26, September, 2024
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How to Pick The Best CRM Ticketing System for Your Business
Biography
Stephen Jones is a seasoned Customer Relationship Management (CRM) professional with over 7 years of experience in the field. Throughout his career, he has helped businesses of all sizes implement and optimize their CRM systems to drive sales growth, improve customer satisfaction, and streamline operations. Stephen is passionate about sharing his CRM expertise and insights through insightful blog posts and articles.
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Biography
David Lee brings over 3 years of CRM experience to the table, with a proven track record of success in helping businesses leverage technology to achieve their customer relationship goals. He is a data-driven CRM strategist with a keen understanding of how to utilize CRM systems to gain actionable customer insights and personalize customer interactions. David is a regular contributor to industry publications and frequently speaks at CRM conferences, sharing his knowledge and best practices with the CRM community. He holds a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Marketing.
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Latest Update:
Sep 16, 2024, 8:45 am
In a Nutshell
As a business consultant, I’ve seen many clients unsure what CRM ticketing system will work well with their business. To ensure I know the solution best suited to my customers’ needs, I’ve done extensive research and tried five of the best CRM ticketing systems.
Top CRM Ticketing Systems Shortlist
To give you a bit of a spoiler, here are my top five CRM ticketing system picks.
- Zoho Desk – Best for Value
- Hubspot Service Hub – Best for Small Business
- HaloPSA – Best for Big Organizations
- FreshDesk – Best for Quick Implementation
- Connectwise – Best for Tech-Savvy Teams
Introduction
Given how hectic a business environment can get, business owners should understand the importance of having an efficient and streamlined system to manage customer interactions. The best solution to this problem is a CRM ticketing system.
The system can provide a main database for all customer requests, complaints, and inquiries. With a CRM ticketing system, you can quickly respond to your customers and make your team’s workflow more efficient. All issues coming can be resolved faster, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.
So, how can a business implement a CRM ticketing system? How does the system benefit the business? Learn how a CRM ticketing system works to improve your company’s customer relationship.
I’ve listed my top 10 CRM ticketing systems as the absolute best. I’ve tried and used these systems before, so I’ll give a deeper insight into each system’s strengths and weaknesses. At the end of this article, I’m sure you’ll be able to see how your company will grow through a system’s implementation.
Key Features of CRM ticketing systems
Let’s start by understanding what kind of benefits a CRM ticketing system can bring to a business. Here are some of the critical features of CRM ticketing systems to help you know how it works and how it can benefit your company.
Centralized Ticket Management
The primary feature of a CRM ticketing system is its centralized ticket management. It allows companies to manage, create, and track all customer support tickets from a single platform.
The main advantage of using a centralized platform is giving customers a single point of contact. It’s more convenient for customers as they can resolve their issues quickly. Therefore, it leads to enhancing your customers’ experience.
The advantage isn’t only for your customers; your team will also feel it. By streamlining the support process, businesses can improve efficiency. The proper agent can easily manage tickets, track them through, and escalate them when necessary.
Centralized ticket management gives companies better access to customer interaction. The system can help identify trends that contribute to your decision-making process.
Multiple teams can also collaborate through the system. Each agent can conveniently share information to resolve a single issue, improving work efficiency.
Automated Ticket Routing
Implementing a CRM ticketing system means you can use automated ticket routing. Tickets will arrive at the appropriate agent based on the agent’s availability, customer priority, or issue type. This improves efficiency and ensures each ticket always goes to the right agent.
I’ve seen big businesses buried in tickets, and human mistakes can lead to tickets being forgotten. An automated ticket system prevents such errors, ensuring all customers remain up-to-date on the status of their issues.
Companies can also integrate CRM ticketing systems with knowledge bases. The resources will help agents resolve issues quickly and easily. If an agent is still unsure, the collaboration tools allow them to communicate with other agents to share information.
Omnichannel Support
For a ticket management system, omnichannel support can play a vital part. Customers can inquire through their chosen channels across various communication methods without repeating themselves.
As it’s an omnichannel, customers don’t have to learn the ins and outs of a new platform. The system also makes it easy for the teams to maintain all requests as they get into the same inbox regardless of origin.
Analytics and Reporting Tools
Ticket management systems allow managers to access reporting tools, which can help them gain more visibility into their team’s performance metrics. A CRM ticketing system usually provides ticket resolution response times and ticket volume data.
Managers and employees will also have access to analytic tools that can help them study trends. By understanding the trends, they can make better decisions for product improvement based on customers’ satisfaction scores, surveys, NPS, and other inputs. These informed decisions can be a game changer for a company’s ROI.
Integrations with Various Tools
A ticketing management system allows companies to customize their platforms. The system can seamlessly connect to other applications according to the company’s needs, making the customized support process thorough and efficient.
