In the fast-paced world of business, efficiency reigns supreme. Customer success teams must be agile and swift in responding to client concerns and providing top-notch support. Through diverse communication channels such as phone calls, emails, and chatbots, every interaction can elevate brand perception and tackle potential obstacles head-on, achieving customer satisfaction.

However, inevitable challenges surface. Even highly reliable customer support software like Halp may not cater to every specific need or constraint of your team. Especially now, as Halp migrates its entire functionality to Jira Service Management. 

The good news is that alternatives do exist in abundance. For those seeking to customize their support tools with additional features, cost-effective pricing, or a tailored solution, we present six versatile Halp alternatives:

1. ClearFeed
2. Freshdesk
3. Zoho Desk
4. SolarWinds Service Desk
5. ProProfs Help Desk
6. Kayako

These tools come fully equipped to maintain customer success workflows while empowering your team to take charge and bolster efficiency. Ready to dive deep into the details? Let's get right to them.

ClearFeed

ClearFeed is the go-to Slack-based conversational support platform that centralizes and expedites request handling for customer and employee support teams. It lets your team and customers enjoy the benefits of AI and machine learning capabilities and focus on solving problems rather than worrying about technology.

Key Features

1. Work from Triage Channel: ClearFeed enhances agent experience by centralizing customer requests across Slack channels via the Triage channel. It eases assignment, request tracking, and streamlines communication using a 🔒 emoji for efficient internal commenting.

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Related Read: Learn How ClearFeed’s Triage Channel Centralizes Communication and Request Management

2. Multiple App Integrations: The exceptional attributes of ClearFeed include its bi-directional integration of Slack with Zendesk and Jira software, presenting a seamless experience.

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Related Read: Learn How ClearFeed Supports Slack Zendesk Integration

It maintains a synchronized status of messages across Zendesk and Slack and enables users to edit Zendesk ticket fields directly from the Slack interface, making it easy for users to work from Slack while collaborating with the broader team there.

Going beyond the limited integrations that Halp offers - ClearFeed also supports flexibility in integration with other tools, including Salesforce Service Cloud, Freshdesk, Hubspot, and GitHub.

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3. Ticket Creation and Task Management in Slack: You can choose between automatic and manual methods for converting requests into tickets. Using the 🎫 emoji with a single click, you can easily transform a Slack thread into a ticket. This action can be taken by customers in a Slack Connect channel as well - enabling them to create tickets for the Support team from Slack. Tickets created in this manner are bi-directionally synced with Zendesk (or the ticketing system of choice) and customers are notified of new comments and updates in the ticket status.

4. Knowledge Management with Refined Answers: ClearFeed's Automated Answers delivers AI-powered real-time support on Slack by leveraging public documentation and private wikis.

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The platform offers quick, accurate answers, streamlined workflows, editable pre-response suggestions, and federated search across multiple knowledge sources to increase efficiency and improve response time.

Pricing

ClearFeed provides tailored pricing options to cater to various scenarios:

• For customer support utilizing external Slack Connect channels: Free, Professional, and Enterprise pricing tiers. Free Tier allows 10 channels for free, the Professional pricing tier begins at $80/month (up to 20 Slack Channels) and scales based on the number of channels.
• For an internal helpdesk setup: the pricing model is based on the number of requests, and the Professional tier starts at $80/month allowing 160 requests/month. The usage based pricing fostering a more cooperative helpdesk environment.

Enterprise pricing options allow custom pricing plans for those with high volumes or special needs.

G2 Reviews: 4.9 out of 5

“Customer Support Experience Differentiator. We reduced friction in supporting our customers and increased efficiencies within the support team by implementing Clearfeed.”

- Tom Walker, Head of Customer Engineering, Chronosphere

ClearFeed makes it easy to replace Halp seamlessly. Here's how.

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Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a popular customer support and helpdesk software solution designed to assist businesses in managing customer inquiries, requests, and support-related activities efficiently.

