Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Intercom VS Salesforce Service Cloud

Compare Intercom VS Salesforce Service Cloud and see what are their differences

Intercom logo Intercom

Intercom is a customer relationship management and messaging tool for web businesses. Build relationships with users to create loyal customers.

Salesforce Service Cloud logo Salesforce Service Cloud

Service Cloud integrates customer service with social networks and provides a self-service customer portal and knowledge base system.
  • Intercom Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-05
  • Salesforce Service Cloud Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-09

Intercom

Release Date
2011 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
Ciaran Lee
Employees
500 - 999

Intercom features and specs

  • User-friendly Interface
    Intercom offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it accessible to users with varying levels of technical expertise.
  • Comprehensive Customer Communication Tools
    It provides a suite of tools for live chat, email marketing, in-app messaging, and customer support, all of which can be accessed in one place.
  • Customization and Integration
    Intercom allows for extensive customization and integrates with various third-party applications, enabling businesses to tailor the platform to meet their specific needs.
  • Automation Capabilities
    The platform supports automated workflows, which can save time and ensure consistent customer interactions.
  • Customer Data Management
    Intercom collects and analyzes customer data, providing valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences that can inform business strategies.

Possible disadvantages of Intercom

  • Cost
    Intercom can be expensive, particularly for small businesses or startups. The pricing model is based on the number of users and features, which can add up quickly.
  • Complexity for Advanced Features
    While basic features are user-friendly, some of the more advanced functionalities can be complex and may require a steeper learning curve.
  • Limited Reporting
    The reporting and analytics features, while useful, are sometimes considered less comprehensive compared to specialized analytics platforms.
  • Customer Support
    Some users have reported that Intercom's own customer support can be slow to respond, which can be frustrating when dealing with urgent issues.
  • Notification Overload
    The platform can generate a high volume of notifications, which can be overwhelming and may require careful management to avoid interrupting workflow.

Salesforce Service Cloud features and specs

  • Comprehensive Customer Support
    Service Cloud offers an all-inclusive platform for customer support, including case management, knowledge base, and customer service automation.
  • Scalability
    Being part of the Salesforce ecosystem, Service Cloud can easily scale with your business growth, accommodating larger support teams and more complex service operations.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Service Cloud seamlessly integrates with other Salesforce products and third-party applications, allowing for a unified customer experience across various touchpoints.
  • AI-Driven Insights
    The platform provides robust AI tools like Einstein, which can help predict and proactively address customer issues, optimizing the overall service process.
  • Omni-Channel Support
    It supports multiple communication channels such as email, phone, social media, and chat, ensuring that customers can reach out via their preferred method.

Possible disadvantages of Salesforce Service Cloud

  • Cost
    Salesforce Service Cloud can be expensive, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. There are often additional costs for advanced features and third-party integrations.
  • Complexity
    The platform is extensive and may require significant time and resources for full implementation and training, which can be overwhelming for smaller teams.
  • Customization Limitations
    While highly customizable, some advanced customizations may require knowledge of Salesforce's proprietary programming language, Apex, which increases dependency on skilled developers.
  • Performance Issues
    Users have occasionally reported performance issues, such as slow load times and lag, which can affect productivity.
  • Data Storage Constraints
    There are limitations on data storage, which might necessitate the purchase of additional storage or data management solutions if your organization handles large volumes of data.

Analysis of Intercom

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Intercom is generally viewed as a good solution for businesses seeking to improve customer communication and support. Its robust features and flexibility make it a strong contender in the customer engagement space.

Why this product is good

  • Intercom is considered a good platform because it offers a comprehensive suite of tools for customer engagement. It integrates messaging, live chat, and help desk functionalities, providing a seamless experience for both users and customers. The platform is known for its user-friendly interface, customization options, and advanced integration capabilities with various third-party applications.

Recommended for

    Intercom is recommended for businesses of all sizes that wish to enhance their customer service and communication strategies. It is particularly beneficial for companies that want to offer personalized customer interactions through messaging, automate customer support processes, and gain insights from customer interactions. It's suitable for SaaS businesses, e-commerce platforms, and tech startups that prioritize customer experience.

Intercom videos

Intercom Review & Tutorial - How to Use Intercom for Websites

More videos:

  • Review - Intercom Software Review, Engage, Respond, Educate
  • Review - BTI V6 1200m Bluetooth & Intercom Review

Salesforce Service Cloud videos

Salesforce Service Cloud Overview Demo

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Intercom and Salesforce Service Cloud)
Customer Support
83 83%
17% 17
Help Desk
64 64%
36% 36
CRM
100 100%
0% 0
Help Desk And Ticketing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Intercom and Salesforce Service Cloud

Intercom Reviews

  1. Eleanor Bennett
    ยท Digital Marketing Specialist at Logit.io ยท
    An essential communication tool

    Intercom provides a lot of value to us. From live chat to email marketing and even helping us to create support documentation, Intercom handles a lot of key moving parts that are essential to keeping customers happy.


