What is Intercom?
Intercom is a comprehensive AI-first customer service platform designed to enhance and streamline customer interactions, support, and product adoption. It is tailored for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to mid-market companies, offering a seamless blend of automation, AI, and conversational customer support.
Key Features and Functionality
Omnichannel Support
Intercom provides omnichannel support, allowing businesses to meet their customers wherever they are, whether through live chat, email, phone, or in-app messaging. This ensures a consistent and integrated customer experience across all communication channels.
Live Chat and Messaging
One of the standout features of Intercom is its customizable live chat widget. This tool enables immediate responses to customer inquiries, enhancing customer satisfaction. The live chat can be styled to match the business’s brand and includes options for automated chatbots and self-serve experiences.
Automated Messaging
Intercom uses built-in AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to enable automated messaging. This feature allows businesses to configure responses to frequently asked questions, ensuring customers receive relevant information quickly and efficiently, even outside of business hours.
Product Tours and Onboarding
The Product Tours add-on helps with onboarding, adoption, and feature discovery. It includes UI patterns like modals, tooltips, checklists, and multi-step tours that can be triggered based on in-app events or scheduled for specific times. This add-on aids in guiding new users through the product, enhancing their overall experience.
User Segmentation
Intercom offers robust user segmentation capabilities, allowing businesses to divide customers based on their needs and deliver personalized experiences. This includes pre-defined segments (Active, New, Slipping away), custom segments using AND/OR filters, and detailed company profiles to analyze user engagement metrics.
AI-Powered Tools
Intercom is powered by a single AI system with three major components:
- AI Agent: Provides instant, accurate answers for customers 24/7.
- AI Copilot: Offers always-on assistance for support agents, enhancing their productivity.
- AI Analyst (coming in 2024): Will provide holistic AI insights and recommendations for support leaders.
These AI tools learn from every customer conversation to improve the system continuously.
Integration and Customization
Intercom integrates with over 300 third-party applications, including CRM, marketing, and eCommerce solutions. Additionally, API access allows businesses to customize and extend Intercom’s features to fit their specific needs, enabling the automation of processes and integration with private systems.
Ticket and Case Management
The platform includes a comprehensive ticket and case management system, featuring automated responses, attachments, and screencasts. It also offers a team inbox, knowledge base, and role-based access to ensure efficient and organized support operations.
Analytics and Reporting
Intercom provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, including real-time dashboards, custom analytics, and AI-driven insights. These tools help support leaders optimize team performance and workflow automation.
Pricing and Plans
Intercom offers three main plans:
- Starter: Begins at $74/month, including features like the messenger widget, automated chatbots, shared inbox, and basic analytics.
- Pro: Custom pricing based on the number of team seats and Monthly Active Users (MAUs), with features like multiple inboxes, assignment rules, and advanced automation/analytics.
- Premium: Also custom-priced, this plan includes a real-time dashboard, custom analytics, workload management, and a service level agreement.
In summary, Intercom is a powerful customer service platform that leverages AI, automation, and omnichannel support to enhance customer interactions and product adoption, making it a versatile and effective tool for businesses aiming to deliver exceptional customer service.