Fourth Insight - The power of Multi-Layouts

Fourth Insight - The power of Multi-Layouts

The Wheels of Ticketing - Desk Stories

The power of Multi-Layouts




QuoteIn the previous insights, we have established that layouts are the foundation for a ticketing system, and fields are the building blocks for the same system.


Fundamentals of layouts

Fields play a crucial role in helping customers and agents collect valuable end-user information to understand their concerns better. Organizations must prioritise collecting accurate data in the right format to ensure efficiency. It's essential to avoid overwhelming end users with unnecessary or confusing fields; clarity is key. Additionally, the layout of these fields should be thoughtfully classified based on the data collected from end users to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.

Understanding multi-layouts

Using multiple layouts in a help desk environment can significantly enhance the customer experience and streamline support processes. 

For instance, let’s take a telecommunication service provider that offers both postpaid and prepaid options. These two services cater to distinct user needs and provide varied features. Imagine an end-user needing to raise a support ticket specifically for a postpaid service. Instead of relying on a single generic form encompassing both service types, the organization can enhance user experience by developing two tailored layouts: one dedicated to postpaid and another to prepaid services. 

This approach involves choosing the right fields to align with each service and streamlining the ticket submission process. Doing so significantly reduces data clutter, allowing the end-user to navigate the forms easily and provide the necessary information to receive adequate and timely support for their queries.

Multi-layout best practices


For a ticketing help desk system to support multiple layouts effectively, consider the following:

  • Modular design: Streamline your ticket submission process into multiple services according to your business. Each service can be created as a layout. If there are common details between services, build this interface with reusable fields.
  • Role-based preset: To simplify onboarding, pre-configure layouts connected to agent roles according to the solutions they provide to customers.
  • Customisation engine: To ensure accurate information and help agents with all required information, include widgets using extensions and proper recommendations using tooltips.
  • Responsive data integration: To avoid ticket creation latency, ensure only the required fields are added to the layout. Using layout rules, you can also make the design responsive based on the input.
  • Performance optimisation: Validate the data given in the layout fields using validation rules to minimise the agent's load time on incorrect data.
  • Accessibility: Design layouts with keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and high-contrast options to accommodate all users.
These best practices can help your organization apply multiple layouts in your ticketing help desk system to accommodate diverse agent workflows, improve efficiency, and raise customer satisfaction levels.

A story for better understanding

Streamlining Support with Multiple Layouts

This narrative illustrates how multi-layouts improve efficiency, adaptability, and the overall experience for agents managing customer support tickets.


At Help Point Innovations, a rapidly growing SaaS company, the customer support team faced challenges managing an overwhelming influx of tickets. While their help desk system was operational, it lacked flexibility and only provided a uniform ticket view, frustrating agents. Simple inquiries were often lost amid more complex technical problems, causing agents to spend unnecessary time navigating multiple tabs to locate information. This led to declining morale and increasing response times.


Enter Chandler, the new support operations manager, tasked with turning things around. He collaborated with the operations team to implement a new ticketing help desk system that supported multiple layouts tailored to different agent needs. 

The Standard Layout – The All-Purpose Form 

On his first day, Chandler shadowed Mike, a level 1 support agent handling general inquiries. Mike used the standard layout, a clean, streamlined form designed for quick ticket triage:

 

  • Ticket list pane: A sortable list of open tickets with columns for ticket ID, customer name, priority, and subject. Filters let Mike focus on "New" or "High Priority" tickets.
  • Ticket details pane: Clicking a ticket displayed the customer's message, purchase history, and a chat-like thread for internal notes and replies.
  • Quick actions bar: Buttons for everyday actions like "Assign to Self," "Reply with Template," or "Escalate" were front and center.

 

Mike valued how the Standard Layout let him process simple tickets, like password resets or billing questions, in under a minute. For example, when a customer asked about a subscription refund, Mike pulled up the ticket, checked the purchase history in the details pane, and sent a pre-approved refund response using a template without leaving the screen.

 

The standard layout empowered level 1 agents to efficiently handle high-volume, straightforward tickets, reducing average response time by 30%.

