Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk: 2024 Comparison of Features, Pricing & Integrations

Providing excellent customer support is crucial for customer loyalty and retention. But with millions of customer interactions, it can be hard to keep up even for the most customer-oriented companies. This is where reliable customer support software comes in. With key features such as automation, customer management, and unified communication, customer support software helps organizations connect with clients and create lifelong customers.

This article will compare Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk—two well-known products in customer support software. You’ll know the difference between Zendesk and Salesforce in terms of core features, pricing, integration, and usability. After comparing the features, you should have an idea of how to choose which product is most suited to your needs.

The best way to understand the impact of customer service on a business is to know what customers actually think about it. Among consumers in the United States, 66% said customer service is very important to their choice of or loyalty to a brand. While globally, 58% of customers said the same. So, if a business wants to keep its customers, providing excellent service should always be high up on the priority list.

One way to deliver great customer support is to be where your customers are. This entails implementing a customer support software with omnichannel capabilities so your agents can communicate with customers on their preferred channels. This will also allow customers to seamlessly transition between interactions in different channels, making the entire experience more convenient.

Personalization is also another way to provide excellent customer service. This strategy has been around for a while and continues to be a strong one since customers find great value in personalized customer service. In one survey, 75% of customers said they like personalized messaging and offerings while 74% said they get frustrated when content is not relevant to them.

With communication tools and personalization in mind, both Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud won’t disappoint. Let’s now look into other important core features the two platforms have that will help boost the quality of your customer support.

Overview of Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk

Salesforce Service Cloud

Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer support platform that enables businesses to provide personalized service across every touchpoint. With automated workflows and smart productivity tools, Service Cloud can strengthen customer engagement and improve call center management.

Salesforce Service Cloud empowers agents to provide personalized service by having full visibility into every single customer interaction. From a customer’s first click to the succeeding contacts, purchase, and beyond, Service Cloud is a complete service platform.

Zendesk

Zendesk is a suite of products that cover customer support, sales, and marketing. Its customer support module is a very flexible platform that includes chat functionalities, a call center, and a knowledge base, so you get all customer interactions in one dynamic interface.

Zendesk’s service solution works right out of the box but is also highly customizable and scalable to meet every team size and requirement. It allows users to seamlessly communicate with a client by having all channels such as email, instant messaging, and phone right in one digital workspace. Other team collaborators, tools/apps, and knowledge base are also on the same page, so agents can become more efficient in doing their work.

Zendesk

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Comparison of Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk

Core Features

As you’d expect from top products, Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud include the essential features needed to elevate the quality and speed of your customer support delivery. Let’s take a closer look at how their core features compare.

Unified Inbox

Modern customer support software should have a single inbox for quick and organized servicing of requests—something that both Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud have. For the former, users can have continuous conversations across channels as it stores everything in one centralized workspace. Similarly, for the latter, its inbox gathers all inquiries from emails, social media, web forms, and live chats in one location.

When you have a unified inbox where agents can pick tickets on their own, a feature called agent collision detection becomes a must. The feature prevents an agent from saving changes to a record that is being edited by another agent. As you can imagine, agent collision detection can help avoid confusion, inaccuracies in customer records, and a customer receiving multiple replies from agents.

Agent collision detection displays on the dashboard for each ticket on Zendesk. Meanwhile, the feature is also included in Service cloud and cannot be deactivated.

Ticket Management

Effective ticket management is crucial for customer support. This is where automation comes in. Zendesk is powered by machine learning to assist agents and automate answers to simple, repetitive questions. It also leverages artificial intelligence to provide answers quickly and automatically to customers. If a customer still needs help, the ticket is routed back to a live agent. This simple yet efficient ticket management can best fit smaller teams who prefer an easy-to-implement solution for ticket management.

