times. Thus, team collaboration tools are something most e-commerce brands should look for in a social media management tool provider.
• Social media management tools must have scalable plans and options for expanding businesses.

Popular E-commerce Customer Service Channels

As organizations compete in today’s customer-centric landscape, providing high-quality customer support is critical for building trust, increasing customer retention, and driving revenue growth. Companies are leveraging customer support tools to automate service processes and encourage customer interactions to meet modern customers’ needs.

Customers today expect that they will be an integral part of all the stages of the buyer’s journey. As a result, there is an inherent need for customers to be connected with customer service teams through various channels. These channels range from traditional phone calls and emails to more modern SMS, emails, and social media platforms. The more communication channels a company can offer, the better equipped they are to meet the needs of their customers and stand out from the competition.

Let’s explore some of the most widely used customer service channels available today:

• Live chat and chatbots
• Emails
• SMS messaging 
• Social media channels
• Knowledge bases
• Ticketing systems
• Phone support
• FAQ pages

Why are Customer Service Tools so Important for E-commerce?

The rise in e-commerce in recent years has been no coincidence. The steady rise in internet users (estimated to be around 5.3 billion in 2022) and the COVID-19 pandemic have fuelled more and more people to look online for their shopping needs. This resulted in a massive 25.7% increase in retail e-commerce sales in 2020. 

While that ship has steadied in the last two years, the e-commerce market continues to grow, clocking in at an impressive estimated growth rate of 10.4% in 2023. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the worldwide e-commerce market is projected to achieve a staggering $8.1 billion in sales value by 2026.

All this data only works to highlight the volume of customers who are visiting online stores. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly challenging for e-commerce stores to provide immediate assistance to each customer and address their queries promptly. However, e-commerce customer service software is handy while handling this steady flow of customers and their problems.

Excellent customer care requires handling a growing volume of objections, inquiries, orders, and heightened expectations. Leveraging e-commerce customer service software can enhance and automate support throughout the buyer’s journey.

Here are some more reasons why e-commerce customer service software is crucial for the success of your e-commerce business:

• Customer service software for e-commerce offer functionalities such as order management, marketing solutions, and customer data collection. As a result, e-commerce businesses can increase conversion rates and boost customer loyalty.
• With the help of customer support tools, e-commerce businesses can build positive customer experiences. This can lead to positive word-of-mouth publicity, which helps build a loyal customer base.
• Providing easy fixes to problems through e-commerce customer service software helps brands retain and increase their customer base. Retaining existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones, with a 5% increase in customer retention, potentially boosting profits by 25%. 
• When a brand has good customer service, the number of potential customers willing to shop from the e-commerce stores increases. Such an increase in sales and visits can also be attributed to effective e-commerce customer service software.
• Another reason e-commerce businesses employ customer support tools is to allow human interaction whenever possible. Customers prefer speaking to a fellow human on the opposite end, despite enjoying automated solutions.
• Around 33% of all consumers globally actively prefer having issues fixed in one go, without needing back-and-forth interactions with e-commerce companies. E-commerce customer service software helps businesses with this as well.
• The best customer service software for e-commerce helps a brand truly represent its story, values, goals, and overall personality. This humanizes the brand and brings customers closer to it.

How to Choose a Suitable Customer Service Tool?

The range of available e-commerce customer service software, from live chat to social media management tools, can be overwhelming. As a result, businesses need help determining which options will best meet their needs. It is important to choose tools that grow your business – these tools must provide solutions that adapt to your evolving product and consumer base. 

However, before selecting a customer service tool, several factors must be considered to ensure that you make an informed decision. Here are some fundamental questions to ask yourself when choosing a customer service tool:

• Effectiveness

While selecting the e-commerce customer service software for your business, you must understand whether the customer service tool is designed explicitly for your business type. The specific needs of your e-commerce business should also be met while using such software. 

Additionally, businesses must be clear about whether such software requires extra services and supporting software to function fully. 

• Returns and efficiency

The e-commerce customer service software most suited to your business will show a good return on investment regarding specific metrics. These metrics include first response time, rate of resolution, first contact resolution rate, and overall customer satisfaction. 

Furthermore, assessing whether your business or team will become more efficient with operational processes after implementing a particular software is essential before selecting an appropriate e-commerce customer service software.

• Implementation

A critical part of choosing an e-commerce customer service software is checking whether the software solution integrates easily with your e-commerce platform. Businesses often go for customer service tools that are easy to use and intuitive. 