This is where a ticketing management system often connects with CRM. By syncing the two systems, you’ll have access to information on both.
The ticketing system pulls the related customer data from the connected CRM when a ticket comes in. The CRM then provides the customers’ preferences, previous interactions, and purchase history.
How to Choose The Right CRM with a Ticketing System for Your Business
You may have understood what a CRM with a ticketing system is, but how do you choose the right one that fits your business needs? Here’s some advice on how I decided on a CRM ticketing system for my organization.
Understand Your Business Needs
You must understand your business needs before picking or researching a system. To simplify this, ask several questions about the essential functionalities you need from a CRM ticketing system. For example:
- What touchpoints and interactions do your business have with your customers that you need to record?
- What aspects of your business need a ticketing system? Do you need it only for customer support service or for the products you sell?
- What kind of products do you sell?
- Which department can benefit from a CRM ticketing system? What kind of system could help them most?
- How will your team members access the system?
- What platforms are you currently using, and are they already connecting?
- What part of your process consumes too much time and needs improvement?
Each CRM ticketing software has its way of achieving an outcome, and it may not be similar to the system you currently use. You might find it more efficient to find a similar or new one that could improve your current workflow.
Now that you understand what you need from a CRM with a ticketing system, you can ensure it complements your business objectives. Understanding how you want your clients to feel when connecting with your company will also determine the type of system that best suits your business.
Flexibility and Scalability
Now that you’ve understood your business well, you can start aligning your research with your business objectives. See how well a system can accommodate your business’ growth. As your company evolves, the system should still be helpful.
Consider the number of users you’d likely get and the vision of how much that number will grow. Will the system be able to handle the growing ticket volume? It’s crucial to ensure the system has scalability options that can cater to your business for a long time.
Integrations
When you use a new system, you must consider its ability to integrate with your existing tools. Evaluate the system’s compatibility with communication tools and project management software. With seamless integration, you can enhance productivity and streamline workflows.
Ease of Use
Choosing a system with a user-friendly interface will avoid a steep learning curve. You can help your team adapt to the new system quicker without halting production. Be aware that a new system with a steep learning curve may lead to low user adoption and hurt your business.
Customization
A system must allow customization so you can craft it into a tool that can match your workflow and requirements. Flexible customizations ensure the system adapts to your process.
Analytics and Reporting Features
When CRM software with a ticketing system comes with robust analytics and reporting capabilities, you can monitor things smoothly. You can measure your team performance, spot improvement areas, and track key metrics. Compare your options and look for a system that offers comprehensive analytics and reporting tools.
CRM Ticketing Software: My Top Five Picks
I’ve had my fair share of trial and error, so now I can help you avoid spending too long on research. Here are my best five of all the CRM ticketing software I’ve tried.
Free Plan: 15 day free trial available
Starts from $14 per user per month
Why I Chose Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk has one of the most complete automations and integrations systems I’ve ever seen. This makes it easy for all kinds of businesses to customize their needs and integrate their systems, and the price plan is relatively lower than other options. It quickly became my best-for-value CRM with a ticketing system, with the flexibility to cater to various kinds of businesses.
Pricing
- Standard. $14/month/user (annual plan). Includes: Five email channels, 20 tags/tickets, product-based ticket tracking, Multi-level escalations, and 50 custom reports.
- Professional. $23/month/user (annual plan). Includes: 10 email channels, ticket sharing and ownership, agent collision detection, customer-based SLA, and Auto Time tracking.
- Enterprise. $40/month/user (annual plan). Includes:100 email channels, live chat, guided conversations, artificial intelligence, 50 multi-department support, and schedule reports.
Features
Zoho Desks allows you to manage tickets and track customer requests across channels in one place. When you purchase the Enterprise plan, you can use Zoho’s AI, Zia, to generate additional reports.
Zia can provide relevant solutions using your database directly with your clients. It also has a sentiment analysis feature that can understand the use of emotion in a conversation.
Integrations
Zoho Desk is compatible with all Zoho apps, so you can combine features to enhance your system. As Zoho uses Telephony, you can also integrate with Telephony’s partners like Twillio, Amazon Connect, and Ozonetel. Zoho Desk also supports integrations from 15 other apps, such as G Suite, Screen Magic, and Microsoft Teams.
Summary
Zoho Desk affordably combines CRM and ticketing systems. As a help desk solution, it offers rich features, automation, and integrations across sales, support, and other apps. The $40 per user for advanced enterprise level with AI, live chat, and analytics is complete and relatively affordable. With its flexibility, the enterprise offer is worth the value.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Easy set-up
- Rich functions include VOIP, KB, SLA, SMS, and social network integration
- It is one of the most complete automation and integrations on a relatively cheaper plan
Cons
- Notifications can be buggy
- SLA ticket escalation automation doesn’t show the progress status
Free Plan: Free version available
Starts at $15 per user per month
Why I Chose Hubspot Service Hub
Although Hubspot’s pricing plans can be relatively costly compared with the other CRM ticketing systems on this list, it offers a free plan. For a plan that costs nothing, it provides essential tools to run a small business and support its ticketing and CRM system.
