Customer service is a tough job, but it’s an increasingly important one in today’s business world. That means that businesses need to find the right tools and software to help manage their customer service departments efficiently. With so many options out there though, how is a company supposed to decide which tool is best for them?
If you’re looking for customer service software, you’ve probably heard about the two most popular solutions: Kayako and Zendesk. Both of these CRMs offer a lot of different features to make your business more successful, but which one is the best choice? This article will help answer that question by comparing them side-by-side.
What is Kayako?
Kayako is a customer service software used by midsize and enterprise businesses to help them manage their email, social media channels (like Facebook Messenger), phones, tickets, chats, or websites. The end goal is simple: To provide consistent answers that customers will love while saving your employees time and frustration. Also, Kayako can be used to capture customer feedback.
Kayako uses the most up-to-date technology to reduce errors and automate processes that are time-consuming or repetitive, allowing your team to focus on more important things. Kayako is also available in 18 languages with a global support center so you can help customers no matter where they are located!
What is Zendesk?
Zendesk is an all-in-one customer service software that includes help desk ticketing, live chat, and knowledge base solutions for businesses.
The solution is designed to make support teams more efficient by streamlining communication with customers. The software provides tools like automated email responses, knowledge bases (to answer frequently asked questions), and a customer service portal for agents to solve problems.
Zendesk is unique because it provides all of these solutions in one platform, which helps businesses save time and money. In addition, the solution is easy-to-use with an intuitive interface that can be customized to fit the needs of each company.
Pros of Kayako
Kayako’s pros are that it is very simple to use and has an easy-to-navigate interface.
Kayako’s pros are that the customer service team can easily access all information in one place, allowing them to save time when responding to customers.
Kayako’s pros are that it has a knowledge base for self-service, just in case customers have questions before they contact support.
Pros of Zendesk
Zendesk’s pros include the fact that it’s free for up to ten agents, has a modern UI and is easy enough even for novice users.
Zendesk is also open-source software which means they have great support from their community of developers who can offer input on product development or build add-ons and integrations with other services so you don’t need to look elsewhere.
Zendesk boasts a secure and stable platform with good reporting, powerful automation tools, and excellent customer support via phone or email 24/365.
Kayako vs. Zendesk Features Comparison
Comparing the features of competitors is important for businesses because it helps them choose the best software to meet their needs. Zendesk and Kayako are two customer service applications that have different features, so companies using both will see differences between these products.
The audience looking for an application like Kayako is mainly a business that needs a solution for in-house customer support. Zendesk is more suited to helpdesks, call centers, and companies using third-party software to provide technical or sales support.
Ticket Management -Kayako vs. Zendesk
Ticket management is a process of handling customer complaints, suggestions, and other messages about the company or product. It is important that these messages are handled as quickly as possible to ensure the customer’s satisfaction with your business.
Ticket management is important to both Kayako and Zendesk. Both ticket management software provides a way for you to keep track of all incoming emails, support requests, etc.
Kayako has the ability to assign tickets to different team members, set priority levels, and also see all of your activity in one place. On top of this, there is no limit on how many emails you can process with their system which makes it an excellent choice for businesses that receive a lot of messages or have a large team.
Zendesk is also a great choice for ticket management because it allows you to track all incoming emails and support requests in one place. Zendesk has the ability to assign tickets, set priority levels, create custom fields that will save time when responding or following up with customers, and provide useful analytics that allows your team to see what’s working and where they can improve. Zendesk has a limit of 1000 tickets per month which is perfect for most small businesses that receive an average amount of messages or have just one person on the team responding.
In terms of ticket management, Kayako is better than Zendesk. Kayako has flexible options for creating custom fields which allows you to save time when replying or following up with customers and it also displays all of your activity in one place. On top of this, there’s no limit on how many emails you can process through their system making it a great choice for businesses that receive a lot of messages or have a large team.
Reporting and analytics -Kayako vs. Zendesk
Reporting and analytics are crucial to a business. With reporting, businesses can better understand what marketing campaigns are working and which ones aren’t so they know where best to invest their time and resources in the future. Analytics is important in order to track and collect data, which can then be used for reporting. Also, Reporting and Analytics is important because it shows the customer how marketing is helping their business.
