Essential Helpdesk Features to Support Your Small Business

Having a helpdesk is one thing; enjoying the features of a smart helpdesk that supports your small business is something else entirely. Basically, you want software and systems in place that support your team so they can cope with customer messages. The best system is when all messages are found in a single space, so they are easy to access, and respond to.

After all, people message your business from various locations, including email, SMS, WhatsApp, and various social media messages (Instagram, Facebook, etc.). These all need to be in the same place so they’re easy to find and respond to. If a customer messages you and you don’t respond quickly, they feel ignored. They won’t wait for an answer; it’s easier to go somewhere else.

Quick Checklist

To have a workable system, you need to organise your messages so that they are easy to access and respond to. Here’s a simple checklist to use before choosing helpdesk software to ensure you’ll be able to assist customers quickly and easily:

•  A single inbox where all messages are located.
•  System able to manage creating tickets and sending them to the relevant person in the team.
•  The use of AI and automation.
•  Section with FAQs and information that customers can access themselves.
•  Ways for the support team to work together and respond quickly to queries.
•  Security in place to protect data.

What are Helpdesk Software Features?

• These are the foundations of a great helpdesk. They make it easy for your team to respond to queries, both repetitive questions and more complicated ones. They store these queries so that they’re easily accessible, you don’t have to redo them time and again, and can respond with the right answers quickly and fully.
• Most helpdesk features make it simple for the team to see what’s happening, decide what to do next, and complete the task at hand as soon as possible.

Important Helpdesk Features to Adopt

1.    Support in a Shared Inbox

In a shared inbox, you have access to all your queries (from email, SMS, live chat and social media), as they land in the same shared inbox. This makes it easy for your team to access and respond to them quickly, especially when the helpdesk is inundated. You’re also less likely to miss a query if it’s easily accessible.

2.    Tracking Responses

It’s essential to track and manage queries as simply as possible. An organised system is half the battle won. Mark the query immediately as open, pending, or resolved. This helps you find queries quickly and know what’s happening.

3.    AI & Automation

Handling repetitive questions is quick and easy if you set up AI to assist with ready responses. It can also help you tag a question, send it to the correct person and prioritise the most important queries as they arise. If there isn’t a relevant response, AI will help you write one quickly. This way, the team is ready to answer more complicated questions, or hand over to a human who can assist.

4.    FAQs for Self Service

To simplify things, you have a list of FAQs that answer common questions so that customers can use these before asking you something. This answers many common questions before the chatbot gets involved and gives the support team a place to look for consistent responses. Ensure this system is easy to use.

5.    Chatbot Assistance

If you have a no-code AI Chatbot set up to respond to common queries, this will help with those persistent questions people ask time and again, and it does this quickly. Choose a setup that’s simple and ensure there’s an option to speak to a human if the chatbot can’t answer the question properly.

6.    Helpdesk Monitoring

It helps to monitor the system to ensure it’s working. It should be able to report how fast your team responds, how many questions are being asked, and when it’s difficult for the helpdesk or a human to respond. By monitoring this, you’ll be able to note patterns and ensure the system works smoothly.

7.    Routing & Escalating

A good system will be able to send the query to the correct team member to respond. If there’s an urgent query, the system will then escalate this and ensure it gets answered quickly.

8.    Good Team Collaboration

Team members work together on requests in the inbox, so it’s crucial everyone works well without hindering each other. The system should be able to tell others when someone is responding to a question so that two team members don’t respond simultaneously. And if a team member needs assistance, they should also be able to request this.

9.    Customer Info Available

The entire team must be able to see details about each customer who asks a question. If previous conversations are available, these should be visible, too. The more information available, the better. It helps support agents answer questions if they have details about the customer to refer to.

10. Customer Protection

Protect your customer’s personal information with the right security measures in place. Ensure that the right team members can access this data and limit it to everyone else.

Avoid These Common Errors

• Choose carefully when you select the right helpdesk system for your business. Don’t get hooked on a long list of features you’re unlikely to use.
• Don’t sign up until you’ve used a trial to ensure the system works for your business.
• Go through all the steps carefully to ensure they are pertinent and that the inbox is manageable.
• Check how quickly queries are responded to, and whether all the systems you’ve put in place are working smoothly.
• Constantly update the FAQs section, taking commonly asked questions into account.

What a Great Helpdesk Should Have

•  A shared inbox.
•  Live chat.
•  An AI chatbot to respond to common queries quickly.
•  A system that hands over to a human agent when required.
•  Updated FAQs.
•  A smooth, organised system that works well.