Customer service, and a good customer relationship management (or CRM) system, is all about organization. In the early days of your business it may be conceivable to field your incoming tickets as they come, manually organizing each one into their proper category. But this won’t always be true. It’s important to plan for the future, and as your business increases so will your ticket numbers. Setting the boundaries for incoming ticket priorities will help keep your company at a good cruising speed.
There are usually just a few incident priority levels. The first, called Low priority, includes customers contacting in due to a minor annoyance or simple fix, such as a password reset or a policy question. This category should produce a lot of First Call Resolutions (FCRs) for your team, and should not involve lengthy deadlines or work speed requirements.
The second level is called Medium priority. This section can include more significant hindrance for the customer, but ultimately his or her use of the product will continue through the incident. Resolution time should be kept to right around 24 hours, with progress updates provided for the customer as they come.
The third is called High priority level, and incoming tickets which are organized into this set should be resolved within 8 hours or less. This priority level can include issues that will completely block the customer’s use of the product, like a software malfunction or a server error. This is the second most priority level, and should not be taken lightly by team members.
The final priority level is called Critical. Critical level tickets occur when a complete production halt occurs, with noticeable impact to corporate revenues, VIP customers, or the company image. This sort of priority level requires immediate action, even if the incident takes place in the wee hours of the morning or night. The Critical level incident is of the utmost importance for your company and your customers, and should be treated as such.
Having a powerful, flexible ticketing software system at your back to help keep everything in order will ensure that your team and your customers stay satisfied. PhaseWare’s products allow for configuration of priority levels and automatic ticket monitoring which will escalate the incident as necessary. With this sort of support on your side, you will be able to rely on our software to keep you abreast of the important stuff, and keep you on time for the small things. Automated notifications for any escalated incidents or changes will allow your team to relax into the flow of customer support and improve performance all around.