Each organization today realizes that improving its customer service is crucial. However, it also requires efficient tools to optimize work processes in addition to relevant agent training. Many service agents have difficulty addressing customer problems properly due to disconnected systems or clumsy user interfaces.
Running customer support from shared email inboxes impacts the quality of customer inquiries and the performance of your support team. Therefore, you need to consider implementing a suitable helpdesk ticketing system to improve those aspects. However, before purchasing one, it is important to conduct relevant research and analyze the quality of the software. There are many softwares in the market and there might be Zendesk Alternative but you should always consider quality.The purpose of this post is to help you understand the peculiarities of ticketing systems and how to select appropriate options.
Why Do You Need a Help Desk Ticketing System?
You can improve customer service by implementing a helpdesk ticketing system. Now companies are moving to digital transformation of customer services since the pandemic hit the world. Client inquiries are registered as tickets when they contact your company. By using ticketing systems, you can keep track of all client correspondence in one place. It includes emails, messages, and phone calls, as well as the client’s previous communication history and internal notes. You can oversee and analyze how customer queries are resolved using a help desk ticketing tool.
Additionally, an efficient customer support process relies on an appropriate ticketing system. Ticketing systems can streamline support service processes, which, in turn, improves the customer experience.
5 Benefits of Ticketing Systems
Small and mid-sized businesses can benefit from the latest ticket management tools and services. This creates a productive work environment.
- Automating ticket flow, prioritization, assignment, and alerts allows for a systematic process.
- Integration. All tickets are located in one location and can be accessed at any time.
- Customer self-service experience. As a result of the types of ticketing systems you use, your organization may be able to create FAQs, knowledge bases, and other self-service information.
- Prioritizing customer requests helps companies fix them appropriately, resulting in satisfied customers and a productive support team.
- The reporting identifies patterns in customer requests for improvements to your products or services, and shows if your support team needs extra training.
Why Do You Need a Ticketing System?
Your organization may benefit greatly from a helpdesk ticketing system. Here are a few reasons why:
- Management of customer requests has been improved. Despite being a ticketing system, it records every interaction you have with your clients. Users can check the status of their queries immediately or analyze the whole process to gain deeper insight into the issues.
- Increase the team’s workload. In a good system, tickets are assigned to various agents depending on their workload, efficiency, or experience. Your team can then work to their potential and make well-informed decisions.
- Automating routine tasks. Automate as many process aspects as possible to save time on manual tasks. As a result, you spend more time answering customer questions than entering data.
The factors discussed lead to one conclusion: use a ticketing system to provide outstanding customer support.
Does Your Business Ready for a Ticketing System Implementation?
Most likely, the efforts made by your support team do not translate into a positive customer experience. In this case, you should consider implementing new help desk software. Although your employees may work hard, there can be a significant gap between the organization’s aspirations and its ability to serve clients effectively and efficiently. This may result in low customer satisfaction rates and high staff turnover.
In many small businesses, customer service is handled through shared inboxes. The approach works well until you start scaling your business and operations. Support agents responded to the same query, or nobody responded to the customer’s question. This is where a helpdesk ticketing system comes in handy.
How can you tell when the time for improvement has come? Follow these 7 signs your organization is ready for a ticketing system
- More and more support tickets are slipping through the cracks.
- The same support agents respond to the same tickets.
- There is no way for you to figure out who is addressing a complex support issue.
- Support-driven insights into the company’s performance are not gained.
- Support reps are frustrated with the current workflow and tool, and morale is low.
- Customer performance indicators are unclear and difficult to track.
- Better communication and collaboration are essential to delivering better transparency.
What Ticket System Features Should You Focus on?
When selecting a help desk ticketing tool, there are six features you must consider.
- Automated ticketing. It is crucial for all ticketing systems, regardless of the industry in which you operate. Automating multiple processes increases efficiency.
- SLA (Service Level Agreement). The direct help desk SLA management allows you to make transparent to your customers how your support works so there are no potential SLA violations or questions about support hours.
- Tickets can be organized into categories and common problems can be spotted more quickly with ticket tags.
- Templates or macros for canned responses. It is advisable to choose a system that allows you to create macros that speed up responses and reduce the workload of service representatives.
- Customizable status options for tickets. You must be able to customize the status options provided by the ticketing system. You can also send emails to clients automatically when a ticket status changes.
- Forms customized for submission. It is crucial to select a system that provides a set of submission forms in order to collect the required data. As a result, fewer follow-up questions are asked and ticket resolution is faster.
6 Steps to choose the right ticketing software for your business
There are plenty of ticketing systems on the market. Therefore, choosing the best solution for your business may be challenging. However, comparing ticket systems should not be the only consideration.
- Establish the requirements for your support team. First and foremost, you should gather some input from your team members. For instance, they can discuss the issues they are having or indicate what type of ticketing software they prefer.
- Establish a budget for the implementation and maintenance of the ticketing system. These days, small and medium-sized businesses can afford many reasonably-priced offerings. Consider your start-up costs and ongoing maintenance costs when searching for a help desk platform. Also, consider the scalability and costs of the system.
- Identify the features you need. The next step is to create a list of features that are a must-have and those that are good-to-have. In this way, you can narrow down the list of available software vendors and compare the relevant tools effectively.
- Scalability and integration options should be considered. You should consider the software’s scalability when comparing ticket systems. Moreover, it is crucial to ensure your ticketing system is integrated properly with other software tools within your company.
- Test-drive potential vendors and create a shortlist. A shortlist of possible ticketing system vendors that offer features that match your requirements is necessary in affordable prices. After that, you should sign up for free trials for test-driving all solutions.
- You can read reviews written by real users. Analyzing customer reviews will provide you with a more comprehensive picture. In addition to reading only the highest-rated reviews, you should also consider the negative ones.
Overview
Implementing the appropriate ticketing system will improve the efficiency of your service strategy and support team. A help desk ticketing system gives your team the control and transparency they need to perform and focus on more complex and critical issues.
