Tidio vs Zendesk: Which customer support tool is best?

You can’t pay for better advertising than happy customers, and unhappy ones can significantly damage the reputation of your business. This is why finding the best customer service platform is a top priority. Tidio and Zendesk are two popular customer support solutions. In this guide, we’ll give you a side-by-side comparison of the best live chat software to help you choose the right tool for you. 

What is Tidio?

Tidio is an omnichannel customer service platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) with features such as live chat, a help desk, ticketing systems, no-code automated flows, order management, and conversational AI agents. The company was founded in 2013 as a live chat widget for websites by Marcin Wiktor and Tytus Golas, and is targeted toward e-commerce businesses like Shopify. Tidio is headquartered in San Francisco and serves customers all over the world. 

You can use Tidio to automate a variety of customer service interactions so your employees can use their time wisely and tackle more complex tasks. Your customer service agents will be more productive, and your customers will get quick answers to their questions. Tidio also collects customer data that you can use to improve your business and better understand customer needs.

What is Zendesk?

Zendesk is another AI-driven customer service platform, founded in Denmark in 2007 by Mikkel Svane, Alexander Aghassipour, and Morten Primdahl. With offices around the world and over 4,000 employees, Zendesk offers a knowledge base, omnichannel messaging and live chat, and personalized AI voice support. 

As a full-scale customer service and analytics platform, Zendesk helps businesses providea centralized location for call management and high-quality customer support. Its AI agents can resolve many calls independently and forwards complicated calls to human agents. Zendesk collects data on all interactions so you can track performance trends and improve your customer support over time.

Who should use Tidio vs Zendesk?

Zendesk is a larger company than Tidio, and its product offerings are also more comprehensive. Tidio can be used by businesses of all sizes, but it’s also simple enough for an e-commerce sole proprietor to use. The following Tidio vs Zendesk comparison will explain more. 

Target audience for Tidio

Tidio’s target audience tends to be more generalized and smaller than Zendesk’s. The following types of businesses will benefit from choosing Tidio over Zendesk. 

E-commerce companies

Tidio’s seamless integration with platforms such as Shopify makes it a natural fit for e-commerce sites. You can live chat with customers directly from your dashboard and automate e-commerce retail features such as cart recovery, order updates, and product suggestions based on customer actions. 

Small and medium-sized businesses 

Because it’s a lighter tool, small and medium-sized businesses may find Tidio easier to use than Zendesk. Tidio has a simple, no-code chatbot builder that allows businesses to create specialized chatbots to automate customer service. Tidio is also more cost-effective for smaller businesses. 

Startups and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies 

With AI-powered chatbots and multilingual support, Tidio can be a good option for startups and SaaS companies that need to answer product questions and automate onboarding tasks but don’t have a large IT department or need a complicated ticketing system. 

Target audience for Zendesk

Zendesk’s target audience tends to be larger businesses and those with complex support needs. 

Large enterprises

Large corporations with complex ticketing needs will get the most out of Zendesk’s comprehensive support solution. IT departments can use the automated routing system, service-level agreement (SLA) enforcement, and performance tracking to help multiple departments deliver effective support. 

Zendesk also offers multibrand support, which corporations can use to manage support for different brands and product lines. 

Customer service departments in large corporations 

Zendesk’s skill-based routing system is ideal for customer service teams that send calls to different departments, such as technical support, billing, and sales. With an internal knowledge base, Zendesk empowers customer service agents to quickly locate answers and respond to customer questions consistently. 

Established tech and larger SaaS companies

As tech and SaaS companies grow, they can have more complicated support needs that will work well with Zendesk’s expanded offerings. Zendesk’s automated AI agents and macros can automate workflows and improve agent efficiency and productivity. 

Key features of Tidio

Tidio’s key features include 

1. Live chat: A lightweight chat widget makes it simple to communicate directly with customers through canned responses, AI, or human interaction. 
2. Flows: No-code automation paths trigger key actions at specified points in the customer journey.
3. Lyro AI agent: This conversational AI can answer up to 70 percent of customer questions and free up your team to focus on high-value, complex tasks. 
4. Order management: Integrate with Shopify to see your customers’ carts, recommend products, and view purchase history during customer conversations. 
5. Ticketing: Tidio’s simple ticketing system allows you to manage, assign, prioritize, and respond to customer requests from one unified dashboard. 

Key features of Zendesk

Zendesk’s key features include 

1. Messaging: Conduct personalized conversations across multiple channels and seamlessly connect them all.
2. Help center: Empower customers to find answers to their own questions with a customer-facing knowledge base. 
3. AI agents: Automate up to 80 percent of your customer interactions with Zendesk’s sophisticated, personalized support. 
4. Routing and intelligence: Zendesk’s built-in routing and intelligence capabilities ensure that every call is routed to the appropriate agent based on their skill level, workload, and availability. 
5. Integrations: With hundreds of integrations, themes, and partners, you can use Zendesk with almost any tool you currently use. If you need an integration that doesn’t exist, its application programming interface (API) and application framework make it simple for developers to create one. 

