About Help Scout
Help Scout is a dedicated customer support platform built for growing teams to deliver top-notch customer service. When you sign up, you get access to an entire suite of tools — including shared inbox, knowledge base, and live chat software — all built to help you create the best customer experience possible.
Help Scout's shared inbox includes features like private notes and @mentions to improve team collaboration, plus collision detection to prevent duplicate work by showing when an agent is actively working on a specific conversation. You’re also able to automate routine tasks with workflows and add additional context with customer profiles.
Help Scout's knowledge base builder, Docs, makes creating self-service content quick and easy. Built-in search functionality and organization features help customers find the answers they need quickly, and Docs-specific reports show which content is doing best and areas where you have room for improvement.
Help Scout's Beacon offers live chat capabilities and proactive support options through an embeddable widget. Customers can search your Docs site articles or submit a question to your support team right from the widget, helping them get answers when and where they need them most.
Help Scout also comes loaded with pre-built performance reporting dashboards. Create custom reports to zero in on the metrics that matter most to you and your team. And finally, you get access to Help Scout’s world-class support team, which is available by email 24/6 to answer any questions you may have.
Key benefits of Help Scout
- Value: Help Scout is the most complete platform you can buy for the money.
- Predictable, transparent pricing: No surprise add-ons or fees.
- Quick set up: Go from zero to power user in a day or less.
- Simplicity: Spend more time helping customers and less time configuring your software.
- Scalability: Add teammates, workflows, integrations, and new support channels quickly.
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Reviews
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- Industry: Information Technology & Services
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support Software
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Simply the best customer support system
Reviewed on 12/04/2020
The product is very well designed, easy and natural to use. On top of that, their support is...
The product is very well designed, easy and natural to use. On top of that, their support is excellent and they reply very quickly.
Pros
I like how transparent the experience is for the user and how easy it is to set up and use. I like the integration with the KB system to quickly insert a reference to the article.
Cons
Difficult to tell. I'm really enjoying everything on it, especially now that they added the live chat so I can stop using other software for that.
Maybe I'd love a more advanced system to manage the custom replies.
I'd appreciate if there's a better way to manage formatting inside the editor for the KB.
- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support Software
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Help Scout is great for small teams looking for a simple and inexpensive shared inbox
Reviewed on 05/09/2022
Help Scout is a great option for small to medium teams who do not want and overly complicated and...
Help Scout is a great option for small to medium teams who do not want and overly complicated and pricy Help Desk software. It lacks some nice-to-have features but it will still help you provide great customer service.
Pros
Help Scout is great for our 4-person Customer Success Team. We have been using it for over a year and it helps us provide high-quality customer support. It is easy to use, our customers like it because our emails look just like normal emails. Their support team is great, we always get quick and relevant answers.
Cons
I think the reporting feature could really be improved, and we would appreciate a few more features to improve the daily management of support tickets.
Reasons for Choosing Help Scout
Gmail doesn't work well as a shared inbox.Switched From
GmailReasons for Switching to Help Scout
Help Scout looks more like a regular inbox and not an overly automated ticketing system. It is very easy to setup and use. It is also cheaper.- Industry: Computer Software
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support Software
- Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10
Email-Centric Ticket Management
Reviewed on 09/06/2023
Pros
HelpScout provides an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it easy for both support agents and customers to navigate and use the software.
Cons
HelpScout primarily focuses on email-based support, which may not meet the needs of organizations that require support across multiple channels like live chat, phone, or social media.
- Industry: Nonprofit Organization Management
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support Software
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Help Scout helps out
Reviewed on 25/11/2020
Help Scout helps out in a pinch. I definitely recommend any company or business that has a customer...
Help Scout helps out in a pinch. I definitely recommend any company or business that has a customer support component to it to use their software and platform to start.
Pros
When I used to work at ActBlue as a support associate, I really liked Help Scout's ticketing system. It was straightforward and less confusing than Intercom. Escalating and de-escalating issues was pretty easy. Help Scout is a huge help for customer service, people oriented folks like me.
Cons
This is just a theory but I feel like Help Scout works better with certain email addresses than others. For people who have older emails such as hotmail, aol, or yahoo - their messages don't come across so clearly, which makes helping our customers and clients a real challenge.
- Industry: Logistics & Supply Chain
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support Software
- Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10
Expensive, but good. There are alternatives if you're willing to sacrifice plug and play.
Reviewed on 05/05/2022
The alternatives to Help Scout are far and wide, but my recommendation for an option would be Free...
The alternatives to Help Scout are far and wide, but my recommendation for an option would be Free Scout. It is an open-source alternative to Help Scout that acts almost the same way.
You need to know how to deploy the self-hosted service, or you can find companies willing to manage it for you. The downside is the setup takes a while, but the positive is that the cost is a small fraction of the amount we were paying to Help Scout.
Pros
HelpScout was the first shared emailing system we implemented that worked flawlessly with our setup. It rivals all other methods that focus on a ticket number approach but makes the communication process simple for users to grasp and professional yet informal.
The best part of Help Scout for us was the shared inbox aspect and the ability to collaborate with others easily.
Cons
Help Scout is expensive. In my opinion, it is overpriced. They started at a great introductory rate and grandfathered those rates for early-stage users. I heard from many users when they increased their rates, all of whom got a personalized message from the [SENSITIVE CONTENT], promising our rates would stay the same.
Months later, they recanted on their promise and hiked our rates. It was not a great feeling being lied to, and my love for the company quickly disappeared.
Other shared email services can replace Help Scout, but this is your best bet if you're looking for a simple approach and are not worried about the price tag.
Help Scout FAQs
Below are some frequently asked questions for Help Scout.Q. What type of pricing plans does Help Scout offer?
Help Scout offers the following pricing plans:
- Starting from: $20.00/month
- Pricing model: Subscription
- Free Trial: Available
Free trial available. Standard pricing starts at $20 per user per month. Standard: $25 user / month, or $20 user / month billed annually Plus: $40 user / month, or $35 user / month billed annually Company: $60 user / month billed annually Help Scout serves businesses from small to enterprise. Plans range from Free to keep everyone on the same page, to Standard for automation features and reporting, to Plus for advanced reporting & features designed for large teams. All Plans include 24x7 support, unlimited volume & storage, and 40+ third party integrations.
Q. Who are the typical users of Help Scout?
Help Scout has the following typical customers:
11–50, 51–200, 201–500
Q. What languages does Help Scout support?
Help Scout supports the following languages:
English
Q. Does Help Scout support mobile devices?
Help Scout supports the following devices:
Android (Mobile), iPhone (Mobile), iPad (Mobile)
Q. What other apps does Help Scout integrate with?
Help Scout integrates with the following applications:
ActiveCampaign, Aircall, AppFollow, Asana, BriteVerify, Bronto Marketing Platform, Campaign Monitor, Campfire, Capsule, Census, ChannelReply, ChargeDesk, Chatra, Churn Buster, CircleLoop, Clockify, CloudTalk, Constant Contact, Cyfe, Databox, Fivetran, Fleep, FormKeep, FreshBooks, FullContact, FullStory, Geckoboard, Gmail, Google Apps for Work, Google Workspace, Gravity Forms, Help Desk Migration, Heymarket, Highrise, Hively, HubSpot CRM, Infusionsoft CRM Singapore, Intercom, Jira, JustCall, Kissmetrics, Klaus, Klaviyo, LemonStand, LiquidPlanner, Mailchimp, Mixpanel, MySQL, Nicereply, Olark, OnePageCRM, Paperform, Pipedrive, Plecto, Process Street, Pushover, Salesforce Essentials, SalesforceIQ, Salesmachine, Savio, Segment, Shopify, Slack, Smooch, SnapEngage, SurveyMonkey, Talkdesk, Textline, Transifex, Trello, Userlike, Weglot, WooCommerce, WordPress, Wufoo, Zapier, Zengine, elevio, iorad
Q. What level of support does Help Scout offer?
Help Scout offers the following support options:
Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base Software, Chat
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