More and more businesses are looking for ways to support their community across channels that users find most convenient. To do this properly, they need the right support infrastructure in place that can help them go where their audience is.

Mava and Intercom are two communication platforms which can both help businesses increase community engagement, but in slightly different ways. Brands, therefore, need to know about these slight but significant differences between the platforms so that they can invest their budgets into the right one.

Here, we’ll be breaking down everything you need to know about Mava and Intercom, so that you can make an informed decision today.

Mava helps bring online communities answers

As the adoption of community-centred operating platforms like Discord has increased, so too has software such as Mava. Designed specifically for these popular platforms, Mava uses AI to speed up the query processes for the routine, everyday questions that members ask.

This AI assistance frees up human agents to provide a richer service to other community members with more specific, complex queries. Setting up Mava is as easy as using it and is designed to be integrated into whichever platform(s) are preferred, be it Slack or Telegram, by people who don’t need to be experts in this field.

For the user, they can benefit from Mava’s AI assistance and get the answers they need without having to leave the platform. And for brands, back-end analytics features allow community managers to track how well the AI is supporting users, highlight areas for improvement, and show which high-performing aspects can be made even better.

Intercom blends customer support with sales and marketing

Intercom is an established customer communication platform that is used by many SaaS and e-commerce businesses. The platform's main focus is on helping businesses with customer enquiries through website chatbots, emails, and product messaging.

There is a strong commercial aspect to the Intercom service, too. It offers sales and marketing automation features alongside the traditional customer support tools, much like a traditional CRM, and can assist in helping customers buy or return goods without the need for a human agent to step in.

While it is adept at handling large volumes of support requests of varying types, it lacks Mava’s community focus and doesn’t support businesses which operate in places such as Slack. Instead, it focuses on helping businesses nurture leads as well as guiding customers through routine sales queries.

How their key features compare

Both platforms offer a great range of features for businesses. And for those businesses, it's about assessing what each platform offers and picking the one that aligns with their needs.

Use cases

Mava’s main feature is that it helps businesses answer customer queries across the most popular community channels without having to go to another platform. On the other hand, Intercom is more suited to website and app integrations.

Automation

The AI which powers Mava learns from your existing resources, allowing it to provide rich answers to frequently asked questions instantly. Intercom’s automation features focus on customer onboarding, upselling, and retention campaigns.

Analytics

Both platforms have comprehensive analytics features. Mava’s analytics focus on community engagement metrics, such as how quickly an FAQ is answered, whereas Intercom tracks more commercial KPIs, such as customer lifecycle data.

Setup

Mava has simplicity baked into it, making set-up a very simple process that can be done by community managers of any skillset. Intercom’s integration into websites and apps, however, means greater configuration and business onboarding is needed to maximise its features.

How the cost of Mava and Intercom compares

Investing in these platforms is a significant decision, no matter what size of business is assessing them. Not only does the monthly cost need to be taken into account, but there also needs to be consideration for future scalability.

Mava’s pricing couldn’t be simpler. It is transparent and tailored to small and mid-sized communities that don’t want to compromise on offering the best experience for their users. Starter accounts are set at $0, and all Mava Plans have integrations across Discord, Telegram, and Slack as standard.

Intercom uses a tiered pricing structure like a lot of SaaS brands, which can become extremely costly for businesses as their number of agents grows.

These plans tend to be more effective for companies that want to leverage their marketing and sales features. However, for businesses scaling a community, Mava offers predictable costs that don’t require enterprise-level budgets.

So, Mava or Intercom, which is right for you?

You should choose Mava if:

• You want to provide fast AI-powered support within the three most popular community environments.
• Predictable, affordable payment plans are a priority for your businesses, which may need to scale in the near future.
• Keeping your community in-platform is important to you.

Choose Intercom if:

• The main way you manage customer communication is through web, email, and in-product channels.
• Support needs to be integrated into wider sales and marketing plans as its broader tool set could be a better fit.

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