Common features of Tidio and Zendesk

Because Tidio and Zendesk are both AI-powered customer service platforms, they share similar features. The following features are offered by both platforms: 

Omnichannel support

Customers expect 24-7 support, whether that’s through phone, text, or email. If they’re browsing your website or social media, a quick point of contact should be readily available for any customer queries. Both Tidio and Zendesk allow you to connect with customers on multiple channels, such as live chat, email, and social media. You can also seamlessly switch between channels, so a conversation that started via text can be escalated to voice. 

Automation

Customer service agents tend to answer the same types of questions over and over. Questions such as “Where’s my order?” often have simple answers, so they’re ideal for automation. Automating repetitive workflows is one of the most effective methods of increasing efficiency. Tidio and Zendesk both support automating the most repetitive aspects of customer service through predefined customer interactions and workflows. You can set parameters to trigger a response based on issues such as checking order statuses, answering frequently asked questions (FAQs), collecting customer feedback, and escalating interactions. 

Data analytics

“Data is the new oil” may sound like a cliche, but its value to businesses is undeniable. Zendesk and Tidio include reporting analytics features that allow you to track metrics related to customer service, such as response times, resolution times, and customer satisfaction rates. These reporting features allow you to track relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can improve performance and efficiency over time. 

Collaborative tools

Few things are as frustrating for your customers as having to repeat their issue to multiple agents. Collaborative features in Tidio and Zendesk eliminate this source of frustration. Your agents can track progress on a call, assign tickets, view private notes, assign tags, and mention other agents. You can also set up specific user permissions and separate inboxes for different teams. 

Response detection 

Too much help can be just as annoying as too little. If one agent is responding to a customer request and another jumps in, this can be confusing and frustrating for customers. Tidio and Zendesk have measures that allow agents to track when another agent is working on a ticket to avoid overlapping responses. 

Mobile apps 

Business owners and agents can respond to customer questions and requests on the go from the mobile apps that both companies provide. Tidio and Zendesk’s apps are available for Android and iOS and offer real-time chat management, customer data access, and workflow management. 

Unique features of Tidio and Zendesk

Although Tidio and Zendesk include many of the same features, there are some important areas where they differ. 

Tidio

Tidio’s unique offerings include 

1. No-code chatbot builder: Tidio provides a visual interface that lets you build chatbots to handle specific tasks such as offering discount codes. 
2. E-commerce-specific automation: Tidio offers deep integration with common e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify, that perform tasks such as automating cart recovery, order updates, and product recommendations. 
3. Live typing preview: Your agents don’t have to stare at three dots while they’re waiting for customers to hit send. With Tidio, they can track typing in real time so they have extra time to formulate a response. 

Zendesk

Zendesk’s unique features include 

1. Advanced ticketing system: Although Tidio offers basic ticketing, it doesn’t compare to the advanced features Zendesk offers for complex workflows. 
2. SLA tracking: Zendesk allows you to create SLA rules, and you’ll automatically be notified if a deadline is approaching. 
3. Knowledge management: Zendesk software includes knowledge management features you can customize and use for multiple purposes, including an IT knowledge base, a customer service agent library, or a customer-facing application. 

Side-by-side comparison of key aspects

Here’s how Zendesk and Tidio stack up when you compare specific features. 

Live chat and messaging

Tidio built its brand on live chat and remains primarily focused on using it to increase customer engagement. It provides a unified inbox that gives you a centralized location for responding to customers regardless of what channel they use to initiate engagement. The preview feature gives agents a heads-up about what customers are going to ask, so they can be ready with a quick response. 

Zendesk also offers live chat and messaging options. It supports omnichannel engagement from a centralized dashboard, but it doesn’t offer a typing preview. 

AI chatbots and automation

Tidio lets you create no-code, drag-and-drop chatbots to handle lead generation, cart recovery, and FAQs. AI chatbots can quickly and easily hand off complex calls to human agents. 

Zendesk has more robust AI-powered ticket routing and response suggestions. It provides AI-driven suggestions for knowledge-base articles and makes ticket assignments based on agent skills and other relevant parameters. 

Help desk and ticketing

Tidio’s lightweight ticketing allows you to create tickets from chats and emails. You can tag tickets and assign each one a priority. 

Zendesk’s help desk and ticketing system is more powerful and includes multistep workflows. You can create customized parameters for ticket status, priority, and routing and track and enforce SLAs for response and resolution times. 

Integrations and ecosystem

Zendesk has the upper hand on integrations and ecosystems. It comes with prebuilt integrations for hundreds of applications and tools. It also gives developers access to its APIs and application framework so they can easily build custom integrations. 

However, Tidio performs well with e-commerce sites such as Shopify. It’s a top choice on the Shopify app for live chat. 

