Top 6 Best CRMs For Customer Service in 2024

In the fast-paced and often hectic realm of customer service, utilizing a good CRM system is essential, going beyond simple email and ticket management to become a vital tool for streamlined and organized customer interactions. A quality customer service CRM should offer advanced ticket management, adeptly tracking and resolving customer issues, while also integrating a comprehensive view of customer interactions across various channels. In this extensive guide, we’ll explore 6 CRMs that provide agents with features like integrated knowledge base articles, real-time communication tools like live chat and team wide support tickets and macros, ensuring prompt and effective customer engagement. A top-tier CRM should also excel in multi-channel support, seamlessly managing interactions whether through email, phone, or social media, all within a unified platform. Furthermore, in the age of AI and machine learning, a good CRM should come with features like smart chatbots and predictive analytics. It is vital for a CRM to not just react to customer needs but proactively enhance the customer service experience. In this extensive article, we’ve done the hard work for you and delve into the top 6 CRMs that stand out in these areas, offering insights to help you find the ideal tool to elevate your team’s customer service game.

Top 5 most effective ways to utilize a customer service CRM

CRMs open up a myriad of possibilities for enhancing workflow and boosting customer service efficiency. In this section, we’ll explore the five most common and impactful ways to utilize a customer service CRM. Each method is designed not just to streamline your customer service operations but to transform them into a more customer-centric and effective process.

1. Efficient ticket management – A popular way to utilize a CRM for customer support purposes is by leveraging its ticket management system. This feature allows teams to track, categorize, and prioritize customer inquiries effectively. For example, a CRM can automatically route tickets to the appropriate department or agent based on specific criteria, reducing response times and improving resolution rates.

2. Comprehensive customer profiles – Building detailed customer profiles is another key use of a customer service CRM. By storing all customer interactions, contact information, purchase history, and feedback in one place, agents can offer more personalized and informed service. For instance, when a customer contacts support, the agent can quickly access their history and preferences, leading to a more tailored and satisfactory customer experience.

3. Knowledge base integration – Integrating a CRM with a knowledge base greatly aids in providing quick and accurate responses. Agents can easily access FAQs, product manuals, and troubleshooting guides, directly within the CRM interface, enabling them to assist customers more efficiently and consistently.

4. Multi-channel communication – Harnessing a CRM’s ability to manage multiple communication channels, like email, social media, and live chat, ensures a cohesive customer experience. For instance, an agent can start a conversation with a customer via live chat and seamlessly continue it through email, all while maintaining the context and history of the interaction.

5. Analytics and reporting for continuous improvement – Using a CRM’s analytics and reporting tools is essential for understanding and improving customer service performance. These CRM tools can provide insights into common customer issues, agent performance, and service trends. Teams can use this data to identify areas for improvement, like reducing response times or increasing first-contact resolution rates, ultimately enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

10 key features of a high-performance customer Service CRM

Each of the features below will not only streamline various customer service processes but also significantly enhance overall efficiency and effectiveness. From sophisticated ticket management systems to seamless multi-channel communication and real-time analytics, these features work together to create a harmonious and productive customer service environment. Whether you’re in the market for a new CRM or looking to upgrade your current system, understanding these key components will help you make an informed decision and ensure your CRM is a powerful ally in delivering exceptional customer service.

1. Ticket management system

Let’s start with the basis, ticket management features allow for efficient tracking and resolution of customer inquiries. By categorizing and prioritizing tickets, a CRM streamlines the workflow, ensuring timely responses and better issue tracking, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

2. Multi-channel communication

A good CRM should integrate various communication channels like email, phone, social media, and live chat. This creates a unified approach to customer interactions, allowing your service teams to switch between channels seamlessly and maintain conversation histories for better context.

3. Automated responses and workflows

Automation features help in responding to common queries instantly and managing repetitive tasks efficiently. This reduces the workload on customer service teams and ensures consistent communication with customers.

4. Customer interaction history

Keeping a comprehensive log of all past interactions with customers enables service agents to provide more personalized and informed support. This feature streamlines the process of retrieving CRM data, saving time and enhancing the quality of customer interactions.

5. Knowledge base integration

Access to a well-organized knowledge base within the CRM allows agents to quickly find solutions and information, speeding up the resolution process and ensuring consistent and accurate responses to customer inquiries.

6. Customizable dashboards and reporting

Dashboards that can be tailored to show key metrics and reports help in monitoring performance, tracking customer service trends, and making data-driven decisions. This feature brings efficiency by providing insights into areas needing improvement.

7. Mobile accessibility

A CRM with mobile support ensures that service teams can access information and respond to customers on the go. This increases flexibility and responsiveness, essential in today’s fast-paced business environment.

