Looking for Trengo alternatives with advanced AI and automation capabilities to automate complex business processes? While Trengo is well-known, it might not be the best fit for all businesses. In this blog post, we'll introduce you to respond.io, a powerful AI-powered Trengo alternative built to help businesses enhance customer communication.
With detailed research into both platforms, we'll provide insights and highlight the unique aspects of respond.io to help you determine which solution aligns best with your business needs.
Trengo Alternative: Trengo vs respond.io
Trengo and respond.io are similar in many ways as they offer businesses tools to manage customer interactions across multiple channels.
They allow you to centralize all your business communication channels into a single omnichannel inbox and offer features like automation, internal collaboration tools and analytics to help you streamline communication processes and make data-driven decisions.
However, they were built with different businesses in mind. Trengo is designed for small businesses with simple business processes, while respond.io is created for larger businesses with complex needs and processes.
Since you may already know what Trengo has to offer, let's discover why respond.io better fits your business.
Turn customer conversations into business growth with respond.io. ✨
Manage calls, chats and emails in one place!
Trengo Alternative: Is Respond.io a Better Fit for Your Business?
Respond.io is a customer conversation management software designed to enhance the customer experience to build brand loyalty and increase business revenue.
It has been proven to enable businesses worldwide to gain more qualified leads, improve sales conversions and achieve a high degree of customer satisfaction. Below, we’ll explore how respond.io enables businesses to accomplish these objectives.
Centralize All Messaging Channels in a Team Inbox
If you’re a medium to large business, you probably have a presence on more than one messaging channel. While this allows customers to contact you easily, managing conversations on each channel can be challenging.
Therefore, connecting all key communication channels in one place can save you the trouble of juggling multiple platforms. While Trengo markets itself as an omnichannel platform, it does not support TikTok, Viber, or LINE, which we’ll discuss later. Now, let’s look at respond.io’s omnichannel capabilities.
Connect WhatsApp, TikTok and More in One Place
Respond.io allows you to connect all the popular messaging channels your customers prefer. Gain official WhatsApp API access and connect to other messaging channels like TikTok, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and SMS.
Besides instant messaging channels, businesses can also connect traditional channels like email and SMS. Best of all, respond.io fully supports all native channel features from voice messages and emojis in instant messaging to precise email formatting.
Besides connecting multiple channels, businesses can also connect multiple channel accounts to respond.io. For instance, if you have individual WhatsApp accounts or numbers for each branch or outlet, you can connect them all and respond to these messages from one place.
Integrate Custom Channels like In-app Chat, Chats from E-commerce Platforms and more
If your company has its own messaging app or uses an e-commerce platform’s native inbox like Lazada chat inbox to communicate with customers frequently, you can integrate them on respond.io.
Respond.io’s custom channels integration allows you to connect any channel with an open API to the platform. This way you can have both popular and business-specific messaging channels in one place.
Merge Conversations from Email, WhatsApp and Other Channels in a Single Thread
Customers expect a true omnichannel experience from businesses and businesses need to meet these expectations. One way to do this is by recognizing returning customers on any channel. With respond.io, businesses can merge conversations from different channels in a single thread for a unified customer profile.
So how does it work? If a customer has previously emailed you but decided to message you on WhatsApp next, you can merge the conversations to get context easily.
Note that you can’t do this on Trengo as it only supports conversation merges from the same channels.
Now that you understand respond.io’s capability to offer an omnichannel experience, let's look at how to capture leads on respond.io.
Capture and Manage Leads on Multiple Channels
Having the option to broadcast promotional messages on multiple channels allows businesses to engage with customers through various touchpoints, ultimately leading to higher sales and revenue.
Therefore, it is important that platforms like respond.io and Trengo support promotional messaging capabilities such as click to chat ads and broadcasts for every available messaging channel. However, Trengo only supports broadcasts on two channels, WhatsApp and SMS and does not fully integrate with click to chat ads. That said, let's look at respond.io’s promotional messaging capabilities.
Generate Leads through Click to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok Messaging Ads
Social media channels like Instagram and Facebook present a valuable opportunity for targeted advertising through click-to-chat ads. These ads enable businesses to encourage leads to start a conversation directly and engage with them when their interest is at its peak.
TikTok Messaging Ads offer an additional way to capture new audiences with video content that seamlessly blends into their feeds and entices them to send a message on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
When a lead messages you through click-to-chat ads, respond.io shows you which ad a customer clicked on when they message you, giving agents useful context to respond intelligently. You can also automate these conversations to gain lead information and qualify them automatically.