Meanwhile, Service Cloud has cases instead of tickets. Its case management does all the automation similar to Zendesk. What’s great is that if you also use other Salesforce products such as its sales and marketing software, then you boost the power of the platform. Support agents, sales, and marketing can see a 360-degree view of a customer’s profile. This means more insights for better decision-making and faster resolution of cases. Service Cloud has a more complex setup for ticket management but can be an excellent solution for larger organizations that want to extract more value from their customer data.

Self-Service Portal

A self-service portal allows customers to find information and resolve their issues using articles, videos, or community forums. This reduces tickets and allows agents to focus on more urgent requests. But self-service portals for employees are also necessary to make sure agents get the information they need when trying to assist clients.

Self-service customer portals have increased in popularity, especially during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and are highly likely to stay, with 75% of consumers intending to continue using digital apps post-pandemic. Without a reliable way to create and manage a company’s knowledge base, it will be a nightmare for customer support agents. Zendesk and Service Cloud include self-service portals that can be easily set up and customized for your particular business.

For example, Zendesk lets users customize the layout, colors, menus, etc. on their self-service portal. This makes it possible for businesses to match the portal with their brand, look, or feel.

Communication System

Customer support software must not only have customer-facing communication features but also allow employees to collaborate with others in the organization. An internal knowledge base saves the time and energy of employees and ensures that they always have access to up-to-date and vetted information to provide the highest quality support to customers.

Salesforce Service Cloud supports employees on every channel including email, chat, and messaging. You can leverage AI chatbots in your internal communication channels to answer employee questions or connect them to the right personnel for help.

Zendesk, on the other hand, has several collaboration features that allow employees to communicate with each other and monitor various ticket information. Side conversations, for example, can bring in people from external and internal teams to work on tickets without interrupting the main conversation flow within the ticket.

Customer-facing multi-channel communication is also included in Zendesk and Service Cloud. Multi-channel allows your customers to reach your agents anytime, anywhere, and from any device. Customer communication channels include a wide range of options such as live chat, phone, and answer bots.

Customer Management

Without customer management, there will just be chaos in your customer support. Both Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud include tools to manage contacts, organize data, input records, and personalize customer experience.

With Service Cloud 360, for instance, you can arm agents with critical data about past communications so they’re ready to assist requests. It integrates sales, marketing, service, commerce, and IT departments so that teams have a single view of your customer. They can create connected, personalized customer experiences that build stronger relationships.

Zendesk, on the other hand, has a more straightforward system for managing customer data, so it can be easier to use for SMEs who don’t have a dedicated IT team. Agents can use its search and filter tools to save time looking for customer information. They can also input important details from conversations with customers so that the next agent who handles the ticket will know what to do on the next interaction.

Reporting and Analytics

Reporting tools are used to measure how agents and customers interact with your business. Without reporting and analytics, it will be hard to determine if your workflows are effective and if your team is meeting its goals.

Zendesk’s reporting and analytics tools come in customizable dashboards, charts, and real-time historical data. The platform also includes pre-built dashboards to make reporting faster, especially if you’re looking for prepopulated sections with best-practice customer service metrics.

Meanwhile, Service Cloud includes several custom report types that allow users to drill down into every case to understand metrics like escalated cases, case comments, and last changed status, among others. You can also create reports on solution history, out-of-date translated solutions, and self-service portal usage.

With these in mind, both platforms offer excellent reporting and analytics features. If you’re going for simple tools that work, Zendesk would be the best choice. But if your organization needs custom reporting tools for more complex case management and resolution, then you might want to go for Service Cloud.

Zendesk self-service portal: Customize your self-service portal to match your brand.

Integrations

Integration is important when investing in any software, especially if your team is already using many other different apps such as collaboration tools for their work. Problems with integrations will not only result in delays in providing excellent customer support but can also cause frustration and low morale among your agents.

Both Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk integrate with thousands of apps from every category imaginable. Zendesk connects with productivity and time tracking software, IT and project management, surveys and feedback, and quoting and billing software. Service Cloud, on the other hand, connects to third-party apps in Salesforce’s AppExchange.

