Drift

Pluspunten

Drift is a robust, clean platform that is relatively simple to work. The caveat to that is that you have to get the hang of it first! The previous chat builder was tough to work with - not very intuitive and lots of scrolling up and down, back and forth (think vertical, with everything jumbled together). They've just introduced a new version that is easier to work with, but still complex.

When implemented on the website, it looks clean. You can also modify your icon, which is a fun and creative aspect. The "playbook" you build can also be as simple or complex as you want - due to the complex nature of our products, we use ours as more of a "reach out to us, we can help" chatbot. But you can go much, much further.

Minpunten

The main thing I dislike about Drift isn't actually the platform - it's the onboarding process.

The onboarding process at Drift is a bit aggressive. The onboarding teams have a very set mindset in what will make Drift work for you - no matter what your business is, or how many times you let them know your business' unique needs. They are almost 100% focused on getting live chat involved, which at the start isn't always the best option. I'd recommend that they start listening more closely to their clients, rather than bopping them over the head with their "this will be best for you" mindset.

Pluspunten

With Drift, you can create customized chat experiences for users based on all sorts of criteria - the page they're on, the number of times they've visited, the channel they used to get to your site - and to target specific businesses with targeted messaging. Building the chat flows (Drift calls them "Playbooks") is generally quite easy, allowing you to quickly build out new bots once you get a hang of the platform. Drift also includes support chat built right into the product, meaning every time I get stuck, I'm able to reach out and get a hand from one of their product experts right away.

Minpunten

We haven't been using Drift for that long, and there have already been a number of instances where I or one of the other users in the company have attempted to do something that seems obvious, only to find out the tool doesn't allow us to do so. We're always told that a feature request has been submitted, but there's no way to know how long it will take before we get whatever little tweak we're looking for in order to provide a smoother, more pleasant chat experience on our site.

Pluspunten

- The design of the chat widget is gorgeous. It works on any browser and every mobile phone, I've tried, like a charm. With other chat widgets, I had lots of issues that it hasn't been displayed always correctly.
- Advanced bot and automation capabilities based on tags and other attributes
- Live view of prospects on your website with direct contact via web chat functionality
- Outbound marketing (sending sequences and tracking of emails) with their drift Gmail extension.

Minpunten

- Drift is quite expensive for what they offer. I'm one of the happy customers, which has gotten a startup license of the pro plan for a fraction of the normal price. Even with the pro plan, you have unnecessary restrictions like customization of the chat widget with CSS and using the smaller version. Most of the enterprise features as account-based marketing are great for any startup. Why isn't just the support by Drift and the quantity of usage restricted? Why do I have to see the restrictions within your account always and cannot just hide them if I cannot afford? Are they in need of that kind of marketing?
- The calendar cannot be completely translated into the language of your choice and you can't use a custom domain.
- Help center is branded with drift, even if your plan support branding free chat widget.
- I've received lots of emails from Drift about their Hypergrowth Conference (at least 10 in the last few months), which is quite annoying, no matter how personal and funny they have been written.
- I receive quite some emails regarding extensions of the core product like Drift Signature and Drift Help Center, but I've never gotten an update what has changed in the core product. After a while looking into the bot creation section, I've been flabbergasted that the whole design of the visual builder has changed, without me receiving any message about the advantages the new design and process brings with it.

Pluspunten

We love the way how Drift chat helps our customers to get in touch instantly within our product. When customers get into issue or questions to be answered, they don't have to wait for email support, all the questions can be answered instantly within the chat. Additionally, it's easy for our teams to use mobile app to instantly attend customer chat from anywhere. We usually get lot of questions and leads from landing page and drift helped us to automate leads and push into our CRM systems. Integrating the chat widget within the application is also easy and simple.

Minpunten

The web app ( dashboard ) is too slow to load initially but the chat is super fast and reliable. I wish they had android sdk to initiate conversation within the application.

Pluspunten

I'm a very early Drift user and a conversational marketing advocate. After setting up Drift, with their lead qualification and book meetings feature, our sales team has a decent pipeline with high-quality leads.

Minpunten

Waiting for Drift chat embed on the website feature. That could help me start a conversation with a customer from any section of my website pages.