Broadcast on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, LINE and More
Respond.io’s Broadcast Module supports multiple channels, including SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, LINE and Viber.
You can personalize, schedule and send broadcast messages to target audiences on the channels customers are most active, tailor messages to each channel's unique features and audience, and create a more integrated and cohesive marketing strategy.
Trigger Promotional Messages from Customer Actions on External Platforms
Businesses can trigger promotional messages on respond.io based on customer actions on external platforms like Shopify. For example, you can send a targeted abandoned cart message to a customer who has added items to their cart but failed to complete the purchase.
The message can include a discount or other incentive to encourage customers to return to the site and complete their purchase. Customers can select pre-determined reply buttons or send a response and be connected to an agent automatically.
This way, customers can easily get what they want, enhancing the customer experience and satisfaction. Next, we’ll explore ways to handle high volumes of conversations.
Close Deals Faster with Advanced AI and Automation Capabilities
Automating conversations is crucial, especially when businesses receive high volumes of messages from various messaging channels or accounts. A quick response can be the difference between losing a lead and closing a deal, so you can’t afford delays.
Automated replies can qualify leads, handle basic inquiries and even settle appointment bookings. Conversations that require a human touch should then be automatically handed off to an agent who can answer complex inquiries or even jump into a quick call on WhatsApp Business Calling API.
Streamline Processes in One Visual Workflow Automation Builder
Unlike Trengo, which has complicated automation setup processes, respond.io’s Workflow automation builder gives you one visual Workflow to automate complex business processes.
You can plan, design and implement your workflow from A to Z with any amount of complexity in one space. This includes automating FAQs, chat routing, case escalations and creating deals or tickets in CRMs. Best of all, you can do all this from scratch or use ready-made templates.
You can also build an AI Agent to answer customer questions on its own before passing the conversation to a human agent. Train the AI agent based on uploaded company resources or even allow it to crawl your website to provide high quality answers.
Managers can also create Workflows for complicated tasks like shift transfer, case escalation, syncing data in external CRMs and getting customer feedback, then allow agents to launch them with a click while talking to customers.
Now that you know how respond.io’s automation works, it's important to highlight one of the critical components of improving customer satisfaction: Auto assigning conversations to agents quickly. Before that, note that Trengo only allows manual conversation assignment or round-robin auto-assignment.
Auto Assign Conversations Based on Team Function and Customer Needs
There are two ways for businesses to automatically assign new conversations on respond.io: Round-robin for equal workload distribution or assign them to agents with the least conversations open. Round-robin assignments ensure each sales agent has an equal opportunity to convert leads and earn their commissions.
Assigning agents with the least conversations lets businesses provide a better customer experience. This is because it connects customers with available agents quickly and reduces wait times and resolution times.
As for new conversations, businesses can assign them to a new agent and route returning customers with a history of interactions to the same agent who handled their case before.
This approach gives agents the context to address recurring or related issues and build long-term relationships with customers. Consequently, customers can receive a more personalized and efficient support experience.
To prioritize high-value customers who contribute substantially to revenue, businesses usually provide them with a dedicated agent as a primary point of contact for all their needs. These agents will work closely with the customer to understand their goals or desires. Then, provide guidance and support to help them achieve their desired outcomes.
Since high-value customers are crucial to the success of any business, it is important that companies minimize any difficulties or inconveniences they may face while interacting with their brand.
Respond Quickly, Accurately and Professionally with AI
With respond.io, agents can leverage AI capabilities to answer inquiries promptly and efficiently. Respond AI Prompts allow agents to refine their messages, ensuring clarity and precision in communication. They can also translate messages into different languages, reducing potential language barriers.
Moreover, tools like AI Assist can be a game-changer for providing agents with quick replies based on customer context. This rapid access to information allows agents to respond quickly and accurately to customer inquiries, enhancing response times and contributing to a more satisfying customer experience.
While Trengo now offers similar AI capabilities, they are less mature and incur add-on fees. Now that we’ve shown how respond.io improves customer conversations, let's explore the benefits of advanced analytics.
Boost Business Results with Analytics and Lifecycle Tracking
With any marketing and sales efforts, you need to track results to see what’s working and what’s not to continuously optimize tactics. Trengo’s analytics are limited and it’s not possible to track lead progress in stages.
Respond.io offers advanced analytics, customer lifecycle tracking and CRM integrations to improve customer experience throughout the entire funnel.
