Can Ticket Tracking Increase Client Retention?

Customer contact is an integral part of any business model. Servicing clients effectively plays a large role in the success or failure of a business. Part of providing good service comes with ticket tracking or following a customer issue from the start to its resolution at the end of the line. Businesses can track how a client’s issues are being solved at any point in a process.

Getting to the root of the problem
No matter what industry a company operates in, service is crucial for longevity. When good customer service experiences occur, those clients may tell someone. When bad experiences occur, they may tell ten people. Unfortunately, for many companies, it can be difficult to pinpoint at what point a customer started to develop a negative opinion of the organization. With ticket tracking techniques, management can view the status of customer issues from one department to the next and identify areas for improvement. With systems like these, trends can also be identified in order to develop new strategies for better serving clients.

Increase customer loyalty
Most people do not keep coming back to companies for great prices, sales, revolutionary products or even quality. While some or all of these factors draw customers in the first time, good service is what causes the majority of customers to be loyal to one brand over another. Tracking customer tickets from beginning to end not only ensures quality control of customer service activities, but also increases the chance that more clients will continue to use an organization’s services. Moreover, people that are aware that their concerns are being tracked closely by a company feel more satisfied that they are being taken seriously.

Customer service activities are some of the most crucial components of a successful business. Providing poor service is the fastest way to destroy a business’s reputation. This is why being able to track customer issues from when they originate until they are resolved is very important for companies to master. Ticket tracking not only helps to identify issues at any point in a path through an organizations workflow but also increases overall customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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How Should a Small Business Determine the Best Help Desk?

Virtually all businesses have employees that use a computer for some task or another. Computers make a variety of jobs easier, and in today’s tech rich world, they are almost a necessity. Just like with all things technical, computers malfunction or simply outwit their users. For these and other reasons, companies have help desk services to aid their employees in solving IT related issues. Small businesses must determine what the best help desk program should be for their needs based on the activities of their employees, the complexity of the network as well as the budget allotted for the system.

Who, What, Where and When?

Many software packages are great for dedicated computers and even laptops that rove around a building. Many businesses however, have employees that work remotely or perform tasks from mobile devices or laptops in places other than the company campus. The help desk software that a company chooses should be equally as mobile and flexible enough to handle requests coming in from devices other than computers. Employees working remotely will still need occasional assistance with devices and will need answers quickly.

Multi-tech environments

These days, employees may have the option of choosing from different machines, such as PC’s or Macintoshes. They may also be running differing versions of operating systems on these machines, as well as various types of software, depending on their job descriptions. This can make solving issues incredibly complex and downright confusing for help desk solutions. Ensuring that the software a company purchases can handle multi-tech environments such as these is crucial to its success.

Price

Of course price can be a driving factor in a poor economic climate even when businesses do not want it to be. Help desk programs generally charge for the license to use the product, which can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. Just because a system is expensive, however, does not mean that it is better for your company’s particular needs. The best help desk will be a combination of what works for the company at a competitive price.

Computers and other technology that we use in our daily work lives seem to be a mainstay. Although these machines make a lot of tasks much easier, they also tend to need fixing or expertise that a user may not have. Help desk software helps users by tracking issue requests and acting as a knowledge base for IT related problems that employees face.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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Why Empowering Your Customer Support Staff Is a Win-Win

If you think about the most frustrating customer service experiences, they often involve a representative who claim they can’t do anything to solve your problem and must contact their supervisor for help, they refuse to admit there is a problem, or accept responsibility for your issue. These situations happen all too often and can easily be remedied by empowering your customer service staff to offer incentives, admit mistakes, and simply admit they're human.

Customer service representatives need to be able to fix problems right away so the customer leaves happy. If every little issue requires escalation to a higher-up in order to resolve it, you are going to find your customers are frustrated and feeling unappreciated. I recently experienced something like this when I had a problem with a large video rental company. They sent me a disc that was scratched and completely unwatchable. I sent it back and emailed them my issue with the disc. I got a response within an hour and instead of just thanking me for a heads up, they went ahead and sent me another disc from my queue. When you look at the situation, what they did was a small thing, but they kept me from waiting for my next disc since the one I received was unwatchable. It made me happy and I didn’t give the bad disc a second thought. What this highlights is empowering your customer support staff to make these kinds of decisions, especially with loyal customers, keeps customers from being tempted to look into the competition.

When a customer calls a company with an issue, they want to be treated with respect and feel like their problem is being acknowledged and taken seriously. This can be impossible to do with a script or a policy of not admitting mistakes. Nothing is more frustrating than calling with a problem and having a person apologize without actually admitting a mistake. If a customer calls because their product is no longer functioning, the last thing they want to hear is: “I’m so sorry you feel that way.” Empower your employees to own up to mistakes or issues. There is nothing wrong with apologizing to a customer, and in fact, it makes them feel validated. Also, by allowing your employees to admit to mistakes, you are making them more human to the people on the other end of the phone. People are already frustrated that many companies outsource their support to other countries or even computer systems. Getting a hold of a real human being can be a big deal, and letting your employees be themselves and bring some humanity to customer service is a smart thing to do. Nothing can diffuse a situation like staff agreeing that there is an issue and talking to the customer like the person they are and letting them express their frustrations to a sympathetic ear.

