How To Choose The Right Helpdesk Software

Transcription

1 How To Choose The Right Helpdesk Software Customer Support Ebook

2 Table of Contents About this guide 3 Main criteria 5 1 Support Channel Coverage 5 2 Integration methods (plugin availability) 5 3 Feature set 5 4 Pricing 5 5 Customer service 6 The Solutions 6 Hosted 7 Perpetual license 8 Shopping list 10 Communication channels 10 Ticket management 10 Live Chat 12 Reporting 13 Offline support portal 14 Gamification 14 Integrations 14 Multilingual 15

3 About this guide Overview The purpose of this guide is to help businesses and individuals research, compare and select the right helpdesk software to manage their customer support more effectively. This guide will help you select software, which is the best fit for your business objectives and marketing goals. It includes a comprehensive overview of the most popular features offered by helpdesk software providers and the differences between Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions and self-hosted (in-house/perpetual) solutions. Some software companies offer only SaaS, some only self-hosted and some offer a mixture. With word of mouth reviews carrying even more weight thanks to the power of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, it has never been more important to invest in customer service. According to research, 79% of customers share their negative customer support experience with others. Investing in customer service can help create predictable customer experiences, which creates confidence, which is essential to creating customer loyalty which means more business from existing employees. Investing in the customer experience can help make price less relevant, de-commoditize the products and services you sell, create word of mouth and more. The bottom line is that investing in customer service is exactly that: an investment and one that can pay big dividends. Shep Hyken, Customer Service and Experience Expert Helpdesk software (also known as Ticketing sytem, Customer Support or Customer Service software) to manage customer queries (and a lot more) is essential for the success of any customer-focused company. 3

4 Customers nowadays want fast and accurate answers. 8 out of 10 seek for self-service before contacting a support representative. Do you ask why? Because they want answers, and they want them now. Helpdesk software now combines both self-service and personal support methods, including support portal for frequent questions, ticketing, call center, online chat, feedback and contact formulars and even the most popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter. When selecting helpdesk software, don t forget to focus on your support representatives. A carpenter with the wrong tools won t be of any good. Support rep who can t or find it hard to operate with a helpdesk software will be ineffective. In other words, the main criteria when picking the right helpdesk software is mutual benefit for your customers and your customer service representatives. 4

5 Main criteria what to focus on Here s a selection of the most popular criteria, by which consumers compare helpdesk software. 1 Support Channel Coverage When choosing the right helpdesk software, you should consider whether the solution includes basic support channels: , offline support portal/knowledge base, formulars, live chat, call center, social media coverage. Based on your type of business, put more focus on the channels that you use the most. 2 Integration methods (plugin availability) Based on the kind of shopping cart or Content Management System that you use, see if the software has an available integration method or plugin ready. If not, check if the software can be customizable to your needs. See if the software can be connected with other third party applications like marketing tools, CRM software or payment processors. 3 Feature set Depending on the size and needs of your business you will require different feature sets. If you only provide support via s, real-time tools like live chat or call center won t be necessary. Offline support portal might come handy, but if you don t have the resources to manage it, it will fail. Before buying, you should consider your strategy for future and look for the feature sets of available solutions that will be the right fit for your business in the future. 4 Pricing Price is one of the most common objections a business can have. See if the solution s pricing is a good fit for you. Most of helpdesk software vendors offer a per agent seat pricing model. 5

6 5 Customer service To run a performing customer service department, you have to constantly improve it. That often comes with questions about the software, that you might not have an answer to. Check if the solution offers customer service when they re available (24/7 or business hours), where ( , phone, chat) and at what cost (free/only with premium plans). The Solutions Two basic helpdesk software technology solution types 6

7 Hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions that are installed on the software s servers. Your instance is installed immediately, usually license updates are available for free. The solution provider handles servers for a helpdesk software. Helpdesk programs managed on hosted helpdesk management software (SaaS) eliminate the need to develop, support and maintain costly web hosting. The Pros: Lower Initial Costs SaaS applications are subscription based. No license fees mean lower initial costs. No server/webspace is required. Painless Upgrades Because the SaaS provider manages all updates and upgrades, there are no patches for customers to download or install. The SaaS provider also manages availability, so there s no need for customers to add hardware, software, or bandwidth as the user base grows. Accessibility SaaS solutions reside in cloud. Comparing with the traditional model, users do not have to buy another server or software. Online, permanent accessibility from anywhere is ensured. Backups and Data Recovery all done for you If you are familiar with traditional software, you will know that unless a costly automated solution has been implemented, the process of backing up your data on a weekly basis can be laborious at the best of times. SaaS solutions eradicate this painstaking task, instigating automatic backups without user intervention and thus ensuring the integrity of your data. You can start your own helpdesk in minutes Since there is no complicated software installation, you can start to use helpdesk immediately. You do not need to upload application files to your servers or install anything. 7

