11 Best AI Customer Service Software for Your Small Business

Small business owners have a lot to do on any given day. Throw in a tricky customer service case, and your hands are full until closing.

Balancing customer care with management and business operations takes careful planning. We know that you value your customers (We feel the same way!), but sometimes, your priorities must shift to accomplish everything else when running your business.

To provide high-level customer care while scaling your business, you need a system that streamlines customer service without taking time away from other tasks or causing communication breakdowns.

That's where AI comes in. This post will provide an overview of AI customer service software and how it can help you manage your small business. Then, we'll list the best AI customer service tools.

What Is AI Customer Service Software?

AI customer service software automates customer service interactions at your business, freeing up time to focus on other things that need your attention.

Common features of AI customer service software are:

• Chatbots: These AI agents answer frequently asked customer questions using online web chat.
• Review Management: The ability to respond to customer reviews regardless of the platform they're left on.
• Agent Routing: If the AI tool can't help the customer, it can route the conversation to you or a teammate.

AI can help you achieve customer care goals by resolving questions faster and escalating issues requiring immediate attention. For example, customers asking about appointments will be directed to your online calendar, while customers asking maintenance questions could be directed to your FAQ pages. AI handles this routing, allowing you to focus on more critical business tasks.

Tip: Pairing AI tools with your CRM lets you track and automate customer interactions.

Best 11 AI Customer Service Software

We picked these solutions for their ease of use, technical capabilities, and positive customer reviews.

1. Thryv

Best For: Small Business Owners

Thryv's reputation management software can automatically request customer reviews. You can set up email campaigns that automatically go out when a task is complete, like finishing a project or purchasing an upgrade. Your CRM will send emails requesting a review, increasing your chances of getting one.

This product allows businesses to stand out by asking for feedback. It helps customers feel seen, which can create a positive brand experience and build long-term loyalty.

Thryv also scans your online business presence on sites like Facebook, Yelp, Google Maps, and more to help you make sure your basic information - hours, contact info, and more - is accurate and consistent and avoids confusion. Making the customer experience as simple and easy as possible is one of the best ways to show customers you care, and adding this software to your small business can help.

Pros:

• You can create automated email campaigns to request customer reviews.
• Thryv provides a free online presence scanner and Google review link generator.
• With a Business Center plan, you get access to a Thryv CRM.

Cons:

• While free, the Command Center doesn't include an AI helpdesk.
• This tool is designed for small businesses. Larger organizations may experience limitations.

Price: $228/month for Plus plan; $382/month for Professional plan; $533/month for Unlimited plan

2. Zendesk

Best For: Customer Service Teams

Zendesk is a well-known service platform with a strong reputation among customer support professionals. Its AI enhancement offering can be added to your customer service package and connects to your CRM.

Zendesk AI scans your customer information, history, and similar issues from previous client conversations. The "smart triage" feature prioritizes requests based on the customer's issue, and it collects insights from customers that go beyond a typical "How was your experience" survey.

Pros:

• Your chatbots can be available 24/7.
• Zendesk provides a collaborative workspace similar to a shared inbox.
• Zendesk AI learns from past customer interactions to improve future conversations.

Cons:

• The wide variety of features could overwhelm new users looking for simple solutions.
• Similarly, with so many features, it's worth it for businesses with a smaller call volume.

Price: $55/agent/month for Suite Team plan; $89/agent/month for Suite Growth plan; $119/agent/month for Suite Professional; $50/agent/month to add Zendesk AI to any of the previous plans

3. Kustomer AI

Best For: Franchises

Kustomer AI is an add-on that complements Kustomer's client support platform. It solves simple inquiries through its chatbot, which can answer routine questions and recall previous purchases. Plus, if the chatbot escalates the customer to a human, you don't have to spend time looking up their information or ask them to explain their issue again - because it automatically gives you a snapshot from your CRM.

Kustomer AI is helpful because it puts customer inquiries from all sources - live chat, email, and form submissions - in the same place, where communication is automatically recorded. It's great for businesses with multiple team members and customer support channels.