It may seem simple, but remember you are putting your trust in your customer support team to do what’s best for your company and you'll want to make sure you support them as well. Get the team's input when making decisions on how to better empower them. This will encourage more communication and possibly turn up some issues you never knew existed. By doing so, you’ll make your employees happier which in turn will make your customers happier. Everybody wins when you empower your customer support team.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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Why Social Media Is Important for Customer Service

It’s easy for many companies to avoid social media. Even though the public has embraced it, some businesses have a hard time overlooking the costs and intricacies related to handling social media effectively. If you’ve been hesitant due to horror stories of other companies’ reputations taken down by angry customers on Twitter, or a novice social media person who doesn’t represent the company well and instead generates negative PR, it is important to do your homework on the benefits as well. Otherwise you’ll miss the triumphs that can come from a well thought out and executed social media strategy. Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for promoting your company and providing instant customer support. Anyone ignoring it completely is missing a huge opportunity to build even more customer loyalty by putting a real, relatable face to their business. They are also losing the chance to deal with customer service issues before they get out of hand, resulting in a more positive customer experience and a better overall perception of your company.

If your company has not embraced social media, you may not realize that your customers are already there, and they are talking. Run a search on the words “customer service” in Twitter and you will get pages upon pages of customers complaining about companies. That’s not to say people aren’t saying good things, because they are, but it’s the negatives that get people’s attention and can, in the worst situations, lead to some serious damage to your brand. Even if you don’t want to invest in a person dedicated to social media, having an employee who keeps an eye on the various social networks will help you head off any major customer service disasters. Make sure this person is skilled in customer service so they can immediately take care of complaints as they arise. Don't forget to empower them to properly handle customer issues with whatever solution fits best. It’s worth it, and even worth spending time training someone specifically for this, because when used right you can turn a bad customer experience into praise for how well you handled the issue.

Just as customers are embracing social media, chances are your competition is too. Spend some time on a few social networks (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin) investigating other companies, and you’ll see that the ones who have a strong grasp on social media are the ones building solid, long-lasting relationships with customers. One of the benefits of building these relationships is when people are excited about the brand, they share their excitement with friends and followers. Look again at the successful companies in social media. They have photos taken by customers smiling with the product and then posted on Facebook to share. You can't ask for better free advertising, especially when you consider that picture not only shows up on your Facebook page, but also their wall. Every one of their friends and followers can see that photo, your product, and that smile. Social media gives you the opportunity to share the personalities behind your company and give customers positive interactions that result in feeling more connected to you.

Use social media to talk directly to customers when things are going right and you might also get valuable feedback. People are pretty fearless on social networks and will come right out and suggest features they’d like to see. This is a great opportunity to ask your customers what they want. Plus, when someone suggests an idea that later becomes implemented, you have validated them on a personal level, which will make them feel more connected to your company. Before you know it you will be creating life-long customers.

Businesses are continuing to find ways to use social media to their advantage. There is still room to grow, but if you wait to begin these online connections, you may be forfeiting your social media success to your competition. It’s well worth taking the time to at least set up accounts for Twitter and Facebook, and have someone check on both daily. Only 5-10 minutes a day can make a difference, and allow you to catch any issues that arise. This way you are prepared when a customer has an issue and takes to a social network instead of giving you a call. Even better, once you get the hang of it and can spend more time interacting with people, is is possible to use social media to build your brand awareness and generate more sales. These are tools that are available for you to take advantage of in order to provide the ultimate in customer service. Use them and you will not only make your customers happy, but also build brand awareness that can positively impact your business.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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Customizing the Mojo Helpdesk Customer Portal Home Page

One of the great features of Mojo Helpdesk is the ability to customize the Customer Portal home page. When you first visit the page, you'll notice several areas mentioning Mojo Helpdesk. Whether you want to go all out and change the body text with HTML formatted content, or just insert your logo and change the corporate name, you can easily replace these areas with a few clicks of the mouse and a little bit of text.

We highly recommend you make these changes so your customers know they are working with you to fix whatever issue or question they have. The changes may seem small, but the end result will be a much more professional customer portal. Check out our video and learn how to make these changes so you can personalize Mojo Helpdesk. We think you'll love the end result.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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Using Google Chrome to Quickly Search Mojo Helpdesk Tickets

If you are using Google Chrome as your browser you have most likely enjoyed the fact that you can type both URLs and search terms into the address bar. It’s an incredibly efficient feature of Chrome and one of my favorites. It also opens up another great feature: custom search shortcuts.

