The natural follow-up question is why is it important you have one? Well, four out of five customers will drop a brand they’ve been loyal to after only three or fewer bad customer experiences. One in five will be out the door after only one unsatisfactory experience.
Don’t make the mistake of going through the long and expensive process of acquiring customers only to lose them. Make sure you’re retaining your clients with top-notch support operations. One major way to ensure this is by equipping your teams with a high-quality help desk system.
We’re going to show you the steps to choosing the best ticketing system. But before that, let’s take a closer look at what support tickets are and which features your help desk must include.
What is a support ticket
A support ticket formally documents an inquiry or issue that your support team must address. One is created when prospects or existing customers contact your business and are logged into a help desk system, also known as a ticketing system.
How do support agents use tickets
Agents can use the ticket to track the progress of resolution, ensuring they’re effectively addressing the issue or query. Here's how they typically use tickets:
- Receive and review: Agents get a notification when a ticket is created. They review the ticket details, including the customer's contact information, issue description, and any attachments.
- Categorize and prioritize: Agents categorize tickets based on their issue type (e.g., billing, technical support) and prioritize them by urgency and importance. This helps them manage workflow effectively.
- Investigate and troubleshoot: Agents investigate the issue by reviewing the customer's account history, previous tickets, and any provided information. They may ask the customer for additional details to better understand the problem.
- Collaborate: If the issue requires more expertise or input from other departments, agents escalate the ticket or consult with colleagues.
- Respond and resolve: Agents communicate with the customer, providing updates and solutions. This can involve multiple interactions to ensure the issue is fully resolved.
- Document actions: Agents document all actions taken, including communication with the customer, troubleshooting steps, and resolutions. This creates a clear record for future reference.
- Close ticket: Once the issue is resolved, agents close the ticket and mark it as resolved. Some systems also allow agents to follow up to ensure the solution is effective.
- Analyze and improve: Agents and support teams periodically review closed tickets to identify trends, common issues, and areas for improvement. This helps refine processes and improve overall customer support.
The anatomy of a customer service ticket
A customer service ticket is more than just a record of an inquiry. It's a dynamic tool that evolves throughout the support process. Typically, a ticket includes the following:
- Ticket ID. The ticketing system assigns each issue a unique identifier, allowing customers to reference them and agents to track them.
- Customer information. The ticket introduces the identity of the customer with profile information, such as their name, contact details, and account information.
- Issue description. This part contains the problem or query as described by the customer. It should give agents a good idea of what the ticket is about and how they should approach it.
- Priority level. Some issues are more urgent and must be prioritized accordingly. Your tickets must indicate the ticket’s level of urgency, with labels like low, normal, high, and critical.
- Status. To make it easy for agents to track their progress, tickets must show their current standing with status labels, such as: open, pending, in-progress, overdue, closed, and canceled.
- Assigned agent. Tickets should also show the team members responsible for handling them. This way, you’ll know just who to hold accountable for their resolution.
- Communication history. Tickets include a log of previous interactions, such as incoming calls and chats from the customer and attempts at resolution from the agents’ side.
- Resolution details. The ticketing service software must record the steps taken to solve the issue and detail the final outcome. This way, you’ll have data that provides actionable insights and learning lessons.
Maximize the benefits of your tickets by ensuring they have all these key features. This will also help establish why the tickets are coming in.
Where customer support tickets come from
Tickets come from various sources. Businesses often allow customers to reach them via the following channels:
- Email: Customers send emails to a dedicated support address, which automatically generates a support ticket.
- Phone calls: Support agents log calls from customers into the ticketing system, creating tickets for each issue.
- Live chat: Interactions through live chat on the company's website or app are converted into support tickets.
- Contact forms: Submissions from contact forms on the company’s website generate support tickets.
- Social media: Customer inquiries or complaints made through social media platforms (e.g., LinkedIn, WhatsApp, X, Facebook) are converted into tickets.
- Customer portals: Customers log issues directly into the help desk system via a self-service portal.
- In-app support: Issues reported through in-app support features create tickets.
- Automated systems: System-generated alerts or notifications (e.g., from monitoring tools) create tickets automatically.
- SMS/text messages: Support requests sent via SMS or text messages can be turned into tickets.