Pros:

• You can create return and shipping labels with just a few clicks.
• It integrates with order management systems so your customers' purchase history is readily available.
• When responding to customers, the AI can correct typos, generate replies, or further expand text you already have written.

Cons:

• Kustomer's tools are mostly made for retail businesses. The e-commerce and shipping features may not be as useful for service-based brands.
• Some features might create a learning curve for customer service newcomers.

Price: $89/month/user for Enterprise plan; $139/month/user for Ultimate plan; Kustomer AI is an additional $39/month/user and $0.75/resolution

4. Chatfuel

Best For: Social Media Customer Service

Chatfuel's AI add-on, Fuely AI, is impressive when it comes to personalizing responses and resolving customer issues. It's like a chatbot that's built into multiple social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Your customers receive support 24/7, no matter where they choose to contact you.

Fuely AI is particularly strong at solving problems relating to technical support, even in cases where you'd think the issue would require a human. That frees you up to focus on other areas of your business.

Pros:

• The advanced features make it easy to customize nearly every part of your chatbot.
• The reporting tools are helpful for measuring customer satisfaction and support.

Cons:

• The customization options are great if you've built a chatbot before. If not, this interface may be challenging to use at first.
• If you haven't started using social media for customer service yet, this platform might not be helpful for your business.
• Unless you pay for an Enterprise plan, you are limited to 1000 conversations each month.

Price: $19.99/month for Business plan; $300/month for Enterprise plan

5. Ada

Best For: AI-Powered Chatbots

Ada is powered by OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT). It's an AI customer service tool that takes personalization to another level, letting you create a character for your chatbot and customize its responses based on your brand's tone and style.

Ada is easy to set up, and you can import customer interactions to help the software learn about your brand. That way, you can train the bot to respond to customers exactly how you would - making it easier to provide personalized support even when unavailable.

Pros:

• You can customize the chatbot's tone of voice. Options include friendly, playful, plainspoken, and sophisticated.
• Ada is easy to use and only takes a few moments to set up.
• Ada can interpret your feedback and improve its responses over time.

Cons:

• The AI bot is easy to create, but it's difficult to navigate the other tools, such as reporting, routing, etc.
• The customer service metrics may not be relevant to small business owners.

Price: Contact for pricing

6. Intercom

Best For: Large Businesses

Source

Intercom's AI chatbot, Fin, is also powered by OpenAI and is integrated into systems like Facebook. Fin helps you design human-sounding chatbots so your bot's responses stay true to your brand voice.

It also has a feature that lets agents oversee all the bot's ongoing interactions. They can jump in or adjust responses if needed - and Fin learns how to update its conversations when that happens. This tool is great if you want a chatbot that learns over time and constantly improves the customer experience.

Pros:

• Intercom works with Messenger, Whatsapp, and text messages.
• Fin provides relevant information about your company and offers suggestions for responding to questions.
• Intercom provides 24/7 customer support for new users.

Cons:

• Intercom charges an additional cost for each question answered by Fin.
• Fin works and learns best by having lots of conversations. Small businesses may not have enough chat volume to get the most out of Fin's learning features.

Price: $29/seat/month for Essential plan; $85/seat/month for Advanced plan; $132/seat/month for Expert plan; Fin AI is an additional $0.99 per interaction.

7. Velaris

Best For: B2B Businesses

Source

Velaris is a B2B customer-support platform that's useful for service-based businesses. It provides personalized experiences that improve how you work with other businesses. For example, the AI analysis tool interprets customer communication and determines how happy customers are with your business. That helps you provide effective solutions that meet your customers' needs.

Velaris also has powerful reporting tools that help salespeople get to know their customers. The AI produces "action items" based on customer conversations, so you know exactly how to follow up with clients to close a deal. Not only does Velaris help you nurture customer relationships, but it also helps you generate revenue.

