The ability to swiftly, and efficiently, resolve support requests is one that both your customers and help desk staff would favor. Here are 3 tips to help you achieve that!

1. Collect specific information on every support request submitted

If your customers reach you over the phone, you know exactly which questions need to be asked to get all the information you need. Why should a support request submitted to your help desk be any different?

Invite your customers to submit their support requests via your help desk’s dedicated customer interface. Customization options on the request submission forms allow you to create your own fields, with options that the customer can select from.

Think of it as a virtual support agent, guiding the customer through the request submission process. Once the request has been submitted, the related ticket in your help desk has all the necessary information you require to begin assisting the customer.

Collecting specific aspects of the request through such fields allows you to have the important information displayed separately, rather than lost in the message body. This translates into a quicker turnaround time for responses, since a single view of the ticket gives you all the information you need.

2.  Add Knowledge Base references in responses to your customers

When trying to guide your customers on steps they need to take in resolving an issue, it’s handy to provide them with a visual representation of those steps using screenshots or videos. Such articles can be created on your Knowledge Base and made available at a public URL, which can be inserted into your responses.

In this manner, you’re able to send a single response to the customer that contains all the information they need. Quick resolution isn’t just about the time taken but also the number of responses it takes to provide the necessary information to the customer. Keeping the response count to a minimum, without compromising on the quality of information provided, is a recipe for efficient support request resolution.

3. Cover all the bases in your response

It’s widely taken for granted that customer support is offered via email, since its the quickest way of communicating between two parties. However, that shouldn’t reduce the need for a personal touch in every support response to your customer. It’s good practice to pause for a minute, read through your response and ensure you’ve covered all the areas of the original support request.

You’ll also find it worthwhile to think ahead and intuitively predict a question that the customer may ask next, based on the response you’re about to send them. Adding a line or two in your first response may just clarify a further query in the customer’s mind and, in all likeliness, serve as a resolution.

Have any tips you’d like to share? Feel free to add them as comments!