Features of help desk software

Common help desk software features

Ticket management

Help desk software includes a ticket management system where customer’s queries are; logged, organized, and queued for fast and efficient resolution. A ticket is a communication thread between a company and a customer. Help desk tickets store all incoming customer communication (emails, phone calls, live chats, social media messages); as well as internal agents’ notes and other data related to a single customer issue. Support agents can view the full history of every interaction which enables them to provide quicker and more personalized responses.

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Help desk automation

When a ticket is submitted, it needs to be routed to the appropriate department or person. While this can be done manually, it can result in response delays or important issues being left unattended. Help desk automation capabilities ensure support agents can; effectively process a large volume of customer requests without compromising on quality and speed of resolution. You can usually automate ticket distribution, assignments, and prioritization based on your configured parameters. Such as ticket source, subject, ticket category, and other possible conditions. Automation generally ensures that tickets are routed to the right agents and helps to optimize their workload and improve productivity. 

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Social media support

Many help desk software vendors offer integration with the most popular social media platforms – Facebook and Twitter. With social media channel integration, support agents can; view, monitor, and manage customer interactions via Facebook and Twitter right from the help desk interface. Whenever new messages, posts, or comments appear on Facebook, the agents get automatically notified and can answer when needed. Similarly, when new messages or tweets mention your brand on Twitter; the agents will see them as tickets and can respond whenever needed.

SLA management

An SLA (Service-Level Agreement) is a commitment between a service provider and a customer. It defines the level of service expected from a vendor; in terms of time to first response or time to issue resolution. Incorporating SLAs into your help desk process guarantees your agents always deliver service targets. Thus, customers are never left waiting for too long to get a response. Moreover, it helps to maintain accountability among your support team; as managers can easily identify low performing agents who are breaking SLAs and take measures for their improvement.

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Call center

Built-in telephone integration is one of the key features offered by almost any help desk software provider. It literally means that you can set up a fully functional call center. Therefore, support your customers over the phone right from within your help desk tool. Voice integration capabilities will usually allow customers to make either phone calls or PC to PC calls. How? By clicking a phone button or a widget on a website. Phone calls are recorded creating a help desk ticket or are attached to an existing one. Some tools also offer IVR (Interactive Voice Response) options to ensure customer calls are routed to the right departments/agents.

Reporting and analytics

Every solid help desk software system will have robust reporting features. These allow you to get actionable insights into your support team’s performance, channel usage, and customer satisfaction ratings. Comprehensive analytics reports that are typically displayed in the form of visual graphs and charts. It can show, for example; how exactly your support agents are performing in the given time period. Usually by the number of solved emails, opened chats, average response time, etc. That allows you to keep track of who is the most productive and successful in your team.

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Self-service

Today’s consumers have become highly self-reliant. When it comes to customer service, they prefer searching for answers and resolving issues on their own. Thus, self-service appears to be one of the most important features of help desk software. That may include a complete customer portal with a range of self-service options. For instance, Knowledge Base, FAQs, Customer community forum and Feedback boards; or only some of those options. It enables customers to find answers to simple problems without involving direct interaction with a company’s rep. In addition, saving time of your support agents who can focus on more important issues instead. 

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Community forum

Integrated community forum functionality in help desk software is a logical extension of its self-service capabilities. It provides customers with a platform where they can search for helpful information shared by other users. Such as tips, use cases, best practices, personal experiences of using a company’s products, etc. Moreover, they are able to engage and collaborate with them on topics of mutual interests. As forum entries are automatically transformed into tickets; support agents can easily monitor these customer interactions and participate when appropriate or necessary. 

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Live chat support

Live chat is becoming increasingly common as a customer support channel. It is highly valued by consumers. It allows them to get answers to their questions immediately with no need to search for information on their own. That is why the majority of help desk software vendors offer live chat support. Not only does it enable agents to provide real-time help to customers. By enabling proactive chat invitations, they can target visitors browsing specific pages of your website. Such as product or checkout pages. Thus, with custom messages and offering timely assistance, you can build credibility with prospects and increase conversions. 

Advanced help desk software features

• Integrated CRM features or a seamless CRM integration with third-party systems.
• Built-in security features such as GDPR or HIPAA compliance, IP restrictions, etc. 
• Flexible customization capabilities to adapt to your business workflow and retain brand identity.
• Multilingual support and customizable translations.
• Native mobile apps for major platforms to support customers on the go.
• Gamification of help desk processes to improve agent engagement and performance.
• Ability to build custom apps to extend help desk software functionality.

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