Our opinion on Freshdesk, features, user tests, problems and solutions

Need an opinion on Freshdesk ? Some companies implement this customer support solution to use it as a CRM tool (without actually replacing it): this helpdesk tool dedicated to customer support offers a number of features, the main one being ticket management, which helps to organise the management of requests, and ultimately, sales performance, by controlling customer tracking and data.

appvizer 's mission is to guide you in your choice of SaaS software, and to give you our opinion on the best customer service software. Should you choose Freshdesk? Is this platform capable of boosting the productivity of your agents and increasing the satisfaction of your customers? Let's take a look at all the facets of the tool so you can form your own opinion.

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Summary of Freshdesk reviews :

Freshdesk, for what type of business?

Assessment of ticket management: table of features

User test: the customer service agent dedicated to after-sales service

Customer testing via the web support portal :

• The knowledge base
• The community forum

Assessment of helpdesk security

Our opinion of the performance reports

Stimulating employees in a fun way? We love it!

Our opinion on the integration capabilities :

• Native integrations
• Create your own integration with a FreshPlug

Let's take a look at the solution's ability to evolve internationally

Freshdesk, what our customers say

Our recommendation: get support:

• 8 questions to ask yourself before deploying customer service software
• Tailor-made advice is essential

Our view on pricing

Freshdesk, the appvizer opinion

Freshdesk, for what type of business?

The obvious: a customer support solution is only useful if the number of customers managed per person is large and if at least two people are managing requests, or if the need for assistance is substantial.

The prejudice: only large SMEs or major international accounts use Freshdesk.

Freshdesk customers come in all shapes and sizes: companies of all sizes and in all sectors rely on Freshdesk, including service companies, industrial companies, high-tech start-ups and software publishers. In France, La Poste and Pages Jaunes are among its long-standing customers. Abroad, the solution has won over Honda, Azimo, Sony Pictures, etc.

Take a close look at your organisation's needs and situation: if necessary, call in a specialist expert to help you take a step back and get some sound advice. We'll give you a few tips on this below.

First, let's take a look at Freshdesk's features.

Ticket management

appvizer's opinion of Freshdesk's ticket management features: centralisation, automation and productive intelligence are three key concepts that define the software's system as a true service centre. The table below details and justifies these three superlatives.

User test: the customer service agent dedicated to after-sales service

• our service is working hard to deliver as quickly as possible,
• the customer will benefit from a commercial gesture,
• the carrier has had a tyre problem and the delivery will be made today in the morning,
• in accordance with our internal customer relations policy, delivery costs will be waived in the event of a delay of more than 12 hours.

The customer sees our message in response to their request on Facebook.

I create an alert for 2pm in the afternoon, in order to check that our customer has received the delivery within the new promised timeframe.

At 2pm, my alert warns me: I check. The delivery has been made. The ticket is closed. The customer's signature on the delivery note automatically triggered a customer feedback request: this is an automatic form with multiple scenarios so that the customer can tell us about their experience.

By giving their opinion on their order, our customers benefit from a 10% discount on a minimum purchase of 110 euros.

In this way, we can measure how our actions and our responsiveness are perceived, assess the overall satisfaction of our customers, and improve what needs to be improved.

When we apply Freshdek to concrete actions, we see that the system has some strong points:

• the automation of tasks saves precious time so that we can concentrate on solving the problem and satisfying the customer,
• the flexibility of ticket management means that there's no need for agents to get tangled up in each other's work, or in the status of tasks.

Customer testing via the support web portal

Now let's take another point of view: that of the customer looking for answers to their questions. Our objective as customers: to find precise answers.