8. Real-Time analytics

Real-time analytics provide immediate insights into customer interactions and service efficiency. This feature helps in quick decision-making and adapting strategies to meet customer needs more effectively.

9. Collaboration tools

Features that facilitate collaboration among team members, such as shared inboxes or note-taking capabilities, enhance the efficiency of handling customer inquiries. This ensures a coordinated approach and prevents duplication of efforts.

10. Customer feedback and survey integration

Having a system to collect and analyze customer feedback directly within the CRM enables businesses to gauge customer satisfaction and identify areas for service improvement. This feature is vital for continuous improvement and maintaining high service standards.

So no you know how to get the most out of your CRM, let’s get to the good stuff! Our top picks for 2024.

Quick comparison of the top 6 CRMs for customer support

The top 6 best CRMs for customer service in 2024 are:

1. Shape
2. Intercom
3. HubSpot
4. EngageBay
5. Zoho CRM
6. GIST

1. Shape

Shape CRM is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and service solution that lets you manage all your customer service interactions across multiple channels, including emails, calls and text messages. It provides detailed activity logs of all these interactions across all these channels so you can track, analyze, and get full context on them when coming up with your response.

Although the CRM has no ticket management features for tracking customer issues, the complete context your detailed activity log adds to every support query makes up for it.

Customer inquiries can arise anytime, and the absence of a 24/7 service can leave them stranded until business hours resume. This can be a major problem if you have a global client base across multiple time zones.

Shape gets ahead of this concern by providing a searchable knowledge base you can integrate into your CRM. It can contain articles, guides, tutorials, etc, that give your customers instant access to information without directly contacting or waiting on a customer service agent, reducing your workload and leading to faster resolutions.

Even with a knowledge base, many customers might prefer the personalization that comes with real-time and one-on-one service, and Shape also comes to the rescue. The CRM includes real-time communication features like instant messaging and outbound dialing for phone calls.

You can respond to customer phone call requests either through a web phone or via call forwarding. The former involves dialing from within your internet browser, while call forwarding involves routing their calls to an external desk or cell phone. Once you log into your CRM, a webphone popup automatically launches through which you can make and receive calls.

With AI being all the rage, it is only logical for the best CRM for customer service to integrate this advanced technology into its platform. Many customers are already familiar with the instant solutions AI tools offer and would expect the same level of service from their service providers.

Shape caters to these needs through AI chatbots. Backed by an extensive database from your knowledge base and analytical ability, these AI chatbots provide instant, accurate answers to your customers’ queries. Shape AI takes speedy resolutions another step further. Your customers would not need to peruse long articles before they locate the answers to their questions. Instead, they can get insights, solve problems, and make informed decisions in a few minutes.

At $119 per month, Shape CRM does a great job at increasing your efficiency across multiple channels and is worth the investment. The CRM’s 24/7 knowledge base and AI chatbots resolve the need for round-the-clock service, especially for global clients. Although you might encounter a steep learning curve when setting up the CRM platform, Shape’s interface is famous for being user-friendly, and the customer support has a 4.7/5 rating on G2. You’re in good hands!

2. Intercom

Intercom’s customer service CRM solution uses its automation and messaging capabilities to improve both customer experience and the support team’s efficiency. Upon testing the platform, we immediately found the conversational interface and workflows simple and easy to navigate, making communicating with customers both easy and natural.

The platform includes a customizable Intercom Messenger, a feature that complements your existing support tools and integrates seamlessly with your website, app, or product. This integration allows customers to easily send requests through the messenger, enabling your support team to track, collaborate, and promptly resolve these requests in one centralized location.

Apart from Messenger, Intercom also accommodates customers who reach out through other communication channels like WhatsApp, Instagram, email, and SMS. You can link these channels to your CRM system, directing all messages to the Intercom smart inbox where service agents can view the customer’s full interaction history across multiple channels. Having a complete view of all the customer’s interactions ensures that you are providing them with a consistent brand experience at every touch point.

For DIY customers, Intercom provides self-service options through the knowledge base. The knowledge base reduces the load on your support team by providing users access to reliable answers and information even outside business hours. So, even when your team is away, your customers are not left stranded.

The best part is if you have a global audience, you can create translated versions of your articles in multiple languages and the platform automatically matches these content to your customer’s browser language. That way, language is not a barrier in serving your audience.

The content in your knowledge base can be optimized for the various channels your customers use, including your website, mobile app, or in-product messages, and with Messenger integrated into each article, customers can easily start a conversation if they need additional help. If it’s a complex issue, you can instantly convert this conversation into a ticket and manage it efficiently with Intercom’s robust ticket-handling system.