9 Best Tidio Alternatives Compared
Intercom is a customer engagement platform that serves mostly large and enterprise businesses. The software is known for its versatility, offering live chat, messaging, and in-app support, combined with advanced automation, AI bots, and customer data tracking.
Source: www.tidio.com
10 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Businesses in 2024
Intercom is an alternative that excels in self-service support. It enables businesses to communicate and engage with their customers in real-time.
Top 11 Freshdesk Alternatives for 2024 (Ranked & Rated)
Intercom provides a useful suite of tools designed to improve your customer engagement. As a Freshdesk alternative, Intercom ticks several boxes when it comes to features:
9 Best ManyChat Alternatives & Competitors in 2024
Intercomโ€™s main features are its helpdesk interfaces and chatbots. But it also includes lead qualification and nurturing functionalities. It offers product tours and resolution bots that can solve many customer concerns at once, freeing your repsโ€™ time for the most complex queries. You can also make use of its Messenger integration and a provided chatbot to improve your...
Source: www.tidio.com
Top 13 Freshdesk alternatives and competitors for 2024
Intercom offers customer service software while also extending its platform to marketing and sales. Intercom is a newer platform to the CX market and has adopted AI and automation capabilities to keep up with business trends. Intercom features Intercom Messenger, a communication tool that provides customers with self-service or live support options.
Source: www.zendesk.com

Salesforce Service Cloud Reviews

10 Best Freshdesk Alternatives for Businesses in 2024
Salesforce Service Cloud is an ideal alternative for teams using Salesforce CRM. Salesforce Service Cloud seamlessly integrates with other Salesforce products to provide a better customer experience.
The Best Help Desk Software in 2020
Salesforce Service Cloud equips every support technician with the productivity tools they need to enhance efficiency. It boasts easy integration with all of the most popular CTI (computer telephony integration), and can even use web services APIs like REST and SOAP (though it is reserved for the Enterprise and Unlimited tiers). CTI can help reduce the amount of time your...
Source: www.jitbit.com
Best Customer Service Software
For example, are you looking for customer service software specifically for live chat? LiveAgent will be a top choice for you. If you want a solution for your field service agents, use Salesforce Service Cloud. There are even tools for customer service, sales, and marketing CRM built into single product bundles.
11 Best Help Desk Software to Totally Check out in 2020!
A powerful cloud-based help desk software, Salesforce Service Cloud, is a child platform of the ubiquitous Salesforce CRM software. Engage your customers through multiple channels, streamline procedures and manage tickets with the help of the toolโ€™s 360-degree view of the clients. Service Cloud offers supportive features like customizable branding, email integration,...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Intercom seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 7 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Intercom mentions (7)

  • Enhancing Customer Support with a Live Chat Widget on Your Website
    Intercom: Famous for its conversational marketing focus, Intercomโ€™s live chat widget offers features like proactive messaging and lead qualification. It also supports deep personalization for enhanced customer engagement. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • I started affiliate marketing, but with a twist
    Use chatbots to automate customer service: Chatbots use natural language processing to communicate with customers and answer their questions. By integrating chatbots into your affiliate marketing strategy, you can automate customer service and increase engagement with potential customers. This can lead to more sales and higher commissions. (Crisp, Intercom). Source: over 2 years ago
  • How to embed a web application into another website via API?
    I am trying to create an application that will work on a customer's website. Much like tawk.to or intercom.com. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Here's how I'd figure out the go-to-market for a Customer Support SaaS
    My way of doing marketing starts with figuring out what my overall project will (or will not) be. In this case, I looked at the vendors like Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, or Help Scout. They all have whizbang features such as live-chat, collaboration stuffs, automations and workflows. They bill per contact and addons. Iโ€™d emphasize a straightforward, fuss-free angle instead. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Chat widget with react.js
    I wanted to know the best practices of developing a widget. So I went through the popular implementations of it. I liked Intercom's widget very much. It is written in React. I analyzed how it works. The minimal javascript is loaded async on the webpage. It is injecting an iframe with id intercom-frame. That iframe has a script in it's head with a source URl. Obviously it is React bundle. Source: over 3 years ago
View more

Salesforce Service Cloud mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Salesforce Service Cloud yet. Tracking of Salesforce Service Cloud recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Intercom and Salesforce Service Cloud, you can also consider the following products

Zendesk - Zendesk is a beautiful, lightweight help-desk solution.

Freshdesk - Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer support software that lets you support customers through traditional channels like phone and email, social channels like Facebook and Twitter, and your own branded community

LiveAgent - LiveAgent is a fully-featured live chat and help desk software with AI functions. It harnesses the power of a universal inbox, real-time live chat, built-in call center, and a robust customer service portal. Start your free 1 month trial today!

Drift - A messaging app that helps you grow your business.

LiveChat - LiveChat - premium live chat software. Approach customers directly on the website, make connections and drive more sales using LiveChat.

Zoho Desk - Industry's first context-aware Helpdesk Software