Pros:

• Velaris provides "health scores" that evaluate the overall performance of your business.
• The AI assistant creates customer portfolios with insights and recommendations for personalized service.

Cons:

• The advanced tools create a steep learning curve for new users.
• This tool might not be as useful if you don't have a sales team.

Price: Contact for pricing

8. Freshdesk

Best For: Medium-Sized Businesses

Source

Freddy AI is the AI assistant for Freshdesk, a customer support platform designed for medium-sized businesses. We really like the customizable automation features, and the ticket categories make it easier for business owners to stay organized.

Freddy AI lets you customize and supervise conversations in real-time so customers get the best experience possible. As a small business owner, you can teach the AI your voice and writing style, and it will recreate it for future conversations. Features like this have made Freshdesk a trusted name in customer support for most businesses.

Pros:

• The free plan gives you access to features like ticketing, shared inboxes, and tasks.
• The customer portal creates a place for customers to submit questions and look up information.
• Freshdesk supports multilingual conversations.

Cons

• Free accounts are limited to two agents and don't provide access to Freddy AI.
• Freddy AI is free for the first 100 sessions. After that, it's $100 per 1,000 sessions.

Price: Free to get started, $15/agent/month for Growth plan; $49/agent/month for Pro plan; $79/agent/month for Enterprise plan; $29/agent/month for Freddy AI add-on

9. Crisp

Best For: Integrating With Other Software

Crisp is easy to set up and integrates into email, phone, and social media channels. It also has automatic translation, so you can chat with customers in their preferred language. This feature is great for customer care because it shows you understand the customer's journey.

Crisp also has several integrations to make your job easier. For example, it can connect to Shopify to improve online shopping experiences. It also connects to MailChimp to create automated email campaigns. It's handy if you're using several pieces of software and want one tool to connect them all together.

Pros:

• Crisp has automatic audio transcription and translation features.
• Crisp is easy to set up and get started.
• The MagicReply feature incorporates past conversations into future answers.

Cons:

• There are limited marketing and sales features.
• The data collection feature isn't as powerful as other tools on this list.

Price: Free to get started; $25/workspace/month for Pro plan; $95/workspace/month for Unlimited plan

10. Runbear

Best For: Internal Communication

Runbear is a fairly new product notable for its chatbot and teamwork features. It does everything you'd expect from an AI chatbot and integrates with your team's communication channels like Slack and Microsoft Teams. It can also connect to Google Drive, ChatGPT, and even Discord, so you can chat with customers on their preferred platform.

Runbear is an incredibly innovative tool, and you have several options to customize how, when, and why you use the product.

Pros:

• Runbear can automate communication between team members.
• You can customize chatbot responses and workflows.
• The ticket triaging feature helps you organize and prioritize customer requests.

Cons:

• The free account is limited to 10 messages and one communication platform.
• You need to purchase the paid tiers to access most AI features.

Price: Free to get started; $79/month for Team plan; $299+/month for Pro or Enterprise plans

11. Tidio

Best For: Sales Chats

Tidio stands out because it has a high "resolution rate" for sales-related chats and customer service requests. Setup and integration only take a few minutes, and the "Lylo AI Chatbot" works with Messenger and WhatsApp.

Tidio also has a handy ROI calculator to test your customization as you build your chatbot. Small business owners will appreciate the seamless summaries and transparent data insights that help them get more value from each customer interaction.

Pros:

• You can try Lylo AI for free for up to 50 conversations.
• Customers who resume past chats don't affect your monthly limit.

Cons

• The chatbot doesn't connect to all of Tidio's products.
• The AI tool is limited to 300 conversations.

Price: Free to get started, $39/month for Lyro AI

AI Customer Service Software for Small Businesses

Small business owners have a special connection with their customers. Often, these customers are local and part of your community - it makes sense that you feel motivated to go above and beyond to make them happy.

Choosing the right AI customer service software adds value to your business and solves customer pain points. Your time matters, so get some of it back to focus on growth and transform your business and bottom line.

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