Narrative 4: Exploring the support channels

Narrative 4: Exploring the support channels

Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system - BTS Series

Narrative 4 - Exploring the support channels

Support channels in a ticketing system refer to the various communication methods that customers use to contact a business for assistance. These channels enable the conversion of customer inquiries into trackable tickets, facilitating the efficient management and resolution of issues.


Importance of support channels

This type of system enhances customer satisfaction by providing users with multiple options for reporting issues and seeking assistance, which improves their overall experience. Next, offering multiple channels, including email, chat, and phone, allows customers to choose their preferred method of communication. 

A ticketing system centralizes communication across all of these channels to maximize efficiency and make relevant information easily accessible to support staff during interactions. All of this helps speed up the resolution process.

Email

Emails are the primary method of communication between customers and Zoho Desk when they submit tickets. When customers send emails, those messages turn into tickets. Each ticket is assigned a unique ID to boost tracking and management. To set this up, forward the emails from your support mailbox directly to Zoho Desk. 


Create a support email address

(e.g., support@yourcompany.zohodesk.com)

Share it with customers in your help desk to enable them to submit tickets.

Quote
Before setting up your email channel, it’s essential to understand email delivery and bounce rates. These factors significantly impact the effectiveness of your support processes. 

Phone

The Phone feature connects the PBX system to Zoho Desk, which contains all the essential customer details. With this feature, Zoho Desk provides a platform to manage incoming and outgoing calls on your computer.
QuoteQuote
 When customers call, you can see the following details on your screen: 
  •  Name 
  •  Phone number 
  •  Overall Happiness Score 

Chat

Enhance your customer engagement by enabling Live Chat to connect with your customers conveniently in real-time. Respond to support inquiries promptly, significantly enhancing your turnaround time. Delight your customers with prompt interactions and exceptional service every single day.

The Chat module in Zoho Desk serves as a central hub, enabling support agents to interact seamlessly with visitors while maintaining access to historical conversations with customers. This comprehensive overview not only facilitates real-time engagement but also enhances the agents' ability to draw insights from past interactions, ultimately leading to more effective and informed resolutions to customer inquiries.

The Chat module

My Chat: Displays the agent's active, missed, and closed.

Chats: A list view of all the chats sorted by status (active, closed, missed, reopened, and monitored)

Help Center

The Help Center is the only self-service channel. It is a customer panel that allows users to learn about and understand the product by accessing knowledge base articles.

This offers a platform for self-help and learning where customers can find answers to their questions by browsing FAQ guides and Community forums, raising tickets, viewing other users' tickets with similar issues, and more.

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging facilitates quick and direct communication. This immediacy not only streamlines conversations but also makes it easier to respond promptly to questions and ideas. The convenience of instant messaging has revolutionized how we interact by enabling seamless discussions.

How does IM work in Zoho Desk?

The instant messaging module connects your business with different messaging platforms. When a customer sends a message on any of the integrated channels, it appears in your IM inbox. Zoho Desk automatically creates or updates a ticket based on your ticket thread settings. This allows agents to respond quickly through a single interface. They can easily attach files, use predefined responses, and get AI-driven suggestions to improve communication.

You can also set up automation rules, deploy chatbots, and implement routing logic to manage messages more effectively. This method not only simplifies processes but also increases customer satisfaction by enabling quick and effective responses.

Supported Platforms

WhatsApp Business

Facebook Messenger

Telegram

LINE

WeChat

Instagram

Business Messaging (Native Live Chat)

Social

Platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram enable customers to seek support easily, with interactions captured as tickets within your system. This integration streamlines the support process, allowing the agents to manage and respond to inquiries from social media channels alongside traditional methods. By automatically converting these interactions into tickets, businesses can establish a consistent response framework, efficiently track customer concerns, and maintain a comprehensive overview of customer engagements across various platforms.

Utilizing Social for customer support not only enhances responsiveness but also broadens the reach of customer service, allowing businesses to connect with customers where they are most active. This holistic approach to ticket management helps improve overall customer satisfaction and loyalty, as customers feel heard and supported, no matter the medium they choose for assistance.

Web Forms

Web Forms make it easy to capture support tickets straight from your website and import them into your Zoho Desk account. These tickets can come from customers who need help or want to share feedback about your product or service. No matter the reason, Web Forms are straightforward to use.


