@Flashman I agree, ticketing systems can seem a little impersonal, but it really would be your call as to how personal and friendly the system is. Certainly, an auto-response would be a must. This would acknowledge the ticket while giving assurance to the client that the ticket will be dealt with within a certain amount of time. The key here is to make sure the system is being monitored and answers delivered as soon as possible. (canned responses are good for this).
@Jerry Most of the phpjabbers scripts are what I can best describe as āfunctional shell scriptsā. They work as they are supposed to work, but the standard templates can look a little outdated. However, if you can handle a little CSS, you can edit the front-end CSS files to make the interface look a little more up to date. Personally, Iām not a great fan of open source solutions, essentially because the underlying code IS open source. This can make the system vulnerable to hacking attacks - something I try to avoid at all costs. Cloud based services can be an ideal option, but Iāve always got an eye on the GDPR regulations and the fact that client data will be shared with third parties - again, something Iām keen to avoid. I prefer to have all my client data confined to our own website.
Hello all, in my case I use OsTicket, with the OsTicket Awesome theme.
Then I create a form in my website with Blocs, that sends the form to a unique email that is being read by OsTicket with a cron job each 5 min. Then it reply with a ticket number, and when you reply, it send an email to the costumer and if he reply it will allocate automatically to that specific ticket. And I include also a Telegram web hook that send me a message if I receive any new/reply to any ticket.
All of this is fully free, (time is not free and you need it to configure everything) but then it works like a charm.
For example I have some of my clients in OsTicket with their own tickets they receive from their costumers and they manage all the tickets from my installation.
That sounds very impressive and organised, which I am sure makes a good impression on clients. One small point is that the Awesome theme appears to be $100 and without that OSTicket is not responsive to work properly on mobile.
100% true, however this is also the case with email and I have been losing far too much time.
One idea I am putting in place on my new website is a new client guidance page, which sets out how we work and what we expect from clients in return. The link will be emailed to clients early on in the process.
In addition the page includes links to tutorials with videos on how to set up email, change name servers and that sort of thing. My hope is that clients will appreciate this, while also saving me a huge amount of time by not needing to go over the same points time after time with every new client.
Yes I create those tutorials for my clients in a reserved area in OS Ticketā¦
So you can spend time with that and make sure yours competitors donāt see that information.
In my case as I give a user and password for my clients they have access to that part and after I create that I think I end with 40% less emails and calls, or at least when they open a ticket I redirect them directly for the specific tutorialā¦ā¦
That makes a lot of sense actually keeping the help guides in a private area. As you say, it stops competitors seeing the information and should cut down a lot on lost time. Above all I hope it reduces stress levels for both myself and clients. I still find it amazing that at least 70% of my clients struggle to set up an email account in 2022.