Moreover, customized integrations will not be a problem for both software. Zendesk APIs include code and no-code functionality. Service Cloud, on the other hand, includes a wide range of Apex utilities, integration patterns, declarative tools, platform events, and APIs.

Zendesk Marketplace: Choose from thousands of apps you can connect to your Zendesk platform.

Pricing

Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud offers similar pricing models. For the paid plans, the two platforms have a per-user pricing model, billed annually. Zendesk has three plans for smaller teams priced at $49, $79, and $99 per user, per month. It also has two enterprise plans at $150 and $250 per user, per month. The basic plan already includes essential features like email, SMS, chat, and voice support but if you would like to offer self-service support to your customers, you’d have to upgrade to the higher plans that include a self-service customer portal.

On the other hand, Service Cloud’s paid plans are categorized into four types, the lowest cost being $25 per user, per month. The advantage of Service Cloud is that you already get a centralized knowledgebase feature with the basic, $25 plan. However, one drawback we see is that this basic plan doesn’t include 24/7 support. So, if you encounter a technical problem, the waiting time might also have a negative impact on your operations. This gives Zendesk an advantage as its basic plan is inclusive of online support during business hours.

If you ask which one is better, Zendesk or Salesforce Service Cloud, it’s going to be hard to pick the winner since these two are top-notch products with powerful features and reasonably priced subscriptions. Fortunately, you don’t need to guess since they both offer 30-day free trials. You can try both products and have a better idea of their features and capabilities.

Service Cloud’s pricing plans are priced per user, per month, and billed manually.

Ease of Use

Ease of use is an important factor when shopping for customer support software. Certainly, anyone can have a bit of a struggle when using a product for the first time, but you wouldn’t want something that will require agents to train for months before they can actually start serving customers.

Testing out the two platforms, Zendesk comes out as our recommended option if you’re after a clean, intuitive, and well-organized dashboard. The agent’s workspace has a modern layout where tools and messages are within easy reach. Key details about a ticket, for example, are located on the left of the dashboard while customer-agent exchanges are displayed at the center as a feed-type window. All messages, no matter which channel they came from, are continuously connected, so agents can respond faster and with context.

Service Cloud has more extensive tools and features that can be useful to larger organizations. The dashboard can overwhelm users at first sight. The best way to orient yourself with the interface is to go through their getting started training. This consists of sets of tasks you can complete to become familiar with the product. In this way learning the software can take up some time depending on the user, so that’s something you should consider if you opt for Service Cloud.

Agent’s workspace on Zendesk. Tools, messages, and ticket info are within easy reach.

Getting Started

Getting started with Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud requires users to sign up for an account using their company email address. Since both platforms run on a SaaS model, there’s no need to download or install any other software.

What’s needed though is to meet or exceed the minimum technical requirements for each product. Zendesk and Service Cloud’s preferred browser is the latest version of Chrome but the platforms will also run smoothly on the latest versions of Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. Service Cloud requires at least 8GB of RAM and a 64-bit operating system for additional performance enhancements to a support agent’s experience.  Meanwhile, Zendesk notes that browsers should be stable versions and not the Alpha/Beta/Nightly/Development build.

As for mobile apps, Zendesk is available on iPhone iOS 11.0 and higher, for iPad iOS 8.0 and higher, and for Android 4.4 and higher. Support for the Service Cloud Mobile app on the App Store and Google Play was discontinued in 2019. Salesforce recommends using their Salesforce mobile app to manage work on the go.

Once users complete their sign-up, they can go right into setting up their support dashboard and adding team members. There will be prompts on how to go about this process and an online knowledge base/guide for more details on how to manage requests, tickets, configure automated workflows, etc.

Service Cloud Signup: Getting started requires users to create an account using their company email.

Use Cases

Use cases for Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk cover a lot of operational requirements and activities in customer service like case management, feedback management, automated workflows, and even remote support teams. With that in mind, you can imagine that any organization or business that has customers will benefit from these two platforms. From retail brands to food delivery services,  government, and hospitals, Service Cloud and Zendesk can be excellent tech investments to boost the quality of customer service.

