/ The best helpdesk software for smooth communication

The best helpdesk software for smooth communication

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Alexander Wijninga

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6 min

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Helpdesk software has become popular at lightning speed and is now an important link for modern companies. It raises a company's productivity and efficiency and integrates CRM solutions seamlessly. In short, a valuable addition to your company. Read in this article what helpdesk software involves exactly, how you apply it to your company and what the costs of it are.

What is helpdesk software?

Helpdesk software brings all customers' questions, complaints and remarks together in one program. All customer service staff also communicate via support software and see who is working on a particular customer question. That way you keep a good overview and everyone knows exactly where they stand.

By using this you make the work process in customer service run a good deal more smoothly and you raise your customer satisfaction. Even when your customers come in with a complaint, you still give them a positive feeling when you help them quickly and successfully.

Elements of good helpdesk software

One inbox

As mentioned earlier, questions therefore come in on one platform. You never have to switch again, from Facebook Messenger to email, to WhatsApp, and so on. On top of that, the platform makes it easy to implement a chat on all the different channels. It is pleasant that this costs no extra effort, because it all comes into the same conversation overview automatically. This element makes it extra easy to keep up with the future and the continuously shifting preferences in favourite customer contact channels.

screenshot of watermelon conversations page

Chatbots

On the best helpdesk software systems you easily integrate a chatbot alongside your contact overview. On this platform you set the chatbot up entirely to your liking and train it to answer as many questions as possible. Via the platform you choose which channels you want to implement this chatbot on and it will then catch all the opening questions. Only when the chatbot cannot formulate a good answer itself is the conversation passed on to a human member of staff. That way you save time and have more time left for more complex questions.

diagram of conversations

Team overview

As an administrator you easily keep track of which of your employees is handling which conversation. You also see when conversations pass from a chatbot to employees. You very easily assign conversations to people and keep a full overview. Only do this when you see a need for it; employees also easily pick up conversations themselves. From here you direct your employees directly without taking over control completely. Shape the teams so that they match your company's customer service objectives.

mailbox list in watermelon

All-in-one CRM

By connecting a CRM system to the helpdesk software you always know the person behind a website visitor. It identifies the customer and adds to a 360-degree profile, which means you recognise the customer at all times and treat them more personally.

customer details

Statistics

Helpdesk software helps you keep a good overview when it comes to incoming data: measuring is knowing. It tells you exactly how many conversations have been held, roughly how long the conversations last and how many conversations a chatbot has held. This helps you improve your service, because you see what customers really need.

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Helpdesk software applied

To recognise the use of helpdesk software better, it is good to sketch out a situation. This is what the situation looks like with and without helpdesk software:

Without helpdesk software

You use several channels, on all of which questions come in separately. In the morning you start up your laptop and begin answering questions by email; when you have cleared these you start answering questions from Facebook Messenger. After Facebook Messenger you work through your other channels. When you then look at your email again there are already 20 people waiting for you who are slowly losing their patience. You cannot easily see who asked a question first when you have to work through all the platforms, or whether other colleagues have already answered questions. Then you write down the biggest lessons of the day and put this in an overview.

With helpdesk software

You start up your laptop and open your helpdesk software's platform; all channels are connected to it. Because everything comes in on one platform you see exactly which question was asked first. The process is therefore fairer and faster. You easily pass conversations on to your colleagues and see in an overview which colleagues have answered which questions. You are less aware of which platform you are dealing with, which means you easily keep the same tone of voice. Your software contains a chatbot which lets you easily clear more than half of your conversations without ever needing a human member of staff. The software makes analyses that sketch a picture of frequently occurring questions, which means you know which part of your website is due for optimisation. Helpdesk software therefore mainly helps you with ease of use and efficiency.

The deployability of a chatbot on the software

As you read throughout this article, the biggest tangible opportunity of helpdesk software is a chatbot, since this considerably lowers the workload. But is a chatbot deployable for every company? There is a very simple answer to that: a chatbot takes on so many different roles that there is always a role that is tailor-made for your company. You deploy a chatbot not only as a customer service employee, but also as an adviser, HR employee or events coordinator. Let your creativity run free and determine for yourself what your bot occupies itself with.

What does the best helpdesk software meet?

To create a clear overview of what functionality of helpdesk software matters for moving to a winning customer service, you check whether it meets the requirements of the following checklist:

  • It offers a clear overview of conversations from different customer contact channels;

  • You easily build a chatbot on the platform that improves your customer service;

  • You can work together easily with colleagues and teams, and easily pass conversations on;

  • It works on the basis of first in, first out, in order to maintain a fair order;

  • There is a possibility of connecting your CRM system, in order to build 360-degree customer profiles;

  • The administrator has the possibility of monitoring conversations, in order to steer and optimise where needed;

  • With helpdesk software you easily request statistics from data obtained from customer conversations.

What does the best helpdesk software cost?

Kinds of helpdesk software vary in price, and here the biggest difference comes from the number of features that come with the software. At Watermelon the costs for helpdesk software start at €106 per month. The packages offer different functions, such as flawless cooperation in teams, extensive analytics and machine learning. Pay close attention in a price overview, therefore, to what a package involves. All these things weigh in the price, but they also quickly earn themselves back when they are deployed well. You save time, after all, and improve your service.

Curious? Try it yourself and create a free account!

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