Get Marketing Performance Insights with Broadcast Analytics
To gauge the success of marketing campaigns, businesses can get insights and data to help improve their next campaign's strategy and efficacy.
By analyzing the performance of previous campaigns, businesses can identify what worked well and what didn't, understand their audience's behavior and preferences, and optimize their messaging, targeting and channels accordingly.
Track the Customer Lifecycle Through the Full Funnel
Additionally, respond.io’s Lifecycle feature enables you to label contacts with lead status so agents can instantly see which leads to prioritize. These labels can also be used for promotional targeting and to provide context on whether a contact a made a purchase before.
To analyze what may have caused leads to drop off at any point in the sales process, use the Lost Stages feature to set labels like Cold Lead, Unqualified or Lost to Competitor. Lifecycle stages can not only be used in the inbox but are also visible in the dashboard so it’s easy to track how many leads are in each stage.
Enrich Data with HubSpot, Salesforce and Other Integrations
Large businesses often store customer data in a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce, so integration with these is a must-have in a conversation management platform. CRMs are seen as a single source of truth and switching between platforms to gain more context on a customer is a hassle.
Respond.io now offers HubSpot and Salesforce integrations to customers on all plans. With a single click, agents can access HubSpot or Salesforce data directly from a conversation to get full context on the customer they’re chatting with.
To integrate with other software, use Zapier or Make for quick connection with thousands of other platforms.
Now that we’ve shown how respond.io allows you to measure success throughout the funnel, let's explore the benefits of using a reliable platform.
Achieve Success with a Reliable Platform and Customer Support
Reliability and excellent customer support from solution providers like Trengo and respond.io are important because companies use these platforms to run their businesses and communicate with customers.
Trengo's support is limited from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5.30 pm Central European Time, so businesses cannot reach them when there are critical issues outside these hours. In contrast, respond.io provides superior reliability and support. Let's explore how.
Robust Platform Stability for Consistent Operations
Having a reliable platform is crucial for maintaining consistent operations especially when businesses rely on a platform for customer communication.
Because respond.io is built to handle high volumes of messages without downtime, rest assured that your operations will remain uninterrupted. So, you can focus on making your customers happy by tending to customers’ queries and issues promptly.
Get Speedy Assistance with 24/5 Conversational Support
Get the customer support you need when you need it with respond.io. Our support team is available 24 hours Monday to Friday and offers support in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.
You can get general assistance with navigating the platform, as well as help with billing issues, troubleshooting bugs and more. Our comprehensive support efficiently resolves any issues you encounter, enabling you to focus on growing your business.
Get Dedicated Support from a Customer Success Manager
Enterprises with complex needs can work with a customer success manager to get the most out of the platform. They specialize in providing personalized support for planning and setting up workflows, integrating your platform with third-party tools through webhooks and APIs, and more.
With a dedicated customer success manager aboard, you’ll learn the true potential of the platform and leverage it to achieve success like many of our customers. Now that you know what respond.io has to offer, let's compare which pricing plan gives you maximum value.
The Best Solution for Maximum Value
Plans and pricing are some of the most important factors businesses look at before deciding to use a product. This section will compare Trengo and respond.io’s plans to help you decide which platform provides the best value.
Entry-Level Plans: Respond.io vs Trengo
Although respond.io has more advanced features, it is more cost-effective compared to Trengo. Respond.io's $79 Starter plan is less than half the price of Trengo's $164 Boost Plan.
In terms of channel availability, Trengo does not support TikTok, LINE and Viber. Plus, its broadcast capabilities are limited to SMS and WhatsApp and are only available as add-ons, while respond.io supports broadcasts on six channels.
Respond.io vs Trengo Entry-Level Plans
| Respond.io (Starter Plan) | Trengo (Boost Plan) |
|---|
Price | $79 | $164 |
Seats | 5 | 5 |
Channels | -WhatsApp
-TikTok
-Facebook Messenger
-Instagram
-Telegram
-LINE
-WeChat
-Viber
-SMS
-Email
-Custom | -WhatsApp
-Instagram
-Facebook Messenger
-Telegram
-WeChat
-Webchat
-SMS
-VoIP
-Custom |
Additional Fees | - | -Automation Flowbots
-Conversation fees
-Broadcast fees
-AI Journeys |
Additionally, its current pricing lacks transparency and leaves room for charging additional costs. For instance, its pricing for broadcast, Flowbot and voice channel is not specified on its pricing page. In comparison, respond.io’s pricing is straightforward, and all costs can be found on its pricing page.
