Going through some content as we port to the NEW helpspot.com design (sneak-peek to come…), I came across this article written by Ian, our founder, a few years ago. It’s great–although brief, it encapsulates our underlying vision of HelpSpot when we started and what continues to guide development and support.
Enjoy this oldie but goodie!
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At its functional core, HelpSpot is a help desk ticket system. Yet that label, ticket, never appears in the system. It’s one of the first things we choose NOT to do when designing HelpSpot. In our experience one of the major factors that separate a truly great help desk system from a merely average one isn’t technology, but rather a customer-focused attitude.
Sure having a great help desk ticket system with robust functionality is important, and we believe HelpSpot is, but it goes deeper than that. It largely comes down to the attitude conveyed towards the customers inquires. A bad help desk system almost always has a poor attitude towards incoming customer inquires. New ‘problem tickets’ enter the system and are viewed with disdain; as nuisances that need to be quickly closed in an effort to simply ‘clear’ the queue.
How do you distinguish this subtle difference in customer focus?
Start by thinking about the terminology for a moment. The word ‘ticket’ doesn’t express the importance of the customers inquiry nor does it adequately convey the care which is required to make a customer happy. More than likely the phrase ‘problem ticket’ conjures up images of working at a deli counter, where answers are churned out like a Reuben on rye. On the other hand HelpSpot uses the term ‘request’ which has a much different tone by providing a subtle emphasize on the importance of the interaction, rather than churning through the task at hand to move onto the next.
Also consider the supplemental tools brought to the customer experience. HelpSpot provides a customer portal complete with a searchable knowledge base, in the form of knowledge books, forums, and a means to submit and manage all open requests. Giving customers the tools they want and need, while allowing help desks to proactively address common customer concerns in mediums that customers find comfortable and easy-to-use. With the capability these tools bring for interaction between support staff and customers, help desks will be able to foster a complete community around their product/service.
Your Help desk staff don’t want to feel like they work in a deli, churning through an endless stream of faceless ‘problem tickets’ using a system that values the ‘ticket’ over the customer experience, as this lack of customer-focus will be quickly reflected in the level of service they provide. A help desk system focused on the customer interaction, like HelpSpot, will prevent even the best of support staff from falling into the ‘deli counter’ funk.
