Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Best WooCommerce Support Extensions Compared Help Scout vs Freshdesk vs Awesome Support

Customer support is usually the unsung hero behind plenty of e-commerce operations. If you dont have a decent system and competent agents in place, sooner or later your sales will be adversely affected. Thats why WooCommerce support extensions are crucial for anyone serious about their business.There are plenty of support  extensions available (and loads of WooCommerce extensions in general), all helping you to provide a better experience for your customers. In this piece,  weve narrowed the choices  down to the best three WooCommerce support extensions. Well look  at what makes them  so valuable, and how each solution fares  against each other. Help Scout vs Freshdesk vs Awesome SupportHelp ScoutFreshdeskAwesome SupportPrice of the extension (for a single site)$79$79$49Price of the service (per month, per agent)Free or $79 for the first premium tierFree or $16 for the first premium tierFreeSupported agents (for the basic tier)Unlimited3UnlimitedSupport channelsVia WordPr ess and via their platformVia WordPress, via their platform, and via phoneVia WordPressSupport for knowledge basesYesYesYes (another add-on)The value of WooCommerce support extensionsA good support experience is valuable for any service website, and doubly so for WooCommerce  sites. Big names such as Amazon understands this, going  above and beyond to provide an excellent  experience. This might seem like a waste of resources, especially when you could be focusing on internal  matters such as improving your invoicing  systems, but its arguably one of the reasons why the big companies dominate the market.Simply put, if youre committed to providing high-quality support,  installing a  WooCommerce support extension could improve your brand and customer experience, ultimately increasing your sales.The best WooCommerce support extensions comparedBelow, weve chosen three WooCommerce support extensions to focus on. Weve looked at their main features,  how well they integrat e, their price, and a quick consideration of each solutions best use case. Theyre in no particular order, so lets get started!Help ScoutHelp Scout is a big name in the support industry, with notable customers such as Basecamp, Buffer, and Pocket. They arent built exclusively for e-commerce support, but the necessary  functionality is included all the same.Main featuresCustomers can make multiple reports and check  on their status on a  personal dashboard.You  can  start conversations with customers while checking individual orders and posts.You can add Carbon Copy (CC) and Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) report recipients. This is perfect if you want to be kept in  the loop for tickets  while letting others handle them.Ability to handle reports from within WooCommerce, or through the Help Scout platform.You can embed customizable forms on your pages.Integration with WooCommerceAlthough Help Scout does enable you to handle reports within your store, you need to pay for a subscr iption on top of purchasing the extension. Once the extension is set up and youre subscribed, youll need to manually link your Help Scout account to WooCommerce.Price$79, $99, and $199 yearly subscriptions for the extension, which entitles you to support and updates. Afterwards, youre free to continue using the extension, albeit without further support.A  Help Scout subscription will cost you $20 or $40 per user, per month unless you stick to the free plan, which limits you to a single mailbox.When to consider using Help ScoutHelp Scout is a  robust support tool that  handles tickets from orders and posts, complete with  the option of automatically forwarding report copies via email.FreshdeskFreshdesk includes support for both WordPress sites and WooCommerce operations. It enables users to handle tickets in an organized fashion through the use of tags and categories, and to manage automatic replies.Main featuresEnables users to check their active tickets through their WooCom merce accounts.Provides your support team with private forums to discuss internal issues.Connects specific products to Freshdesk forums and categories, for easier management.Enables you to create a custom knowledge base that tackles the most common support issues for your operation.Lets  your team to provide support via Voice Over IP (VoIP) using the Freshdesk platform.Integration with WooCommerceSimilarly to  Help Scout, Freshdesk requires you to both purchase its extension and create an account on their platform to get started, then link your desired products.Price$79, $99, and $199 yearly subscriptions for the extension, including updates and support. You are free to keep the extension afterwards, but youll have to renew your subscription to access those features again.There are several pricing tiers for  Freshdesk: Free, $19, $35, $49, and $89 per month, per agent.When to consider using FreshdeskFreshdesk is ideal for providing your support team with a tool that enables th em to collaborate on support issues. In addition, it includes also a VoIP option if youd like  to go down that route.Awesome SupportAwesome Support in itself is an awesome (pun intended) tool if you want to provide support directly via your main WordPress website. And with this additional WooCommerce extension, you can integrate your store tightly with your way of handling customer support.Main featuresAll your e-commerce products visible in the Products tab of Awesome Support by default.Enables customers to leave feedback on their purchases, and send in support tickets.Every ticket can be linked to its corresponding order.Customers can specify which product within the order the ticket is related to.Everything is tied together, support tickets, products, and orders.Easy to use for your customers they can go to their account page, find a specific order theyre having problems with, and click the Get Help button to submit a ticket. All within a single dashboard.Integration with WooC ommerceThe integration in this case is very straightforward. All you need to do is first install and activate the main Awesome Support plugin, which is free. And then, install and activate the WooCommerce extension. After that, youre good to go. No sign-up anywhere needed.Price$49 (single site), $88 (two-five sites), $158 (unlimited sites). Each of these plans also entitles you to a full year of updates and premium support both for the extension itself and the main Awesome Support plugin.When to consider using Awesome SupportAwesome Support is a great solution for those who need deep integration with WordPress and WooCommerce, and dont necessarily want to have to sign up for a third-party support tool.ConclusionGood client relations are the bedrock of any e-commerce operation that wishes to succeed. Failure to get on board with customer relations could see your reputation take a hit, and your sales tumble.The three WooCommerce support extensions were featured provide you with all o f the necessary tools to achieve good customer service. Lets take one final look at each of them, and their best features:Help Scout: Lets you handle support tickets for orders and general inquiries through posts.Freshdesk: Enables you to offer  support using regular tickets and VoIP calls, and provide a community for your team.Awesome Support: Provides good integration with WooCommerce products and orders, and also lets customers submit tickets through their main user panel on your site.Are there any other WooCommerce support extensions that you would personally  recommend? Share them with everyone else in the comments section below!