This ticketing system facilitates back-office collaboration, and team communication, and provides real-time updates to customers. So all hands can be on deck with your back office team to efficiently resolve complex issues without losing context.

That’s not all, Intercom also offers real-time communication through its AI chatbot, Fin. According to Intercom, Fin can resolve 50% of your support questions instantly by providing accurate, automated responses from your knowledge base, allowing your team to concentrate on more complex interactions.

You can also automate repetitive tasks through the no-code visual automation builder using building blocks such as triggers, conditions, bots, rules, and Fin. If you’re wondering where to start with this automation feature, there’s no need to stress. Intercom’s Workflows come with numerous pre-built templates that cater to a variety of important use cases, making it easy to get started.

While Intercom generally offers robust features, it also has its limitations. During our test, we noticed the mobile app doesn’t mirror important desktop features like the ability to add subject lines in chats and some note-taking capabilities. This means you’d have to switch to the desktop version to access these functionalities.

The platform doesn’t offer a free plan but it provides a 14-day free trial for you to explore its features. After the trial, you can choose from three plans: Essential at $39, Advanced at $99, and Expert at $199 per month. All these plans include access to Intercom’s AI chatbot and communication channels but are subject to additional usage charges.

Overall, Intercom’s robust features and integrations facilitate team collaboration and organization, even for hundreds of customers. Its user-friendly interface also makes onboarding easy.

Starting at $39, this CRM for customer success is an affordable option, but the cost can increase with additional usage-based charges for some functions. Additionally, the inconsistencies between the desktop and mobile app features are another downside to consider before making a decision. Despite these factors, Intercom’s high rating of 4.5/5 on G2 confirms its effectiveness.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM with Marketing, Sales, and customer service software, the latter being specifically designed to support customer service teams. The Service Hub provides tools and features like ticketing systems, customer feedback tools, a knowledge base, and advanced reporting that help you manage customer interactions effectively.

HubSpot’s Service Hub includes a Free Help Desk software and ticketing system that centralizes customer requests, ensuring you don’t miss issues as your client base grows and workload becomes more cumbersome.

With this ticketing system, you can track, and organize all customer issues and get detailed customer insights. That way, every member of the support team has the right context to provide helpful and personalized resolutions. You’ll also be able to track vital support metrics, such as response times and ticket volumes, which is crucial for effectively managing demand and enhancing the support team’s performance and training.

The best support is no support! HubSpot Service Hub also allows you to create a knowledge base that promotes self-service through a library of helpful articles where users can find the information they need independently. This feature allows you to categorize your articles for easy browsing and optimize them for search engines and different devices.

However, the design customization options for this section are limited so you may not be able to fully customize your knowledge base to match your brand theme. This can be a problem if your brand relies heavily on a distinct visual identity, as the inability to fully align the knowledge base with your brand’s aesthetic could affect the consistency of your customer’s experience across different touchpoints.

For complex issues not covered in your knowledge base, customers can choose to reach out to you through channel that works for them. The omnichannel messaging functionality in HubSpot Service Hub enables your team to seamlessly switch between channels such as email, chat, and Facebook Messenger, and meet your customer where they are.

These channels are also connected to your CRM records providing enough context to deliver a consistent experience across all touchpoints. The CRM’s Conversations Inbox feature makes handling these complex issues faster as it allows you to respond to conversations in real time. Plus when queries get repetitive, you can easily set up chatbots to handle repetitive queries, allowing your team to focus on more significant conversations.

Despite these robust features, what stood out the most for us while evaluating HubSpot service Hub was the Conversation AI. This tool automatically captures voice data in HubSpot Smart CRM and gives you insights into major customer objections, competitive trends, and more. You can leverage these insights to coach your customer service management team and continuously improve your support strategy to stay ahead of the competition.

HubSpot’s comprehensive nature, while a notable strength, also brings its challenges. We found the onboarding process challenging due to the huge HubSpot Academy which makes it difficult to find suitable training material. Getting started with the platform comes with a steep learning curve and will require some time to get used to it.

Compared to other support software on this list, HubSpot is quite expensive with plans starting at $18 and going as high as $1200 a month. However, it makes up for this with a free plan. The free plan provides all the basic customer service features you need including ticketing, live chat, bots, and more.

As your business and team grow and you need functionalities like automation, knowledge base, feedback surveys and more, you will have to upgrade to a premium plan or go for a less expensive CRM option on this list that offers these features.

