“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder, Amazon.
This quote resonates deeply in today’s business landscape.
The dynamics between businesses and customers have undergone a significant transformation. While price competition remains relevant, a new differentiator has emerged as a critical factor in business success: customer service.
But is customer service truly a game-changer? Recent data suggests it is. A Hiver survey revealed that a staggering 72% of customers are ready to switch brands after just a single negative experience.
Adding to this, the survey also highlighted that over half (52%) of customers expect their issues to be resolved within 24 hours.
The message is clear: today’s customers crave seamless, memorable experiences. To meet and exceed these expectations, businesses must strategically invest in the right technologies. These technologies, or Must-have Customer Care Tools, empower teams to operate more efficiently, work smarter, and ultimately cultivate exceptional experiences for every customer.
Discover Essential Customer Care Tools to Transform Your Business – Try Hiver Free
This article will explore ten essential customer care tools that are indispensable for businesses aiming to excel in customer service. We will delve into each tool, understanding its purpose, benefits, and how it contributes to enhancing your customer care strategy.
Table of Contents
What Defines a Customer Care Tool?
A customer care tool is essentially any technology designed to help customer support teams manage, organize, and efficiently respond to customer inquiries, complaints, and requests.
These tools become increasingly vital as businesses grow. With each new customer, the volume of support interactions inevitably increases. To effectively manage this growing workload, businesses require robust tools and streamlined processes.
Customer care tools are not just about alleviating pressure on support teams; they are also about making it easier and more convenient for customers to seek assistance.
In this guide, we will explore a comprehensive range of customer care solutions, from sophisticated help desk systems to real-time live chat platforms and comprehensive knowledge base software.
10 Essential Customer Care Tools to Transform Your Customer Support
To simplify your search, we’ve curated a list of the top 10 must-have customer care tools:
| Tool Category | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Help Desk Ticketing System | Centralizes, organizes, and tracks customer support requests, ensuring no query is missed. | Hiver, Zoho Desk, Zendesk |
| Knowledge Base Software | Empowers customers with self-service options through FAQs, tutorials, and guides. | Hiver, ProProfs, Helpjuice |
| Live Chat Software | Provides instant, real-time communication for immediate customer assistance and engagement. | Hiver, Pure Chat, ThriveDesk, ProProfsChat, LiveChat |
| Social Listening and Monitoring Tool | Tracks brand mentions and customer sentiment across social media platforms. | Hootsuite, Sprout Social |
| Customer Feedback Survey Tool | Collects valuable customer opinions and data using surveys with key metrics like NPS and CSAT. | SurveyMonkey, Typeform |
| Internal Communication Software | Facilitates seamless and contextual communication within customer support and across teams. | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Hiver’s Email Notes |
| Project Management Tool | Helps organize, prioritize, and manage customer-related tasks and projects efficiently. | ClickUp, ClientVenue, Asana, Timely Time Tracker |
| Reporting Dashboard | Offers visual and interactive dashboards to analyze customer support performance and key metrics. | Hiver’s Reporting and Analytics, Qualtrics, Databox |
| Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software | Manages customer interactions, stores customer data, and enhances personalized support. | HubSpot, Salesforce |
| AI Email Management Software | Intelligently sorts, prioritizes, and assists in responding to emails, improving email management efficiency. | Intercom, Sanebox |
1. Help Desk Ticketing System: Centralize Your Customer Queries
Is your business juggling customer messages, requests, and complaints scattered across various channels like email, live chat, phone, and social media?
This is where a help desk ticketing system becomes indispensable. A help desk is a must-have customer care tool that centralizes, assigns, and meticulously tracks all incoming customer inquiries.
A help desk ticketing system allows customer service teams to effectively log support tickets, streamline support workflows, automate the distribution of tickets to the appropriate agents, and foster collaboration to minimize response times and deliver exceptional customer service. For example, implementing a robust customer service email management software can dramatically improve your team’s efficiency by organizing and prioritizing incoming emails effectively.
Popular help desk software options include industry leaders like Hiver, Zoho Desk, and Zendesk.
However, if you are seeking a help desk solution that is exceptionally user-friendly and can be deployed rapidly, Hiver is a standout choice. A key advantage of Hiver is its seamless integration with Gmail, eliminating the need for your support team to learn a completely new platform.
2. Knowledge Base Software: Empower Self-Service and Reduce Support Load
We operate in the “Age of Google,” where individuals instinctively turn to the internet for answers. In fact, for most people, online search is the first step before reaching out for direct assistance.
According to the Harvard Business Review, a significant 81% of customers across diverse industries attempt to resolve issues independently before contacting a live support representative.
Investing in knowledge base software is a strategic move. This must-have customer care tool allows you to create, manage, and distribute self-service content in various formats, such as comprehensive FAQs, informative how-to videos, and detailed step-by-step tutorials. One of the most significant advantages of a knowledge base is its ability to reduce the workload on your customer support team, as customers can often find solutions themselves.