The Tech Layout – In-depth Troubleshooting 

Next, Chandler observed Lila, a Level 2 technical support specialist who tackled complex issues like API errors and software bugs. Lila switched to the technical layout, and when queries came in, she automated the tickets to move them to this layout so that they could help with in-depth analysis:

 

  • Expanded ticket details: The layout prioritized technical data, showing error logs, system diagnostics, and API call history alongside the ticket thread.
  • Integrated tools pane: A sidebar linked to debugging tools, a knowledge base, and a code snippet library for quick reference.
  • Collaboration panel: A dedicated space for real-time collaboration with developers via internal chat, with options to attach screenshots or screen recordings.


When a customer reported an API timeout issue, Lila used the technical layout to view the error log, cross-reference it with the knowledge base, and ping the dev team in the collaboration panel. She identified a rate-limiting issue, shared a workaround with the customer, and flagged the ticket for a permanent fix within 15 minutes.

 

The technical layout reduced resolution time for complex tickets by 40%, as agents had critical tools and data at their fingertips.

The Custom Layout – Personalized Productivity

Finally, Chandler met Riya, a senior agent who handled level 1 and 2 tickets. Riya had created a Custom layout to suit her unique workflow:

 

  • Hybrid ticket view: Riya combined elements of the standard and technical layouts, with a compact ticket list and a detailed technical pane for quick switches between complex and straightforward tickets.
  • Pinned widgets: She added widgets for her most-used tools, like a live chat monitor and a shortcut to her favorite response templates.
  • Colour-coded priority: Riya customized the ticket list to highlight VIP customers in red and urgent tickets in yellow.

 

When a VIP client reported a critical issue, Riya's custom layout let her spot the ticket instantly, access diagnostic data, and respond with a personalized message in record time. Thanks to her tailored setup, she could easily pivot to handling a batch of routine tickets without missing a beat.



Custom layouts boosted agent satisfaction and productivity, as veterans like Riya could work in a way that matched their expertise and preferences.

The Transformation

In just weeks, introducing the new help desk system with multiple layouts transformed Help Point's support operations. Agents became more efficient and effective, customers enjoyed prompt solutions, and the team's morale soared. One of Chandler's highlights was when he caught Mike and Lila discussing which layout was most suitable for specific scenarios, indicating that the operations team had developed multiple tailored views. These custom views enabled agents to focus on the particular requirements of each ticket, boosting productivity by reducing unnecessary clutter.

Wrapping up

The key to success? Flexibility. By offering multiple layouts, standard for speed, technical for depth, and custom for personalization, he help desk system met the diverse needs of the support team and turned disorder into a well-oiled machine.



Please stay tuned for more Desk Module stories.

 

Cheers,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team


    • Recent Topics

    • Verified Mark Certificate

      Hello Dears, Can anyone help and check my mail or direct me to the desired person who can add the verification tag to my mail https://www.zoho.com/blog/mail/email-authentication-with-bimi.html

    • Appointment booking is temporarily unavailable

      Embeded Zoho booking page in my WordPress website. When someone starts a booking, after choosing time and date, an error appears before payment - "Appointment booking is temporarily unavailable due to restricted settings." Used the embeded code given

    • Cannot connect to 365 business calendar and Teams, says personal but it is not.

      hi I have a number of users connected to their 365 business accounts. Adding a new user and it thinks hes got 365 personal edition. He does not.... Anyone know what's going on. Trying for days now. Bookings go into his MS calendar but as its thinks its

    • Limited review (/questions) for Bookings 2.0

      Hi all, I'm writing this review of Bookings 2.0 for two reasons: 1) it may be of interest to others, and 2) I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong on any points. It's a very limited review, i.e. the things that have stood out as relevant, and particularly

    • Zoho Bookings - Reserve with Google

      Does Zoho Bookings plan to to integrate with Reserve with Google?

    • Tip #3: How to change your booking page language

      Displaying your booking page in your target audience's language can greatly increase customer satisfaction. By speaking their language, you will help customers feel more comfortable scheduling with you and create a stronger connection with them. Let's

    • Bigin Android app update: Alerts while creating tasks outside of working days, conflicting events and calls.

