Although it’s just a small part of the overall customer relationship management (CRM) experience, your help desk can give you valuable information on how to better improve customer or employee service and satisfaction. You get reports from everyone else in the company, so why should the help desk be any different? Help desks are like a window into the world of the customer; you can gain valuable feedback on a number of things. Here is a handy guide of what to include on your help desk reports and what you can find out from them.
- How many customers were served today?
This will help you keep a running total of incoming calls, e-mails, Web-based chats, customer self-service portal tickets, and other customer service methods, and help in further calculations. - How long did each call/request/ticket take to complete?
By tracking the time spent on each problem, you can see where your employees may need to improve. You’ll also be able to develop methods of cutting down on the time spent to complete the task to make customer service faster. - Were there any tickets/requests left incomplete or are any overdue?
By keeping track of uncompleted requests, you’ll be able to develop strategies to make sure they’re completed on time, and done right. - What is the customer’s service history? Have they called in before?
Customer history is important; if you can see they’ve been having multiple problems with the same thing, it may be a sign that others are having the same problems as well. You’ll also be able to better assess their needs, in order to eventually provide a superior customer service experience or even a superior product. - Is the incident a frequent occurrence or new development?
Again, this is a method which can be used to pinpoint specific problems. By reporting how often certain incidents are occurring, managerial staff, as well as other departments, can determine how to prevent those incidents, or at the very least ameliorate them. It may also alert the company that this is a big problem, so that management can be proactive in finding a solution. - What was done to correct the problem?
Tracking what steps to resolution customer service reps actually perform can clue you into the communication channels between your company and your customers. Keep track of productivity, or troubleshoot better solutions if necessary. Over time, you’ll be able to develop better and faster ways of customer service. - What resources were used to correct the problem?
By including this on your reports, you’ll be able to find strengths and weaknesses within your help desk software and find areas where you may be able to integrate additional applications to better serve your customers, employees and service representatives. - Who responded to the request?
This is another way to track productivity among customer service reps. By having a track record of individual completions, you’ll be able to motivate employees and pinpoint prospective problems. Use this information for routing specific service tasks and streamlining the customer service experience – as well as for employee performance reviews.
To stay competitive in a business environment, you need to have a good system for customer service. Technology is advancing and growing, and along with it people are developing ways to integrate customer service with that new technology. By taking advantage of the technology, help desk reports can be automatically created, saving valuable time for your company. With help desk reports, you can get detailed knowledge of the factors affecting your service performance. You’ll be able to deliver better service and customer satisfaction, while leveraging the latest tools and technology to help your business grow.