Moreover, the requirement for such software may change depending on the system an e-commerce business uses. Businesses should also evaluate whether their team can quickly adapt to the software and if it is feasible financially to train people for it.

Best E-commerce Customer Service Software to Use

Read on to learn more about the various e-commerce customer service software systems available:

1. Zendesk

Founded in Denmark in 2007 and headquartered in California, Zendesk is a SaaS-based platform that offers integrated e-commerce customer service software for online businesses and websites. The company specializes in designing customer relationship management (CRM) tools aimed at helping e-commerce businesses. 

Pros

• The product offered by Zendesk is easy to customize.
• The company offers different APIs that are very convenient to integrate with the existing website.
• As an e-commerce customer support software, Zendesk helps businesses streamline their workflow, making them efficient.
• Several e-commerce businesses have reported that the customer support at Zendesk is excellent and helpful.

Cons

• The pricing of this e-commerce customer support software is on the higher side.
• Additional subscriptions are required to access full functionality.
• Reports have shown that e-commerce websites have slowed down or been buggy due to Zendesk.
• Sometimes, it may take time for the Zendesk support account to sync with their app.
• Even though Zendesk is easy to use, the initial setup and integration with a website are complex and time-consuming.

USP

The ticketing system and customer knowledge base offered by Zendesk are a hit with e-commerce businesses. It also comes loaded with analytical features. Furthermore, the company offers a free plan for small businesses. 

2. Gorgias 

Started in 2015 as an exclusive add-on for Shopify, Gorgias has since expanded its services to include other e-commerce platforms. Pronounced ‘gorgeous,’ this company is the go-to solution for brands looking to integrate customer support across platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify. 

This innovative e-commerce customer support software allows businesses to centralize their customer support operations and boost efficiency. Whether a small startup or an established enterprise, Gorgias can help you deliver exceptional customer service and increase customer satisfaction.

Pros

• One of the prime benefits of using Gorgias is its outstanding customer support and user guidelines.
• This e-commerce customer support software has automation and ready-made email templates that save time and boost productivity.
• The company also releases upgrades frequently to improve the product with the current trends.
•  There is a free trial period for customers to try and see how the product fits their needs.
• For e-commerce businesses, the interface and the UI are clean and helpful. 

Cons

• Unfortunately, the live chat team cannot set their availability to “Offline’ mode in Gorgias.
• Replying to comments across social media platforms can cause glitches.
• This e-commerce customer support software can be slow and buggy when switching between channels and platforms.
• Businesses must download third-party add-ons for full functionality on several e-commerce selling platforms like eBay.
• Through the mobile app, access to the history of the customer is restricted.

USP

With the ability to tag a team member in Gorgias, you can quickly and easily direct a query to the appropriate person. The tagging feature in this e-commerce customer support software can be a lifesaver when managing queries and delegating them to specific team members. Additionally, the note-taking feature on queries is visible to the entire team, ensuring the team is informed and updated on the latest developments.

3. HelpCenter 

HelpCenter is an e-commerce customer service software provider that focuses on creating user-friendly and intuitive software. The company aims to offer the latest technological advancements and industry trends to ensure our products’ smooth operation.

Pros

• HelpCenter has query tickets prioritizing support, allowing your customer support team to focus on urgent queries.
• This e-commerce customer service software ensures that multiple agents are not assigned individual assist requests.
• The live chat software can be set up without prior coding knowledge.
•  The HelpCenter app allows e-commerce companies to design and curate extensive FAQ pages.
• E-commerce businesses can organize their products into customizable tabs on websites.

Cons

• HelpCenter is restricted only to Shopify.
• The company does not offer social media integration.
• Automated email responding is not a feature provided by HelpCenter.

USP

With the HelpCenter help desk, businesses can manage all customer inquiries in one place. Additionally, this app seamlessly integrates with multiple Shopify stores.

4. Help Scout 

Serving e-commerce businesses and other industries in more than 140 countries, Help Scout is a customer-centric support platform. By utilizing email as the primary mode of communication, Help Scout simplifies and automates workflows across different departments, including customer service and sales. By managing multiple workflows under the same account, the company helps improve collaboration and increase efficiency.

Pros

• The ticketing system on Help Scout can be integrated to provide inter-team communications.
• Tickets and notes can be assigned and left for teammates when dealing with a particular client.
• This e-commerce customer support software has integration features with all major e-commerce channels.
• Despite using a single email account, multiple people can be assigned to reply to different emails simultaneously.
• Previous conversations with customers are easily accessed through a sidebar.

