Customer relation management (CRM) is the core of the modern business operation. Only a company or organization that knows precisely who they are working for, what their customers expect from them, and who is likely to become the new target auditorium will get ahead in the competition and enhance conversion rates and revenue creation.
CRM is a complex process that requires the collection and processing of vast amounts of data, safe storage, and careful structuring. Back in the day, all these operations could be impossible without advanced equipment and an immense workforce.
Cloud-based SaaS providers like Salesforce and Zendesk have revolutionized the approach to CRM, making it accessible for all sorts of businesses and organizations. It opened new opportunities and helped to create new market segments.
Today businesses can choose from various different CRM SaaS providers, but Salesforce and Zendesk seem to be the most popular ones. Let’s compare these two leading providers and go through the 5 crucial points that will demonstrate the crucial difference between them, helping you make an informed decision.
Who are they meant for?
Both CRM platforms are created for customer-oriented businesses and organizations to help them monitor the demands and trends in the market and provide a timely and adequate response.
However, there is a difference in the approach to CRM in both cases.
Salesforce originally became so popular because it made complex and costly CRM accessible for all kinds of companies, including small private businesses. It allowed such companies finally walk from the shade of large corporations and create real competition in the market, becoming its righteous participants.
Zendesk originally had a bit different nature. It is built as a more complex CRM platform that, above everything else, allows the automation of customer support solutions, sales, and communication. By its definition, Zendesk is created for medium-to-large businesses and international companies that have a more complex structure and have to deal with overseas operations and networking.
These additional solutions make Zendesk a more advanced yet more expensive CRM platform, which is not always the best choice for small businesses.
Communication
Zendesk allows customers to address their requests through e-mails, messengers, and other communication streams using AI-powered bots and other automated solutions. It allows making communication with customers much more efficient, easily categorize it, and creates a convenient catalog that will be accessible for all team members.
Except for more efficient and timely communication, this approach allows to create a more accurate statistics of requests, studying the latest trends on the market, and providing an adequate response.
Salesforce allows integration of communication with customers as well as between team members into popular communication platforms like WhatsApp and provides options to respond manually as well as usage of chatbots and AI solutions.
Salesforce also offers a professional communication platform, Slack, that not only allows to easily connect team members who work on the same project but also introduces outside experts into the process and moderates it, making the team’s work most efficient.
Customer support
Zendesk is a platform aimed at maximum automatizatisation. Collecting data about customers` most frequent requests allows the creation of a fully automated customer support process, where each person may easily find the solution for their current problem.
It allows them to take the workload off the team and therefore enables them to focus on more complex, extraordinary requests r those that require specific expertise or personalized assistance.
Salesforce allows to easily provide customers with tutorials and instructions they may need to create a seamless customer experience. The platform analyses customer behavior data and the relevant requests and recommends which instructions and tutorials are most likely to be demanded in the observable future. In other words, with Salesforce, you can easily anticipate your customers` requests and provide them with the most efficient service.
Agent’s Interface
Since Zendesk is a platform aimed at a more complex CRM operation with additional features, the developers preferred to keep the interface as “clean” and minimalistic as possible. Here agents will not get overloaded with irrelevant information and vidgets and can easily customize their desktop, creating the most convenient field of action in every particular case.
Salesforce is often criticized for its “old school” interface; however, professional Salesforce Admins and Salesforce Developers claim that this design is the most convenient for a seamless workflow. It gives instant access to all the necessary data, allows one to see all the relevant information about every particular case, easily locate any case, prioritize it, etc.
Live Communication
The main distinctive feature of Zendesk is that it makes live communication with customers possible, even if you have over 1000 simultaneous requests that come from all over the world. Zendesk allows us to prioritize live chats and spread communications among the whole team, considering their geographic position, work hours, the language of communication, etc. It even allows holding instant multilingual communication making every team member and overall customer service most efficient.
Salesforce allows customers to easily contact you through their most habitual sources such as Facebook, popular messengers like WhatsApp, any social media platform, etc. The requests are instantly transferred to the team and allowed to engage in live communication or ready templates for higher efficiency. Salesforce also monitors activity on your website and social media profiles and allows you to initiate live communication, easily converting casual viewers into customers.
Conclusion
Choosing between Salesforce and Zendesk, it is essential to analyze the company that is planning to adopt its CRM solutions, its character, nature, current state, and goals.
If we are talking about a business with a complex structure that wants to enhance its customer service and overall user experience, Zendesk might be the preferable solution. In case a company wants to boost its CRM and adopt advanced marketing and sales strategies, attract new customers and conquer new market segments, Salesforce has the necessary tools and solutions.
If you want to learn more about modern CRM operation, start or boost your career in the lucrative Salesforce job market, gain your Salesforce certification and explore new professional horizons, contact CRS Info Solutions today! One of the pioneers of Salesforce training, this institute offers a unique curriculum built by practicing Salesforce experts and the necessary training to help you discover and master Salesforce CRM solutions and explore new career opportunities or perspectives for your business.