It’s probably impossible to run a business without receiving at least a few support tickets. But if your firm is constantly overwhelmed by so many tickets that it feels like you’re drowning, that’s not normal.
There are ways to reduce the number of IT support tickets you receive and bring them down to a normal level. Here’s how.
The Importance of Reducing Support Ticket Volume
Reducing support ticket volume is worthwhile for a number of reasons, such as:
- Saves money. By one count, the average cost of handling a support ticket is roughly $1.60 per minute. That means support tickets may cost you about $96 per hour. If you reduce support ticket volume, you could lower overhead and reap fatter profit margins. Eliminating 10 hours worth of support ticket handling per week would be the equivalent of saving $50,000 per year.
- Reduces stress. The more tickets your team is saddled with, the more stress and pressure they’ll feel. Unfortunately, these tickets tend to back up, which creates a never-ending log of issues that must be faced. This kind of stress leads to burnout, which is the fuel for turnover and cultural instability within your organization.
- Improves customer satisfaction. Support tickets are an indication of problems your customers are experiencing. When you reduce support ticket volume, that means you’re reducing the number of issues they suffer. Naturally, this means better customer satisfaction and happier end users.
It might seem like a small thing, but reducing support ticket volume can fundamentally change the dynamic of your business – financially and practically.
Four Strategies for Reducing IT Support Ticket Volume
Here are four of our favorite tactics.
1. Improve the Onboarding Process
You can do yourself a big favor by improving your onboarding process. When a customer makes that first purchase, you should take the time to educate them on exactly what they need to do to use the product or get it up and running.
If it’s a physical product, put a QR code on the packaging that takes the user to a YouTube video that explains how the product is to be used. If it’s a virtual product or software, include a software assistant and intelligent prompts that walk the user through each individual feature.
Either way, the goal is to get your customers familiar with the product during the onboarding so they don’t have to ask obvious questions that slow down your support staff.
2. Create Self-Service Support Options
The more self-service support options you can offer, the better. These may come in any number of forms, including blog posts, FAQs, guides, video walkthroughs, and/or AI-powered support chatbots.
Again, the more help you can provide via self-service routes, the less pressure will be placed on your team to help the customer manually. (Plus, customers like to help themselves. Being able to fix an issue on their own is satisfying and makes the customer feel more competent.)
3. Automate With an IT Help Desk
You can automate and streamline a surprising amount of your support process simply by installing an IT help desk. That will empower you to triage support tickets with ease, forward them to the appropriate personnel, and collect data for continued process improvement.
When shopping for an IT help desk solution, look for a comprehensive platform that makes it easy for your team to collaborate in real time. You want a singular portal where all IT support tickets can be handled.
The more automated the process is, the less your team has to think (and the faster they can act). This is better for everyone – customers and employees alike.
4. Develop Online Communities
There are plenty of reasons to create online communities – such as Facebook groups and message boards – but they offer a hidden benefit that most companies don’t recognize. In addition to helping to foster camaraderie and brand loyalty, these communities act as portals for peer support and help.
When customers ask questions, other customers provide answers, solutions, guidance, and encouragement. This may alleviate some of the internal pressure on your team to provide all the support (and reduce the volume of support tickets).
Putting it All Together
Support tickets might seem like a small portion of your business, but they’re closely linked to just about every other facet of your operations, including customer service, employee engagement, profitability, and everything in between.
By optimizing your business to reduce IT support ticket volume, you can generate positive outcomes in each of these areas.