Zendesk Pros and Cons: What to Like vs. Not to Like About Zendesk

As one of the leading providers of customer support software, Zendesk is understandably among the first names businesses think of when looking for comprehensive customer support tech solutions.

Such trust is well-justified: Zendesk and, more specifically, Zendesk Suite is one of the best options businesses have if they want a one-stop-shop provider that would optimize their entire customer support strategy.

However, as good as Zendesk is, it has its drawbacks, and it’s important for business owners to know both Zendesk pros and cons to be able to make an informed decision.

What’s Zendesk?

Before we talk about Zendesk pros and cons, though, let’s clarify what Zendesk even is.

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer service software that helps businesses manage customer interactions through multiple channels, including email, chat, phone, and social media. It’s one of the most popular customer service software providers in the market these days.

Zendesk Suite — which is what we’re going to talk about here — is Zendesk’s comprehensive customer service solution that offers a unified approach to managing all customer interactions. The Suite includes such tools as Zendesk Support, Zendesk Chat, Zendesk Talk, and Zendesk Guide, as well as advanced customizable features — AI-powered bots, analytics dashboards, and more.

Zendesk Suite has too many features to discuss each of them here separately, but let’s take a look at the main ones:

• Zendesk Support. We’ll address it in more detail below, but Zendesk has a great ticketing system, Zendesk Support, that helps businesses track, prioritize, and resolve customer inquiries. Agents use Zendesk Support to collaborate on tickets that come from across platforms, assign priorities, and track progress.
• Zendesk Guide.  This one’s a self-service portal for businesses to build a knowledge base or help center. Customers can find answers to common issues or explore guides and FAQs, which reduces the need for human intervention and saves agents’ time. Zendesk Guide is integrated with Zendesk Support, so agents can reference help center articles and other knowledge base materials when responding to customers​.
• Zendesk Chat. Zendesk Chat is a live chat tool that allows real-time communication between customers and agents. What’s particularly convenient is that the conversation transcripts are stored and can be converted into tickets if necessary.
• Zendesk Talk. This one’s a voice solution integrated with the Zendesk Suite. It provides Zendesk users with telephony support directly within the platform. Businesses can use it to handle inbound and outbound calls, and the available features include call routing, call recording, and voicemail.

This is just the tip of Zendesk’s iceberg, though. It’s massive and can be confusing in its entirety, so let’s try to unpack everything — the good and the not-so-good — you can expect if you choose Zendesk as the customer support software for your business.

So, what are Zendesk pros and cons?

Zendesk’s Key Perks

A Comprehensive Ticketing System

When it comes to Zendesk pros and cons, Zendesk’s main appeal is its ticketing system. The platform collects customer requests across platforms and channels — email, live chat, phone, social media, etc. — and consolidates them into one unified dashboard. This makes it easier for agents to manage multiple channels simultaneously as well as ensures no customer request goes unanswered.

The ticketing system assigns each inquiry a unique ticket number, which agents can prioritize and track through til resolution. For larger teams, Zendesk allows multiple agents to collaborate on the same ticket — which helps streamline more complex problem-solving tasks.

Also, Zendesk’s ticketing integrates with Salesforce, Slack, and Google Analytics (as well as other relevant software). That’s a very convenient feature that gives businesses a complete view of customer interactions and performance metrics; agents don’t have to keep switching between platforms back and forth.

Multi-Channel Support

Another attractive feature Zendesk has to offer is its ability to seamlessly manage customer service across multiple communication channels. Zendesk consolidates all customer interactions from email, phone, live chat, and social media platforms into one dashboard. Again, this removes the need for agents to toggle between platforms and reduces the chance of errors or missed inquiries.

There’s more to Zendesk’s omnichannel support, though. Zendesk Talk — which is Zendesk’s phone support solution — is integrated directly into the platform. Businesses using Zendesk don’t need to rely on third-party telephony systems. Of course, all calls can be logged, recorded, and converted into tickets for future reference (which is very helpful for follow-up interactions).

Customizable Help Center

Zendesk also makes it easier for businesses to create branded help centers. Those are basically self-service portals where customers can find answers to common problems without having to interact with an agent. The help center feature is great for building a knowledge base with articles, FAQs, and guides to reduce the number of routine inquiries that don’t actually require a human agent to get involved.

Zendesk’s help center is fully customizable; businesses get to edit the “theme” (meaning what the help center looks like) and functionality to align with their brand. It also integrates seamlessly with the ticketing system, so if a customer can’t find the information they need, they can immediately escalate the issue to a support agent.

Scalability

Another massive advantage of Zendesk as customer support software is its scalability. Zendesk has different pricing tiers and features that can be properly adjusted to businesses’ unique objectives and work well for both smaller and bugger businesses.

For small businesses, Zendesk’s Suite Team plan starts at $55 per agent per month and covers Zendesk’s main functions, including the ticketing system, omnichannel support, help center, AI agents, and more.

Larger businesses can opt for more advanced tiers — Suite Growth ($89 per agent per month), Suite Potential ($115 per agent per month), or even Suite Enterprise (which is fully personalized, with the price depending on various factors, from the size of the team to business objectives).

