Customer support

The signs are customers getting two replies, or none, and no one knowing who owns a thread. Help Scout keeps the feel of email while adding assignment, a knowledge base and live chat. Crisp does the same with chat, WhatsApp and social messages in one inbox. Neither charges to start, so you can move over before the mess costs you customers.

Per-seat plans charge for each agent, so the bill climbs every time you add someone to the rota. Crisp, a French company, prices per workspace, so adding people doesn't add cost. Zendesk opens at $19 a month and Intercom at $29, and both climb with every seat and add-on. Count each person who will answer customers, including part-timers, before you compare.

Help Scout's AI drafts replies from your help articles, and a person checks them before sending, so tone stays yours. Intercom's Fin answers customers directly and passes the conversation to a person when it cannot help. Crisp's chatbot is trained on your content to handle common questions. Write clear help articles first, since these AIs answer only as well as the articles they read.

Zendesk is built for growing support teams with routing, SLA tracking and a large integrations marketplace. A team of three rarely uses those features and pays for the setup time. Help Scout or Crisp gets you running in an afternoon. Move to Zendesk once you have several queues, phone support or managers who need detailed reports.

GDPR does not require an EU vendor, but you need a data processing agreement and a lawful basis for any transfer outside the EU. Crisp is a French company, which some European customers find reassuring. Ask any vendor where it stores conversations and whether EU hosting is available on your plan. Avoid asking customers for passwords or card numbers in chat, whichever tool you pick.