Intercom is a customer support platform best known for their messenger product which allows customers to ask questions and get help from companies directly through a chat box on a website (typically a chat box in the lower right hand corner). It has an impressive list of clients, but they are mostly focused on technology. We think Intercom is a great product, however, we don’t typically recommend it for eCommerce companies. It comes with a premium price tag and doesn't have as tight of an integration with Shopify as our recommended tool Gorgias.
Read our full guide on: Customer Support Platforms 🙏
Best for: Medium ($10-50M revenue), and Enterprise ($50M+) size companies
Intercom is a customer service platform that is at the forefront of AI automation for customer support.
Intercom was founded in August 2011 by Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, David Barrett, and Ciaran Lee, who had previously built and sold a bug-tracking software company called Exceptional. Inspired by a Dublin coffee shop owner's approach of establishing personal connections with customers, the founders envisioned a company focused on enabling personalized customer interactions online. After selling Exceptional to Rackspace in 2011, the group used their acquisition funds to launch Intercom with the vision of "making internet business personal." Intercom started by offering one-way chat messaging for small businesses to contact users before expanding into a broader customer interaction platform.
Messenger
Intercom is perhaps best known for their Messenger offering. Intercom's Messenger serves as a centralized platform for customer conversations, allowing businesses to customize and synchronize communication across multiple channels such as email, SMS, WhatsApp, and social media. This hub reduces duplicate tickets and connects users to Help Centers, product tours, and additional support features.
Inbox
The Inbox is designed to facilitate collaboration between agents and customers, supporting various communication channels. It connects to over 400 services, enabling seamless integration with tools like Jira, Salesforce, Stripe, and Slack. Features include personalized responses, service-level agreements (SLA), routing automation, and workload management for quick response times.
Management Dashboard
The Management Dashboard provides tools for monitoring and managing customer interactions. It offers insights into agent reports, response times, ticket load, and real-time metrics, allowing support team managers to track total support volume, team capacity, and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Product Tours
Product Tours is a no-code workflow builder that aids businesses in providing user guides, walking users through applications, and highlighting key features. This feature supports event tracking and analytics to monitor usage, offering an interactive way to onboard and support users.
Help Center
Help Center Articles is a content hub where businesses can publish, organize, and monitor support articles. This feature aims to reduce repetitive questions by providing customers with organized FAQs. It supports automatic translation into 47 languages, brand customization, and video integration.
AI & Automation
Intercom's AI & Automation features are powered by GPT-4 and include Fin, an AI bot designed to instantly and accurately answer support questions by leveraging existing macros, past conversations, and Help Center articles. Fin aims to solve 50% of customer queries, reducing the workload for support teams. Customizable no-code automated bots further enhance customer interactions by sorting conversations, engaging leads, and directing customers to help center articles automatically.
Intercom’s pricing is based on a per seat pricing model. The company offers three pricing tiers: Essential, Advanced, and Expert.
Intercom’s pricing tiers:
Essential ($39 per seat per month): The Essential plan includes a shared inbox and ticketing system. It supports live chat and inbound email. It also includes a help center.
Advanced ($99 per seat per month): The Advanced plan includes everything in the Essential plan in addition to multiple team inboxes and advanced automation workflows. It adds social as a support channel.
Expert ($139 per seat per month): The Expert plan includes everything in the Advanced plan in addition to workload management and multiple help centers. It also adds custom roles and SSO & identity management.
What does an intercom do?
Intercom is a comprehensive customer interaction platform offering a range of tools to facilitate personalized communication and support for businesses. Its Messenger serves as a centralized hub for customer conversations across various channels, while the Inbox enables collaboration and integrates with multiple services. The Management Dashboard provides insights into customer interactions, and Product Tours offers a no-code solution for user guidance. Help Center Articles organizes support content to reduce repetitive queries. Powered by GPT-4, Intercom's AI & Automation features include Fin, an AI bot for efficient support. The platform aims to streamline customer engagement, enhance support processes, and foster effective communication throughout the customer journey.
What customers use Intercom?
Intercom has over 25,000 customers including Meta, Atlassian, Notion, H&R Block, New Relic, and Xero.
Is Intercom HIPAA compliant?
Yes, Intercom is HIPAA compliant.
Is Intercom SOC II compliant?
Yes, Intercom is SOC II Type 2 certified.
Is Intercom ISO certified?
Yes, Intercom has its ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018 certifications.
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