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April 15, 2010

HelpSpot – Build an Efficient Help Desk

HelpSpot is a webapp that aims to provide businesses with a cheaper, more efficient way help out their customers and clients. The system takes the customer feedback that’s sent in through website forms, email, and phone calls, and integrates the information into one comprehensive, centralized spot. Using this process, companies can read and respond quickly to the messages that matter most, while also giving their customers self-service options to allow them to find their own answers to many frequently asked questions online.

The way you use HelpSpot will depend largely on what type of business you run. What allows HelpSpot to be useful to so many different types of businesses is its full roster of customization options, which allows businesses to adjust and adapt the application as much or as little as they need. If you’re most interested in managing the thousands of emails to come into your business each day, then the system’s comprehensive email management and automated response tools are probably going to be what you’re most interested in trying out. For businesses that frequently receive phone calls from confused customers, meanwhile, HelpSpot’s self-service center—which gives users a way to find the answers to their own questions online—can help reduce the number of incoming calls from clients that you receive each day.

Whether it’s issue tracking or feedback management that your company needs help with, HelpSpot can provide the assistance you need. In addition, the site offers detailed measuring tools to rank staff performance and handle certain billing issues, as well as the ability to fully integrate into previously existing online systems. HelpSpot’s wide array of tools and features makes it an endlessly useful application that any business owner would be smart to check out.

Practical Uses:

  • Read and respond to more emails each day
  • Create an online community where users can get answers to their questions
  • Automate emails and send auto-reply responses to clients
  • Communicate with coworkers quickly through the HelpSpot system

Insider Tips:

  • View a request history timeline to see how much progress has been made on a particular issue
  • Assign specific employees to take care of individual requests
  • Send private messages to team members with HelpSpot’s “private notes” feature
  • Use time tracking feature to manage how you spend your workday

What we liked:

  • Email automation makes it easier to respond to the most important emails first
  • Drafts are saved every few seconds, so you won’t ever lose an important message
  • Emails are merged when a customer CCs multiple employees about a single issue
  • Online forums create a place for customers to find answers to their questions

What we didn’t like:

  • HelpSpot is a massive application, and may be too much for a smaller-size company to use

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2005
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Lagrangeville, New York
  • Founded by: Ian Landsman
  • Web site: http://www.helpspot.com

Costs:

  • Annual pricing plans start at $199 per user

Comments

  1. Well in my organization we are using “HelpStar”‘s Help Desk Software. We find it most efficient and flexible in our system. Well today i am reading about Help Spot. I ll have to do more study about its features and how this system can be integrated in large organization. Is there any detailed technical manual is available? Being an IT professional i must know how this Help Desk solution is different from “HelpStar”‘s Help Desk Software. Is their any one or company who has experience of using this help desk software?

  2. That’s not just logic. That’s really sienslbe.

  3. Rick

    Wow. Can anyone say design ripoff. Go look at assistly.com then go look at their page. Identical. They even copied the same buttons…

  4. Gergely

    We are just about implementing Helpspot (hosted version) in our organization. All readers please note, that $199 is for OWNED licenses (that you host and operate yourself), while their hosted version is only $49 / user / year + hosting fee (one can choose from different hosting plans at Helpspot’s hosting partner).

    During the test period I was really satisfied with the software’s functions – we are not a large organization, but did not feel the “massiveness” mentioned under “did not like” section (we will only use email and reporting through webform).

    Anyway – I found this review helpful, and even more helpful were the list of alternatives.

  5. Gergely

    Sorry, the $49 / user / year is support fee. $199 is the correct price.

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