

Ask HN: What tools do you use for your startups customer service - feint

Looking for some suggestions on the best services to run customer service within a startup
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rdhn
I chose Assistly to handle our customer contact, after assessing it against
ZenDesk. Both are good. I went with Assistly because I found the user
experience to be better (ZenDesk defaults to updating the user on every stage
of their ticket's progress) and I found Assistly themselves to be responsive
(answered my questions quickly and honestly, weren't afraid to admit that they
don't have features and say what is / isn't under consideration for future
updates).

I'm using the Assistly knowledgebase feature too, and it is well integrated.
It's a bit basic so I expect to migrate as we grow. Probably to Joomla.

Do you plan on email support only, or are you looking at social media and
phone too?

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nickh
There're many solutions, from installable software such as Redmine[1] to
hosted services such as TenderApp[2], GetSatisfaction[3], UserVoice[4],
ZenDesk[5], FreshDesk[6], Groove[7], etc.

It all depends on what your needs are.

[1] <http://www.redmine.org>

[2] <http://tenderapp.com>

[3] <http://getsatisfaction.com>

[4] <http://uservoice.com>

[5] <http://zendesk.com>

[6] <http://freshdesk.com>

[7] <http://groovehq.com>

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pbreit
ZenDesk seems to be the most popular and the price is quite reasonable.
Assistly has made some inroads but is quite a bit more expensive. Kayako used
to be popular in the startup community but I'm not sure it's held up.
FreshDesk is a new entrant somewhat similar to ZenDesk.

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massarog
I use <http://snapengage.com> to interact with users of my website as well as
companies who are inquiring about working with us. It works great and people
really utilize the live chat.