- Community forums: Issues raised in community forums or discussion boards can be flagged and turned into support tickets.
A good help desk funnels all customer inquiries into a single location, allowing your teams to view them all and have the complete context of the issue at hand. Let’s discuss more of the benefits you can get from a customer ticketing system.
Why do you need a ticketing system for customer service
Let’s be honest, help desks don’t come cheap. And they take time and resources to maintain. (Read how the on-premise vs cloud help desks differ for more details on that topic.) But you’ll understand why they’re worth the investment once you’ve considered the following benefits of ticketing systems:
#1 Improved organization and efficiency
Ticketing systems come with automated features that streamline the entire customer service process. From support ticket routing to data analytics, you’ll get the tools you need to maintain smooth and cost-effective support operations.
#2 Better tracking and accountability of support tasks
Help desks allow your teams to manage all the tickets in a centralized system. You’ll see who’s assigned to the customer and how far along they are in the resolution process. You’ll know who’s accountable if mistakes are made or if issues aren’t resolved.
#3 Data-driven insights for continuous improvement
Customer service ticketing systems enable you to track resolution time, transfer rate, net promotion score (NPS), and other KPIs. Keeping tabs on the performance of your agents and the satisfaction levels of your customers will help you identify areas for improvement and make any necessary changes.
#4 Streamlined communication between support teams and customers
Help desks allow agents to view all interactions from a single location. Even if your customers switch between channels, your reps can still continue the conversations without a hitch. Your clients won’t have to repeat themselves over and over.
#5 Ability to prioritize and categorize issues effectively
Ticket categorization tools assign appropriate labels and prioritization levels to customer inquiries, enabling your teams to prioritize urgent issues and meet your service level agreements (SLAs). Help desks also route tickets to the appropriate tier levels, ensuring agents with the right skills are handling them.
#6 Reduction in duplicate work and overlooked requests
The centralized system ensures visibility into the ticket statuses. Your teams can see who’s assigned to a task and if that person has started working on it. This effectively prevents any duplicate work.
#7 Easier identification of common issues and creation of knowledge bases
The tickets reveal common issues and frequently asked questions, providing information that can be used to populate the knowledge base.
You can then use the information bank for a FAQ section, enabling your customers to find answers on their own, and for an internal knowledge base your agents can use as an instructional guide for resolving issues.
#8 Improved team collaboration and knowledge sharing
Help desks come with internal collaboration tools that allow agents to work together seamlessly. Your teams can add internal notes to tickets, tag specialists who are equipped to address the comments, and communicate with other support reps without leaving the platform.
#9 Scalability to handle growing customer bases
With the help desk simplifying ticket organization and resolution processes, your teams will have the bandwidth to handle large volumes of inquiries without sacrificing the quality of their service. And because the system automates your workflows, tickets get resolved much more quickly without drowning your agents in repetitive tasks.
#10 Enhanced customer satisfaction through faster response times
Help desks provide agents with insights that allow them to anticipate and meet customer expectations. They also enable faster resolution and enhanced service quality. Your customers are more likely to come out of the experience satisfied and with a positive impression of your brand.
You can only capture all these benefits if your ticketing system for customer service has the related features. In the next section, we’re going to help you learn what to look for.
Which ticketing system features should you focus on
When selecting a ticketing system, it's crucial to focus on features that will streamline your support process and enhance customer satisfaction. Here are some key features to consider:
1 Multi-channel support
The help desk should serve as a hub of all communication channels your customers prefer, such as email, chat, phone, and social media. This enables agents to view all customer interactions in one place and continue conversations without asking the same questions. This is basically what a ticketing software system is all about in customer service.
The ticketing system must also allow channel-specific routing and handling rules.
2 Ticketing automation
If you look at any top ticketing system example, you’ll see that all of them can automatically create tickets from all support requests and route them to the right agent or department based on the preset rules.
The automation in the help desk toolbox can assign tickets with priority levels based on the customer status. It can also use certain keywords or trigger words to determine urgency.
Finally, your platform should be able to automatically send follow-ups to customers and reminders to agents.
3 Service level agreement (SLA) management
A good customer support ticketing system can track SLA metrics, such as first response time and resolution time, and send alerts that help ensure your teams are on track. It should also have pre programmed escalation workflows, allowing your teams to take appropriate actions when SLAs are breached.