There are two types of Web Forms in Zoho Desk:

  • Feedback Widget: This is a simple option that you can easily embed on your website. It allows customers to share their thoughts or concerns with minimal effort.
  • Advanced Web Forms: These offer more customization and can gather detailed information from customers. You can adjust them to meet specific needs and ensure you have all the necessary information to address customer inquiries effectively.

Community

The Community support channel offers individuals a platform to collaborate and discuss shared interests. Customers can pose questions, seek assistance, share tips, respond to inquiries from others, or start discussions. Agents, too, can address customer queries, provide solutions, and collaborate with users to brainstorm ideas and solutions.

Due to its extensive reach, the Community also serves as an adequate space for making announcements regarding product launches and beta feature access. Organizations can effortlessly collect suggestions from customers when required. Ultimately, these proactive strategies can help improve outreach and elevate the overall customer service experience.

Now boost customer service efficiency.

  • Customers can conveniently choose their preferred method of communication, such as email, chat, phone, or social, making support more accessible and user-friendly. 
  • Aligning the type of support request with the most appropriate channel speeds up resolutions
  • A variety of channels allows support teams to balance their workload more effectively. 
  • When appropriately managed, multichannel support ensures customers enjoy a cohesive and consistent experienceacross all platforms. 
  • As your business grows, multichannel approaches scale easily, allowing you to serve more customers simultaneously.
  • Prompt, multichannel assistance demonstrates care and reliability, which fosters trustsatisfaction, and ultimately leads to customer loyalty.

Conclusion

Managing support channels in a unified platform is essential because centralizing interactions allows agents to access customer history quickly, respond efficiently, and maintain high-quality service. Providing multiple support channels enhances efficiency and makes support more accessible to meet the needs of each customer.


Please stay tuned for more Desk behind-the-scenes series.

 

Regards,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team

    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts





                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                        Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner









                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • RSC Connectivity Linkedin Recruiter RPS

                                                                                                                  It seems there's a bit of a push from Linkedin Talent Solutions to keep integrations moving. My Account Manager confirmed that Zoho Recruit is a Certified Linkedin Linkedin Partner but does not have RSC as of yet., (we knew that :-) She encouraged me
                                                                                                                • im facing issue on generate the Estimate price

                                                                                                                  i couldn't understand what is the issue , i cant generate Estimate price where is the issue
                                                                                                                • cannot be able to add user

                                                                                                                  Dear team I tried to add a new user for sales team, but after entering the OTP its showing error message cannot add now
                                                                                                                • Changing an existing item to different accounts & inventory-tracked

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, I have an item in Zoho Books that was originally set up as a non-inventory item. Over time, I associated it with different sales and purchase accounts, and I now have many invoices, bills, and reports that use this item. My business process
                                                                                                                • How do I edit the Calendar Invite notifications for Interviews in Recruit?

                                                                                                                  I'm setting up the Zoho Recruit Interview Calendar system but there's some notifications I don't have any control over. I've turned off all Workflows and Automations related to the Calendar Scheduling and it seems that it's the notification that is sent
                                                                                                                • Bookings duration - days

                                                                                                                  Hi team, Is there any way to setup services/bookings that span multiple days? I am using Zoho Bookings for meeting room bookings. Clients may wish to book a room for more than one day, for up to a month.  If not, is there a plan to allow services to be setup with durations of Days as well as hours and minutes? Many thanks, Anna.
                                                                                                                • big 5 accounts

                                                                                                                  how do you find what accounts are listed as Big 5 ?
                                                                                                                • Zoho recruit's blueprint configuration is not functioning as mapped

                                                                                                                  Current Status: Zoho Blueprint is not functioning as configured. Issue: We are moving a Candidate status in Zoho Recruit "for active file" but we encountered: "Status cannot be changed for records involved in Blueprint." This happens to various client
                                                                                                                • Actual vs Minimum

                                                                                                                  Hi all, I am sure I am not the only one having this need. We are implementing billing on a 30-minute increment, with a minimum of 30 minutes per ticket. My question is, is there a way to create a formula or function to track both the minimum bill vs the
                                                                                                                • Delay in rendering Zoho Recruit - Careers in the ZappyWorks

