Comparing the top shared inbox software: Which is right for your team?

To ensure customer loyalty, it is crucial to consistently deliver a positive experience in every interaction with your business. This necessitates a seamless collaboration within your customer service team to maximize the value of the services you provide to clients.

In today's remote work environment, maintaining alignment among team members can be challenging. However, shared inbox software addresses several common issues faced by customer support teams in their daily communication and collaboration.

One common challenge is multiple agents needing access to and engagement with the same messages. Without an organized system, this simple task can become time-consuming and confusing, as team members may not be aware of others' actions or progress, leading to duplicated efforts.

A shared inbox, a type of customer support software, enables real-time message viewing and response for your team, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth communication. It provides comprehensive visibility and transparency, allowing all agents to track who has responded to customer inquiries and the actions taken.

However, with the multitude of options available, it's essential to select the right customer service software for your team. We will provide a concise overview of the top customer service software in the market, empowering you to make an informed decision. ‍

Why do you need shared inbox software?

• It improves your customer support.

With so many different communication platforms, it can be difficult to keep track of customer conversations and ensure that everyone is in sync. Customer service software enables your support team to access and manage all incoming messages in real-time from a single platform.

It combines your communication channels, such as emails, SMS, support tickets, social media, and live chat messages, into one platform, making it easier to collaborate and coordinate customer service efforts.  

The right customer support system allows customer service teams to easily monitor who has responded to customer conversations and what actions have been taken. This makes it easier to avoid duplication of effort and ensures that all customer service representatives are aware of the latest updates.

• Your team collaborates better. 

Customer support managers use top customer service software to help their customer service reps collaborate more effectively. Everyone on the customer service team can easily assign tasks to one another, delegate responsibilities, and track progress. This means that everyone knows what they need to do and when they need to do it, resulting in a more streamlined workflow.

With real-time collaboration, team members can assign, tag, or comment on internal and external communication, ensuring everyone stays on the same page and tasks are efficiently managed.

This is particularly important for remote teams, where face-to-face communication is not always possible. Shared inbox software provides a platform to communicate and collaborate regardless of where team members are located. 

• There’s more productivity.

Shared inbox software can help teams increase their productivity by improving communication and collaboration. Team members can work together more efficiently, reducing the time it takes to complete tasks. Automation features such as email templates and rules further streamline workflows and save time.

The software can also help teams prioritize their tasks and focus on the most important messages. With features such as filters and search functions, team members can quickly find the customer conversation or customer query that they need. This means that they can spend less time on low-priority tasks and more time on support requests that are critical to the company’s success.

• You earn loyal customers.

Good customer service leads to happy customers who continue to patronize your business. Satisfied customers show loyalty to the companies they trust and are usually glad to bring their friends along. 

The best customer support software is built for customer relationship management. Quick response times and personalized service help to improve customer satisfaction and customer relationships. 

Shared inbox software is particularly beneficial for customer support teams that want to deliver fast and superior customer service. It enables agents to handle customer requests and support tickets as a team. This helps prevent any delays or gaps in communication.      

You can also offer proactive support to solve common customer issues so the customer doesn’t have to contact a customer service rep. With help desk software, you can shorten the customer support process by providing self-service options so people can learn to solve issues themselves.

• It keeps transparent history and records.

Knowing who your customers are and their history with your business helps your team deliver personalized solutions to each customer. This ensures that everyone gets exactly what they need and that time isn’t wasted. 

Many shared inbox tools offer analytics and reporting features that provide insights into team performance, response times, and customer satisfaction metrics. These insights can help teams identify areas for improvement, optimize their workflows, and enhance overall productivity. 

Customer service tools maintain a record of all conversations and customer interactions, making it easy to access past messages and review previous communication. This historical customer data helps your team understand the context of each customer conversation, refer to previous discussions, and provide better-informed responses.

It is important to protect customer data, so the best customer support tools provide maximum data security. You can manage customers' data securely and use it to improve the customer experience. 

• It integrates with your other tools.

There are so many digital tools that businesses need to combine to get work done on a daily basis. Instead of switching between multiple tabs and applications, a good customer support tool brings all the software you already use onto one simple platform. 

Shared inboxes integrate with other productivity tools, such as project management systems, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and team messaging apps. This integration makes your team more efficient by allowing seamless information sharing and reducing the need to switch between multiple applications. Some tools that offer these benefits includes Simpu, Intercom, Front, Zendesk and many others

Comparison of the top shared inbox software.

