One of the challenges of customer support is keeping up with all the requests coming in. This is especially the case when you need to handle hundreds of customer requests a day. Here, a support ticket system would be a lot of help. But which of the various software should you get? Here are some of our best recommendations.
The qualities of an effective support ticket system
A support ticket system is any software that helps businesses manage service requests from customers by organizing these. Each customer request and subsequent interaction with agents is what is called the support ticket. The system categorizes these tickets and sends them to agents for action.
A tricky aspect of getting a support ticket system is choosing the right one for your business. Various software in the market come with different features for any given support task. But there are essential features that you should consider.
Multiple channel ticketing
Since customers will likely use different channels to reach you, your ticketing system should be able to receive and process these requests. Some of the popular channels that it needs to cater to are social media, email, and chat. The system should also be able to divert tickets to other channels should one have issues.
Service Level Agreement (SLA) status information
To more efficiently move service tickets through the queue, you need to prioritize them correctly. A Service Level Agreement will help a lot with this task. The ticket system should be able to quickly retrieve and display this information for the agent to use when organizing requests.
Customizable ticket templates
Responding to support requests is tedious work. Customizable ticket templates will help a lot in providing faster responses. Here, you want a support ticket system that can load multiple templates at once for different situations.
Ticket status viewer
Customers would want to know the status of their support requests at any given time. The ticketing system should be able to provide that on command. Additionally, it needs to filter public and private actions on the ticket, as not all of these need to be viewable for the public.
Comprehensive notifications system
To better update customers on the status of their tickets, your system should have different mechanisms to send notifications. Mobile apps and text messages are the fastest options but you would also want to consider email. There should be a quick link from these notifications to your portal for further information.
Option to deploy self-service
Many customers prefer to resolve issues on their own first before contacting customer service. An effective support ticket system can still provide help by letting them deploy your self-help portal on demand. This can either be through a simple link on your service page or notifications sent to customers.
These features are just the basic ones that you should take into account when looking for a good support ticketing system. As for the more advanced ones, determine what you will need based on your particular customer service situation. Now that you have an idea of what to look for, it’s time to see the best systems that you can get.
Support ticket system no. 1: HappyFox
When it comes to simple ticketing systems, HappyFox is one of the popular options. It gives users a comprehensive management system that you can deploy almost immediately. And since it is cloud-based, your agents can access it wherever they are.
Features
One of HappyFox’s biggest draws is its ticket management. Here, you can create tickets in different ways. You can start tickets directly on the dashboard. Alternatively, you can have incoming emails to your service address converted to support tickets automatically. The software displays these tickets in different views to help agents understand their current statuses more easily.
HappyFox also comes with various automation tools to improve the workflow. The software can automatically assign incoming tickets based on the agents available at that time. You can also create and associate smart rules for assigning tickets to a work schedule. This feature gives you more flexibility in getting service requests to agents.
The software also lets you build your self-help portal, instead of having to construct it separately. You can even keep track of what articles are popular in your knowledge base. HappyFox also supports separate internal and external knowledge bases. The latter will be handy for agents who are handling customer questions.
Support ticket system no. 2: Zendesk Support
Zendesk is arguably one of the most recognizable names when it comes to customer support tickets. And it definitely earns that reputation with its robust and flexible system. You can adapt it to different types of customer service environments and customize it to your team’s preferences.
Features
One of Zendesk’s strengths is how it implements rules for ticket processing. Here, agents can trigger a specific automated workflow based on the changes in the ticket’s attributes. You can also add macros to process repetitive support issues faster. Meanwhile, agents can direct tickets outside of the rules by simply sharing information with other agents.
The software supports different channels, including social media messaging apps like:
- Facebook Messenger
- WhatsApp
- Apple Business Chat
You can then go through all of these different channels at once through the software’s unified dashboard. Additionally, you can increase Zendesk’s capabilities through the different integrations available. This feature will help your agents create a more effective system.
Lastly, the support ticket system’s Explore feature is a great help in analyzing all the service requests you receive. With it, you can create a large selection of reports through the use of the query tool. There are five datasets available for you out of the box and you can customize the software to pull out more from other apps.
Support ticket system no. 3: Zoho Desk
For small businesses in need of a capable support ticket system, Zoho Desk is a suitable option. Companies can start with a free plan for their fledgling business and gradually go up the differently priced plans depending on their requirements. Zoho also adds new features regularly, boosting the software’s capabilities.
Features
The foremost thing that you will like about Zoho Desk is the integrations available for it. The company has a large selection of business management products, which means you can provide a full customer experience. For instance, by syncing customer data from Zoho CRM, you can better see each customer’s ticket history and activity.
Zoho lets you customize its agent interface in a variety of unique ways. You can rearrange or disable top menu modules depending on your preferences. It is also easy to customize individual views. You can place fields in different positions for ease of data entry and set permissions for ticket actions.
A unique feature that you will like is the Customer Satisfaction dashboard. Here, you can quickly see whether a group of tickets have already been resolved or are still open. The tool also comes with an asset tag feature, which will let agents do some degree of asset management searches.
Support ticket system no. 4: Spiceworks
Spending on a support ticket system is an essential investment for companies. But if you don’t have the budget for higher-end software, Spiceworks is a good alternative. It offers a cloud-based ticketing service that you can use for free.
Features
For what it has, Spiecerworks offers a reasonable degree of ticket management. You can receive tickets from email, the user portal, or the Admin User interface. It also gives you the ability to customize tickets by adding new fields. The software evem has ticket collaboration and auto-assignment features to distribute tasks to agents faster.
Spiceworks doesn’t come with a lot of internal customization options but you can integrate over 150 different third-party apps. These integrations give you more room to customize the user interface. You also get customizable permissions that will let you tailor each agent dashboard depending on the task at hand.
However, Spiceworks’ biggest strength lies in its community forum. Here, you can connect with the service’s IT professional network. This ability is handy if agents find themselves unable to resolve issues on their own. They can either post their questions on the network or talk directly to individual professionals for answers.
Keep customer service going with the right support ticket system
Each of the support ticket systems above has its strengths that would suit different customer service setups. And each can be readily configured to meet your growing needs. Check them out and see how they can boost your customer service workflow.