The Best CRM Systems for Customer Service

Zendesk is the best overall customer service CRM software, based on our in-depth analysis. It provides in-house customer feedback capabilities as well as the possibility to integrate with a vast array of third-party apps, meaning it will slot right in with your existing system. It has a reasonably priced starting plan as well as opportunities to upscale, so it can grow along with your business.

If you’re seeking an even more affordable option, Freshdesk offers a free plan, so you can reap the benefits of a dedicated customer service CRM without any of the financial investment.

While your team may be geographically scattered due to hybrid working, you want to ensure that you have a centralized system for receiving incoming communication and troubleshooting customer queries. This is where a dedicated customer service system becomes a crucial addition to your CRM software suite.

We extensively researched the top customer service CRM systems on the market and compared them on a number of criteria. We looked at the available features, how well the product can be customized to individual business processes, the help and support options on offer, how easy the software makes managing large teams as well as the all-important, pricing.

If you’re short on time and want to cut to the chase, go directly to our free comparison tool. We’ll connect you with your best-suited provider, who will then be in touch with tailored quotes at no extra cost.

The Best Customer Service CRM Software At a Glance

We’ve selected the top six options for a customer service software solution. Below find our shortlist, with essential details such as pricing, free trial and key features.

What is Customer Service CRM?

Customer Service CRM refers to platforms that assist companies in dealing with incoming communication. They can be used for external communication, such as customer service requests, inquiries and complaints but also for internal communication, such as for IT teams to handle requests from employees. Similar to CRM software for sales and marketing teams, customer service software handles a form of customer-relationship building but are more focused on problem-solving.

If you currently operate without customer service CRM software, you may not be operating as efficiently as possible. With the right customer service CRM system, you can save time on repetitive tasks, quickly troubleshoot issues, create more opportunities for self-service customer service, encourage collaborative working between agents, and improve your external and internal communication, ultimately fostering stronger relationships.

1. Zendesk – Best Overall

Zendesk Review

With the highest score for features (4.6/5), Zendesk shines when it comes to multi-channel communication. With the Suite Team plan and above, your customers can get in touch with your support team via email, built-in VoIP, website live chat, social media, and a variety of instant messaging apps.

From the Suite Professional plan and above, Zendesk offers handy data analytics into metrics such as response time. While both are top scorers for help and support, Zendesk comes in second to Salesforce as we’ve found its training platform to be a little less comprehensive. Zendesk also comes in second to MS Dynamics for customization but is worthy of a mention for strong scores in both of these categories.

We gave Zendesk a more humble score of 3.8/5 for its team infrastructure features, relating to multi-team collaboration, organization and management. Zendesk has some helpful organization features such as manual and automated ticket routing, team hierarchies and separate case queues. However it lacks a calendar feature and task dashboard, and its team communication feature is only available on its Suite Professional plan and up. These are features which can help teams organize their workload much better and are all offered by competitors, Salesforce and MS Dynamics, who earned a 4.8/5 in this department.

We also think it could improve on pricing. While US$19 per user, per month is not the most expensive plan, Zendesk does not offer a free option as seen with Freshdesk and Zoho Desk, so in that respect, it is not as accessible for all budgets.

2. Freshdesk – Best for Communicating with Customers

Freshdesk Review

On one of Freshdesk’s lowest price plans, Omnichannel Growth (US$29 per user, per month), customers will be able to get in touch via five channels of communication: email, VoIP, website live chat, social media and instant messaging apps. It also supports self-service support models, so customers can be directed to help options without needing to rely on your agents. This saves time for both your team and your customers.

For comparison, to access the same amount of communication modes with Zendesk, you would be paying US$55 per user, per month, or US$128.90 per user, per month plus add-on fees with MS Dynamics. So this really is a generous feature from Freshdesk, earning it a 4.6/5 overall for pricing.

Across the board, Freshdesk’s scores do not dip below a 4/5, so it’s a solid option. It particularly stands out for its software integrations. Freshdesk has the capacity to link invoicing software such as Quickbooks and Xero, engineering and support via JIRA, Google Apps, live chat, email marketing like MailChimp, cloud document sharing like Dropbox and CRM software too. This means that Freshdesk can slot right in with your existing software framework and make for a straightforward onboarding process.

Its data analysis features are particularly strong, especially in the Pro and Enterprise plans, with metrics showing sentiment analysis, response time, ticket volume and resolution rate. These insights are valuable for performance reviews of your customer service agents and also to better understand how your team can improve.

Freshdesk is best suited for external communication as it lacks the functionality for asset management, problem management, contract management and change management – which are necessary for an internal service solution.

3. Zoho Desk – Best Value for Money

Zoho Desk Review

Like Freshdesk, Zoho Desk offers a free plan, but its most expensive Enterprise plan is still cheaper at US$35 per user, per month than some competitors’ entry-level plans. This makes it ideal for smaller businesses looking to upscale their communications without the investment, or for larger businesses wanting an affordable option. Who doesn’t want to save money?

It’s not only cheap, but it also offers some sophisticated features such as data insights into response time, ticket resolution rate and custom reports. This is a feature offered by Zendesk, but for US$115 per user, per month vs. Zoho’s US$12-US$35 per user, per month.

Customers can only communicate via email with Zoho Desk, or website live chat and social media if you choose a premium plan. They could improve by offering more communication channels, as demonstrated by Freshdesk, which additionally offers built-in VoIP and instant messaging.

