Intercom

What is Intercom

Intercom is a complete customer communications platform that helps businesses build better relationships with their customers. Founded in 2011, the company provides a suite of tools for live chat, marketing automation, and customer support, all integrated into one system. The main purpose of Intercom is to allow businesses to communicate with their customers in a personal and scalable way through a messenger on their website or inside their app. A key part of their service is Fin, a powerful AI Agent designed for customer service. Fin can understand complex questions, provide accurate answers from a company's knowledge base, and handle a large volume of customer queries automatically, freeing up human agents to focus on more difficult issues.

Intercom Features

Intercom offers a wide range of features to manage the entire customer lifecycle. Here are some of the most important ones:

• Fin AI Agent: This is an advanced AI chatbot that provides instant, high-quality answers to customer questions. It integrates with your help desk and knowledge base to resolve complex queries 24/7, reducing the workload on your support team.
• Shared Inbox: A central place for your team to manage conversations from every channel, including live chat, email, and social media. It supports team collaboration with features like internal notes and conversation assignments.
• Live Chat: A customizable messenger that you can add to your website or application. It allows you to talk with visitors and customers in real-time, providing immediate support and sales assistance.
• Help Center Articles: A tool to build a self-service knowledge base. You can create and organize articles to help customers find answers on their own, which reduces the number of support tickets.
• Product Tours: This feature allows you to create guided tours to help onboard new users. You can point out key features and guide users through your product step-by-step, improving adoption.
• Outbound Messages: Send targeted messages to users based on their behavior. This is useful for announcements, marketing campaigns, or re-engaging users who have become inactive.

Intercom Pricing Plans

Intercom offers several pricing plans designed for different business sizes and needs. The plans are typically structured in tiers.

• Starter Plan: Aimed at very small businesses and startups, this plan includes basic chat and email support features, along with a limited version of the platform to help get started.
• Pro Plan: Designed for growing businesses that need more advanced features for support, engagement, and marketing automation. This plan often includes more customization and integration options.
• Premium Plan: This is the most comprehensive plan, intended for large companies and enterprises. It includes all features, advanced security, custom reporting, and dedicated support from the Intercom team.

Pricing is usually based on the number of team member seats and the number of active contacts or people reached per month.

Intercom Free Plan

Intercom offers a 14-day free trial that provides access to most of the platform's features. This allows businesses to test the software and see if it fits their needs before committing to a paid plan. While a permanent free plan is not a standard offering, Intercom sometimes has special programs for early-stage startups that provide the tools at a very low cost or for free for a limited time.

How to use Intercom

Getting started with Intercom is a straightforward process. Here is a typical workflow:

1. Sign Up and Install: First, create an account on the Intercom website. You will then receive a small piece of JavaScript code to add to your website or application. This code installs the Intercom Messenger.
2. Configure the Messenger: Customize the look and feel of the chat widget to match your brand. Set up welcome messages for visitors to encourage them to start a conversation.
3. Set Up Your Inbox: Invite your team members and configure the shared inbox. Create rules for routing conversations to the right team or person automatically.
4. Build Your Knowledge Base: Use the Articles feature to create a help center. Write articles that answer common customer questions. This content will also be used by the Fin AI Agent.
5. Activate Fin AI Agent: Configure Fin to automatically answer questions. You can train it on your help center content and set rules for when it should hand over a conversation to a human agent.
6. Engage Customers: Create Product Tours for new user onboarding or use Outbound Messages to announce new features and promotions.

Pros and Cons of Intercom

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Intercom.

Pros:

• All-in-One Platform: It combines support, marketing, and sales tools in one place, providing a unified view of the customer.
• Powerful AI Capabilities: The Fin AI Agent is very effective at resolving customer issues automatically, saving time and resources.
• Excellent User Interface: The platform is well-designed, intuitive, and easy for both agents and customers to use.
• Proactive Engagement: Tools like Outbound Messages and Product Tours are great for proactively engaging with users.

Cons:

• Pricing: It can become expensive, especially for businesses with a large number of contacts or team members.
• Complex for Simple Needs: For a small team that only needs basic live chat, Intercom might have too many features and be overly complex.
• Feature Gating: Some essential features are only available on the higher-priced plans.

Intercom integrations

Intercom integrates with a wide variety of popular business tools, allowing you to connect your customer data across different platforms. Key integrations include:

• Salesforce: Sync leads, contacts, and conversation data between Intercom and your CRM for a complete customer view.
• HubSpot: Connect your marketing and sales data by syncing contacts and activities.
• Slack: Receive Intercom notifications in Slack channels and reply to conversations directly from Slack.
• Stripe: View customer subscription and payment data directly inside the Intercom inbox.
• Zapier: Connect Intercom to thousands of other apps to automate workflows without writing any code.
• Google Analytics: Track how Intercom interactions impact your website goals and conversions.

Intercom Alternatives

If Intercom is not the right fit for you, there are several other excellent platforms available.

• Zendesk: A powerful customer service platform with a strong focus on ticketing and help desk management. It is a good choice for large support teams that need robust ticketing features.
• Drift: Focuses more on conversational marketing and sales. It is designed to help marketing and sales teams generate leads and book meetings through live chat.
• Help Scout: A simpler and more affordable option that is great for small to medium-sized businesses. It feels like a shared email inbox and is very easy to use.
• LiveChat: A dedicated live chat software that is known for its reliability and extensive feature set for real-time customer communication.
• Freshdesk: An omnichannel helpdesk that offers a strong set of features for customer support, including ticketing, self-service, and reporting.

Intercom API

Yes, Intercom provides a comprehensive REST API that allows developers to build custom integrations and extend the platform's functionality. You can use the API to interact with data such as users, companies, conversations, and events.

To get an API key, you need to go to the Developer Hub in your Intercom settings, create a new app, and you will be provided with an access token. The developer documentation is extensive and provides guides for many use cases.

Here is a basic example using cURL to fetch a user by their ID:

curl https://api.intercom.io/contacts/{id} \
-H 'Authorization:Bearer <YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Accept:application/json'

Intercom Affiliate program

Intercom does not have a traditional public affiliate program where individuals can sign up for a link and earn commissions. Instead, they offer a Partner Program for agencies, consultants, and technology companies that work with Intercom's customers.

Partners can receive benefits like co-marketing opportunities, revenue sharing, and dedicated support. To join, you typically need to apply through the Intercom Partner Program page on their website and meet certain criteria. If you are an influencer or content creator interested in promoting Intercom, it is best to contact their marketing or partnerships team directly to discuss potential collaboration opportunities.