An increasingly important use case for both Service Cloud and Zendesk is omnichannel customer support. With 4.62 billion or 58.4% of the population being active social media users and shifting from one digital channel to another, it’s not enough to just have multiple channel capability for customer support. Businesses need to connect these multiple channels to have a continuous and seamless conversion with clients. No detail gets lost because of disconnected communication channels and customers are happy since they can resolve their issues faster without needing to repeat information they’ve already provided.

Another use case where you see the value of these top customer support software is personalized customer experience. With the use of AI and machine learning, Zendesk and Service Cloud can automate many processes and support services. As a result, companies save time and resources, while agents can focus on more complex tickets.

Salesforce Service Cloud Omni-channel: Provide seamless customer support no matter which channel messages come from.

Customization

Customization plays a crucial role in tailoring customer support software to meet unique business needs, ensuring better alignment with brand identity, workflow efficiency, and customer satisfaction. Both Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud offer robust customization capabilities, but each platform provides a different approach.

Interface Customization

Zendesk’s intuitive interface can be customized with branded layouts, colors, and themes, allowing businesses to align the look and feel with their brand identity, particularly in the self-service portal. Salesforce Service Cloud also allows customization of its dashboards and interface, though it’s more complex and may require the assistance of Salesforce developers for in-depth changes.

Workflow Automation

Both Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud allow users to create automated workflows. Zendesk offers trigger-based automation and macros for ticket management, ideal for small and medium-sized teams needing to streamline responses. Salesforce Service Cloud provides more advanced automation options, integrating with other Salesforce tools to enable complex workflows across sales, marketing, and service departments.

Custom Fields and Data Tracking

Custom fields help teams track specific data relevant to their operations. Zendesk allows custom ticket fields to gather information specific to customer issues, while Salesforce Service Cloud enables custom objects, fields, and records that can be linked across different departments, which is useful for larger enterprises managing complex customer profiles.

Self-Service Portal Customization

Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud allow businesses to customize self-service portals to match branding and content structure. Zendesk provides flexibility in portal design, while Salesforce Service Cloud’s Knowledge component offers advanced features like article types and ratings to optimize content accessibility.

API and Developer Tools

Zendesk’s API allows developers to build custom apps and integrations, while Salesforce Service Cloud offers extensive developer resources through Salesforce’s Apex programming language and Visualforce. This is particularly useful for companies with in-house developers looking to create highly customized, integrated solutions.

With these customization options, both Zendesk and Salesforce Service Cloud can be adapted to various business models and customer service needs, making them versatile solutions for support teams of different sizes and structures.

Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk Comparison Table

For a quick comparison, here’s a table with all the important features of Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk.

Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk — Which Is Better?

We’ve looked at Salesforce Service Cloud vs. Zendesk and compared them side by side in terms of core features, pricing, integrations, and ease of use. It’s clear that the better product will depend on what you would like your support team to do and what your organization wants to focus on.

Since Zendesk comes with a simple UI and easy-to-implement features, it can be an excellent software for a small team that just needs their support platform to work. Salesforce has more complex tools that can be very useful to large organizations or companies that want to focus on measuring customer support KPIs, automation, reporting, and integration with Salesforce sales and marketing platforms.

Take advantage of the free trials offered by these two leaders in customer support software. Testing their features and seeing how your agents can work using the platforms can make it easier to decide which product to purchase.