Cons

• There need to be more customization features in workflow automation.
• Customer service from Help Scout could be faster at times.
• The initial loading time of this e-commerce customer support software may also need to be faster in some instances.
• There have been times when automated emails have ended up with the wrong recipient.
• Analytical reports generated by Help Scout need to be more helpful and correct.

USP

As a customer support software, automation features on Help Scout can help answer FAQs and provide relevant content to customers. This allows the support team to focus on more unique and complex issues without addressing common queries.

5. HubSpot

Considered one of the best customer support software for e-commerce, HubSpot Service Hub offers an end-to-end solution for e-commerce companies looking to connect customer service, marketing, and sales operations.

Using the Service Hub, e-commerce businesses can support, retain, onboard and grow their customer base. This is done by bringing all your customer service data and channels together on one CRM platform, helping streamline customer service management.

Pros

• It can be used by anyone due to its ease of use.
• The free version of Hubspot Service Hub is loaded with useful tools such as calling, ticketing, email templates, and live chat.
• Duplicated tickets can be easily merged to reduce confusion and workload.
• Automation and personalization features for chats and emails are excellent.
• The premium versions of this e-commerce customer service software provide knowledge bases and customer feedback surveys.

Cons

• The pricing is relatively high for premium versions.
• The software is known to glitch and crash.
• Hubspot Service Hub doesn’t allow team members to see internally if someone else is answering the same ticket as themselves.
• For growing companies, the free version is limited in functionality.
• The support portal doesn’t enable customers to see their problem history.

USP

With HubSpot, businesses can stay on top of the latest technological advancements by adding features voted on by the HubSpot community. The HubSpot e-commerce customer support software also benefits businesses with unique customer lifecycles and B2B SaaS platforms, as it offers standardized workflows and rigid asset templates that streamline customer service operations. 

6. LiveAgent 

LiveAgent has been operational for almost two decades now. Established to provide real-time customer support, this e-commerce customer support software has evolved into a ‘supercharged’ help desk with features such as ticketing systems and live chat.

Pros

• The customer support team at LiveAgent is known to helpful and responsive.
• The ticketing system is capable enough to handle queries across multiple channels.
• Setting up the software is easy.
• LiveAgent has one of the fastest chat widgets available in the market.
• Repetitive tasks can be put through an automated system.

Cons

• The amount of customization available is limited.
• While the user interface is good, the UX can sometimes be challenging.
• Due to a lack of regular updates, some widgets need to be updated.

USP

LiveAgent can integrate with over 200 popular software, including eCommerce, CRM, collaboration tools, tracking tools, and more. This makes it easier for businesses to manage customer support operations and streamline workflow.

7. Tidio 

Ideal for small to medium e-commerce businesses, Tidio helps improve customer support almost instantly. Primarily a live chat software, the company offers ticketing, analytics, and automated chatbots across multiple channels.

Pros

• Tidio is very easy to use and takes around five to ten minutes to integrate with any website.
• The live chat can be customized to match the website’s aesthetic.
• This e-commerce customer support software helps convert support emails into tickets.
• E-commerce companies can improve user engagement by optimizing chat flows through the data provided by Tidio.
• The company offers integration across multiple e-commerce channels and social media platforms.

Cons

• Many languages are not supported on Tidio live chat.
• There may be problems managing multiple chats from multiple windows simultaneously.
• The pricing for additional features is steep.

USP

For their chatbots, Tidio has developed its own Tidio AI to help e-commerce businesses. Furthermore, Tidio employs a point system where team members gain points for solving queries.

8. Avochato

Avochato is a platform that provides a mobile messaging solution to help e-commerce businesses connect with their customers. With Avochato, businesses can manage customer relationships through lead capture, nurturing, and post-sale customer support, delivering a seamless messaging experience. 

Pros

• Avochato helps e-commerce businesses set specific words that trigger automated responses.
• This e-commerce customer support software can be used to survey customers for feedback.
• Several pre-saved message templates are available.
• Avochato has a feature where it automatically assigns conversations to available team members.
• It is simple to upload and organize existing contacts into segments with Avochato.

Cons

• Most of the higher-end features are part of the paid plans.
• The pricing of the paid plans is quite expensive.
• Social media engagement features are unavailable with this e-commerce customer support software.
• Avochato cannot deliver high-volume transactional messages.

USP

With small and medium-scale businesses benefitting from it, Avochato has plenty of pre-configured solutions for different queries. They also have a mobile app on both Android and iOS that offer complete functionality.