To wrap up, HubSpot is a great choice if you are in the market for a free customer service CRM that is suitable for small to medium-sized teams as shown by the many positive reviews and its 4.4/5 score on G2. However, the challenging onboarding process and the expensive costs that come with scaling can have you reconsidering this choice.

4. EngageBay

Engagebay is another all-in-one CRM solution with a sales, marketing and free service bay designed for small businesses. The free service bay includes a comprehensive ticketing system capable of collecting and managing customer support requests from various sources through one dashboard.

Engagebay’s omnichannel approach enhances this capability, bringing your customers closer through email, phone, live chat, social media, and web forms. You can create and prioritize customer tickets, assign them to agents for quick resolution, collect feedback, and analyze performance all in one window.

If your team consists of field agents, Engagebay also ensures you can serve your customers on the go, with its user-friendly Android and iOS mobile apps. You can quickly assign tickets to field agents based on geographic location and schedule meetings.

It even gets better with the free Live Chat Software. Engagebay’s free Live Chat Software offers customers quicker and more personalized responses through real-time communication. To save more time, you can create shortcuts for frequently used answers and replies and they’ll be accessible with just a click from the Live Chat. That’s not all, the CRM’s AI bot can further speed up your response time using pre-set canned responses for common questions.

However, not all customer queries can be resolved instantly via live chat as some issues may need escalation to more experienced team members. To cater to these scenarios, EngageBay ensures you can transfer live chats swiftly to specialized agents for prompt resolution. This CRM for support teams also helps you focus on urgent and critical matters by allowing you to build a knowledge base of self-help articles through the Help Center. These articles can be translated in multiple languages so there are no language constraints when customers access the content.

Since EngageBay is tailored for small businesses, it lacks some advanced features such as advanced workflows, analytics and reporting tools, as well as customization that are often necessary for larger organizations or more complex customer service demands. However, you can integrate the platform with multiple third-party applications to extend its functionality.

Opting for the EngageBay service bay alone is free but you also have the option to access its all-in-one features, combining your marketing, sales, and support efforts into a single platform. The all-in-one suite has a completely free plan which includes access to the help desk and premium plans starting at $12.74.

Overall, EngageBay is popular for its ease of use and excellent customer service. Getting started with the platform was fairly easy when we tested the CRM and the responsive customer service team made the onboarding process more seamless. The CRM has a rating of 4.6/10 on G2 with many users praising it for a great user experience.

However, some reviews also point out that certain features are not smooth and require some workarounds for full functionality. Regardless, EngageBay’s offerings are generally sufficient for small businesses with basic customer service demands, but as the business grows and the needs become more complex, you might require a more robust support software.

5. Zoho CRM

Next on our list of best CRM for customer service is Zoho CRM. Zoho is another comprehensive CRM that manages sales, marketing campaigns and support functions. Although it does not have a dedicated customer service suite, its Zoho Desk product efficiently fills this role. Zoho Desk helps you simplify customer service operations, boosts service agents’ productivity, and ensures you’re delivering memorable customer experiences. It is fully mobile so you can assist customers and close tickets even when you’re away from your desk.

The omnichannel ticketing system in Zoho Desk gathers support tickets from various channels like email, social media, live chat, telephone, and web forms into a single interface, enabling agents to respond more quickly and stay organized. Additionally, the ticketing system lets you use filters like priority, urgency, customer type, or ticket status to simplify ticket management, helping your team prioritize tasks effectively.

The Zoho Desk’s automated ticket assignment rules and round-robin automation further streamline the ticketing process by ensuring speedy ticket distribution to the right department. This feature makes managing the customer service team easier, saving you time and energy to focus on more pressing tasks.

Since Zoho Desk comes with built-in integration with Zoho CRM, it can pull relevant customer information from the CRM and display it inside the ticket screen, making your interactions context-aware. The platform also has a live dashboard that displays essential real-time metrics like ticket traffic, most threaded tickets, and customer happiness ratings. That way, you can monitor your team’s performance, and quickly identify when metrics are trending downwards and intervene immediately. These real-time insights help you stay ahead of the curve.

In addition to these features, Zoho stands out with its robust self-service options with a knowledge base builder, a multi-brand help center, a community feature, and more.

The Community feature stood out for us while evaluating this CRM as it allows you to build a network of customers and enthusiasts who support each other in resolving issues, reducing the burden on your service agents. It’s like having a supplementary support team. The best part is you have full moderation controls so you can add other moderators to help you monitor content quality and reduce spam.

Like other customer relationship management software on this list, Zoho also has an AI-powered support assistant, Zia. Zia can engage in direct chat with your customers through Zoho Desk, analyze the sentiments behind every ticket, and suggest relevant solutions from your knowledge base articles.