8 The Cons: Security The number-one concern for businesses considering SaaS is often security: if sensitive company data and business processes are to be entrusted to a third-party service provider, then issues such as identity and access management particularly from mobile devices need to be addressed. Latency Issue Again as data is stored in cloud far away from end user, it may take more transactional time as compared to traditional approach. Perpetual license Server-side software that you install and manage in-house. You only pay a one time fee and install a helpdesk software on your servers (web hosting). You are responsible for server errors, breakdowns and server availability. The advantage is that you have all your data under your control. Pros and Cons: The software will be installed on your own server with your own database. No data or statistics are kept on servers of helpdesk software provider, your helpdesk does not send any data to helpdesk software provider. In modern helpdesk software you can: collect all communication from your customers and let helpdesk process it route it to the right support representatives at the right time handle customer requests from one universal inbox connect with your customers and reach potential clients in real time with live chat motivate your customer service reps with badges and rewards 8

9 provide support to customers even when offline with the knowledge base and forum measure customer satisfaction rate and watch how it increases analyze your help desk performance distribute tickets and support agents into departments define filters and transfer rules so that your tickets will always land in the right hands specify different signatures, phone and chat answering rules for different departments instantly see how many new, open and resolved tickets are in your departments define how many tickets, chats and phone calls your agents handle easily manage ticket responsibilities change the ownership of a ticket to a different department or even an individual agent easily define unlimited number of SLAs and let the automatic rules assign them to right tickets define for each of your service level agreements custom business hours drag&drop files to your tickets or easily attach files to internal chats 9

10 Shopping list what to look for The following shopping list offers a comprehensive and categorized view of common features available from major helpdesk software solutions. Communication channels Solution A Soultion B LiveAgent Live chat Phone Facebook Twitter Support portal Ticket management Soultion A Soultion B LiveAgent Universal inbox Unlimited mailboxes Ticketing Hybrid ticket stream Merge conversations Automated ticket distribution 10

11 Soultion A Soultion B LiveAgent Split ticket option Built-in HTML editor Ticket assignment Rich text formatting Rules Bulk actions Responsibility Time-based actions Workflow rules Departments Live suggestions Filters & tags Notes signatures Ticket status forwarding Advanced formatting Notification Instant search Service-level agreement (SLA) Business hours 11

12 Soultion A Soultion B LiveAgent Auto reply SPAM filters Automations Ticket/Customer insights (CRM) Canned messages (Macros) Custom ticket fields Attachments Agent collision detection Agent ranking Live Chat Solution A Soultion B LiveAgent Real-time chat Proactive chat invitations Chat button gallery Visitor overview Chat/Agent overview Chat distribution Real-time typing view Intelligent chat routing Chat + click to call website button generator 12

13 Reporting Solution A Soultion B LiveAgent Analytics Performance reports Agent comparisons Agent ranking overview Multi-channel reporting Customer satisfaction ratings Department reports Agent availability Chat availability Call availability Tag report Graphic dashboards Channel overview Real-time visitor overview Customizable reports Customer reports and exporting 13

14 Offline support portal Solution A Solution B LiveAgent Customer portal Knowledge base Forum Feedback & suggestions Feedback widget Integrated search Gamification Solution A Solution B LiveAgent Rewards & badges Levels Benchmarks Integrations Solution A Solution B LiveAgent Facebook Twitter Magento Opencart 14

15 Solution A Solution B LiveAgent Wordpress Twillio Prestashop Mailchimp GetResponse AWeber Shopify Bigcommerce Nicereply CS-Cart Volusion Highrise Joomla Drupal Weebly Go Daddy 2Checkout Braintree Multilingual Solution A Solution B LiveAgent Multilingual 15

16 LiveAgent is a complete customer support platform with live chat integration and all Helpdesk features. Ready to take the next step? Do it before your competition does. Try out our 14-days free trial! Try it free Mailing Address Stay in touch United States territory European Union & Worldwide Quality Unit, LLC 616 Corporate Way, Suite Valley Cottage, NY USA Quality Unit, s.r.o. Tomanova 80/C SK Bratislava Slovakia (European Union) support@ladesk.com facebook Google+ Twitter