Kayako’s Reporting and Analytics come with a built-in reporting engine, which shows customers what’s working and what isn’t. Customers can create custom reports to find exactly the data they need in order to make informed decisions about their marketing campaigns. Zendesk doesn’t come with any analytics or reporting tools out of the box; however, it does integrate easily with third-party analytics and reporting tools.
With the built-in reporting engine, marketing teams can easily generate reports that show them what campaigns are working best for their customers so they know where to invest their resources in order to get the highest return on investment (ROI). This ensures campaign success and helps marketers achieve their goals.
Zendesk’s Reporting and Analytics are simple and straightforward. With Zendesk, marketers can integrate their accounts with third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics in order to track site traffic and conversions from marketing campaigns.
Zendesk integrates easily with third-party analytics tools, so customers can choose the analytic tool that works best for them. For example, it can connect to Google Analytics or Mixpanel. With this data from analytics tools integrated with Zendesk, marketers can easily see how their marketing efforts are performing.
In terms of Reporting and analytics, Kayako is a clear winner. Kayako offers powerful analytics and reporting tools that help marketers better understand their customers’ needs as well as the performance of their marketing campaigns so they can make educated decisions about future efforts. With Zendesk, on the other hand, it’s up to individual users to integrate with third-party analytic tools in order to gain insights into their marketing efforts.
Security -Kayako vs. Zendesk
Security is a very important aspect of any marketing campaign. If you’re going to spend money on advertising, it’s crucial that your data is secure and protected from the many cyber criminals online looking for easy targets. Also, software with good security will be more reliable and will make business owners happy.
Kayako’s security is strong and it has a good history of dealing with cybercriminals. Their security team has been an early partner of Bugcrowd and responsible for some of the most prolific vulnerability discoveries on their platform.
Zendesk’s security is strong as well, meaning that both companies have a good reputation online when it comes to security issues. Their software is trusted by thousands of business owners, which means they’ve invested a lot in making sure that it’s reliable and secure.
Kayako offers several security features which are great for businesses looking to protect their data and reputation on the internet. They have a very strong firewall and a strong bug bounty program which encourages security researchers to find vulnerabilities in their software. Aside from that, Kayako’s security team is very proactive and they’re constantly improving the product.
Zendesk also offers several security features which are great for businesses who want to build a secure and safe environment for their clients. They have several security certifications, like ISO 27001; they offer the highest level of encryption which is PCI Complaint, and they also do vulnerability management on all components of their software. Also, Zendesk’s security feature is constantly updated and improved.
In terms of security, both Kayako and Zendesk are great choices. They have good reputations on the internet, they’re constantly improving their security features, and most importantly – both companies offer a bug bounty program that encourages security researchers to find vulnerabilities in their software.
In terms of security, Zendesk is a bit more advanced because they have several security certifications. On the other hand, Kayako’s structure has made them very proactive in terms of updating their software and fixing known vulnerabilities.
Integrations -Kayako vs. Zendesk
Integrations are the connections that are built into the software to allow information sharing between different programs or “systems.” Using integrations to connect software can make life much easier because it allows information to be shared between the two systems without having to manually input or transfer data. Integrations, like Zendesk and Kayako, use this connection technology in order to interact with other programs that a business might need for their everyday operations. For instance, integrating all aspects of a business’s marketing strategy can make it much easier for a company to track how different parts of the system are performing.
Kayako’s Integrations is a feature that allows for more than 50 of the most popular apps to be connected with Kayako’s software. The integration of different programs allows businesses to automate their processes and make things run more efficiently. Also, making a connection between two separate systems can save time by allowing information from one system to automatically populate into another program which is very useful when needing to transfer data.
Zendesk’s integrations allow you to connect your software with 100+ applications like Salesforce, Pipedrive, Mailchimp, Google Calendar, etc. This integration system makes it easy for users to choose which tools best suit their workflow, allowing them to customize the software based on their needs. Users can also create personal integrations which are saved connections that allow teams to work more efficiently. Also, the integration of Zendesk with other programs makes it possible to fully automate the process without having to manually enter data. There are also integrations that can be created with Zendesk’s API, which is an application program interface that gives third-party developers access to their software so they can build custom tools for specific needs of clients.
