8 Help Desk Improvement Ideas to Make Customers Go WOW

Editors Note: This article was originally published on November 6th, 2018 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Like it or not, your help desk is the face of your business—one that performs many critical company functions. Among other things, your help desk facilitates communications between you and your customers, building customer loyalty, and increasing customer retention—things that can help you survive long-term.

But to do all that, your service agents need to go above and beyond. In other words, they need to provide more than technical support. To do that, you need to have service desk agents that:

• Have great interpersonal skills
• Use in-place processes quickly and efficiently
• Are knowledgeable/skilled in solving technical problems
• Know how to handle difficult customer calls
• Can diagnose and dispatch issues to the right person, if necessary

In short, your service agents must be able to deliver an excellent help desk and customer service experience. That’s not easy to do.

Before we jump into our help desk ideas, let us define what is a help desk.

What is a help desk?

In larger organizations, a help desk is centralized center where users of information technology can call to get help with an issue they have.

For many companies, a help desk may consist of one person managing all of the calls and tickets.

For business enterprises, a help desk might consist of a large group of specialized invidiuals helping track the status of problems while providing solutions to customers.

Help Desk Tricks To Impress Your Customers

When customers contact a help desk, 99.9% of the time they are calling to get an answer to a problem they have. Many callers want answers in real time and your team needs to be prepared.

It is the job of the help desk agents to support the customer by understanding the issue and in turn provide a solution to their problem.

But how do you go beyond simply sovling customers problem and improving service?

Below are help desk improvement ideas that will make customers say WOW.

Handle service requests promptly

First impressions count, so starting on the right note, is critical to creating a good feeling. Proper acknowledgment of the caller’s claim is a priority. It sets the tone for the conversation and makes a massive difference in customer satisfaction. Also, keep customers in the loop the whole way.

Be transparent in all activities

Customers don’t like to feel as if your agent is reading them a script. Nor do they like being funneled through a set course of action. Have agents explain what they’re doing and why. Keeping customers informed helps them feel involved in resolving their issues.

Write detailed support ticket notes

Crafting accurate and comprehensive ticket notes is critical.

The information will be useful if your service agent or a colleague refer back to them later on.

Taking detailed notes also helps if you have a similar case in the future. Also, make sure your agents check previous support tickets before talking to customers.

The customer may have had the same issue before. Revisiting the notes can speed resolution.

Delegate and escalate

You want to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently. So, have agents recruit help from other agents when struggling with a problem. If that doesn’t work, have them forward it to someone that can. In other words, use your whole team as a resource to speed resolution.

Determine help desk priorities

Service desk issues can range from simple delivery to severe problems with a product. More experienced agents should know when items require more firepower to resolve the issue and respond accordingly. Also, don’t let less experienced handle issues requiring in-depth technical knowledge until they are ready to do so. Their failure to handle an issue only increases customer dissatisfaction.

Define help desk goals

Defining service goals and resolution procedures at the outset. That boosts help desk performance.

Use metrics, ticket times, response times, and closed tickets as a barometer for the effectiveness of help desk service activities.

They can also tell you if agents are adhering to your policies and achieving their goals. That also shows you if your help desk is reaching its goals.

Have agents take ownership

Service agents need to take ownership of each case and assure the customer that they will resolve the issue as quickly as possible. That assures customers that the agent and your company take service seriously and care about addressing that particular issue. That’s especially helpful when things go wrong for callers.

Train. Train

Agents can never have too much training. So, make sure you train your agents and that they’re updated on the latest technologies and new services, and have the most recent technical certifications. Doing so boosts the agent’s confidence and the customer’s confidence in him or her.

Conclusion

Your help desk is the face of your business. It can make or mar your business. If it doesn’t operate efficiently and provide superior customer service, it could cost you, customers, or clients.

Help desks that work, on the other hand, deliver exceptional help desk service, boosting customers’ loyalty and long-term survival. If your helpdesk isn’t doing that, maybe it’s time to outsource the activity.