Many help and service desk solutions evolved or ceased to exist for several years. Some customer support software got incremental updates; others received a complete overhaul. Some get both incremental and significant updates for customer management all the time. Two such systems are HappyFox and Freshdesk. Both are considered capable tools, but which is better for your business? We don’t know, but what we do know is which of the two offers the most bang for your buck. Thus, without any further delay, let’s see what these tools have and how they can compete.
Design
We’ll start our look at the design of HappyFox vs Freshdesk as it is the first thing you see when you’ve typed in the password. So, this should be pleasant to look at over extended periods. Plus, we will be taking usability into account as it is also part of the design moniker, and frankly, if you can’t find functions, it doesn’t matter whether your UI looks fabulous.
HappyFox
We’ll start with HappyFox. The system is quite simple in its overall design. On the left side of the main screen, you have contacts and, on top of them, a button where you can switch views between support tickets, dashboards, contacts, and reports, among others. Also, as part of the same menu bar, you have the context-aware search system. On the top right side of the screen, you have your profile, where you can also find the settings.
Ticket management in HappyFox. Source: G2
The main screen is dynamic and will change information depending on your selected view. Generally, each info element will be presented on a particular card containing all the vital information you might need, such as the title of the support ticket, who is working on it, and the priority. Overall, HappyFox offers a pretty robust UI and design language. Everything is rounded and pleasing to view. Finding functions and toggles wasn’t hard, but we wish we could add more information on the main screen.
Freshdesk
HappyFox and Freshdesk are pretty similar in terms of design. However, Freshdesk has a few unique aspects in terms of ticket management. First, just like its competitor, to the left, Freshdesk has a sidebar with a variety of menus you can switch between. Sounds familiar? It is. The difference is only in the functionality, on HappyFox you get the list of contacts and on Freshdesk you get settings. You have your profile options, a search menu, and notifications in the right-top corner.
Ticket management section in Freshdesk. Source: G2
The main body is simple but effective, as it has way more data elements. You not only get an overview of the support ticket but also its properties and filters. Besides this, you also get access to quick responses, edits, and a discussion button, which is very convenient as you don’t have to create a separate dialog and invite people separately. Overall, it is a solid implementation, even though it is a little bland regarding looks.
Functionality
For many, functionality is what pushes them to buy the tool. But here, we won't mention multi-channel communication, service level agreements, and stuff like that. They are already must-have features of good customer support software. Instead of describing the general features of HappyFox vs. Freshdesk, we’ll focus on the exclusive ones. Both tools offer superb customer support workflow and overall help desk management experience.
HappyFox
The tool offers users two unique features that can completely transform your workflow. These features are Auto Assignment and Canned Actions. Let’s take a look at each separately. So, Auto Assignment is, as the name implies, an automatic ticket assignment system. Based on agents' availability and skills, HappyFox will assign tickets to people who can handle the issue. This automatic process will route all supplement material and close upon completion. All of this will reduce the workload significantly.
The second feature is Canned Actions, which is a form of automation because it will recommend solutions that might work for your agents. It does this by “reading” your knowledge base and past issues to form a probable solution. The more you use it, the smarter it can get, meaning that you will spend less time on common issues.
Freshdesk
The company has been hard at work developing features that will help solve consumer requests and improve quality. Two such features are the Help Widget and the newly introduced Freddy AI. Like we did with HappyFox, we’ll briefly discuss what those features are all about.
So, the Help Widget is practically an interactive live chat that you can embed whenever you want. It is designed to help customers solve their problems instead of creating new tickets. As we already mentioned, it is an interactive system, but what didn’t say that you can incorporate forms and questionnaires into it? The answers to these questions will be used to find information in the knowledge base or past issues.
The next feature is Freddy AI, an AI-powered customer support system designed to help your agents and customers solve issues. The AI has its set of features, one of which is the Answer Bot. It will try and answer your customer’s questions and ultimately deflect a ticket. Also part of this system is the Ticket Field Suggester, which is a system that learns from your past issues and creates field-complete tickets automatically. Then, there’s the Social Signal function that scans every social media mention and interaction to inform you about issues not reported regarding multi-channel communication.
Customization
The following section is pretty straightforward but ultimately very important as it separates your brand from the competition. We won’t divide them into separate analyses as they are practically identical, with minor differences. So, both Freshdesk and HappyFox support extra customization, but out of the two, only Freshdesk supports themes. You can customize colors and other things in HappyFox. Another critical difference between the two is that Freshdesk allows you to customize the layout of specific pages. Overall, Freshdesk is more robust in terms of customization.
Flexibility
One of the best things about help desk and service desk systems is their flexibility as the ticket management software. HappyFox and Freshdesk both allow for it to some degree. Now, if you take a look at the system, it is clear that it doesn’t target a specific type of company but instead tries to offer enough customization so that you can adapt it to any business model. Take, for instance, the fact that you have access to an app store where you can download several extensions. Their pricing model is also very robust and will fit just about any wallet.
The only thing this system lacks is advanced branding and themes. Freshdesk is also quite flexible and comfortable in large and small organizations. While you don’t have a dedicated app store, you do have features that can easily scale and work under a heavy load. As we mentioned, you get that extra customization.
Support
Lastly, we have the customer support section. Let us be clear: they are both the same in this regard. You can easily reach them through social media channels and write them an email or a live chat. That's what we call a must-have multi-channel communication option. The time it takes to get a response can vary, but they are generally the same. If you have trouble setting something, you will get a detailed answer, and if you want to change the way certain functions communicate, you will get access to documentation (certain things are still out of reach, though).
Bottom Line
So, this seems to be the end of our "compare HappyFox vs Freshdesk" article. Both tools are great and offer many cool things that will help you provide better customer support and higher-quality outcomes. There is no clear winner, and picking a side wouldn’t be wrong. What will be right, though, is asking for a free trial to see how things work. Indeed, by testing the tools yourself, you will know what suits you and your business objectives. If you decide that it’s time to move on to HappyFox or Freshdesk, we can help you with the transfer process.