Key Features

1. Omnichannel Support: Freshdesk ensures a seamless support experience for customer support teams by offering a unified solution to manage conversations across multiple channels, such as live chat, email, phone, and social media. It integrates various platforms, including Hubspot, Zendesk, Salesforce, Zoho CRM, etc., with Slack and Microsoft Teams to manage customer interactions.‍
2. Proactive Analytics: Freshdesk leverages AI-powered analytics to identify potential issues by allowing you to create curated reports, customer satisfaction ratings, and dashboards and optimize support workflows by continuously monitoring interactions and maintaining service quality.
3. Unifying Bots, Ticketing, and Conversations: With Freshworks Customer Service Suite, teams get all essential components, including AI-powered bots, ticket management, and conversation tools, combined into one robust platform designed to exceed your customers' expectations.

Freshdesk Slack Connector

Halp users expect to work from Slack and Freshdesk has a native Slack connector that supports several actions like:

• Creating Freshdesk tickets using slash (/) commands, Slack Actions & from the global search bar.
• Get notified about ticket updates on the respective Slack thread
• Edit Freshdesk ticket details such as status, priority, and assignee group directly on Slack.
• Work with team members present on Slack on the tickets who might not be agents on Freshdesk.

However the Freshdesk Slack interface also has several limitations (like not being able to connect more than 20 Slack channels to Freshdesk), limiting ticket responses to agents and inability to create tickets automatically on every customer request. ClearFeed also offers a Slack based interface to FreshDesk - and additional details and limitations of the native FreshDesk-Slack connector can be found in ClearFeed's Freshdesk Slack Integration.

Pricing

Freshdesk by Freshworks offers a variety of pricing plans to accommodate businesses of different sizes and requirements. It starts with a free tier that supports up to 10 agents, enabling small teams to benefit from essential support functionalities. 

Beyond the free tier, Freshdesk introduces higher-level plans with expanded features and capabilities. These plans are priced from $12 to $69 per agent per month (billed annually). As the pricing increases, additional features and customizations are made available to suit the specific needs of various businesses.

G2 Reviews: 4.4 out of 5

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Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based customer support and helpdesk software solution developed by Zoho Corporation. It is designed to assist businesses in managing and improving their customer service operations from multiple email, phone, live chat, and social media channels.

Key Features

1. AI-driven Assistance (Zia): Zia, Zoho Desk's AI-powered assistant, aids agents in providing faster and better customer service through machine learning and automated response suggestions.
2. Customizable Reports and Dashboards: The platform comes with built-in reporting tools that allow businesses to track the performance metrics of agents and gain insights into customer interactions. Customizable dashboards help visualize important data for better decision-making.
3. Help Center (Knowledge Base): It provides a customer self-service portal where companies can host articles, FAQs, and other knowledge-based resources to empower customers to find answers to common issues independently.

Zoho Slack Connector

Zoho has a nice Slack Connector that is well documented here. Zoho's Slack connector allows:

• Notifications of different ticket create and update events to specific channels based on Department.
• Allows agents to retrieve ticket details from Slack.

However, Zoho's Slack connector does not allow agents and customers to reply from Slack. It also does not allow easy creation of tickets from Slack, by customers, in a Slack Connect channel - either automatically on every request or using a manual action like an emoji.

Pricing

Zoho Desk presents diverse pricing plans to cater to distinct business requirements and various agent capacities. With an initial offering of a free trial, the platform transitions seamlessly to three paid tiers: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise.

Annual billing starts from $10 to $29 per agent monthly, contingent on the desired range of features and capabilities.

G2 Reviews: 4.4 out of 5

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SolarWinds Service Desk

SolarWinds provides software solutions for IT management, catering to various industries and organization sizes. Their offerings empower support teams to effectively manage and monitor their IT infrastructure, optimize databases, ensure seamless network performance, and maintain security and compliance.