Furthermore, your support team can leverage the knowledge base as a quick reference while addressing common customer queries. This significantly accelerates response times, as agents do not need to develop solutions from scratch for recurring issues.
For those looking to invest in knowledge base software, excellent options to consider include Hiver, ProProfs, and Helpjuice.
3. Live Chat Software: Provide Instant Support and Boost Engagement
Live chat software is another essential must-have customer care tool for any customer-centric business.
Why is live chat so critical? According to Invesp, customers who engage with live chat tend to spend 60% more per purchase compared to those who do not. Moreover, a striking 77% of customers are likely to abandon a purchase if live chat support is not available.
Live chat enables you to communicate with your customers in real-time, whether they are browsing your website or using your mobile app. It provides the capability to offer immediate and proactive support, enhancing the overall customer experience.
However, it’s crucial to remember that a poorly implemented live chat experience can be more detrimental than not having live chat at all. Therefore, careful planning and execution are essential when integrating live chat into your customer care strategy.
Popular and effective live chat software options include Hiver, Pure Chat, ThriveDesk, ProProfsChat, and LiveChat.
4. Social Listening and Monitoring Tools: Understand Brand Perception
Are you actively monitoring online conversations about your brand? Do you have a clear understanding of how customers perceive your products and services on social media platforms?
Social listening and monitoring tools are invaluable must-have customer care tools for tracking brand sentiment across your customer base. By using these tools, you can closely monitor what customers are saying about your brand and even your competitors. These insights are crucial for tailoring more personalized experiences and proactively addressing customer needs. Furthermore, monitoring brand mentions allows you to quickly identify and respond to customer complaints before they escalate into widespread negative feedback.
Leading social listening and monitoring tools include Hootsuite and Sprout Social.
5. Customer Feedback Survey Tools: Gather Valuable Customer Insights
Surveys, a long-standing method for gathering information, remain one of the most effective must-have customer care tools for collecting direct customer feedback.
Understanding your customers is paramount to your business success. Sending out customer feedback surveys to gauge opinions about your products and services provides invaluable insights into both product development and the effectiveness of your customer support.
Typically, customer feedback surveys incorporate questions designed to measure specific key performance indicators (KPIs). These customer experience metrics often include Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES).
Two widely used and effective tools for deploying customer feedback surveys are SurveyMonkey and Typeform.
6. Internal Communication Software: Facilitate Seamless Team Collaboration
Customer support teams frequently need to collaborate with other internal departments to effectively resolve customer issues. Therefore, equipping your support team with an intuitive and efficient internal communication tool is a must-have for customer care.
The primary advantage of such tools is that they enable frontline agents to engage in quick, contextual discussions with colleagues within their team and across different departments.
Hiver’s Email Notes, for example, allows agents to directly tag and message any team member within the organization for input or assistance. This significantly reduces reliance on traditional email communication, minimizing inbox clutter and streamlining workflows.
Other excellent tools for internal communication include widely adopted platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Fellow.app.
7. Project Management Tools: Organize Tasks and Enhance Efficiency
Delivering exceptional customer service relies heavily on your customer service team’s ability to manage multiple tasks and projects concurrently. This highlights the need for a robust project management tool, another must-have customer care tool, to help organize, prioritize, and track the progress of tasks across various customer communication channels.
In essence, you need comprehensive 360-degree visibility into all ongoing activities. A project management tool provides this visibility, enabling you to share critical documents, collaborate with multiple stakeholders involved in resolving customer issues, track individual tasks and deadlines, and ultimately empower your support team to provide outstanding service.
Top recommendations for project management tools include ClickUp, ClientVenue, Asana, and Timely Time Tracker.
[Example of a Customer Service Management Template using ClickUp]
Pro Tip: If your team utilizes Asana, you can further streamline your workflow by integrating it with Gmail using Hiver’s Asana integration, enabling project management directly within your inbox.
8. Reporting Dashboards: Measure and Improve Support Performance
The most effective approach to evaluating customer support quality is through interactive reporting dashboards that display critical metrics. These metrics provide detailed insights into your support team’s interactions with customers and their impact on crucial business outcomes such as customer loyalty and retention. A comprehensive reporting dashboard is a must-have customer care tool for data-driven improvement.
Robust and in-depth analytics are essential, allowing you to segment and analyze data to gain a thorough and nuanced understanding of your customer support performance.
Vacasa, a global vacation rental management company, experienced significant improvements by implementing Hiver’s analytics dashboard. They reported an impressive 80% faster handling of support emails after leveraging Hiver’s reporting capabilities. Read the Vacasa case study.
Other recommended tools for data analysis and generating customer service reports include Qualtrics and Databox.
Did You Know: The Customer Service Software Market is projected to reach a staggering USD 58.1 Billion by 2030, according to Acumen Research and Consulting, highlighting the growing importance of these tools.
9. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: Personalize Customer Interactions
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is designed to empower teams across all departments to manage customer interactions with greater ease and efficiency. For customer support teams, CRM software is a must-have customer care tool that provides a centralized platform for storing customer details, logging customer queries, and tracking the progress of support issues.