In terms of Integrations, Kayako and Zendesk both have different features that can be useful for a business. Kayako offers more than 50 integrations, while the number of applications integrated with Zendesk is over 100+. Furthermore, users are able to create personal integrations which allow them to connect their favorite programs together in order to improve workflow efficiency. Ultimately, both systems are beneficial when it comes to integrations; however, depending on what your company needs in order to run efficiently you can decide which program is best for your business.
Ease of Use
Ease of use is an important factor when it comes to marketing software because the easier a program is to use, the more likely customers are going to keep using it. An easy-use software is also easier to train employees on which can save time and money. It is important because it makes a company look more professional and can help companies save money.
The ease of use of Kayako is ranked the highest out of the two because it is easier to understand and navigate. The program itself is very straightforward and simple but still allows for advanced customizations which some users may prefer over the simplicity of Zendesk’s layout.
Kayako has a rating of 100 out of 100 for the Ease-of-Use, which is based on how easy it was to find information and complete tasks within each program. Kayako’s ease lies in its simplicity as well as being very thorough with every aspect so there are not many questions left unanswered after using the software.
Zendesk’s ease of use has a rating of 80 out of 100. Users said that the design is intuitive and easy to navigate, but it lacks the features needed for more complex support operations.
Kayako has an easier learning curve because its interface is very intuitive and straightforward. Zendesk, on the other hand, can be overwhelming at first because it has a lot of features that may not all be needed by some users. This software is good for more advanced companies looking to use support ticketing in multiple ways such as marketing or CRM purposes.
Kayako has higher ease of use than Zendesk because it is much simpler and straightforward. Its interface and design also make it easier for users to find their way around the program as well as complete tasks without getting confused. Lastly, Kayako allows more customizations as well as being able to choose from different designs for the layout.
In terms of ease of use, Kayako is the better option because it has a rating of 100 compared to Zendesk’s score of 80. It also gives users more customizations, which may be something that some businesses are looking for in support ticketing software. Kayako is also much simpler and straightforward, making it a better choice for those looking for something less complicated.
Live Chat Features
Live chat features let users reach out to businesses directly, for instant support.
This provides real-time customer service and improves loyalty by ensuring that customers feel valued and attended to.
Live chat is quickly becoming the preferred channel for customer service.
It offers businesses a more immediate way to engage with customers, resulting in increased sales and revenue.
Further, it gives marketers greater visibility into what’s happening on their website — both good and bad.
Live chat features is important in marketing because it provides a way for customers to easily reach out and communicate with the business. This is great because now businesses can provide support directly from their website. It also gives companies more insight into what’s going on in terms of customer service, allowing them to improve areas that might need work or just see if everything looks good!
Kayako’s live chat features let you handle multiple conversations at once.
Kayako’s live chat features let businesses create custom views of their chats and store them in the system. Also, their live chat features are displayed on a user’s website.
The live chat features of Kayako and Zendesk are very similar. They both allow for multiple chats at once and give businesses the ability to create custom views of their chats. The main difference is that Kayako’s live chat features can be displayed on a user’s website, whereas with Zendesk this isn’t possible.
Zendesk has real-time chat and email support, which means that agents can handle multiple conversations simultaneously.
They also have the ability to share screens with customers over chat so they can guide them more easily through their issues or questions. Zendesk lets teams collaborate within one platform as well, which is great for businesses because they can easily handle customer service without switching back and forth.
In terms of live chat features, both Kayako and Zendesk are very similar.
Kayako’s live chat features let you handle multiple conversations at once, give businesses the ability to create custom views of their chats, have the chat appear on a website for customers to easily reach out via live chat, and allow teams within one platform to collaborate so they can handle customer service easily.
Zendesk’s live chat features are very similar as well but have the added benefit of being able to share screens with customers over chat so they can guide them more easily through their issues or questions. Zendesk lets teams collaborate within one platform as well, which is great for businesses because they can easily handle customer service without switching back and forth.
Customer Support
Customer support is the process of dealing with customer complaints, refunds, and other issues. It’s important to have a solid Customer Support system in place because it can save your company money that would otherwise be lost due to unhappy customers. It is important in marketing because it can lead to viral or word-of-mouth marketing and customer retention.
The customer support of Kayako and Zendesk are very similar but have some key differences.