4 Ticket tagging and categorization
Ticket categories provide an overview of the nature of the ticket or issue. Some examples are technical issues, customer feedback, product inquiries, policy questions, and billing.
Your help desk should allow you to customize the classifications and automatically assign ticket tags. It should also enable nested categories (hierarchies and sublevels) for complex issues. Tag-based reporting will come in handy for analyzing trends.
5 Сanned responses
Canned responses (or macros) are predefined answers to frequently asked questions. Your help desk should come with a library of customizable pre-written messages and shortcut keys to enable quick replies. It should also include analytics for tracking the usage of macros and analyzing their effectiveness.
6 Customizable ticket status options
Ticket statuses (like open, pending, in-progress, overdue, closed, and canceled) allow your teams to track and account for the progress of the issue resolution. Your help desk should allow you to customize these labels to better match your teams’ workflows. You should also be able to automate status updates based on actions taken.
7 Customizable submission forms
Your help desk should come with drag-and-drop builders, which make it easy to create templates for different types of queries. It should integrate with your customer database to enable pre-filled information.
Your ticket forms should enable conditional fields (so they only reveal relevant fields to fill up), allowing your customers to populate them quickly. Multi-language functionalities are essential for catering to a global market.
8 Agent-facing knowledge base
Powerful ticketing platforms integrate knowledge base tools, enabling your teams to attach relevant articles to tickets. The platform can even automatically suggest solutions based on the content of the ticket.
Your teams can also use the information from tickets to build the knowledge base, using the system to identify common issues and queries. An analytics dashboard can help track the usage of the resources and measure their effectiveness.
9 Reporting and analytics
Your help desk should come with comprehensive analytics features that allow decision-makers to thoroughly analyze your support operations. It should include customizable dashboards for different roles and enable real-time tracking of performance metrics, trend analysis, and forecasting. You should be able to export the reports for further data analysis and easy file sharing.
10 Collaboration tools
Ticket platforms integrate collaboration tools designed to boost team productivity and drive accountability. Your help desk should facilitate team communication with internal notes and @mentions. It should also link with team chat tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Your teams should be able to do collaborative edits on the tickets, with everyone seeing the latest version. You should also be able to share the tickets and transfer their ownership when necessary.
11 Customer self-service portal
Take a load off your agents’ hands with a customized customer self-service portal that allows clients to access information and troubleshoot issues independently. Your customers should have easy access to your knowledge base, FAQs, and community forums.
12 Mobile accessibility
Provide your teams with the ability to manage tickets on the go. Choose a help desk that offers a dedicated mobile app. It should have a responsive interface, push notifications for urgent issues, and offline mode to enable working without an internet connection.
Next up, we’ll show you just how to choose a ticketing system with all the right features.
14 steps to choose the right ticketing service software for your business
It’s time to get down to the practical steps to help you land the ticketing service platform that matches your business needs.
Step 1. Define the requirements of your support team
Start by assessing the needs of your support team. Conduct surveys and interview your agents to understand their pain points. Look closely at your existing workflows and identify ways to improve them.
Based on this information, list down the features that your help desk should have. You should also consider future scalability requirements and the technical capabilities of your team.
Step 2. Set a budget for implementation and maintenance
Before shopping around for the right customer ticketing software, calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) to avoid spending more than you can afford.
Consider the initial purchase or subscription costs, implementation and training expenses, ongoing maintenance and support fees, and potential upgrade costs. Make sure you’re leaving a budget buffer or cushion for unexpected costs or additional ticketing system features. Lastly, factor in the potential ROI in terms of improved efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Step 3. Create a list of essential features
Divide the ticketing system features you’ve identified into "must-haves" and "nice-to-haves". Your list of essentials must include automation capabilities to reduce manual work, reporting and analytics tools, customization options to fit your unique processes, and tools that meet industry-specific requirements.
Step 4. Consider scalability and integration options
Your customer ticketing software should match any expansion plans you might have for your business. Make sure it can handle additional ticket load. It helps to assess the vendor's roadmap for future developments. You should also check whether the help desk offers multi-language support if you plan to expand to foreign markets.
