The Relevance Crisis

Drift wins this battle not through innovation, but through expectation management (26% Gap). While Intercom boasts superior AI tech (Fin), their brand is currently a 'Ghost Town' in our attention audit—zero meaningful traction. Drift, conversely, generates 'Viral Noise.' It isn't high-quality engagement, but it proves they are still part of the conversation, whereas Intercom has vanished into the background noise of its own pricing scandals.

The divergence is stark. Intercom is technically 'alive' but emotionally dead to the market, anchored by the perception of being a 'Vendor Trap' via resolution taxes. Drift is anchored in the 'Ivory Tower'—expensive and exclusionary, but stable. The market prefers the known pain of Drift's high price to the unpredictable pain of Intercom's billing shocks. Attention Economics confirms this: Drift commands 30 sources of volume compared to Intercom's absolute zero.

Prediction: Intercom is in immediate danger. High churn risk combined with zero attention visibility is a death spiral. Unless they pivot their pricing model to match their AI utility, they will be cannibalized by lower-cost AI wrappers. Drift will survive as a legacy 'Cash Cow' inside Salesloft, irrelevant to innovation but safe in the enterprise.