Zoho Desk | ||
---|---|---|
costs | ||
Money-back guarantee | 14 days | |
Per chat price | $5-10 per relevant chat | |
Starting price | $140/month | $40/user/month |
Setup fee | No | no |
Custom programming done for you | ✔ | Available by custom quote |
Seats for your staff | No seats needed | billed per user |
Terms of service | Month-to-month | billed yearly |
Overage costs | Priced per chat at current plan | |
capabilities | ||
Staffed by live agents 24/7 | ✔ | ✘ |
Text Answering | ✔ | |
New client intake | ✔ | |
AI-driven technology | ✔ Free | ✘ |
Captures email with every conversation | ✔ | ✔ |
Captures phone number if desired | ✔ | ✔ |
Appointment scheduling | ✔ | |
Client callbacks | ✔ | |
Custom branding | ✔ Free | ✔ |
Mobile-optimized | ✔ | ✔ |
Reporting & analytics | ✔ | |
Canned responses & business FAQ | ✔ | |
Pre-chat disclaimer | ✔ | ✔ |
Client portal | ✔ | |
View transcript for every chat | ✔ | |
White-glove setup | ✔ | X |
INTEGRATIONS | ||
CRM integration | ✔ | $16/agent, per month |
Zapier integration | ✔ | ✔ |
Google Analytics integration | ✔ | |
Open API | ✔ | ✔ |
AI-DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY | ||
Uses conversational AI | ✔ | |
No code builder | ✔ | |
Train chat with your data | ✔ | |
Automated lead qualification | ✔ | ✔ |
Understands user intent | ✔ | |
Smart Q&A database | ✔ | ✔ |
Smith.ai's Outsourced Chat | Live chat software | |
---|---|---|
Answers messages w/o extra staff | Yes | No, your team has to do the work |
Quick one-time setup | Yes | No, do it youself |
Responds immediately 24/7 | Yes | Depends on your staffing |
Automates lead qualification & intake | Yes | Sometimes |
Can handle multiple chats with ease | Yes | Depends on your staffing |
Screens spam & sales | Yes | No |
Smith.ai's Outsourced Chat | Chatbot Software | |
---|---|---|
Staffed by live agents | Yes | No |
Can provide empathy or emotional intelligence | Yes | No |
Can handle complex issues right away | Yes | No |
Responds immediately 24/7 | Yes | Yes |
Can provide a personalized experience | Yes | Yes, with extensive programming |
Quick one-time setup | Yes | Depends on goals and software |
AI and automation are on the top of the to-do list for brands today. However, embracing those elements is never an easy task. There are so many tools out there for AI chatbot services that you might think are opening you up to a world of opportunity — and they are.
However, it’s also opening you up to a world where you have to compare your choices, side by side, to find the best solutions. With the Smith.ai Chatbot, you get a fully-automated lead capture tool that is managed from day one by machine learning and AI. With Zoho Desk, you’ll have access to their intelligent support assistant, Zia, but the customization features and options are limited.
Zia is great at analytics and adapting to the needs of a business. Its skill builder helps it learn your business and there’s even a Knowledge Base available that can be accessed to assist with ticket responses. Plus, there are self-service solutions, including a community and the option for an online self-service portal (and considering that 90% of today’s consumers expect some kind of online service portal, that’s an important feature.)
Of course, we then come back to what’s missing—Zoho Desk will give your business all the tools to build their own chatbot. That might sound promising, but you have to read beyond the words: they’re giving you the tools. Smith.ai, on the other hand, empowers you by providing the tools and a smart AI Chatbot that learns as it goes so that you can literally set it and forget it and trust that your customers are taken care of.
In fact, as many as 25% of your customer service queries come in after-hours. Do you really want to risk missing out or paying someone serious overtime to stay late to answer the phones? While Zoho Desk does good to offer automated around-the-clock availability, Smith.ai wins this one for its AI-powered chatbot that can be tailored to the exact needs of your brand for unlimited website chat 24/7/365.