Did you know the average cost per minute for handling a support ticket is $1.60?
This means that with every ticket you resolve faster or avoid from being created in the first place, the more business saves in indirect labor.
Reducing the support ticket volume should be a key priority for your company, especially as more of your workforce works remote. Lower support tickets not only mean cost savings, but it also enhances your employee engagement.
Besides increased costs, an out-of-control influx of support tickets can raise several other challenges for your business-
- An overworked and stressed team
- Inefficient support process
- Unhappy employees who churn
Therefore, tickets should not be allowed to rot in the backlog list. They should be diligently resolved and marked as ‘Closed’ at the earliest. Here are three ways to reduce the amount of support tickets your organization receives.
#1. Create a Solid Support Workflow
Support workflows are visual representations of the step-by-step processes that guide service desk teams to complete tasks more efficiently.
You must create fool-proof problem resolution workflows based on previous experiences and specific business needs. Let’s explore the example of a workflow for dealing with a support request pertaining to a billing issue.
Now, the typical workflow would start with an employee contacting your help desk for assistance and end when the issue is fixed. However, the middle steps are where most of the breakdowns occur. For creating an impactful workflow, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the priority level for each ticket?
- Which agents are more capable to deal each issue?
- What types of tickets should never have to go to the service desk?
Well-designed workflows will make your support process easy-to-understand and your support desk personnel’s lives a lot easier. Just one glance and they will know exactly what needs to be done next.
#2. Track Every Support Issue From Start to Finish
Even if your support team receives just a handful of customer requests or complaints, chaos can occur if the support tickets are not tracked efficiently.
Imagine when employees inquire about the status of their open items and your support desk has no idea what to tell them. Embarrassing!
Tracking issues in a central location will ensure that service desk professionals can effectively plan their day and managers can monitor the progress of every employee service request. Even if an employee inquires about the status, your team will be able to supply the necessary information.
What are the benefits of tracking support issues?
- Detect errors or complications at an early stage
- Keep customers updated about the status of their issue
- Understand the time it takes for an issue to be resolved
- Keep a firm track of who is working on what
#3. Deflect Support Tickets With a Self-Service Portal
Self-service has revolutionized the customer service industry in the last decade and if stats are to be believed, it will continue to do so.
Around 60% of American consumers say they prefer digital self-service tools for customer service, such as an online knowledge base, app, or chatbot.
Why should your business bet on a self-service knowledge base?
Empowering your employees to get what they need done when they need it is one of the easiest ways to deflect support tickets and reduce costs. Just make it easier for them to find answers to their questions themselves.
Creating breathtaking self-help blogs, guides, or FAQs is surprisingly simple but way too impactful. Encourage your agents to resolve a common issue once and create a knowledge base article around it to save everyone’s precious time.
When employees approach your support desk, they want to be assisted and not ignored. Through refined ticket management, you can ensure not a single ticket remains unanswered for long and remote and on-premise employees never have to leave with a sad story.
Most businesses report that approximately eighty (80) percent of tickets are items that employees should be able to take care of themselves. For example, professionals within the communication business unit often want to make textual changes to web portals and knowledge articles. Most companies rely on their IT department to fulfill this request. Why would you want to overwhelm IT when you can put the power to make textual changes into the hands of your communication team? Intellective’s ServiceNow bolt-on product called Wonder allows business users to make textual changes to a portal or a knowledge article without going through IT.
How many tickets do you have to enter each month on simple changes to your web portals? What does that cost you in terms of time, money, and frustration? With Wonder, you have the power to make those changes.
Wonder also allows you to integrate information across all your applications. Instead of hunting for information, your employees can have a unified, tailored employee experience that gives them everything they need to do their jobs in one place. They can also see the status of their support tickets without having to call anyone or go into another system.