Pricing and plans

Tidio pricing and plans include 

• Free plan: Best for sole proprietors with basic chat and chatbot features; includes 50 conversations and basic customer support tools such as live chat and social media integration 
• Growth plan: Starts at $49.17 per month; includes everything in the Free plan plus up to 2,000 conversations, advanced analytics, and permissions 
• Plus plan: Starts at $749 per month; includes everything in the Growth plan plus a custom number of handled conversations, a success account manager, custom branding, and open API 
• Premium plan: Starts at $2,999 per month; includes everything in the Plus plan as well as unlimited conversations and a guaranteed 50 percent resolution rate with Lyro AI 

Zendesk pricing and plans include 

• Suite Team: Priced at $55 per agent per month for ticketing system and support, help desk, AI agents, analytics, dashboard, over 1,000 apps and integrations, digital onboarding, and adoption resources
• Suite Growth: Priced at $89 per agent per month and includes everything in Suite Team plus multiple ticket forms, light agents, SLA, customer satisfaction ratings, multiple languages, and employee self-help portal
• Suite Professional: Priced at $115 per agent per month and includes everything in Suite Growth plus custom and live analytics, side conversations, skills-based routing, and HIPAA-enabled access to Sunshine conversations
• Suite Enterprise: Priced at $169 per agent per month and includes everything in Suite Professional plus Sandbox, AI-enabled content cues, content blocks, custom agent roles, and dynamic workspaces 

Overall comparison table

Improve your Tidio or Zendesk experience with Jotform 

Whether you choose Tidio or Zendesk, or another Zendesk alternative, Jotform AI Agents can improve your customer support automation. Jotform provides an automated solution that helps you manage customer inquiries, collect feedback, and improve user experience. 

Key benefits

Jotform provides the following benefits for customer service teams:

AI-powered responses

Instantly answer common customer questions and eliminate wait times. Keeping your customers waiting on human agents is frustrating and overwhelms your customer service team. With Jotform, your customers will get answers immediately with little to no human intervention required. 

Customized chatbots

You can choose from thousands of prebuilt chatbots for almost every industry and use case. If you can’t find exactly what you need, you can create your own so it suits your needs perfectly. These smart, form-based chatbots can guide customers through filling out forms, reducing mistakes and making the process frictionless. They can also collect customer feedback and issue reports that you can use to implement continuous improvement loops. 

Some of the most popular Jotform AI Agents include 

• Phone agents with human-sounding voices that answer immediately with no wait time
• Chatbot agents that can walk customers through service issues
• Voice agents that listen and understand what customers are saying 
• Messenger agents that communicate directly through Facebook
• Kiosk agents that work with your displays

Jotform has prebuilt agents in multiple industries, including 

• Customer support
• Sales
• Healthcare agencies
• Photography studios
• Pharmacies
• Human resources managers
• Travel agencies
• Summer camps
• Pet adoption agencies
• Fundraising 

Multichannel automation

Jotform can improve your customer experience on every level. Each channel has its own quirks and benefits, so the ideal agent will respond differently with every interaction. Don’t rely on one chatbot to interact with customers on social media and on the phone. Instead, customize chatbots for each channel. People who are reaching out via social media have different expectations than those who are calling you directly. Create AI Agents who are capable of delivering on different customer expectations. 

A WhatsApp agent will be brief and to the point, while a phone agent can display humanlike empathy and go in as much detail as your customers want. Jotform has over 7,000 agents for every imaginable aspect of customer service.

Workflow automation

Jotform’s AI Agents can be configured to trigger support actions based on customer responses. They can

• Play videos based on customer requests
• Search websites for specific content
• Trigger predefined workflows such as filling out forms or processing approvals
• Send email notifications
• Schedule appointments
• Send out lists 
• Take notes
• Send API requests 
• Collect signatures
• Get consent 

Integration 

Jotform has prebuilt integration with Zendesk that you can use to automatically turn form submissions into new tickets. This integration allows you to 

• Collect customer requests, orders, and more through your website
• Automatically create Zendesk tickets when customers submit a new form
• Work with your team to process requests 

You can also integrate Jotform AI Agents with multiple other business tools that you use on a regular basis, such as Google Drive, Zapier, Mailchimp, and more. 

In addition to AI Agents, Jotform provides powerful forms that are trusted by over 30 million users. Our forms use conditional logic, accept payments, generate reports, and automate workflows. Our drag-and-drop user interface is simple to use and requires no coding skills. Create forms quickly, integrate them into your site, and collect feedback by email. 

Jotform also offers an entire suite of tools that streamline data management. Jotform Tables allows you to organize data, while Jotform Inbox lets you manage responses. Jotform Workflows provides automated solutions that free up your staff and handle tedious administrative tasks. What’s more, Jotform takes your data privacy seriously. We offer data protection measures that will keep your proprietary information and your customer data secure. 

No matter your business or industry, you can get more done with Jotform. Jotform is the future of customer service, where you can instantly respond to any customer, anywhere, at any time. You can get started today for free, or reach out for a custom quote.

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash