Sooner or later, everyone running an e-commerce business experiences that overwhelming feeling of not being able to deal with customer inquiries. They might be coming from several different channels, more than once per day from the same buyer, and they all expect you to know the issue they’re facing and react fast.

This is when you might want to consider help desk solutions – software that can collect all of the previously mentioned communications in one place and eliminate the need for your team to juggle multiple platforms and accounts.

However, choosing the best help desk for Shopify can be a daunting task. There are many things to evaluate, from your team’s needs to long-term value, not to mention the number of options you have to consider.

This post will give you a quick overview of the key things you should focus on when choosing the best help desk app for your Shopify store and briefly present 10 great tools worth your attention in 2022. Let's dive in.

How to choose the best help desk for Shopify?

The right help desk software can be that crucial link you're missing to provide your customers with excellent customer support.

It would be great if you could just pick up the first one available, but various solutions vary greatly in features and cost, so the first thing you need to do is evaluate a bunch of different factors that all come down to this decision.

Some of those key factors are:

• Your budget

You'll notice that the pricing for different help desk solutions varies from zero to hundreds of dollars. Free plans are more than enough for some smaller businesses, while bigger customer service teams may require more functionality from such software. Make sure it’s a good fit both feature and money-wise.

• Your team needs

Your support team will use the software constantly, so it’s important to identify what problems they face daily. Too many recurring questions? Inquiries from 10 different channels? Occasional support agent collision? This will help you to decide what features to look for in a help desk.

• Your customers’ needs and preferences

Imagine what your customer would call an ideal experience. What do they miss from your support now and what are the most common complaints? Choose a help desk that can help to solve them.

• Your business scalability

Consider whether or not the specific help desk will be a good fit as your business grows. Evaluate options to add more users, downgrade or upgrade to more advanced plans, the possibility to cancel your subscription or migrate to other help desks.

• Key help desk features

Make sure the help desk you’re about to choose comes with the main functionalities, such as different channels support, ticket management, automation and macros, internal collaboration, self-service options, contact history, and reporting and analytics.

• Does it integrate with Shopify and how well?

Most Shopify help desks are created specifically for the Shopify ecosystem, while others can work with any platform and offer Shopify integrations. You can start with a free trial to see whether or not a specific help desk meets your needs.

• Help desk’s reliability and support

It’s crucial to have someone help you if you encounter any issues while using the help desk. Do a little research about the team and the quality of their customer support so that you can reach out whenever you need and be sure your issues will be addressed.

10 Shopify help desk solutions to consider in 2022

1. HelpCenter

Shopify app: Yes (⭐4.8/5; 1200+ reviews)

Best for: Individual Shopify merchants or support teams aiming to provide quality customer support and are looking for a solution perfectly in sync with the Shopify ecosystem.

HelpCenter pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans vary between $3.99/month-$14.92/month (on an annual subscription), depending on your business needs.

The HelpCenter app is one of the TOP customer service apps in the Shopify app store that can help you improve communication with customers, boost your work efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction with your brand.

Using the HelpCenter's help desk ticketing system, you can centralize all your emails, live chat, and Facebook Messenger communication in one place for quick and convenient access whenever needed. Many other HelpDesk's functionalities, like automation rules, Shopify order management, macros, etc., will help you streamline your team’s workflow so that you can fully focus on customers and issues they’re facing.

Besides the help desk, HelpCenter also features an intuitive FAQ builder, live chat, and product description tabs that can significantly add up to your store visitors’ (a.k.a. your potential customers) experience.

Key help desk features:

✅ Centralized communication from a single place (inquiries from email, live chat, Facebook Messenger)

✅ Order management right from the help desk (canceling, duplicating, refunding)

✅ Customer purchase and communication history

✅ Real-time communication via live chat

✅ From 600 to 17,000 tickets per year (depending on your plan)

✅ Auto responses and other help desk automation

✅ Templates (macros)

✅ Tags

✅ Statistics per agent and overall

✅ Possibility to connect multiple stores

✅ Unlimited support agents per account

✅ Unlimited email inboxes, live chat, and Facebook Messenger accounts

✅ User-friendly interface, fast and responsive customer support

2. DelightChat

Shopify app: Yes (⭐5/5; 30+ reviews)

Best for: Shopify store owners who want a scalable customer support tool for their growing business needs.

DelightChat pricing: Plans from $29/month to $249/month based on the number of tickets.

DelightChat is a customer support tool built for Shopify brands to deliver out-of-the-box customer service.

It’s designed to help you manage all your support conversations from a single screen - be it with customers or with your team members.

All DelightChat plans support unlimited team members and unlimited brands under one account. That makes them a super-affordable Shopify customer support tool that scales with your business while keeping your costs at a minimum.

Key features:

✅ Customer conversations across WhatsApp, Email, Facebook & Instagram comments, Messenger, Instagram DMs, and Live Chat in a single place

✅ Talk to internal team members without switching apps

✅ Automation of repetitive customer support tasks like tagging and assigning tickets, out of business replies, and more

✅ Keyword-based auto-responses and instant, personalized replies to customers

✅ Use variables in canned responses and directly pull data from Shopify

✅ Customizable live chat and self-serve widget built-in

✅ Analytics and tracking on a simple dashboard

3. Gorgias

Shopify app: Yes (⭐4.6/5; 490+ reviews)

Best for: E-commerce store owners looking for a variety of customer service features in one app.

Gorgias pricing: Plans vary from $50/month to $625/month (annual subscription).

Gorgias is a customer service solution created for both Shopify and e-commerce stores in general to help customer support teams overcome their daily challenges.

You can install Gorgias to your store from the Shopify app store or take advantage of Shopify integration. Either way, the app will help you manage all your customer interactions, providing your team with the main tools they need for successful problem resolution.

Key features:

✅ Centralized customer tickets from email, live chat, phone, and social

✅ Order history

✅ Order management from the help desk

✅ Automation, templates, and macros

✅ Customer intent and sentiment detection

✅ Live chat

✅ Integration with social media (respond to Facebook, Instagram comments & ads)

✅ Multi-store connection

✅ Support and revenue statistics

✅ Integration with a variety of popular apps (loyalty, payment, shipping, etc.)

4. Kustomer

Shopify app: Yes (⭐5/5; 10+ reviews)

Best for: Simplifying the workflow of larger customer service teams.

Kustomer pricing: The Enterprise plan costs $89/month per user, while the Ultimate plan is priced at $139/month per user.

Those who understand the importance of providing an omnichannel experience to their customers would likely enjoy the possibilities that Kustomer brings.

What’s special about this customer service platform is that it turns every customer interaction, no matter what channel they use to reach you, into a single messaging thread (“timeline view”). This way, agents can clearly understand each issue and keep the conversation going without disruptions.

Key features:

✅ Customer data and conversations unified into a single timeline view

✅ Multi-channel support (email, live chat, SMS, voice, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and WhatsApp)

✅ Order history

✅ Customizable insights cards with context

✅ Automatic Shopify data-triggered responses to customers

✅ Intelligent customer routing

✅ AI-powered productivity tools, like machine learning or customer segmentation

✅ Integration of third-party apps and systems

✅ Real-time customer support performance analysis

5. LiveAgent

Shopify app: No (Shopify integration available)

Best for: Online businesses of all sizes that seek an intuitive e-commerce help desk to meet their customers’ needs.

LiveAgent pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans start from $15/agent/month.

LiveAgent ticketing system is a good choice if you’re looking for an easy-to-navigate, affordable platform that can help you keep track of incoming customer inquiries and provide them with seamless support.

You won’t find LiveAgent on the Shopify app store, yet you can use Shopify integration (one of many more) to start taking advantage of nearly 200 different features that the platform offers.

Key features:

✅ All main support channels accessible from a single place

✅ Automatic ticket routing

✅ Time and trigger-based automation rules

✅ Shared user access to a universal inbox

✅ Predefined answers

✅ Macros, tags, and filtering

✅ Live chat and real-time typing view

✅ Built-in CRM to store important information about customers

✅ Internal chats

✅ Agent collision detection

6. Re:amaze

Shopify app: Yes (⭐4.9/5; 190+ reviews)

Best for: Customer support teams of all sizes that want to improve the online shopping experience for their customers.

Re:amaze pricing: Paid plans start from $29month to $69/month (+ an extra $29-$69 per additional staff member).

Re:amaze is another well-known name when it comes to help desks for Shopify. The app features several valuable functionalities that every customer support team will appreciate and helps to manage communication with customers effectively and efficiently.

Teams using Re:amaze can track customer inquiries from different channels, access the most important information, and write responses from one place. The app also allows you to create an FAQ page for your store and use a native live chat to connect with customers.

Key features:

✅ Centralized communication from different channels, like email, social, push, SMS, VOIP, or WhatsApp

✅ The shared inbox for efficient teamwork

✅ Multiple store connection

✅ Reply templates and automated workflows

✅ Internal notes, assignments, and reminders

✅ Live chat + bots

✅ Access to order data, order management from the help desk

✅ Demos, training, and onboarding are available

✅ Integration with other popular third-party apps

✅ In-depth reporting

7. Help Scout

Shopify app: No (Shopify integration available)

Best for: Growing businesses who seek excellence in customer service.

Help Scout pricing: Standard plan is priced at $20 per user per month, while for Plus, you’ll pay $35 per user per month. Customized plans available.

Help Scout customer service platform unifies several key customer support solutions under the same roof, allowing agents to get a complete image of every person who reaches out and the problems they’re facing.

Besides the help desk, Help Scout offers you to create a branded knowledge base easily, install a live chat to your store, and benefit from various integrations with other tools you use.

Key features:

✅ Unified communication across different platforms in one shared inbox

✅ Automated workflows and email filtering

✅ Frequently used responses

✅ Easy access to order details

✅ Key metrics’ tracking – customer lifetime value, annual value, or average order value

✅ Recent orders display

✅ Private notes, saved replies, tagging

✅ Customer collision detection

✅ Support for multi-instance Shopify apps

8. Richpanel

Shopify app: Yes (⭐5/5; 60+ reviews)

Best for: Both e-commerce beginners and professionals looking to streamline their customer service.

Richpanel pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans vary from $80/month to $800/month (on annual subscription).

Richpanel is one of the highest-rated help desk solutions on Shopify that offers full control over inquiries and orders right from the help desk.

The app allows you to create self-service scenarios to accelerate problem resolution, respond to inquiries coming from different channels, access Shopify's data next to each message, and more. All these combined means that you get all the necessary tools to provide your customers with the best experience while also simplifying the job for your customer support agents.

Key features:

✅ All support requests in one place (from email, live chat, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp)

✅ Shopify order history and key customer data (total orders, transaction frequency, website visits, etc.)

✅ Order management from help desk

✅ Conversation filters (channels, user types, tags)

✅ Option to prioritize inquiries

✅ Saved replies for common responses

✅ Live view of customer sessions

✅ Unlimited users and teams

✅ Performance monitoring

9. Freshdesk

Shopify app: No (Shopify integration available)

Best for: Suitable for getting started and growing businesses, as well as big enterprises.

Freshdesk pricing: Free plan available. Paid plans vary between $15 per agent per month to $79 per agent per month, billed annually.

Freshdesk is one of the closest competitors to the industry giant Zendesk and usually goes hand in hand in similar lists. What makes it great is that feature-wise, Freshdesk seems to be a good choice both for small and medium businesses, not to mention affordable price, compared to other big brands.

Using Freshdesk, you can benefit from omnichannel communication and offering your customers self-service options, and improve your teamwork efficiency, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

Key features:

✅ Centralized communication from email, chat, phone, web, and social

✅ Automated routine workflows

✅ Round-robin and skill-based routing

✅ Multilingual knowledge base

✅ Ticket trend and help desk reports

✅ Customer fields

✅ Team collaboration

✅ Collision detection

✅ Performance insights

10. eDesk

Shopify app: Yes (⭐4.8/5; 25+ reviews)

Best for: Bigger customer service teams looking to streamline their workflows and improve support.

eDesk pricing: Paid plans start at $69 per agent per month, billed annually.

Last but not least, eDesk. An “e” in its name already implies that the platform is focused on e-commerce businesses which is why it’s another Shopify help desk to consider in 2022.

eDesk displays all customer inquiries from your marketplaces, social and regular channels in one place, enabling you to access them without jumping between multiple tabs and accounts. The platform provides you with all the necessary information for prompt problem resolution so that you can save time and do more to satisfy your customers.

Key features:

✅ Centralized dashboard to manage customer support from all channels

✅ Powerful AI functionalities

✅ Order details within every support ticket

✅ Templates and snippets

✅ Automated responses

✅ Messages filtering and prioritization

✅ Labels and automation rules

✅ Auto-responder

✅ Teamwork tools (assign tickets, internal notes, etc.)

✅ Collision detection

✅ Option to communicate in multiple languages

In conclusion

When it comes to choosing the best ticketing system for Shopify, there’s no correct answer. No help desk app is universal, and what might work for a jewelry store won't necessarily be the best fit for a bakery.

Hopefully, the list above will nudge you in the right direction and help you pick a help desk for Shopify that you’ve been looking for all along, bringing your customer service to a whole new level in 2022.