A ticket system is the solution for fast and efficient customer service

Customer service is an important factor for the success of your company. However, it happens quickly that the inboxes in email systems overflow. The danger is great that customer requests are overlooked in the process. Outdated processes using folder structures and colour coding are tedious and tie up manpower. The solution for optimised customer support is called a ticket system. If you are familiar with this problem and want to learn more about ticket systems, read on. On this page, we clarify all questions about customer service with a ticket system.

What is a ticket system?

A ticket system is a tool that helps you manage customer enquiries and orders in one central location. Each customer enquiry generates a ticket and is then organised in the ticket system so that no enquiries are lost. Complex processes can be simplified through automation. This way, your support team always maintains an overview, can offer the best possible customer support and needs less time to do so.

Example scenario:
For this example, you can imagine a company that offers products related to pet supplies. Every day, countless customer enquiries are sent to the company. These can range from simple product questions to billing and delivery questions to complex concerns such as complaints. In order to be accessible to your customers, you have set up several channels such as email, telephone, chat and Facebook. Here, customer support can quickly end up in chaos. Your customers expect quick solutions to problems, short response times and up-to-date information. A ticket system is a good way to keep track of everything and meet expectations.

Advantages of a ticket system

All channels - one software
A ticket system combines all communication channels of your customer service in one central place. This offers you a better overview and more efficient work. Customer enquiries become tickets, which are automatically pre-processed and assigned to the staff best suited to answer them.

Central access to enquiries
The ticket system controls the allocation of enquiries to available staff. Through the contact history, each support staff member receives the necessary context from previous interactions and can advise the customer in the best possible way. At the same time, the ticket system has a unified customer database that can be used to access all customer information from all communication channels.

Workflow automation
For greater efficiency and even faster response times, you can automate routine tasks with a ticket system. From the automatic assignment of tickets to available employees to predefined responses, many things are possible. Via sets of rules, macros, triggers and, if necessary, interfaces to third-party systems, it is even possible to automate entire processes. This can include the entire handling process of a ticket, including prioritisation, categorisation, queries and sending the answer, as well as the transfer of tasks to the CRM or ERP system.

Reports on the performance of your team
A ticket system offers you the possibility to get an overview of your team's performance. Using various key figures, you can see what is working well and in which areas there is a need for optimisation. In addition, your employees will see their individual performance reflected and receive starting points for personal improvement.

Increase customer loyalty
The advantages of a ticket system enable you to provide your customers with the best possible support. The positive experience made by the customer strengthens customer loyalty. A satisfied customer remains loyal to your company. Solved problems often result in genuine recommendations.

Industry suitability - for whom is a ticket system suitable?

A ticket system is suitable for small or medium-sized companies across all industries to simplify customer support and increase efficiency. No matter whether your customer support works with 3 colleagues or with 2,000 employees distributed over several shifts or locations. Simple handling processes are automated and complex workflows are significantly simplified. The support team scores points with the customer through fast response times and comprehensive expertise:

• With a ticket system, you work more clearly and efficiently than with an email structure. Service tickets can be categorised, prioritised and assigned automatically without manual help.
• Service levels to be met can be stored in a ticket system, and this can be done differently as required. This allows you to ensure that your support agents deal with concerns and problems in a timely manner. If there is a threat of non-compliance, a request can be escalated immediately. Monitoring also provides the team leader with an overview of compliance with service levels.
• A ticket system ensures that no customer request is processed twice, just as duplicate requests only need to be processed once. Both are valuable methods for reducing the volume of enquiries. Automatic assignments increase the overview and the customer receives competent advice.
• The integration of knowledge management into ticket processing gives the agent the possibility to use necessary information quickly and easily. The KnowledgeBase can also be integrated into the Self Service, which in turn helps to reduce the ticket volume.

The right choice of a ticket system

Various aspects influence which ticket system you choose.

Variety of support channels
How do your customers contact you? Of course, a ticket system should be able to cover all contact channels so that you are well positioned for the future. As a rule, only a few contact channels are planned for the introduction of a ticket system, e.g. telephone and email. So why should you incur costs for licences, implementation, set-up, training, plus the internal time expenditure? Opt for a solution that can be flexibly expanded and does not irritate employees with unusable functions.

On premise IT or cloud solution
Can the solution be supported by your IT in your own network? Consider the advantages of a virtual solution in the (private) cloud. Not every solution can meet the high requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in terms of access security as well as protection of data (e.g. from government access by US authorities) including software support from overseas.

User-friendliness
Involve your support staff in the decision-making process at an early stage. The more intuitive a ticket system is, the easier it is to work with the software later on. A user interface that displays only required elements in a rights-dependent manner reduces the amount of training required. Is the employee supported by both comprehensible manuals and native-language user support? Ask for access to a test system to familiarise yourself with the workflows before making your decision.

Customisability
Your company is unique and probably follows an European understanding of meaningful customer service. Perhaps you need - not at the beginning but later - very special functions. The uncomplicated customisation of a ticket system can be of great benefit. It's good if the provider's developers then speak and - above all - think like you!

Price structure - user licence vs. volume licence
The standard for ticket systems is a tariff system that is oriented equally to the desired range of functions (usually in three to four levels) and to the number of users. It should be noted that considerably more licences are purchased than are needed on an annual average, e.g. if the number of agents fluctuates seasonally or if your customer service needs to be expanded by external staff at certain points. In addition, every employee who is "only" concerned with control and reporting needs a licence.
In contrast, solutions that are based on the average volume of enquiries to be processed offer advantages. The latter opens up the possibility of working with temporary workers, students, service providers without additional costs; even departures and arrivals in the core team do not play a role.

Essential functions

All ticket systems on the market offer hundreds of functions. Together with an experienced consultant, review your service processes to determine the functions that are important for your company. Below we present absolutely indispensable functions of a ticket system:

Ready for omnichannel
A good ticket system allows your customers to submit requests to you through any channel, be it email, phone, chat or social media. All requests are bundled in a central location, providing a 360° view of your customers. The employee only logs into one tool and can work flexibly and according to the situation. And this also for several clients, brands and portals.
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Automation
Without automation, cost-efficient customer service is unthinkable. But automation does not start with artificial intelligence (AI), which is developing rapidly but is currently still very cost-intensive to support. On the other hand, functions such as prioritisation, routing, push allocation, personalisation, reply suggestions, automatic messages are indispensable. Macros, triggers, variables, but also data exchange with third-party systems save a lot of time and money.

KnowledgeBase
The KnowledgeBase of a ticket system manages the knowledge your customer service needs to provide outstanding customer service. And this across all contact channels, including the option to offer the customer help to help themselves and thus relieve the customer service. Make sure you have a functioning editorial system for the knowledge database. Otherwise outdated texts would be offered too often and the benefit would be lost.

Reporting
Key figures help to have a concrete picture of your customer service at all times. Draw the right conclusions and make decisions that advance your customer service. Check which parameters (KPI) are essential and which complete the picture. With report profiles, you can create cyclical reports and transfer data to third-party systems, e.g. for consolidation, via exports.

Integration capability
Sooner or later, your ticket system will have to exchange data with third-party systems. Many system providers offer hundreds of existing app integrations. But the sheer number of integrations says little about the achievable benefit. Make sure that the ticket system is able to communicate with your applications. A development team for individual customisation that understands you - both technically and linguistically - is valuable here.
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