                                                                                                                  I click on the Careers link (https://zappyworks.zohorecruit.com/jobs/Careers) on the ZappyWorks website expecting to see the job openings. The site redirects me to Zoho Recruit, but after the redirect, the page just stays blank for several seconds. I'm
                                                                                                                • How to add interviews through API

                                                                                                                  I'm trying to add an interview without much luck. The documentation gives examples of adding just about everything except an interview. However, the issue might be the way I'm formatting it, because the documentation is unclear to me. It seems as if the xml should be passed in the url, which seems unusual. I've tried the data as both plain and character escaped, but nothing seems to work, nor do I even get an error response. https://recruit.zoho.com/recruit/private/xml/Interviews/addRecords?authtoken=***&scope=recruitapi&version=2&xmlData=<Interviews> <row
                                                                                                                • Can't scroll the page down unless I refresh the page

                                                                                                                  Hello, This issue has been going on with me and a lot of other users in my organization, we can't scroll down! the scrolling side bar doesn't appear and scrolling down through mouse or keyboard keys doesn't work, it seems that the page just ends in the
                                                                                                                • Offer already made- but I withdrew it

                                                                                                                  I made an offer letter, but made a mistake on it. I withdrew the offer but now I can't recreate the correct offer. Zoho keeps saying that "A same offer has already been made". I look in the "offers" and there are NO offers (this is the first time I've
                                                                                                                • Control the precision of answer bot responses

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, Admins can control the precision with which the Answer bot analyzes and generates a response by adjusting the threshold levels. Based on predefined threshold values, Zia analyzes how closely the query matches with the available KB articles.
                                                                                                                • Rebrand your CRM with the all-new custom domain mapping setup

                                                                                                                  UPDATES TO THIS FEATURE! 19th Jan, 2024 — Custom domain mapping has been made available for portal users in Zoho One and CRM Plus. 23rd June, 2023 — Custom domain mapping has been made available for all users, in all DCs. Hello everyone! We are elated
                                                                                                                • Add Israel & Jewish Holidays to Zoho People Holidays Gallery

                                                                                                                  Greetings, We hope you are doing well. We are writing to request an enhancement to the Holidays Gallery in Zoho People. Currently, there are several holidays available, but none for Israel and none for Jewish holidays (which are not necessarily the same
                                                                                                                • Sender Email ID is duplicate

                                                                                                                  My sender id "automate@erplaunchpad.com" is coming as duplicate but I have not used it anywhere else please help
                                                                                                                • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

                                                                                                                  Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files
                                                                                                                • Building Toppings #6 - Install and uninstall actions

                                                                                                                  Hello Biginners! In our previous forum post, we explored creating connections - specifically, custom service connections in the Bigin Developer Console. In this post, we'll focus on another feature that can be used in every topping: install actions. We'll
                                                                                                                • New UI in Zoho One CRM

                                                                                                                  Hello, Just switched to the new UI for Zoho One CRM, do not like it, especially the search functions. What are the steps to backstep to the previous UI? UPDATE: I found it.
                                                                                                                • App like Miro

                                                                                                                  Hi all, is there a way to have a interactive whiteboard like in Miro? We want to visualize our processes and workflows in an easy way.
                                                                                                                • Important updates to your connectors

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, Greeting from Zoho Creator! We're excited to announce that we'll be rolling out significant backend updates to Zoho Creator's built-in connectors to enhance security by following the latest frameworks. The existing version of some of the
                                                                                                                • Product Request: Send email to Secondary email

                                                                                                                  Guys, we should be able to send the campaign to the secondary email too.  Is this on the plans for Zoho Campaign? It looks like I can map the secondary email from the CRM to the Campaigs, but can not send the message.  
                                                                                                                • Logic for sending to a non-primary email address

                                                                                                                  Hi, I have a scenario where contacts are able to sign up for emails with 2 different email addresses (example: work, personal). I've mapped both to Campaigns from Zoho CRM, but when I go to target an email only the primary email addresses are pulling in. How can I update this to look at both of the email addresses - or specifically the secondary email address in Campaigns? Thanks, Jenny
                                                                                                                • How Do Mutliple Sales People Prospect in the "LEADS" module without calling the same leads?

