Ticketing system innovation, along with automated customer service, sounds like a very fancy way of describing self-service options for customers contacting support teams via a web help desk. It is essentially desk ticketing software used by customer support agents to handle customer requests, plain and simple!
Ticket management software offers a way to provide customer support via a self-service portal when a customer contacts the support team. Read on to learn more about ticketing software.
A helpdesk ticketing system is used by customer support agents to help them manage customer problems and better communicate with the customer. A ticketing system is a system where a ticket is created which the customer service representative uses to keep all of the information about the customer’s issue or request in one place. A ticketing system is your central hub for all of your customer issues.
When someone calls up to say that their free esignature service membership isn’t working, or that the microwave they bought from you is on the fritz, you, the agent, will create a document or file (the ticket), where the information about the details of the case is kept on the desk ticketing system.
The ticket has a number that is shared with the customer so that they can reference it whenever they need to. It's the magic key to their issue in the ticketing system.
With the best ticketing systems, both the customer and the customer service agent have access to the ticket number and most of the information so that they can coordinate more effectively and be literally on the same page communication-wise. It’s a continuous thread with uploaded documents and notes that they can both look over whenever they like (as long as the ticket is active).
With the ticketing system, the customer support team or agent can get working to resolve whatever the issue was on their side of the customer interactions. Any updates or fixes by the IT service desk or customer support team are then put on the ticket to let the customer know.
The customer can also use the same ticket to upload any new information or any further questions, instead of recontacting the agent by email or phone and starting over.
All of the changes and updates from either party to the ticket will alert the other so that there’s a continuous stream of communication. And whenever the agent manages to resolve the issue, the ticket can be closed by either the customer or the agent in the ticketing system.
If something is still amiss - maybe the toaster starts acting up again or randomly smoking out the house - the ticket can be reopened. This saves the hassle of creating a new ticket in the ticketing system just to cover an old issue with an existing ticket.
Ticketing systems are more efficient than simply keeping someone on hold or handling everything via email customer service correspondence. Why? Let’s see!
With a ticketing system, a customer is privy to most of the workings of the customer service agent. They can see the updates, they can see what’s going on, and know that they haven’t been forgotten about.
If the ticket is passed onto a senior officer, they know what the hold-up is. They are not really at risk of feeling that they have been forgotten, cast aside, or their toaster woes were forgotten. Thanks to the helpdesk ticket system, they will be able to see their ticket status.
They also get an insight into how much work is being put into their issue, which is much better than being kept in the dark. A lot of people prefer to know what’s happening, or how long they should expect to wait for an answer, rather than being kept in the dark for an indefinite amount of time.
This support ticket system lets the customer see what’s up.
When you have a client on the phone, waiting impatiently for an answer from you, it can be hard to locate and contact the right person, with the right expertise, to handle the query for you.
Perhaps your expertise in how to quote building software solutions to customers, but you need help from someone in accounting. If the issue is not something you can answer, you have to signpost the customer to somebody else or transfer the call to the right person.
This can make things flustered and stressful. Then even if you know exactly who to contact, they might be on a different call at that moment, and then you have to get them to call the customer back later. It’s unnecessarily complicated. With support tickets, you can simply hold onto the customer data and alert the person with the required expertise, and they can handle the service requests when they have time directly from the same ticketing system.
You also have more time to find the right person via your helpdesk ticketing systems!
While it might seem easier and faster just to speak to someone on the phone, from the customer’s point of view, in reality this can end up taking more time than simply using an email ticketing system.
There might be a high volume of calls and long waiting time for support requests, resulting in having to call multiple times or just wait a long time on the phone and clicking through top ad exchanges as you ponder the meaning of it all.
There’s also a chance that when you do get someone on the phone, your issue will be too complex for the customer service agent to resolve straight away, which could lead to the need for a callback at a later time, or long waiting times while they converse with colleagues. Plus without a support ticket system, you will have to collect the customer data all over again.
In terms of the amount of time the support team spent dealing with the issue, and waiting around instead of getting on with other things, ticketing is likely faster for the customer. With a desk ticketing system, they can log their problem, then go off and do some other work, and then only return to the ticket once they’ve received a new notification about it, making it easier for them to manage support tickets.
From the point of view of the customer service agent, the ticketing system is more relaxed because they’re not under the immediate time pressure that comes with having an irate (or even lovely) customer on the line.
Similar to CRM in retail tools, a ticketing system allows agents to manage their workload with ease.
The team’s performance is likely to improve with a ticketing system as team members are able to breathe and work through their tickets at a more relaxed, and even, keel. Not being unduly stressed out is also bound to be great for morale and positive mental health.
Instead of dealing with one customer at a time, keeping them on the line while waiting for colleagues to come and help, or trying to multitask (ie keep the customer happy on the phone while also trying to type, and get other people’s attention), customer service agents can work calmly in a ticketing system.
You can deal with more urgent incoming tickets first, prioritizing your tasks as you wish, and pass things on electronically to colleagues. You can then deal with those tickets when they come back to you in the ticketing system.
It’s much more efficient than dealing with one entire ticket, or customer, at a time. This way, agents can chip away at multiple different tickets and pass them along to other people to complete their tasks, making workflow more intuitive.
And they can get back to the customer whenever they need specific information or to say that the issue has been resolved.
Since ticketing systems include keeping records of everything so that both the agents and customers can see what has been written and shared, it’s very easy to have clear and easy communication.
There are fewer opportunities for misunderstandings if everything is written down in a ticketing system. It’s also more satisfying communication because both parties can engage when they are able to - i.e. when their work/family time / other obligations or hobbies permit.
Being able to communicate clearly and calmly is great for customer relations, and with so much riding on positive customer experiences, it’s pretty essential to get it right. You can't get it right without a simple ticketing system.
The main takeaway from everything we have covered in this article is that ticketing systems make the lives of customers and customer service reps easier. Like a good business proposal letter, they offer a clear and easy way to communicate with each other, where everything that has been said and shared is recorded for easy access and review.
The notification system makes it easy for both parties to know when something new has happened without having to constantly check, and this frees up both their time for other activities or areas of work.
Work becomes easier to manage and prioritize, with certain service requests marked as urgent in the help desk ticketing system and others with a little more leeway. Tickets are also easily sent to different colleagues depending on expertise, and they can get to them when they have time, rather than getting unceremoniously yanked out of other tasks.
Overall, the ticketing system innovation is changing customer service for the better for both the customer support teams and support agents, and the customers by raising customer satisfaction levels and improving incident management methods. You could even measure customer satisfaction to see how much of an impact your ticketing system features have had.
The team’s performance improves substantially, and the knowledge base is shared between agents in your customer service ticket system.
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