If you right-click in the address bar and select Edit Search Engines, a list of search engines will appear. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll see three blanks where you can add your own to the list. One of the nice applications of this is you can set it up to instantly search your Mojo Helpdesk tickets from your browser’s address bar. Simply enter “Mojo Helpdesk” in the first blank, the letter “m” (this is the keyword Chrome will look for to start this shortcut-you can make it whatever you want) in the second blank, and then tab to the last blank to enter this URL: https://daskeyboard.mojohelpdesk.com/search/results?query=%s&p=10 (replace daskeyboard with your company). Click anywhere on the page to save the shortcut. Now Ctrl+L (Command+L on Macs) to move your cursor to the address bar and type “m support”. As soon as you enter the m and hit the space bar, you should see the browser has recognized you are searching your Mojo Helpdesk. After hitting return, the search page for your Mojo Helpdesk should immediately pop up. It’s that simple!

What’s even better is you can set this up for any site that includes search. To configure the url, simply run a search on the site you want to add and then look at the resulting search URL. For the Mojo Helpdesk example above, I conducted a search for MOJO and the URL I got back was: https://daskeyboard.mojohelpdesk.com/search/results?query=MOJO&p=10. I then replaced the search words MOJO with %S and to create the URL for the final blank in the set up.

Another example, I am a big fan of eBay and want to set up a search shortcut. I enter:
ebay.com (first blank)
e (second blank)
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=%s&_sacat=See-All-Categories (third blank)

Again, this can be used with any searchable site, so the possibilities are endless.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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Tips For Exceptional Customer Support: Creating a Customer Service Culture

With so much competition out there, it’s important for companies to stand out by providing superior customer service. After all, if you have been shopping with a company for years and they constantly show customer appreciation, quickly resolve issues, and make purchasing easy, why would you go anywhere else? People want to feel appreciated by the brands and companies they frequent. It’s not enough to have a customer support staff and expect them to handle all issues. It is important to make customer service the heart of the company. This means you have to develop a customer service culture where even management appreciates the importance of great customer support, develops metrics, empowers their employees, and makes plans for providing superior customer service.

1. Metrics
One of the first things you can do to help develop a strong customer service culture is to measure customer satisfaction. This type of metric will help you see issues that are undermining your company’s success. Whether it’s call times that are driving your customers away or maybe a person in your company is presenting a negative image with every single person they encounter. Gathering feedback from customers is the only way to learn about this. It can also result in really great ideas as sometimes a person from outside your organization can see flaws that are hard to see from within. When you survey a customer about their experience with customer support you are letting them know they matter and you care about their experience.

2. Set Your Expectations, Make a Plan
Don’t forget that employees are only as good as the expectations you put on them. If you don’t make customer service a priority, your employees won’t either. You need to develop a support plan including the type of customer support you expect. Over and over I hear about one company and how they encourage customers to call them about anything. This attitude is reflected in the fact that they don’t require their support staff to work with scripts, quotas, or time limits. Not measuring call times is relatively unheard of in customer service as it is one of the main statistics companies use to determine success. Yet, it works for this company because they not only set high expectations for their customer service team, but they also enable them to do what it takes to make the customer happy instead of punishing them for taking the time to solve the problem.

3. Empower Your Employees
Whether you set up a system for employee feedback and ideas, or create a regular meeting where you ask employees how they would improve things or what changes they advise, this one area can impact employee happiness and success. Not only will it make your employees feel valued, but it will also put them in the mindset of coming up with solutions to problems as they arise and bringing the solutions to you.

Empowering your employees also means giving them the authority to make decisions to keep the customer happy. If a customer contacts you with a problem, they don’t want to be told the person on the line can’t help them. They want an immediate, positive solution, and if your employees can’t give it to them, they will go elsewhere with their business. Sometimes the easiest solution is a small incentive. It doesn’t have to be big, maybe a free month of service, or a shipping upgrade. Yet, these small incentives can make a big difference in customer satisfaction.

4. Admit Your Mistakes
Don’t forget to allow customer support to admit when mistakes are made. Think about how a company who’s customer service staff refused to admit wrongdoing during a service issue would make you feel. Not so good, right? Sometimes just admitting you are wrong is the best thing you can do to retain an unhappy customer. It’s validation that they did have a negative experience and you not only recognize it but you are prepared to deal with it.

5. Hire People Who Fit Your Culture and Train Them on Your Culture
Don’t forget your culture when bringing aboard new people. It only takes one person to sink a ship, and from hiring to training, you have a chance to shape the future of your company. Take the time to think if a person is going to fit with your company culture. Then, once hired, train them not only on how to do their job, but also on your company’s history, core values, and customer service culture. This keeps everyone focused on the same goals, allows you to set expectations, and helps new employees decide if the job is a fit or not. The last thing anyone wants is an unhappy employee. It’s truly a disaster waiting to happen.

Take a look at your company culture and think about what you can do to make it more customer service focused. It might not be much more than meeting with support staff to discuss issues and possible solutions, but even these small steps can have a large impact on keeping customers happy and, in the end, more loyal to your company.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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