The knowledge base

As a customer, I can find answers in a knowledge base integrated into Freshdesk, which agents can add to based on their experience and update on an ongoing basis:

• I don't know how to use my new ultra-modern television, I'm not a geek but I want to create special connections with internet services and applications, I'm the type of customer who's a bit of a pain in the arse, who won't give up until he's got all his questions answered.
• So I want more than a simple FAQ, which is the basics, I want practical, step-by-step information that will actually help me.
• my helpdesk directs me to educational articles and tutorials (I prefer the word tutorial, but that's not the point).
• I stop pestering my customer support agents, they've been super-responsive and I have all the information I need to master my new TV.
• I'm satisfied, I can't believe all the knowledge I've been able to access online.

The community forum

As a customer, I have an opinion on everything, and I like to chat, by which I mean share my passion with others. So I'm joining the Freshdesk community, and the specific forum on the latest TV models, because :

• I've got lots of ideas to share, and I've discovered lots of tips about my TV: I'm also a great source of information for newbies (I'm so proud)! I'm also learning a few tricks, I admit,
• I've also got suggestions for improving TVs - technology moves fast, I know what I'm talking about,
• I'm already dreaming of the TV of the future (and I'm not the only one in the collaborative forum): if the brand could take that into account, it would be genius!

Estimating helpdesk security

Managing access rights and guaranteeing the security of all customer data is crucial to the smooth running of support operations.

On these points, Freshdesk demonstrates arguments that trigger our favourable opinion:

• Provision of personalised SSL certificates (Secure Sockets Layer exchange security protocol) whatever your domain name and URL,
• Definition of your whitelist of secure IP addresses, to define per user the connection authorisations to your internal or external network,
• Simplified authentication of your agents thanks to a single connection for all communication channels, even via personal Facebook, Twitter or Google accounts, for example.

How we feel about performance reports

Measuring the effectiveness of your customer support means identifying good practices, but also areas for improvement. Your customers' satisfaction depends on it (and so do your sales).

To help you with your evaluations, Freshdesk provides the following performance reports:

• number of tickets opened and closed
• customer satisfaction rate,
• processing time overall or by ticket type,
• average resolution time versus estimated response time,
• workload per employee,
• comparative performance reports between agents,
• overall team performance,
• performance per user,
• trends in customer requests,
• comparative reports based on key indicators,
• detection of high-influence locations, communication channels and times,
• assessment of the accuracy and quality of responses, etc.

You can also integrate your satisfaction surveys, so you can compare the work done by your agents with your customers' perceptions... and improve your knowledge of your customers.

Our verdict: Freshdesk is a top performer when it comes to retrieving information, thanks to its well thought-out dashboards and reports. Next question.

Stimulate employees in a fun way? We love it!

Our opinion on integration capabilities

Is your team used to using certain business applications? Does your organisation need to integrate a CRM to communicate with your helpdesk tool? Let's see if Freshdesk provides you with concrete solutions.

Native integrations

More than 190 plug & play native integrations are available for :

• CRM tools such as Salesforce's Sales Cloud and Blue Note CRM systems,
• Invoicing, accounting and management software such as QuickBooks,
• e-commerce solutions such as Shopify, PrestaShop or WooCommerce,
• CMS such as WordPress or Magento (e-commerce CMS),
• Google tools such as analytics, calendar, contacts, hangouts and Drive,
• file storage and sharing systems such as DropBox or OneDrive,
• Slack, Zapier, Mailchimp, Skype, Paypal, we're not going to do them all, don't worry.

Create your own integration with a FreshPlug

Are you using a third-party application and don't have a native integration to import the information you need?

Create it yourself: CSS, JavaScript and HTML style sheets let you customise your FreshPlug.

If you want to go even further and push specific, custom development via the RESTful API, you can. However, it's advisable to be accompanied by a professional with experience in this area: we'll talk more about this and other similar points below.

You're also looking for the little beast without finding it. But no, there's nothing to say about interoperability. The devil's advocate can take a hike.

Let's take a look at the solution's ability to evolve internationally

Let's take a look at the elements of Freshdesk likely to answer the question:

• 26 languages available on each workstation,
• scheduling of working hours according to a country's local time,
• support relays directed to the site that is open (while another is closed),
• unique support services for an unlimited number of products,
• knowledge base and community forum for each product.