Zendesk has a built-in knowledge base with categories and tags to help agents find information quickly when they need it most. Kayako doesn’t give their customers this feature unless you pay extra for it on the Enterprise plan. Both companies offer live chat support that lets you communicate with your customers without having to type a message back and forth.
Zendesk offers single sign-on integration for Salesforce, Google Apps, Box, Dropbox, Slack, etc., which is useful if you want all of those accounts tied into one place as well as Zendesk. Kayako doesn’t offer anything like this, but it does integrate with a number of popular apps like JIRA, GitHub, and Zendesk.
Zendesk has a free plan for up to three agents and offers the option to add more at any time whereas Kayako’s pricing is fixed regardless of how many users you have. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, but Zendesk’s pricing is more clear-cut.
In terms of customer support, Kayako and Zendesk are similar with some key differences. Kayako only offers the bare minimum of support whereas Zendesk is more feature-rich and customizable for those who need it.
Mobile & Desktop Platform
Mobile & desktop platform is a feature that allows businesses to access their help desk through their mobile devices or desktop computers. It is one of the most important features for any business, as it lets you monitor customer service requests wherever you are and respond in real-time- so customers know that they’re being heard.
The mobile & desktop platform of Kayako is quite easy to use, and it provides a great way for companies of all sizes to access their help desk. Kayako offers apps for iOS, Android & Windows devices so that you can manage your customer service from anywhere- which is perfect if you have employees who work remotely or on the go. Aside from that, Kayako is compatible with many different email providers- so you can manage emails right from your inbox.
The mobile & desktop platform of Zendesk, on the other hand, offers apps for iOS and Android devices as well as Windows computers. The platform allows companies to access their help desk through tablets or smartphones, monitor customer service requests wherever they are, and respond in real-time.
Zendesk’s mobile & desktop platform is also quite robust, with apps for Android & iOS devices. However, Zendesk’s help desk system doesn’t offer a Windows app (at least not yet). Also, Zendesk does not allow you to access your help desk through email.
In terms of mobile & desktop platforms, Kayako offers a more robust system that allows you to access your help desk through multiple devices. Zendesk, on the other hand, does not allow for Windows apps or email integration- which may be limiting if those are important features of your business’s needs.
Help Desk
A help desk is a fast and easy way to provide your customers with the excellent service they expect. Providing good customer support has been proven to increase retention rates by up to 50%! In addition, it can reduce costs associated with churning clients.
Having an efficient Help Desk is one of the keys to providing good customer support. Today, it’s becoming more and more common for businesses to use the software in order to provide their customers with effective help desk services through either phone or email.
Kayako’s help desk is an excellent tool that lets you handle customer requests through email. It’s integrable with the most popular business applications, such as Outlook and Gmail, which is great if your company uses these products regularly. You can also choose between a Paid or Free account depending on the features you need.
The main drawback of Kayako’s Help Desk is that it doesn’t have a live chat feature.
On the other hand, Zendesk’s Help Desk is an excellent tool that allows you to handle customer requests through email, phone, or chat. It’s also integrable with other business applications such as MailChimp and SalesForce, which is great if these products are used by your company regularly. You can choose between a Basic Free account to Unlimited Premium options depending on the features needed (features include: unlimited agents, bulk actions, templates).
The main drawback of Zendesk’s Help Desk is that it doesn’t offer phone support.
In terms of help desk, Kayako is the superior solution. It has more features than Zendesk, which allows you to handle customer requests in multiple ways. While both are good options, Kayako’s Help Desk is better for businesses that need all of its functionalities.
If your company only uses email or chat regularly then it may be best to go with Zendesk because it doesn’t have a live chat feature.
However, if your company uses multiple products then Kayako’s the way to go since you can easily integrate its features with other software that is used by your team.
Knowledge Base
A knowledge base is a database of information that is available to customers and employees.
This content can be used for many different things, including providing answers to questions from customers or guiding them through an internal process. Knowledge Base software allows you to manage all this content easily in one place. It also provides analytics on the customer engagement with these articles so that you know which articles are being viewed and engaged with, allowing you to create even more content that is relevant for your audience.
Knowledge base software provides a lot of value when it comes to marketing because customers can find answers quickly from the right source instead of going through other channels or perhaps taking their business elsewhere.