4. Salesforce Service Cloud – Best for Software Integrations

Salesforce Service Cloud Review

While it is on the pricier side with a starting price of US$25 per user, per month, compared with Freshdesk (US$15), Zendesk (US$19) and  Zoho Desk (US$7), Salesforce stands above the rest for its help and support options. Scoring a 5/5 for help and support options, its Trailhead training platform offers tons of courses, some free, some paid, for in-demand skills such as Google Workspace and AI. This offers great opportunities for your business to upskill and get the maximum potential out of your software.

In terms of integrations, Salesforce offers many first and third-party integrations such as customer service apps, CRM apps, VoIP and other communication apps. This means that you don’t need to change anything about your existing software framework when implementing Salesforce and its help and support options will ensure that it’s a smooth transition.

It’s worth mentioning that Salesforce also earned perfect scores for its high-end security features, customization features and capacity for creating a strong team infrastructure.

Its main downside is again, that it’s one of the most expensive options on the market. However, if you’re looking for a trusted software that is a household name, with strong features, reliable onboarding support, extensive integrations, ultimately helping you create a strong customer service infrastructure, then Salesforce may be worth the investment.

5. MS Dynamics – Best for Customization

MS Dynamics Review

In terms of features, it offers great flexibility for customizing objects, task types, ticket types, dashboards, fully editable forms and a custom automation builder, which earns it top scores in this area.

It also does well in its software integrations, so this suits businesses with pre-existing software platforms who want their customer service software to fit in with their processes, not change their whole workflow to suit a new software platform. MS Dynamics is compatible with third-party apps as well as its own extensive first-party library. Microsoft has also begun implementing generative AI within its apps, to provide an even more proactive approach to problem-solving. There is also no in-built method of collecting customer feedback, which means you may have to link a third-party app to achieve this goal. Luckily, MS Dynamics has many opportunities for integration. If you’re seeking a customer service software that has this feature built-in, then Zendesk may be your best bet.

Even though it is an expensive product, there are still some drawbacks. It doesn’t offer multi-channel communication and customers can still only contact you via email on the Professional plan. Whereas on Freshdesk’s rival ‘Omnichannel’ plan, customers have access to support via social media, built-in VoIP and instant messaging features and it’s a whole lot cheaper too.

6. Sugar Serve – Best for Data Analysis

Sugar Serve Review

While it’s renowned for its data analysis capabilities, Sugar Serve is one of the most expensive offerings on our list at US$80 per user, per month.

Sugar Serve is strongest when it comes to data. Offering insights into metrics such as AI-based sentiment, agent response time, ticket resolution rate, ticket volume and handling time. It generates custom reports and also offers suggestions powered by generative AI tech to give a predictive edge to your problem-solving and customer support. Having the capacity to analyze these intricacies is invaluable as it’ll allow you to spot seasonal trends, and patterns and gauge customer pain points so that you can optimize your support methods.

Sugar Serve supports email communication and with an add-on from Amazon Connect, built-in VoIP and website live chat too. For such an expensive plan, you may expect more channels of communication, as demonstrated by Freshdesk, which offers built-in VoIP, instant messaging and social media on top of Sugar Serve’s communication channels.

Another plus is that it only offers one plan, which makes life easier when deciding on which plan to choose. On the other hand, there is less scalability than with Zendesk, which offers a range of pricing tiers.

What Are Some Essential Customer Service CRM System Features?

Here are some of the key customer service CRM software features to be aware of when selecting the right provider for your needs.

• Ticket tracking – Customer Service software allows support tickets to be logged, assigned, prioritized, and tracked through resolution. This provides visibility into open issues and service level status.
• Self-service – Customers can often log and track their own tickets or find answers via self-service knowledge articles which eases the workload of agents.
• Reporting – Customer Service software reports on metrics like ticket volume, resolution time, agent workload and more, to show areas of success and improvement.
• Automation – Some customer service CRM platforms have automation capabilities like auto replies and reminders. This saves agents time by outsourcing repetitive tasks.
• Multi-channel support – Many customer service CRM tools allow customers to contact via email, phone, live chat, social media and other channels.
• Agent collaboration – Features like shared ticket queues and notes allow agents to efficiently work together.
• Integration – Customer service CRM can integrate with your existing software systems to enrich tickets and give more insight into queries.

How We Test Customer Service CRM for Businesses

We tested 7 market-leading customer service software products to evaluate them in terms of functionality, usability, cost, scalability, and more so we can make the most useful recommendations to Canadian businesses.

Our rigorous testing process means these products have been scored and rated in five main categories of investigation and 17 subcategories – in fact, we covered 75 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting’ to ensure the product’s final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers – and that’s our product testing algorithm in a nutshell!

Our main testing categories for customer service CRM are:

Help & Support: the resources and assistance available to users when they encounter issues or require guidance while using the customer service CRM, including email, online chat, and phone support as well as 24/7 help availability and staff training.

Customization: the ability to tailor the customer service CRM to suit the specific needs and processes of the organization, e.g. customizing task and ticket types, adding integrations, and more.

Features: the functionalities and capabilities provided by the customer service CRM, such as case management tools, self-service functionality, and the available ticket channels.

Team Infrastructure: determining if a platform makes it easier to manage large teams, including team dashboards, team hierarchies, and unified case queues.

Pricing: the cost associated with using the customer service CRM. It includes factors such as licensing fees, subscription plans, and additional charges for add-on modules or features.