Beginner’s Guide to Help Desk Software

You start a company. You sell a product. You have customers. Those customers now need help with the product they bought from your company. What is the best way to help them? You give them your email address and your phone number. They reach out to you, and you answer their questions. They are happy with your resolution, and you think that is the end of the conversation. What happens if they need to call you again? Do you have a method of tracking your first conversation with them so that they do not have to repeat themselves? You can search through emails to track the conversation, but what if you talked to them over the phone? Do you have a way of storing those notes? Having the right help desk software is critical to effectively supporting your customers and their needs.

Keep Track of Your Customers

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business, and strong customer service is vital for the ongoing success of your company. If your product is one that customers will purchase on a recurring basis, you want them to be happy with your company and your product so that they will conduct business with you over and over again. If your product is not recurring, you want them to be so satisfied with your company that they will advise their friends to purchase your product. Being able to retain your customer’s information is vital. You might want to send them marketing correspondence, like information about upcoming promotional offers. When they do reach out to you, it is helpful to both of you to be able to reference their information, including past purchases. Having a software program to keep your customer information intact and easily retrievable will be a benefit to your company.

Keep Track of Customer Correspondence

Whether a customer contacts you via email, phone or chat, it is important that you have a way of storing accurate notes of your communication with them. It is very frustrating to a customer when they provide a support representative with detailed notes about their issue, only to have to repeat themselves to someone else at a different time. Your customers want to feel like they are important to you. Being able to recall previous conversations will make them feel special and will likely increase their loyalty to your product, company and brand. You need a system that will integrate with your online contact portals, such as email and chat. Having the right software for your help desk system will help you look professional and build a strong rapport with your customers.

Keep Track of Trends in Service Issues

If one customer has a complaint or concern about a product, that is something to resolve. If two customers share the same complaint about an issue, that is reason to pay attention to the concern. If many customers are experiencing a similar problem, that is cause for concern, escalation and possible investigation. You want a software program that can help you keep track of your service issues so that you can easily monitor trends to avoid serious customer service escalations later.
Having a strong help desk support for your company does not have to be complicated. You do need to have the right personnel in place to effectively support your customers. They need to be comfortably familiar with your product offering, and know how to effectively communicate the product benefits and usage to others. The right help desk software paired with the right support team will provide the level of support that your employees and customers both deserve.