With a single account capable of managing multiple helpdesks, you can set up a single helpdesk deployed worldwide.

Freshdesk, what our customers say

What do customers think of Freshdesk? It's he who says it's there: overview.

More responsive and efficient, we can measure how well we're meeting our commitments. Thanks to Freshdesk, all requests relating to our activities are now centralised, enabling us to process them and have global visibility of our services and their quality.

Julien Allegret, Customer Service Manager, PagesJaunes REst

Our resolution times have never been faster. Our recommendation rate rose from 3 to 9.6 after implementing Freshdesk. We have seen a 25% increase in sales to the same customers.

Paul Miller, DoctorBase

This means we can keep track of all our customers' emails, tweets and comments on Facebook.

Zuzana Bednarikova, Codilit

We were able to install Freshdesk in just a few hours to meet the needs of our 22 shopping centres in Brazil. I've never seen a tool as intuitive as Freshdesk.

Fernando WanderleyAncar Ivanhoe, Brazil

It's very simple to implement Freshdesk with all our third-party software suppliers. It's made our job a lot easier.

Mitch Greenwald, Cloudbakers

Our recommendation: get support

A word of warning: using Freshdesk customer service software requires careful thought beforehand if you want to deploy it effectively and sustainably.

Before taking the plunge, consider all the aspects that will contribute to the success of your customer support service:

• assess your current situation
• determine your objectives,
• your choice of features, whether advanced or not,
• your choice of package,
• think about training your staff,
• make sure the solution is available, - etc.

8 questions to ask yourself before deploying your customer service software :

1. What are your customer support objectives?
2. Who is in contact with your customers?
3. What are their tasks?
4. Do you need to provide help to professionals?
5. How should you respond to your customers, depending on the communication channel?
6. What methods should you use?
7. How can the software help my business and to what extent?
8. How should agents be trained?

Tailor-made advice is needed

In France, the most logical approach is to opt for an official Freshworks (formerly Freshdesk) partner in France , such as Blue note systems: this type of specialist will guide you from the analysis of your needs and expectations right through to deployment, including familiarisation with the tool via an approved training centre. To use Freshdesk in French, Blue note systems ensures, for example, the availability of unlimited assistance and support for your users.

It's essential to rely on this type of specialist who has mastered the management of the customer journey: a well-informed view from the outside ensures that you don't forget anything and avoid technical errors right from the start, that you can import your data with complete peace of mind and, above all, that you can configure your helpdesk to suit your needs.

And last but not least: as we mentioned earlier, if you want to launch a specific development to better meet your business needs, it's best to call on a player who has mastered the RESTful API to integrate your expectations for a fluid and functional result on the user side.

Our view on pricing

Let's take a look at the table below, which contains the main elements to help you appreciate the different Freshdesk packages and the main associated services.

Those who specialise in making things up can note in their notebooks that e-mail support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that telephone support is also available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week for all packages.

Our opinion of Freshdesk prices: given the features on offer, the prices offered defy the competition on the French market.

The logic is always the same: the more features you want, and the higher the level of technical expertise you require, the higher the prices, but reasonably so.

See all software Customer Service

Freshdesk, the appvizer opinion

Whatever the communication channel, Freshdesk will support you: armed with time-saving features, your agents are ready to draw answers faster than their shadows.

We're really impressed by all the ways in which you can anticipate expected problems: task automation, collaborative aspects, online support resources, fun user experience (motivation), intelligent ticket management.

As a supervisor, performance reports allow you to monitor the activity of your agents, but also to identify areas for improvement: Freshdesk has succeeded in marrying proactivity and customer satisfaction.

It's no doubt for all these reasons that the Freshdesk platform has been included for the 2nd year running in the Magic Quadrant Helpdesk 2017 ranking by the renowned IT research institute Gartner.