      Hello everyone! In the most recent version of the Bigin Android app, we have brought in support to display an alert if task is being scheduled outside of the working days. Also, when scheduling an event or call in the Activities module, a conflict alert

    • Bigin update: Link email messages to pipeline records.

      Hello everyone! In the latest version of the Bigin iOS(v1.11.9) and macOS(1.8.9) app, we have brought in support for an option to link email to pipeline records. This helps you to view emails specific to a deal, especially when a contact is associated

    • Bigin Android app update: Custom buttons and widgets

      Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce custom buttons and widgets on the Bigin Android app. Widgets: A widget is a customizable UI component in Bigin that improves efficiency and user experience. It lets businesses embed components, streamline interactions,

    • Zoho Sheet for Desktop

      Does Zoho plans to develop a Desktop version of Sheet that installs on the computer like was done with Writer?

    • Zoho Sheet - Desktop App or Offline

      Since Zoho Docs is now available as a desktop app and offline, when is a realistic ETA for Sheet to have the same functionality?I am surprised this was not laucned at the same time as Docs.

    • Collective-booking event not added to all staff calendars

      We assign two staff to certain events. When the client books this event, it adds it to one staff calendar (the 'organiser') but not the other. How can I ensure all staff assigned to a collective booking get the event in their calendar? (A side note: it

    • IMAP login problem

      I have my domain hosted with zoho @wilson.ie I have added a new user and have enabled IMAP access to this user account The user can login to zoho mail on the web. When we enter the server settings into Outlook as per below, Outlook cannot login to the imap server.  The dialogue box requesting password appears repeatedly.  The password is correct as we are using the same one to login on the web. Please help, Incoming Server Name: imappro.zoho.com Port: 993 Require SSL: Yes   Username: you@yourdomain.com 

    • Project Management Bulletin: October, 2025

      Every need leads to innovation. Project Management tools were developed out of sheer necessity to drive large projects. With wide usage, the specifications grew precise, and so did the refinement. Over years we’ve crafted one of the best project management

    • Zoho Sheets saying locked when not locked

      Zoho Sheets won't let me add more rows to sheet because it's saying the sheet is locked, but the sheet is not locked. I tried using a different browser but I still have the same issue.

    • Identifying and Merging Accounts with Similar (Non-Exact) Names

      Hello everyone, I’m aware of the built-in deduplication feature in Zoho CRM that allows merging records with exactly matching values for selected fields. However, I’m running into a situation where our migrated data contains multiple variations of the

    • Option for super admin to recover the deleted chats in Zoho Cliq

      Currently, in Zoho Cliq, if a user accidentally deletes their chats, there is no option for the Super Admin to recover or view those deleted messages. I believe it would be helpful if Super Admins had a recovery option, perhaps within a certain time frame,

    • Zoho CRM iOS app updates: the Homepage, Zoho Survey integration, and support for multiple file uploads in subform

      Hello everyone! The Zoho CRM mobile app continues to evolve to bring you a smoother and more powerful CRM-on-the-go experience. We're excited to share some important updates now available in the iOS app. Here's what's new: Homepage support Zoho Survey

    • I am trying to integrate my module in sandbox environment to add data via API

      I went through the documents and tried to setup the API for adding the module via the api but the problem is the token setup is done on "https://accounts.zoho.in/oauth/v2/token" domain and the bulk write is done on "https://content.zohoapis.com/crm/v8/upload"

    • Setting up primary mobile number.

      Hi Sir Earlier I joined IIFL team and got an organizational email of zoho services. Later i quit and now my account is deactivated with IIFL but i am unable to link my mobile number to my own email id with zoho.

    • Mail is sent twice!

      Been using Zoho for a while now. Installed Zoho for someone else and some weird things are happening. Mails are being sent twice. He is using Thunderbird as an email client. I already read about email being duplicated in the sent folder. But in my case

    • Tables for Europe Datacenter customers?

      It's been over a year now for the launch of Zoho Tables - and still not available für EU DC customers. When will it be available?

