{"id":1167,"date":"2023-07-24T09:52:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T09:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helpwise.io\/blog\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2023-07-24T09:52:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T09:52:18","slug":"hiver-vs-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helpwise.io\/blog\/hiver-vs-front","title":{"rendered":"Hiver vs Front: Which One is Perfect for Your Team in 2023?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you want your brand to be a household name, you need a solid customer service strategy besides actively marketing it. After all, you cannot drive your business without happy and loyal customers. In fact, a business\u2019s customer support quality influences the purchasing decisions of 4 out of 5 customers<\/a>, says a Salesforce survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to handling customer complaints\/queries effectively, Hiver vs Front have been in constant battle that has garnered huge attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiver\u2019s customer service software enables support teams to use shared inboxes, and access and monitor conversations exchanged from these accounts. In contrast, Front arms support agents with real-time collaboration and automated workflows to better serve customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sound good, but which one should you go with? To help you find the proper fit for your customer service team, we have rounded up this comprehensive comparison between Hiver and Front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Hiver?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hiver is a multichannel customer support software that helps your agents assign, monitor, and collaborate with each other on inbound customer requests (mostly via emails).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can create a shared inbox where you can team up with your agents on various tasks, including categorizing customer issues, assigning them to the right person, and fixing them. Unlike conventional emails, where users have to cc\/forward emails to keep each other updated, shared inboxes are completely accessible to all relevant users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sets Hiver apart from other solutions is its smooth compatibility with Gmail; it is the world\u2019s first customer service software designed for Google Workspace. As such, your staff can deliver exceptional support using Gmail – which they are already familiar with – in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, companies using Hiver\u2019s customer service platform already experience an 80% improvement<\/a> in work efficiency and save 250% hours every month<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Email Management<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Hiver lets you assign\/re-assign customer emails to the right support agent in just two clicks. Additionally, you have end-to-end visibility into every customer email in the shared inbox and which agent will take up the complaint\/query. Further, the feature enables you and your agents to check the resolution status of every customer email anytime, anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email Notes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Hiver Notes reside alongside shared inboxes to add more context while assigning customer emails and collaborating with other team members minus CCs and forwards. Use @Mentions in email notes to collaborate with particular support agents whenever necessary. These notes are always confidential; hence, no internal team discussion will go to agents beyond the shared mailbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collision Alerts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This feature keeps your support agents from responding to the same customer email and sending different solutions. When one agent is already working on an email response, Collision Alerts prevent others from working on the same query. They get a floating notification of the agent\u2019s activity in real-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvey – The AI Bot<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Using natural language processing (NLP) algos, Harvey – Hiver\u2019s AI bot – accurately identifies the context of customer-facing conversations and equips your support agents with smart suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the AI bot detects and closes interactions that get reopened due to non-actionable \u201cThank you\u201d replies from customers. That way, your customer service agents can focus on more crucial tasks \u2013 engaging with more (high-priority) inbound emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer Surveys (CSAT)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Gather customers\u2019 feedback and measure how happy they are with your resolution by sending short, personalized customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys at the end of emails. The collected feedback will help you analyze how well your agents are solving customer queries\/complaints and spot improvement areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multichannel Support<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While Hiver is primarily an email collaboration platform, your support agents can communicate on customers\u2019 channel of choice. That includes live chat, voice (only through integration), and WhatsApp messaging \u2013 all from the comfort of your Gmail shared mailbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best For<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Hiver is a go-to customer service software for small- and mid-sized companies operating in diverse industries \u2013 manufacturing, finance, travel, and business services. Added advantage for those already having their Gmail accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Front?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Front is a customer support platform that drives at-scale engagement by centralizing conversations across channels \u2013 texts, emails, live chat, and social media \u2013 into a single interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the backend, its automation capabilities eliminate manual tasks, and in-depth analytics across systems helps you boost agent productivity and customer relationships. You can route inbound customer requests to the right support agent based on predefined rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, your customer service staff can provide timely, accurate, and context-driven responses to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Templated Responses<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With Front, you no longer have to enter the same response again and again. Instead, you can create response templates with attachments and save them for your support agents for future use. These templated responses or macros enable you to maintain consistent, accurate messaging, hit response time SLAs, and onboard new employees faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roles & Permissions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Front lets you define user roles based on a customized set of advanced permissions. You can decide what your support agents can see, allow certain agents to create rules, or restrict them from creating shared tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analytics<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Optimize your decision-making with holistic insights into support agents\u2019 performance, customer-facing conversations, and SLA breaches. You can build custom reports to monitor graph movements over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automated Routing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Automated routing guides customers to relevant agents based on their queries or complaints. In times when people want prompt and effective support, this feature connects customers with the right agent at the right time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shift Scheduling<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This feature lets you confidently manage shift transitions across multiple workplaces or time zones. As such, only on-duty support agents will be assigned inbound conversations to avoid missed customer requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best For<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mid- and large-scale enterprises, especially those offering support via email, are Front\u2019s primary customer base. The software helps businesses across multiple verticals \u2013 financial services, manufacturing, B2B technology, and logistics \u2013 with their customer service goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiver vs Front: Direct Comparison\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ease of Use<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Setting up and getting started with both Hiver and Front is pretty straightforward. That said, some users find using one platform easier than the other. Let\u2019s check it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Hiver runs within Gmail \u2013 which most people are already accustomed to \u2013 your agents can kick-start handling customer requests without extensive training. If you are comfortable with Gmail, there is barely anything to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, some users have faced slight difficulties when using Hiver. A Hiver user on Software Advice<\/a> complained that \u201cAutomated rules are not available in basic plans which feels sometimes a problem.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Hiver fits well into complex customer service tasks like monitoring conversations, agent performance, and KPIs. That said, you need to upgrade your plan to leverage those analytics features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if your support staff is unfamiliar with Gmail, which is a rare case scenario, you would need minimal training or workflow change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing incoming customer inquiries with Front is as simple as Hiver. Features, including snoozing and internal comments, make email forwarding redundant. The fact that Front offers multiple features and integrations with its basic plan, unlike Hiver, makes it a better choice of customer service software among businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the very benefit becomes an overkill if you are a one-human army as determining which and how to use a particular feature becomes overwhelming. The dashboard flashes menus and buttons you might not always need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Front does not integrate with Gmail (shockingly), the learning curve becomes steep. A Front user on TrustRadius<\/a> reported, \u201cThe feature-rich views and options take a little time getting used to when coming from a standard email system.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrations<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you already use myriads of tools to manage your customer service. Luckily, both Hiver and Front provide dozens of integrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiver plays nicely with several third-party tools such as Zapier, Okta, Aircall, and Asana. Hence, your support agents can perform multiple tasks right from their Gmail inboxes without toggling tabs or apps. For instance, Hiver\u2019s Salesforce integration lets you auto-assign customer-facing conversations to the right agent based on Salesforce CRM data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, these valuable integrations are not available in the basic plan. You need to increase your budget to unlock them in the higher-end plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With almost 100 integrations, Front lets numerous tools, including CallHippo, WhatsApp, and Aide, blend with its customer service platform. For example, Front\u2019s CallHippo integration facilitates VoIP customer support using CallHippo contacts from Front and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is more, you can unlock most of these integrations in its basic plan itself. However, Front does not go along well with Gmail. Some actions you do on your Gmail account might not reflect on Front\u2019s platform like archiving, deleting, or tag a conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer Support <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s compare Hiver vs Front in terms of their customer support options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can access Hiver\u2019s support via the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n