Check for API availability to ensure the support ticketing system is compatible with your existing tools and can easily integrate new solutions.
Step 5. Create a shortlist and test-drive potential vendors
Research vendors and shortlist those that match your criteria. Take a closer look at what they have to offer by trying out demos and free trials.
Make sure you rope in team members who will actually use the support ticketing system. Keep a scoring system handy, so you can weigh your options objectively.
Step 6. Read real users' reviews and seek references
Reading customer testimonials on the provider’s company website will not suffice to acquire a full understanding of all the nuances of your future help desk. Before you jump in, go to reputable software review sites like G2 and Capterra for reviews from real users who are already using the software.
Step 7. Evaluate security and compliance features
It’s your duty to protect the data of your customers. Assess the help desk software’s data encryption and protection measures, data backup and disaster recovery policies, and compliance with relevant industry standards like GDPR and HIPAA.
Take control of your ownership of the data: choose a solution that will make it possible to transfer to other vendors without losing any data.
Step 8. Analyze vendor reliability and support
Look at your online ticketing platform provider’s market presence and financial stability to see whether they are going to stick around for the long haul.
You should review the availability of dedicated customer support to ensure you can count on their assistance if you encounter issues. Also, assess the quality and frequency of product updates, as these help ensure the software's security.
Step 9. Consider the user interface and experience
You need to choose software that both agents and customers will actually want to use. Check for the intuitiveness of the interface. The learning curve must not be too steep, allowing the end users to adopt the new support ticket system quickly.
Aside from the usability, you should also check for customization options to ensure the customer support ticketing system maintains the identity of the brand.
Step 10. Plan for implementation and training
Take the time to discuss implementation timelines and processes with the vendor. Develop a change management strategy for your team to ensure the deployment process goes smoothly. You may have to hire professional services or consultants.
Also, make sure your team knows how to use the new ticketing tool properly. So, take your time for training.
Step 11. Plan for data migration
Adopting a new business ticketing system for customer service means moving to a new place with large amounts of data. That requires separate planning as you need to prepare data for the import, plan the timing, and run test migrations to tune the mapping between source and target systems. Besides, you might need to customize the standard workflow.
The Help Desk Migration service can handle all these aspects. Our team has thousands of successful migrations under its belt and can create the best-fitting plan for your case. With the Migration Wizard, you can set up the data transfer in just a few clicks and move your data automatically and securely.
Step 12. Negotiate contract terms
You need a foolproof contract to ensure all parties will meet their end of the bargain. It will also protect you from unexpected expenses.
Before signing on the dotted line, clarify all costs (including potential hidden fees), discuss SLAs for uptime and support, negotiate terms for scaling up or down, and discuss options for future customizations or integrations. It’s also important that you understand the contract renewal and cancelation process.
Step 13. Make the final decision and prepare for the rollout
Now that you have your ducks in a row, you can present your findings and recommendations to key stakeholders. Your goal is to make a collective decision based on all gathered information.
Once you’ve chosen a specific ticketing platform, you can start developing a more detailed implementation plan and data migration strategy.
If you enlist the services of Help Desk Migration, you can schedule a consultation to discuss your specific needs, perform a free trial Demo to ensure correct data transfer, schedule the Full Migration, and get your data to the desired ticketing system with zero downtime. These steps help ensure a quick, easy, and secure data import.
Step 14. Set clear goals and KPIs for measuring success
Early on, you should already plan for ongoing evaluation and optimization of the help desk system that you choose. That way, you can hit the ground running. It’s easier to find ways to improve when you track your performance metrics from the start.
Following these steps takes time and resources. But considering the costly mistakes this kind of planning helps you avoid, the benefits outweigh the costs.
Recap
A good help desk system can up your customer service experience. It helps ensure you’re prioritizing urgent tickets, and that no customer issue falls through the cracks. It also equips your support teams with the tools they need to provide quick answers to queries and fix problems promptly.
But not all ticketing platforms are created equal, and not all businesses have the same requirements. You need to know which features to look for, which you need, and what steps to take to establish the best match for your business and get set up.
An important step in preparing for your new help desk is planning for the secure transfer of your data. Help Desk Migration can help you get sorted, whether you want to check out our services, book a call to discuss your needs, or test the data migration tool in a free trial.