Businesses on Trengo’s $164 Boost plan have email-only access to customer support, unlike respond.io, which offers 24/5 live instant messaging support across all its plans and 24/7 AI agent support.
Value-Filled Plan for Fast-Growing Businesses
Trengo’s capabilities are only enough for small businesses with low volumes of messages but its pricing does not match its minimal offerings, even for the Premium plan. Respond.io’s Growth Plan is again a fraction of the price of Trengo’s Premium plan and offers exponentially greater potential.
With Trengo, businesses need to pay extra for automating chats and processes on top of the already hefty subscription fee. Respond.io, on the other hand, gives you full access to Workflows that automate chats, assignment, integrations and more in its Growth plan.
| Respond.io (Starter Plan) | Trengo (Boost Plan) |
|---|
Price | $159 | $274 |
Seats | 10 | 5 |
Channels | -WhatsApp
-TikTok
-Facebook Messenger
-Instagram
-Telegram
-LINE
-WeChat
-Viber
-SMS
-Email
-Custom | -WhatsApp
-Instagram
-Facebook Messenger
-Telegram
-WeChat
-Webchat
-SMS
-VoIP
-Custom |
Automation and AI Features | -Workflows automation for chats and processes
-AI Agent that learns from company knowledge sources | -Requires add-on fees |
Additional Fees | - | -Automation Flowbots
-Conversation fees
-Broadcast fees
-AI Journeys |
To summarize, respond.io offers comprehensive and transparent plans that include advanced features not found in Trengo, like highly valuable AI features. This makes it an ideal choice for large and fast-growing businesses that require scalable solutions to engage with their customers effectively.
Now that you know how respond.io and Trengo pricing works, let's look at why respond.io is for you.
Trengo Alternative: Why Respond.io?
Trengo supports voice channels and has some similar features like conversation reports and internal collaboration tools like tagging colleagues and leaving comments for context. However, the platform is only sufficient for small businesses with simple business processes.
Respond.io is one of the most versatile customer conversation management software in the market. Its advanced AI and automation capabilities enable businesses to streamline their processes in one place, helping them achieve results quickly with significantly less effort. And with WhatsApp Business Calling API now releasing, businesses who need voice channels now have one over WhatsApp API.
Most importantly, respond.io's high uptime can meet the demand of larger businesses that receive high volumes of messages. It provides free high-quality support 24/5 to help customers whenever they need it, while Enterprise users have a dedicated customer success manager.
With all this in hand, businesses can create better customer experiences and build customer loyalty to increase their revenue.
If you’re considering migrating from Trengo to respond.io, contact our support team for the migration steps. You can migrate all your channels to respond.io including WhatsApp API users while keeping the same WhatsApp API number.
Are you ready to get started with respond.io? Sign up for a free trial and experience powerful automation like no other platform!
Turn customer conversations into business growth with respond.io. ✨
Manage calls, chats and emails in one place!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which businesses is Trengo best for?
Trengo is best for small businesses with 5 or fewer agents sending low volumes of messages for sales and support over chat.
How does Trengo work?
Trengo is a subscription-based platform that connects popular communication channels including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to a single inbox.
Why do I need a Trengo alternative?
Trengo’s isn’t ideal for businesses with high message volumes because of its high conversation costs. Surprise fees for features like automation that are essential for growing businesses are frustrating, and expanding your marketing efforts to channels like TikTok that aren’t supported by Trengo is a challenge. Choose an alternative like respond.io to market, sell and support on any channel using advanced automation — with no unexpected costs.
Does Trengo or respond.io have better customer support?
Trengo only offers email support for the Boost plan and is only reachable via chat during CET office hours for customers on higher tier plans. Respond.io offers 24/5 customer support and 24-hour AI chat over the weekends.
Further Reading
Want to learn more about respond.io? Here are some readings that might interest you.
Overview
Electronic
Fashion & Apparel
Furniture
Jewelry
Afterschool Activities
Sport & Fitness
Beauty Center
Dental Clinic
Medical Clinic
Home Cleaning & Maid Services
Photography & Videography
Auto Part Retailer
Car Dealership
Travel Agency & Tour Operator
How Homage Achieved a 9% Increase in Care Visit Success with Respond.io AutomationRead Customer Story 
How Srikandi Streamlined Communication for 47 Branches and Accelerated Revenue GrowthRead Customer Story 