As businesses grow, they can switch between plans or customizable solutions whenever necessary, and it happens very quickly and seamlessly. Such scalability is one of Zendesk’s main competitive advantages.

Advanced Analytics and Reporting

Finally, Zendesk’s built-in reporting and analytics tools definitely deserve a mention as one of Zendesk’s main selling points. They allow businesses to monitor performance in real time, track agent productivity, and measure customer satisfaction. With Zendesk’s 20+ ready-to-use reports and dashboards, businesses can easily track critical metrics — ticket response times, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), first-call resolution rates​, and more.

Businesses that need more granular data can make the most of Zendesk’s advanced analytics with customizable reports that can be adjusted based on the specific KPIs you’re currently focused on. Businesses can then use the insights they get from Zendesk’s analytics to make informed decisions about staffing, training, and customer engagement strategies.

Zendesk’s Main Flaws

As we’re talking about both Zendesk pros and cons, we can’t avoid addressing where Zendesk could still use some work as customer support software.

Zendesk is for sure one of the best options in the market, but this doesn’t mean it’s flawless. Just like most of its competitors, Zendesk has some room for growth. The number one criticism we’d offer is that it’s sometimes overly complicated where it doesn’t have to be.

High Cost at Advanced Tiers

While Zendesk can be somewhat affordable thanks to the Suite Team option ($55 per agent per month), some of its most useful features often require subscribing to higher-tier plans.

For example, multilingual support and content are only available to Suite Growth ($89 per agent per month) holders and up. The Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on — which a lot of businesses could really use — is available only to elite Suite Enterprise members.

While even the most expensive Zendesk tiers are cheaper and infinitely more efficient than the no-software old-school approach, the high prices are a barrier for a lot of business owners who would really benefit from decent customer support software but don’t have unlimited funds to spare.

A Steep Learning Curve

For the most part, Zendesk’s user interface is intuitive. However, Zendesk’s extensive features mean there’s quite a learning curve for new users. Even with brief training, customer support teams without experience with similar software can really struggle with setting up custom workflows, managing integrations, and configuring advanced settings like automated ticket routing or macros — at least at first.

Zendesk does offer training resources, including webinars and tutorials. Still, businesses that would like to start using Zendesk and intend to fully utilize all of its countless features may need additional onboarding. This means that on top of Zendesk’s higher-than-average prices, businesses might have to invest in comprehensive staff training. It’s not cheap.

Limited Customization Without Tech Expertise

While Zendesk is customizable, certain features — such as building custom apps or altering the user interface — require coding skills or third-party developers. For companies that don’t have in-house developers, this means added costs if they need to hire outside help.

Moreover, although Zendesk supports over 700 integrations, not all business applications integrate smoothly, particularly for businesses using niche tools. This may limit its functionality for highly specialized companies and disappoint businesses that expect 100% customization.

Potential Downtime During Peak Usage

The last thing we’d like to address while discussing Zendesk pros and cons is Zendesk’s periodic problems during peak hours. Sadly, Zendesk occasionally goes through downtime during periods of high traffic — especially for businesses that experience sudden spikes in customer service requests. 

Zendesk’s uptime is generally reliable, and such incidents aren’t frequent. Still, businesses considering Zendesk should be aware of them; even short outages can disrupt service operations and take a serious toll on customer satisfaction.

Before You Give Zendesk a Chance: A Few Tips

We hope we’ve managed to communicate here that while Zendesk isn’t perfect, it is honestly one of the best options available right now if you’re looking into customer support optimization. Still, to be on the safe side, it’s always better to be prepared.

If you’re ready to give Zendesk a chance, please follow a few tips to avoid other businessowners’ mistakes:

• Assess your needs. Clearly define your customer service goals first. Zendesk Suite offers a variety of tools, so identify what your team needs most.
• Explore automation features thoroughly. Zendesk Suite comes with automation options, such as macros, triggers, and workflows. Take advantage of these to streamline processes and reduce manual tasks.
• Don’t try to save costs by forgoing customization. Personalize Zendesk to fully align with your brand and business operations. Customization takes Zendesk’s features to the next level. It’s worth the price.
• Use analytics strategically. The Suite includes exceptional reporting and analytics tools. Make the most of those — regularly review performance metrics to monitor customer satisfaction, agent productivity, and overall service performance.
• Invest in adequate training. This one can determine the success of your partnership with Zendesk. Only a well-trained team can use Zendesk’s features to the fullest, and it’s worth investing in comprehensive (and regular) training.

An Afterword

Zendesk — and specifically Zendesk Suite — is one of the industry leaders. It offers comprehensive, scalable, and omnichannel support solutions with a robust set of features — including AI-driven automation, powerful analytics, and advanced integrations.

However, its pricing, complexity, and the effort required for agents to fully master Zendesk Suite may not suit every company, especially smaller businesses that don’t need too many extra features or those looking for more personalized and human-centered support.

Having read about Zendesk pros and cons, do you feel like Zendesk might not be what you’re looking for at the moment? Check out our Top CRM systems review.

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