Key Insights

• Importance of Customer Service: 66% of US consumers and 58% of global consumers say customer service is very important to their brand loyalty.
• Unified Inbox: Both Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk offer unified inboxes, gathering all customer inquiries from various channels into one location.
• Ticket Management: Zendesk uses machine learning to automate ticket management, while Salesforce Service Cloud integrates with other Salesforce products for a comprehensive view of customer interactions.
• Self-Service Portals: Both platforms offer customizable self-service portals for customers and employees, reducing the number of support tickets and improving efficiency.
• Communication Systems: Zendesk provides collaboration features like side conversations, while Salesforce Service Cloud supports comprehensive employee and customer communication channels.
• Customer Management: Salesforce Service Cloud provides a 360-degree view of customers by integrating sales, marketing, and service data, while Zendesk offers a straightforward customer management system suitable for SMEs.
• Reporting and Analytics: Zendesk offers customizable dashboards and real-time data, while Salesforce Service Cloud provides extensive custom report types for detailed case analysis.
• Integrations: Both platforms support thousands of integrations, with Salesforce Service Cloud offering over 5,000 apps for integration.
• Pricing: Zendesk’s basic plan starts at $49 per user/month, while Salesforce Service Cloud starts at $25 per user/month, both billed annually.
• Ease of Use: Zendesk is noted for its clean, intuitive interface, while Salesforce Service Cloud’s extensive tools can overwhelm new users but are beneficial for larger organizations.
• Mobile Apps: Zendesk offers mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android, whereas Salesforce Service Cloud users are recommended to use the Salesforce mobile app.

FAQ

1. What are the main differences between Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk?
   Salesforce Service Cloud integrates deeply with other Salesforce products and provides extensive reporting tools, making it suitable for larger organizations. Zendesk offers a simpler, more intuitive interface and is ideal for smaller teams or businesses looking for easy implementation.
2. How do Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk handle ticket management?
   Zendesk uses machine learning to automate answers to repetitive questions and route tickets to live agents when necessary. Salesforce Service Cloud uses case management integrated with other Salesforce products for a comprehensive view of customer interactions.
3. What self-service features do Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk offer?
   Both platforms offer customizable self-service portals for customers and employees, which help reduce the number of support tickets and allow agents to focus on more urgent requests.
4. How do the communication systems of Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk compare?
   Salesforce Service Cloud supports comprehensive communication channels for both employees and customers, including AI chatbots. Zendesk offers collaboration features like side conversations and multi-channel customer communication within a unified interface.
5. Which platform offers better reporting and analytics?
   Salesforce Service Cloud provides extensive custom report types for detailed case analysis, while Zendesk offers customizable dashboards and real-time data, making it easier for businesses to track performance metrics.
6. What integrations are available for Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk?
   Both platforms support thousands of integrations. Salesforce Service Cloud offers over 5,000 apps for integration, while Zendesk connects with productivity, time tracking, IT, project management, and other software categories.
7. How do the pricing models of Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk differ?
   Zendesk’s basic plan starts at $49 per user/month and includes essential features like email, SMS, chat, and voice support. Salesforce Service Cloud’s basic plan starts at $25 per user/month and includes a centralized knowledge base but lacks 24/7 support in the basic plan.
8. Which platform is easier to use?
   Zendesk is recommended for its clean, intuitive, and well-organized dashboard, making it easy for new users to navigate. Salesforce Service Cloud has more extensive tools that can overwhelm new users but are beneficial for larger organizations.
9. What mobile app support do Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk offer?
   Zendesk provides mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Salesforce Service Cloud discontinued its mobile app in 2019 and recommends using the Salesforce mobile app for on-the-go management.
10. How do I decide which platform is better for my business?
    Consider the size of your team and your specific needs. Zendesk is ideal for smaller teams needing a simple, easy-to-use solution. Salesforce Service Cloud is better for larger organizations requiring extensive reporting, automation, and integration with other Salesforce products. Taking advantage of their free trials can help you determine which platform best suits your needs.

By Jenny Chang

Jenny Chang is a senior writer specializing in SaaS and B2B software solutions. Her decision to focus on these two industries was spurred by their explosive growth in the last decade, much of it she attributes to the emergence of disruptive technologies and the quick adoption by businesses that were quick to recognize their values to their organizations. She has covered all the major developments in SaaS and B2B software solutions, from the introduction of massive ERPs to small business platforms to help startups on their way to success.