9. Sprout Social

A different kind of e-commerce customer service software, Sprout Social is primarily concerned with the social media part of customer support. It is an all-in-one social media management solution offering various features to help businesses improve their social media strategy. The company helps businesses to connect more effectively with their audiences, streamline their publishing workflows, and collaborate in real time. 

Pros

• Sprout Social provides e-commerce businesses with a well-structured dashboard feature.
• The platform also provides insights from social data analysis, which helps businesses to scale their social media activities.
• All messages from different social media platforms can be found in a single inbox.
• With higher plans, users can access automated chatbots, unlimited posts, and link tracking.

Cons

• The subscription plans are expensive.
• With the lowest tier, which is also quite expensive, only five social media accounts are allowed.
• E-commerce businesses must keep themselves updated with WordPress and other plug-ins. 
• Some users may experience glitches and lags while writing new posts.
• Sprout Social doesn’t offer re-queue features for composed posts.

USP

Sprout Social’s Employee Advocacy platform is designed to allow employees to share your brand’s content on their social networks through a centralized system. Employee advocacy can significantly impact brand awareness, recruitment, and lead generation.

10. Hiver

Hiver is a customer service platform designed for Google Workspace. Using Gmail’s widespread use, Hiver enables teams to provide quick and empathetic customer service. Through this e-commerce customer support software, teams can assign, track, and collaborate on customer emails directly from the Gmail interface. 

The platform also offers advanced analytics and automation capabilities that help teams streamline customer service operations without switching tabs or learning new software. With Hiver, teams can improve their customer service efficiency and ensure the timely resolution of customer issues.

Pros

• The company has a shared inbox feature containing email templates and notes.
• Using Hiver, e-commerce companies can connect and integrate other messaging apps with their Gmail account.
• Hiver also has analytics and data collection capabilities.
• E-commerce businesses can gain from multichannel support, including a Whatsapp channel, live chat, knowledge bases, and voice channel.
• There are also provisions for automation on Hiver.

Cons

• The analytics tools may give poor and skewed results at times.
• The response from their customer support personnel is slow on occasion.
• Customers have reported that auto assignment through Hiver could be more efficient.
• Query tickets cannot be created independently and can only be raised from an existing consumer email.

USP

Hiver has an AI bot called Harvey, which helps automate email templates and close queries which have been reopened due to customers’ ‘thank you’ responses.

11. Typeform

Typeform is a cloud-based survey management application designed for businesses of all sizes. This e-commerce customer support software has survey design, distribution, analytics, and customization tools. With the help of Typeform’s survey design feature, e-commerce businesses create customized surveys.

Pros

• The Typeform software is easy to use and convenient for all business sizes.
• There are a plethora of customizations available for Typeform surveys.
• The software has a drag-and-drop interface, pre-loaded templates, and various question types.
• E-commerce brands may utilize Typeform surveys to get pertinent customer data, as completion rates for Typeform surveys are higher than standard forms.
• This e-commerce customer support software can be easily integrated with other third-party apps.

Cons

• The features on the free plan are pretty limited.
• HTML or CSS cannot be directly edited in Typeform.
• The pricing for Typeform is relatively high compared to similar products.
• Although Typeform completion rates are higher, this e-commerce customer support software cannot access data from incomplete submissions.
• Typeform is not a good fit if businesses want to create a single form.

USP

Typeform’s distribution capabilities include push notifications and on-site pop-ups. The platform also provides dashboards that help businesses view survey status and answers in real time.

12. Acquire

Earlier known as Tagove, Acquire was founded in 2016 and has since expanded with over 150 employees on three different continents. Acquire is a flexible and scalable e-commerce customer support software suite that offers a range of features to businesses. These include video chats, AI chatbots, live chat, and secure co browsing. 

Pros

• Acquire’s flexible and scalable software can meet any business’s customer service, sales, and support needs on any device.
• This e-commerce customer support software integrates with more than 50 third-party apps.

Cons

• Acquire.io does not support chatbox automation across multiple channels.
• In comparison to alternatives, the pricing on Acquire subscription plans is quite high.
• The marketing channels available for Acquire users are also limited.

USP

Acquire has the rare features of natively built-in audio and video chat options for live chats. The company also allows e-commerce businesses to record these audio and video chats.

Conclusion

In a crowded marketplace, providing exceptional customer service is essential for any e-commerce business that wishes to differentiate itself. E-commerce enterprises may streamline their customer support operations and deliver a seamless experience for their customers by using the right tools and technologies.

The customer service tools discussed in this article are just a few options available to businesses today. By choosing the right tools and investing in the right software, e-commerce businesses can improve customer service and grow and scale their business for years.

FAQs