To save time during your work, you need to use different software solutions that allow process automation. It touches upon different aspects: classification, categorization, priority setting, message delivery, etc. One of the most crucial aspects today is communication with customers, so ticket management is another question to discuss. There exist many ways to apply various strategies, but what comes first is a ticketing system. But what is it, and what is it designed for?
Definition
First, let’s clear up a notion of tickets. A ticket can be also named as a case or an issue that a customer has while using a product. When he calls for help from the support agent, this case becomes a ticket. People encounter different problems when using some products, and they can be categorized variously. For example, the most widespread type is common issues. They can be solved even without the agent’s assistance if a company has provided its customers with some FAQ section or article. But to deal with the other types, they need to be divided into groups and sent to relevant support agents. That is where the ticketing system is helpful.
Taken in short, a ticketing system is referred to as a tool for managing customer requests. The program serves to define the problem, categorize it, and collect other necessary information to connect a customer with a knowledgeable agent. When some number of cases is processed, there appears a database that can serve as material for analysis of the most common problems and the results of solving them.
The system can be supplied with additional functionality enabling the marketing activity and system usage for other purposes.
Benefits
As it is logical to assume, the ticketing systems fit best for:
- implementation of artificial intelligence classifying and delivering the tickets to agents available for the current moment, who specialize in a specific type of issues;
- analysis of the issue kinds and results of the teamwork.
Thus, the systems provide:
- time-saving thanks to automated segmentation and prioritization;
- productive customer service allowing for issue solving after the first contact;
- product improvements due to data collected about the most frequent issues appearing;
- customer service improvements due to data collected about the time, manner, and sources used to handle the customer’s problem;
- better conditions for enlarging the loyal clientele base.
This list is not extensive because a lot depends on the additional functionality provided by a specific platform. The more functions a software suggests, the more complicated it is to use, but it offers great benefits for big enterprises and large companies striving to unify the communication channels.
Functions to complete the experience
The simplest ticketing system may work with only one channel, but it will not be effective for any company in the modern digital age. So, it should be able to integrate with many communication channels.
But as those channels can be used not only for support purposes, some providers add more functionality for lead generation and other purposes. The most bright example is Zendesk which has far more functions than a usual ticketing system suggests. Furthermore, the individual approach to customers, which is exceptionally preferable nowadays, supposes the system to collect a little more information than just for issue solving.
These systems are also a great way to organize the work between teams. So some of them have integrated internal communication systems to have all info in one place. It helps coordinate the tasks better and to minimize the confusion level.
Looking at the variety of ticketing systems these days, it may seem it’s simple to choose and introduce those systems to your team. But the pitfall lies in the specificities of each solution. Some can cause more harm than good because of their complexity if applied in companies that do not require such a wide functionality. Others have options designed for some specific industry and do not meet the requirements of the other.