Furthermore, a CRM acts as a centralized database, granting multiple team members access to essential customer information—from past purchase history and chat logs to current support requests.
By making comprehensive customer interaction data readily available to any team member who needs it, a CRM not only enhances data accessibility but also positively influences key metrics like customer retention. In fact, investing in a CRM system can lead to a significant 27% increase in customer retention!
Popular and highly effective CRM platforms include HubSpot and Salesforce. For businesses operating in the B2B sector, tools like TinyEmail can be valuable for prospecting and lead management.
10. AI Email Management Tools: Optimize Email Workflows with Artificial Intelligence
AI-powered email management tools leverage artificial intelligence to assist teams in sorting, prioritizing, and responding to emails with greater efficiency and ease. Such tools are must-have customer care tools for streamlining both internal and external communication, enhancing visibility, and promoting ownership across the team. Moreover, AI-driven tools continuously learn from user behavior, becoming increasingly adept at anticipating preferences and needs over time.
A prime example of AI email management software is Sanebox. Intercom is another widely recognized tool with robust AI capabilities.
Recommended Reading: 8 Best AI Email Management Tools in 2025
Empower Your Teams for Success with the Right Customer Care Tools
Equipping your teams with a strategic mix of these must-have customer care tools is essential for boosting efficiency and achieving customer service excellence. Whether it’s a help desk system to streamline customer requests or a feedback tool to gather valuable insights, always prioritize the ultimate goal: to delight customers and create memorable experiences. In parallel with optimizing customer interactions, consider leveraging board management software to ensure streamlined decision-making and effective governance within your organization, particularly in today’s dynamic business environment.
If your business operates within the Google Workspace ecosystem and you are seeking the ideal customer service software, Hiver offers a tailored solution.
Hiver—the world’s first help desk meticulously designed for Google Workspace—empowers numerous global brands to deliver rapid and personalized customer service directly from their familiar Gmail inboxes. Furthermore, Hiver integrates built-in analytics, live chat, CSAT surveys, collaboration features, and automation functionalities, all within a unified platform.
Intrigued to discover how Hiver can transform your customer service? Start your free 7-day trial of Hiver today!
FAQs
- How does a help desk ticketing system benefit customer care teams?
- A help desk ticketing system centralizes, assigns, and tracks all customer queries. It streamlines workflows, automates ticket routing, and facilitates collaboration to reduce response times and improve customer service quality.
- Why is Hiver recommended as a help desk software in this article?
- Hiver is highlighted for its user-friendly interface, rapid setup within Gmail, and comprehensive features that enable support teams to manage customer queries efficiently within their existing workflow.
- What is the role of knowledge base software in customer care, and what tools are recommended?
- Knowledge base software enables customer self-service through FAQs, videos, and tutorials, reducing the burden on support teams. Recommended tools include Hiver, ProProfs, and Helpjuice.
- Why is live chat software considered an essential customer care tool?
- Live chat software facilitates real-time communication, and data indicates that customers using live chat spend significantly more per purchase. Examples mentioned are Hiver, Pure Chat, ThriveDesk, ProProfsChat, and LiveChat.
- How do social listening and monitoring tools contribute to customer care efforts?
- These tools help track brand sentiment on social media, allowing businesses to personalize experiences and respond promptly to customer feedback. Hootsuite and Sprout Social are recommended.
- What is the importance of customer feedback surveys, and which tools are suggested for implementation?
- Customer feedback surveys are crucial for gathering insights into product and support quality. SurveyMonkey and Typeform are recommended tools for deploying follow-up feedback surveys.
- How does internal communication software, like Hiver’s Email Notes, enhance customer support efficiency?
- Internal communication software enables quick and contextual team discussions, minimizing email dependence and streamlining internal collaboration. Hiver’s Email Notes is specifically mentioned for its collaborative features.
- Why is a project management tool emphasized for customer care teams?
- Project management tools assist in organizing, prioritizing, and tracking tasks across communication channels, providing comprehensive visibility into support team activities. Tools like ClickUp, ClientVenue, Asana, and Timely Time Tracker are recommended.
- What role does a reporting dashboard play in customer care, and which tools are recommended for reporting?
- Reporting dashboards offer interactive insights into customer support metrics, aiding in performance analysis and improvement. Hiver’s Reporting and Analytics, Qualtrics, and Databox are suggested for creating customer service reports.
- How does Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software benefit customer care, and which CRMs are popular?
- CRM software helps manage customer interactions, store vital customer details, and enhance data accessibility. HubSpot and Salesforce are cited as popular CRM examples.
- What distinguishes Hiver as a customer care tool for Google Workspace users?
- Hiver is highlighted as the first help desk built for Google Workspace, enabling fast and human customer service directly within Gmail, with integrated analytics, live chat, CSAT surveys, collaboration, and automation.
- How can businesses explore Hiver, and what is the trial offer mentioned?
- Businesses can explore Hiver through a free 7-day trial. The article encourages readers to experience Hiver for efficient customer service directly from Gmail.