Despite these comprehensive features, Zoho is highly affordable, with plans starting at just $12 and the most expensive plan priced at $35. Additionally, Zoho Desk offers a free plan that accommodates up to 3 users and is suitable for minimal support needs.

As your business grows, you can easily scale up to one of the paid plans especially if you need advanced features like custom reports, multichannel support, and customizations. We’d recommend the enterprise plan at $35 per month though since it’s the only plan that offers access to live chat and the AI feature.

Generally, customer reviews consistently praise Zoho for its packed features such as the comprehensive analytics and reporting tools considering the affordable pricing. However, when starting out, you may experience a steep learning curve. The platform has a 4.4/5 score on G2.

6. GIST

GIST CRM is a customer service CRM that helps support teams deliver great customer experiences at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Although it has no comprehensive ticketing system, its conversation management functionality brings all communications with leads and customers into one dashboard. You can receive messages from any channel whether GIST messenger, Facebook, email, etc and manage them directly in the CRM’s team inbox.

GIST’s messenger software allows you to integrate live chat into your product, app, or website and communicate with your customers in real-time. You can access the customer history in Messenger so you know who you’re talking to and how to personalize your interactions.

Customers are not the only ones with a profile, GIST also groups every member of the support team by expertise and assigns conversations to the best fit, ensuring that customer queries are addressed by the right person.

Like any reliable customer service CRM, GIST ensures that you can resolve basic customer issues even when no member of the support team is available through self-service options. It allows you to create a searchable library of tutorial articles explaining how to use all of the features your products have to offer. Your customers can also indicate whether they found an article helpful and highlight the articles that need an update helping you keep your knowledge base relevant and up-to-date.

To ensure your customer service team stays proficient, you should continuously look for methods to expedite issues resolution. Leveraging GIST’s AI Bot, Emma can help you achieve this. Emma is designed to provide instant answers from your knowledge base to site visitors and customers around the clock.

So you can engage with your customers continuously and at their convenience. It doesn’t stop there. Emma is sophisticated enough to predict and suggest answers as soon as customers begin typing their queries, even before they even hit the send button.

This combination of the knowledge base and the Emma AI stood out for us during our test as it remarkably reduces response times.

GIST’s robust CRM features are housed in its three three pricing plans: Free, Professional, and Premium, supporting 2, 5, and unlimited seats, respectively.

The Professional plan costs $29, and the Premium plan is priced at $99. The Free plan includes core features like Live Chat, Team Inbox, and conversation history. However, only an upgrade to a paid plan will give you access to additional features such as a knowledge base, automated chat triggers, custom chatbots, and multi-channel integration, an upgrade to the Professional or Premium plan is necessary.

Today, over 10,000 businesses are using GIST, and its comprehensive chat automation is a major factor. However, as expected with a comprehensive CRM, we experienced a steep learning curve while getting acquainted with its wide range of products as the interface felt a bit cramped with many features.

Customizing the software may also require some technical expertise or support assistance. Despite these challenges, GIST still holds predominantly positive reviews and a 4.6/5 rating on G2.

In summarizing our comprehensive review of the best CRMs for customer service, it’s evident that selecting the right CRM is a balancing act of various factors. Key considerations include the efficiency of ticket management, the depth of customer interaction history, ease of integration with knowledge bases, the availability of real-time communication tools, and the extent of multi-channel support. Additionally, the sophistication of AI and machine learning capabilities can significantly differentiate one CRM from another.

Take aways

When deciding on the best CRM for your business, it’s essential to weigh these features against your specific needs. Consider the size and scope of your customer service operations, the diversity of communication channels you use, and the level of automation and analytics you require. Budget constraints and the potential for growth and scalability are also crucial factors.

A practical next step in your decision-making process is to engage with free trials or demo versions of the CRMs that seem to align with your business needs. This hands-on experience will provide valuable insights into the user interface and functionality of each system, helping you assess how well they integrate into your existing workflows.

Remember, the goal is to choose a CRM software that not only addresses your current customer service challenges but also has the potential to scale and evolve as your business grows. The ideal CRM should streamline your customer service processes, enhance the efficiency of your team, and ultimately lead to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Ultimately, the goal is to select a CRM that not only fits your current needs but also has the scalability to grow with your business. The right CRM should be a tool that not only manages your sales pipeline but also enhances your sales strategy, leading to improved efficiency, better customer relationship management, and increased sales performance.

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Please note: All pricing mentioned in this article is based on information available as of 31-1-2024 and sourced from the respective companies’ public pricing pages. While we strive for accuracy, we recommend verifying with the specific company for the most up-to-date details.