Best customer communication management software for small business

Hey everyone, I’m looking into the best customer communication management software for small business and would love to hear from anyone who’s used the tools I’ve come across so far. Our team’s growing, and we need something that makes it easier to manage multi-channel conversations without bouncing between a dozen platforms.

Zoho Desk: looks like a solid all-in-one option with email, chat, social, and ticketing tools. It seems to be a good fit for small teams that want automation without a complicated setup. Would love to know if the reporting holds up over time.

Freshdesk: seems really flexible with omnichannel support, workflows, and integrations. Curious how it performs with volume, any slowdown or UI issues as teams scale?

Podium: focuses more on messaging, reviews, and customer interaction through SMS and chat. It looks super clean and mobile-first. Anyone using this primarily for local business or service-based industries?

Missive: is more of a shared inbox tool that combines email, SMS, and social. It seems great for collaborative teams, but I’m wondering how it stacks up feature-wise for managing tickets and customer history.

respond.io: is focused on messaging app (WhatsApp, Messenger, etc) and routing conversations across platforms. Seems really useful for support-heavy teams.

If you’ve used any of these, or have another tool you love for keeping customer conversations organized, I’d really appreciate your input. We’re trying to find something that’s easy to roll out but can still grow with us. Thanks in advance!