    • Emails stuck in Queue

      Hi there, Since yesterday I have a few out going emails stuck in a queue. It say it will auto retry sending however nothing is happening. It seems to be affecting roughly 50% of my outgoing emails. Please help Thanks

    • Guided Conversations - Ticket Creation

      Hi there, Using Guided Conversations to Take Customer Data and apply it into a Support Ticket for internal use, Is there a way to take multiple Textual Variables Inputs (A series of questions), and have the answers all appear in the Description of the

    • How to send certain invoices for Approval based on condition?

      To streamline operations, I need the invoices to go for approval when certain conditions are met. For example, if my staff gives a discount of x amount, it must go for approval. If there is no discount, then the invoice will be approved automatically.

    • Unable to continue payment

      Hi, I want to make a payment for my email subscription, but I cannot proceed with the payment because my NITKU is invalid. In Indonesia, the NITKU consists of 22 digits, but Zoho only provides 20 digits, causing my NITKU to be invalid. Please help me

    • Is there a way to show contact emails in the Account?

      I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detail

    • Massive spam pretending to come from our address – is this a Zoho security issue?

      Hi, We’ve been receiving more and more suspicious emails lately — many of them clearly look like scams. But yesterday, we got an email that appeared to be sent from our own address, which was very concerning. We're starting to wonder if this might be

    • Cant recieve mails

      I’m having an issue with my external IMAP account not fetching any emails into Zoho Mail, even though the connection test says “Success”. I can send, if someone sends an email to me. my original directory (home.pl host) recieves it in their portal but

    • Zoho Sheet Autofit Data

      While using Autofit Data function in Zoho Sheets with Devnagri Maratji or Hindi Fonts, a word or a number, it keeps couple of characters outside the right side border.

    • Enhancements to finance suite integrations

      Update on the migration (October 28, 2025): Starting this week (October 29 tentatively), we’ll begin migrating Zoho CRM users to Zoho Books as integration users. This means actions will now run under each user’s own Zoho Books access, instead of the admin’s.

    • Edit 'my' Notes only

      The permissions around Notes should be more granular, and allow to user to be able to edit the notes he created only. The edit Notes permission is useful as it allows the user to correct any mistakes or add information as needed. However, with this same

    • Job Alerts for Candidates

      hi All, I have 2 questions relating to sharing job details with candidates. 1. is there a way to notify candidates that meet certain criteria of current jobs available? eg. I run a candidate search, and identify 50 candidates that might be suitable. Can

    • Add multiple users to a task

      When I´m assigning a task it is almost always related to more than one person. Practical situation: When a client request some improvement the related department opens the task with the situation and people related to it as the client itself, the salesman

    • Enhancing Task Accuracy: Automatically notify the owners upon Task duplication.

      Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. The requirement

    • Nodemailer not working with Zoho

      Hi All, I'm having issues with Zoho working with Nodemailer. It works as expected when using gmail as the service. Below is the code I get when using zoho. Error sending email: Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:587 at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as

    • Show/ hide specific field based on user

      Can someone please help me with a client script to achieve the following? I've already tried a couple of different scripts I've found on here (updating to match my details etc...) but none of them seem to work. No errors flagged in the codes, it just

    • Where are Kanban swimlanes

      So i've been playing with Zoho Projects Kanban view a bit more. It appears that task lists are being used as the Kanban columns, which makes sense from the implementation point of view but not the logical one.  Kanban columns are statuses that a task can flow through, while a task list has been a logical way to organize related tasks and relate them to a mislestone. In other words a task in a particular task can go through several stages while remaining in the same task list. After doing some research

    • Tip 19: How to display images in Pages using ZML snippets

      Hi folks, We're back with another tip on how to use Zoho Markup Language (ZML) to create interactive pages in Zoho Creator. You can use ZML snippets to add various kinds of components to your pages and structure them in meaningful ways. That's not all, though—using ZML you can ensure your application is automatically compatible with all kinds of devices without any inconsistencies. We often get questions from users about how to invoke Deluge scripts within ZML code. Here's a simple use case for adding

    • desbloquear cuenta

      Buenos dias  Cordial saludo Tengo una cuenta libre en zoho mail asociado a un dominio, pero uno de los usuarios se bloquea el correo porque dice que ha excedido el límite de correo, por favor podrian desbloquearla y como hago para que esta persona debe enviar sus correos sin ningun probleama. Gracias de antemano

    • Next Page