1. Simpu.

Simpu, priced at $45, is a customer communication platform that enhances customer service operations. With a shared inbox feature, multiple agents can collaborate seamlessly on managing customer messages. Simpu also includes chatbots and livechat capabilities for automated responses and real-time interactions. It also offers a universal inbox, giving you a centralized view of all messages and notifications.

Simpu's CSAT reviews allow you to gather valuable customer feedback, while SMS and email marketing functionalities enable multi-channel outreach. With app integrations, Simpu consolidates communication from platforms like Outlook, Gmail, Hubspot, and e-commerce platforms. It provides a comprehensive solution to streamline customer service processes and improve satisfaction.

2. Front.

Front is a shared inbox software that offers multi-channel communication, team collaboration, universal inbox, and efficient email management. Priced at $59, it allows you to consolidate messages from various platforms into a single inbox, streamlining your team's workflow. With Front, you can handle customer inquiries from email, phone support, CRM platforms, and e-commerce channels.

Front software enables seamless collaboration among team members, providing features like message assignments, internal comments, and collaborative responses. Front's email management capabilities include templates, automation, and analytics, helping streamline your email workflow and gain insights into team performance.

3. Intercom.

Intercom is a shared inbox software that offers a wide range of features to enhance customer support operations. Priced at $74, it provides a shared inbox function, allowing team members to collaborate efficiently and respond to customer inquiries. With automated answers, businesses can streamline routine responses, ensuring consistent and timely solutions.

Intercom also offers marketing and management tools, integrations with various business systems, customer data management capabilities, live chat functionality, mobile apps, e-commerce support, and a help center. These features enable businesses to deliver personalized and efficient customer service while gaining valuable insights from customer feedback. Overall, Intercom is a robust solution for optimizing customer support processes and elevating the customer experience.

4. Zendesk.

Zendesk is a shared inbox software that provides a range of features to improve customer support and streamline communication within your team. It offers a help center where customers can find self-service resources, reducing the workload on support agents while empowering customers to find answers independently. Zendesk also includes phone support, allowing businesses to establish a dedicated phone line for personalized customer inquiries.

The software's reporting and analytics features provide valuable insights into support performance, helping you identify areas for improvement. Additionally, Zendesk incorporates AI and automation to automate repetitive tasks and provide predefined responses, freeing up support agents' time for more complex interactions.

Quotes from people who have used customer service software solutions.

Customer service software solutions have garnered praise from numerous users who have experienced their benefits firsthand. Here are a few quotes from individuals who have utilized these tools to enhance their customer support:

“Implementing a CRM system will do absolutely nothing for your business. However, the continued and effective use of it will” ― Bobby Darnell, Author of Time For Dervin 

“The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you or talk to you. It just works.” Jeff Bezos – CEO of Amazon

“The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you are making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you.” – Derek Sivers, Founder CD Baby 

“Customer service should not be a department. It should be the entire company.” Tony Hsieh – CEO of Zappos

“In the world of Internet customer service, it’s important to remember that your competitor is only one mouse click away.” Doug Warner – Senior Vice President at Vonage

“The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary.” Sam Walton – Founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club

“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” Steve Jobs – Co-founder and CEO of Apple

“Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” Donald Porter – Vice President of British Airways

“Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back. We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.” Kevin Stirtz –  Author of More Loyal Customers

“Consumer feedback continues to be our most important business driver.” Howard Shultz – Former CEO of Starbucks

“Don’t waste customers’ time asking them questions unless you are prepared to act on what they say.” Bruce Temkin – Head of XM Institute

“CRM is your GPS to a better route on your business development journey.” ― Bobby Darnell

“Unless you have 100% customer satisfaction, you must improve.” – Horst Schulze, Former Ritz Carlton President 

“We have entered the era of the customer. Today, providing customers with outstanding customer service is essential to building loyal customers and a long-lasting brand.” –Jerry Gregoire, CIO of Dell Computers.

The decision: Which one is the best-shared inbox tool for you?

In conclusion, shared inboxes allow team members to communicate with each other in real-time, irrespective of their location. It provides a platform for team members to share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback instantly. It also stores customer contacts and every customer interaction, so the team can access them on the customer service platform.  

Everyone can share files and documents and assign tasks to each other. This increases collaboration and ensures that everyone is working towards a common goal.

It’s important to consider the most important needs of your business when selecting a customer support solution. You can find customer service software that suits your needs and budget.

These are just a few examples of the options available on the market. Each customer service software varies from the other and has its own unique features and capabilities, so it's important to evaluate them based on your team's specific needs and requirements. 

To experience the benefits of exceptional customer support, sign up for a 14-day free trial of Simpu, a leading customer engagement software. Give your team the tools they need to deliver outstanding customer service and see the difference it can make.