In addition, a knowledge base makes it possible to guide customers through a process and answer their questions before they even ask it, giving them an improved overall experience.
The knowledge base of Kayako is organized into categories that are then sorted by sub-categories.
For example, if you click on the category titled “Account” there is a dropdown menu with several options to choose from including billing and payments, password resetting, account settings among others. Clicking one of these will take you to another screen where articles can be sorted in chronological order or alphabetically.
Kayako’s knowledge base system is very flexible with the ability to add new articles, edit them and attach files easily thanks to drag-and-drop functionality.
The software also allows you to create FAQs (frequently asked questions) where customers can submit their questions directly through an article page for you or other employees to answer.
Zendesk’s knowledge base is more traditional in that it has categories, but there are no subcategories to choose from.
For example, if you click on the “Account” category all of the articles show up but you don’t have many options for filtering them by topic which can be a little more time-consuming as you have to read through all the articles.
Zendesk also has a widget that can be embedded within your website or blog, which allows customers to submit their questions directly from those pages. This is helpful because it means they won’t leave your site and will receive an answer quickly before even reaching out to your support team.
In terms of knowledge base, Kayako and Zendesk each have their benefits.
Kayako has a lot of options in terms of how you can organize your articles and the ability to add files, which is really helpful for getting help with complex processes or when you need screenshots. Kayako also allows for FAQs so that customers can submit questions directly through an article page.
Zendesk does not have the same options for how you can organize your articles but it does make up for this in terms of their Knowledge Base widget, which allows customers to ask questions directly from specific pages on your website or blog. Zendesk’s Knowledge Base is also more traditional with categories and subcategories that are easy to navigate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some alternatives to Kayako and Zendesk?
Some alternative customer service software of Kayako and Zendesk are Freshdesk, Desk.com, and Help Scout.
Freshdesk is a cloud-based help desk tool that provides support ticketing and customer service software. It was created in 2010 by Shan Krishnasamy, Girish Mathrubootham, and Vipul A M.
Desk.com is an integrated suite of business applications for managing companies’ interactions with customers across email, phone calls, social media channels, and more. It was launched in 2011 by Salesforce and is a cloud-based customer service platform that connects calls, emails, chats, and social media channels into one system to provide businesses with real-time information about their customers.
Help Scout provides an inbound help desk solution for business owners who want simple tools to manage conversations between companies and customers. It was launched in 2011 by Nick Francis, Oliver Russell, and Jason Costa.
Freshdesk has features that include a ticketing system, team collaboration tools, and customer service software for high-volume client interactions. Desk.com has features such as email tracking with notification settings, powerful reporting capabilities, and social media integration to help businesses engage customers across multiple channels more effectively. Help Scout provides companies with the ability to answer their own questions through self-help guides and knowledge bases and to manage their own support requests through a simple, streamlined interface.
Which tool to choose for small businesses?
If you are a small business, the best tool to choose is Kayako. Kayako is a fully customizable help desk software that can be tailored to suit your business requirements and budget.
Zendesk, on the other hand, has limited customization options which makes it difficult for small businesses with unique needs to configure Zendesk according to their specific requirements. The lack of flexibility in pricing also reduces its appeal as a help desk software for small businesses.
Kayako is an excellent choice for smaller companies due to its simple and intuitive layout, ease of use, built-in reporting tools, and customer service features. It has one of the most user-friendly interfaces among all the top help desk software available today.
Zendesk is more suitable for larger businesses with a big team of support agents. This is because it offers advanced ticket routing, automated workflows, and an integrated knowledge base that are useful in large enterprises which have multiple departments requiring collaboration across teams. It also has the option to customize the software and attach different departments and teams to each department.
What is better Kayako or Zendesk?
The best customer service software between Kayako and Zendesk depends on the size of your business and whether you require a separate department for knowledge base management. Kayako is easier to use, while Zendesk offers more advanced features that can help large enterprises collaborate better across teams.
Kayako is a fully customizable help desk software that can be tailored to suit your business requirements and budget. Zendesk, on the other hand, has limited customization options which makes it difficult for small businesses with unique needs to configure Zendesk according to their specific requirements. The lack of flexibility in pricing also reduces its appeal as a help desk software for small businesses.