Key Features

1. Automated Service Management: SolarWinds’ AI-driven auto-routing feature directs requests to the right teams, alerting them of critical issues. It applies rules to automate standard service protocols and manage recurring processes. This not only increases efficiency but also reduces the scope for errors.
2. Analytics and Reporting: Its smart reporting interface presents an in-depth analysis of IT teams. By monitoring system performance, identifying trends, and recognizing potential issues in advance, the platform empowers the support team to make data-driven decisions that drive efficiencies.
3. Unified Asset Management: SolarWinds offers a unified asset management platform to manage various resources, whether hardware, software, or cloud. This results in increased visibility, reduced procurement costs, and optimized resource usage.
4. IT Integration: It seamlessly integrates with hundreds of applications, allowing support teams to connect service desk tickets to their IT operations management system. With real-time updates and two-way synchronizations, IT teams can proactively streamline processes, reducing downtime and improving overall productivity.

Pricing

SolarWinds Service Desk provides three-tiered pricing options designed to suit various business needs and scales: Essentials, Advanced, and Premier. The Essentials plan caters to growing teams at $39 per technician monthly. 

The Advanced plan, designed for mature IT organizations, costs $79 monthly per technician. The Premier plan, offering maximum customization and advanced features, is valued at $99 per month per technician.

G2 Reviews: 4.3 out of 5

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ProProfs Help Desk

ProProfs Help Desk is a centralized customer support solution designed to manage all customer-facing communication effectively and efficiently. This platform is the primary contact point for organizing and providing internal and external support related to a company's requests.

Key Features

1. Shared Inboxes: ProProfs help desk provides a shared space for all customer-facing inboxes, bringing all customer emails to one place.
2. Automated Ticket Assignment: Whether Round-Robin or advanced ticket assignments, it ensures tickets are evenly distributed and never pile up and features canned responses to FAQs, saving valuable daily time.
3. Multi-Channel Support: The system captures customer requests from various channels such as email, live chat, or the help center. Support teams can engage with customers on their preferred channels and deliver 360° support experiences.
4. Customization Capabilities: With complete customization capabilities, it lets teams personalize the platform to match their working style. Custom fields, priority settings, and alerts can be configured to align with their service level agreements (SLA).

Pricing

ProProfs Help Desk offers a straightforward pricing plan, charging $20 per user/month, billed at $240 annually. The platform also provides a chance to save 30% with annual billing. There are also separate provisions for teams with more than three users, for which you can directly consult their team.

G2 Reviews: 4.7 out of 5

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Kayako

Kayako is a helpdesk software solution that aims to help businesses offer exceptional customer service across multiple platforms. Regardless of the method of communication, Kayako ensures that your business can deliver unified customer support.

Key Features

1. Convenient Live Support with Integrated Chat software: Kayako incorporates live chat software in its helpdesk solution for 24/7 personalized, multi-channel support through an intuitive dashboard. It promotes easy customization, integration into websites and apps, and rapid platform adaptation.
2. Comprehensive Customer Insights for Better Service: Kayako provides a comprehensive perspective of the customer journey through its SingleView™ feature, aggregating customer interactions for enhanced understanding. It enables personalized customer experiences by providing vital information at your team's fingertips.
3. Collaborative Customer Conversations with Shared Inbox: Kayako's helpdesk software enhances productivity by simplifying conversation management with a shared inbox feature. Customizable views, tagging, and conversation allocation streamline collaboration, efficiently tracking issues and automatically assigning conversations to the appropriate team members.

Pricing

Regarding the pricing for the platform, it's not explicitly stated, but it offers a 14-day free trial for any of their plans. The pricing is likely tailored based on the customer's needs and the number and type of features utilized.

G2 Reviews: 4 out of 5

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Get Customer Success on the Right Track

While customer and employee success is important for any SaaS business, finding the right tools to help you or your organization manage this process is even more important.

Thankfully, many tools make this step easier, and we've identified six platforms that will make the maintenance of your support team efficient. If you're looking for a solution, don't just jump to the first option that comes your way—talk to multiple services and see which one is right for you.

And remember, success depends on a wide range of variables—it's not just about finding the right tools. So take some time to evaluate your needs, and then choose based on what will work best for your business.