                                                                                                                  We have 4 sales reps and the Leads module does not have real time intuitive knowlodge to make the sales rteps dont call the same people at the same time. How can we crate a fluent prospecting sytem where the salres reps can go out bound without calling
                                                                                                                • Keeping track of project expenses

                                                                                                                  I have talked to a few support techs and it is very hard for me to believe that Zoho's project accounting software can't keep accounts for my projects. I must not understand what they're saying. We get a contract to build something. So the project revenue
                                                                                                                • Mailbox delegation - A secure way to enable collaboration

                                                                                                                  Admins often encounter scenarios where a user needs another team member to access and manage their mailbox during extended leave, role transitions, or while handling high email volumes. In such situations, ensuring business continuity without sharing
                                                                                                                • Canvas View bug

                                                                                                                  I would like to report a bug. When clone a canvas view from an existing canvas view, if the original canvas view have canvas button with client script. Then the new create canvas view will have canvas button, it is make sense. But when I try to delete
                                                                                                                • Export blueprint as a high-resolution PDF or image file

                                                                                                                  This would be a good feature for organizations that want to share the blueprint process with their employees but don't want them to have access to the blueprint in the system settings. At the moment all that users can do is screenshot the blueprint or
                                                                                                                • Zoho Recruit Community Meetup - London 🇬🇧 (Venue Finalised)

                                                                                                                  Hello Recruiters! We’re excited to announce that the Zoho Recruit team is coming to the UK for an in-person Zoho User Group (ZUG) Meetup in London! This is your chance to connect with fellow Zoho users, learn from experts, and walk away with actionable
                                                                                                                • Users may not pick the fields to be shown as columns in the Choose Account window when creating a new Deal record

                                                                                                                  Hi there, by talking with other users I found out that I, as an Admin, am the only one who can pick fields to be shown as columns in the Choose Account window when creating a new Deal record. In fact, if other users click on the "Add Column" symbol on
                                                                                                                • 【参加無料】東京 Zoho ユーザ交流会 NEXUS ー AI エージェント (Zia Agents)の活用事例 / CRMで実現するマーケティング業務効率化

                                                                                                                  ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 3月27日(金)に東京、新橋で「東京 Zoho ユーザー交流会 NEXUS」を開催します! ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ✒️申し込みはこちらから:https://www.zohomeetups.com/tokyo2026vol1#/?affl=communityforumpost2 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ★参加のおすすめポイント ✅ AIエージェント(Zia)のリアルに使える実例を知る
                                                                                                                • One Support Email Managed By Multiple Departments

                                                                                                                  Hello,  We use one support email (support@company.com). Incoming emails come to the "Support Department" and based on what the customer is asking, we route that ticket to different departments (billing, technical support, etc.). When users in these different
                                                                                                                • Error AS101 when adding new email alias

                                                                                                                  Hi, I am trying to add apple@(mydomain).com The error AS101 is shown while I try to add the alias.
                                                                                                                • ZOHO.CRM.UI.Record.open not working properly

                                                                                                                  I have a Zoho CRM Widget and in it I have a block where it will open the blocks Meeting like below block.addEventListener("click", () => { ZOHO.CRM.UI.Record.open({ Entity: "Events", RecordID: meeting.id }).catch(err => { console.error("Open record failed:",
                                                                                                                • Python - code studio

                                                                                                                  Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already
                                                                                                                • 🚀 WorkDrive 6.0 (Phase 1): Empowering Teams with Content Intelligence, Automation, Accessibility, and Control

                                                                                                                  Hello, everyone! WorkDrive continues to evolve from a robust file management solution into an intelligent, secure, and connected content collaboration platform for modern businesses. Our goal remains unchanged: to simplify teamwork, strengthen data security,
                                                                                                                • Introducing Workqueue: your all-in-one view to manage daily work

                                                                                                                  Hello all, We’re excited to introduce a major productivity boost to your CRM experience: Workqueue, a dynamic, all-in-one workspace that brings every important sales activity, approval, and follow-up right to your fingertips. What is Workqueue? Sales
                                                                                                                • Support Custom Background in Zoho Cliq Video Calls and Meetings

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the video background capabilities in Zoho Cliq, specifically the ability to upload and use custom backgrounds. Current Limitation At present, Zoho Cliq allows
                                                                                                                • Upload own Background Image and set Camera to 16:9

                                                                                                                  Hi, in all known online meeting tools, I can set up a background image reflecting our corporate design. This doesn't work in Cliq. Additionally, Cliq detects our cameras as 4:3, showing black bars on the right and left sides during the meeting. Where
                                                                                                                • Next Page