Pricing
- Free: up to 200 notifications per month, one shared inbox, five email templates, up to three reporting dashboards, live chat with HubSpot branding, custom user permission
- Service Hub Starter. $15/month/user (annual plan). Includes: Unlimited email open and click notifications, conversation routing, task calendar sync, simple ticket automation, and ten ticket tags per account.
- Service Hub Professional $90/month/user (annual plan). Includes: Unlimited email open and click notifications, up to 100 custom reports, service analytics, URL mappings, forecasting, and 100 custom surveys.
Features
Hubspot Service Hub provides personalized help desk tools with a knowledge base. It can help increase CSAT and retention using tools like customer product usage and health scores, driving adoption. It’s also powered by Hubspot’s Smart CRM to deliver more insights and unify your team.
Integrations
Hubspot allows integrations with many other platforms but is limited to the pricing plan you purchase. This is the downside of HubSpot Service that I don’t love, as the free plan only allows Slack and Facebook Messenger integrations. To unlock more integrations, I would have to buy the highest plan.
Summary
Hubspot might have several flaws, but it’s undeniably a helpful ticketing system for businesses trying to save up. Small teams and personal users can do much with Hubspot Service Hub.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Robust marketing tools
- Flexible automation for workflow
- Offers a free plan
Cons
- Restrictive automation
- Limited knowledge bases
- Relatively costly advanced plan
Free Plan: Free trial available
Starts at $109 per user per month
Why I Chose HaloPSA
HaloPSA is a CRM ticketing solution that can cater to various businesses. Its pricing plan is based on how many users need the system. Then, despite its complex features, its user-friendly interface doesn’t require a long time to learn.
Pricing
All packages include: Standard service desk, billing, reporting, CRM, assets, and support.
- 10 person team size. $109/user/month (annual plan).
- 11-25 team size. $105/user/month (annual plan).
- 26-50 team size. $99/user/month (annual plan).
- 51-200 team size. $95/user/month (annual plan).
- 200+ team size. $89/user/month (annual plan).
Features
HaloPSA has almost everything, from a shared platform to keep your team on one page to sales-boosting tools. You’ll have total control over your assets and items’ lifecycle. Not only do you gain transparency, but it can also increase your team’s workflow.
Integrations
HaloPSA supports most apps a business commonly uses, like NinjaOne, Microsoft CSP Portal, and Xero. It’s also compatible with most Microsoft apps, such as Office 365, SCCM, and Azure, and many remote support and communication apps.
Summary
What I like most about HaloPSA is that it doesn’t limit its features based on price plans. Still, it’s a double-edged sword as it becomes too costly for a small team to afford. However, the bigger the company, the lower the cost that HaloPSA offers. With its complete features and flexible customization, HaloPSA is a robust CRM ticketing system.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Highly customizable fields
- Intuitive interface despite complex features
- Robust ticketing system for small and big teams
Cons
- Dated documentation
- Limited user numbers due to pricing plans setting
- Not small-business-friendly
Free Plan: Free version available
Starts at $15 per user per month
Why I Chose Freshdesk
Freshdesk has a solid ticketing system, and the pricing is decent. The software also provides a free plan with several essential tools that can work for a small team.
Pricing
- Free: Integrated ticketing across emails, knowledge base, customizable data center location, team collaboration, reporting and analytics function, and ticket trend report.
- Growth. $15/month/user (annual plan). Includes: Automation, collision detection, in-depth helpdesk report, SLA management, 1000+ marketplace apps, custom ticket fields, and custom SSL.
- Pro. $49/month/user (annual plan). Includes: Round-robin routing, up to 5,000 collaborators, custom dashboards and reports, canned forms, extendable API limits, CSAT surveys, and reports.
- Enterprise. $79/month/user (annual plan). Includes: unlimited products, skill-based routing, sandbox, audit log, knowledge base approval workflow, and IP range restriction.
Features
Like other CRM ticketing systems, Freshdesk provides a team inbox to keep everyone on the same page. Then, with agent collision detection, agents can ensure they’re not overlapping with anyone while working. Freshdesk can then suggest prioritizing a specific ticket field and routing incoming tickets.
Integrations
While using Freshdesk, you can integrate with over 1,000 apps, including Membit, WooCommerce, Zendesk, Squarespace, WordPress, and many more. The lowest-priced plan gives you access to these integrations, and I think it’s worth the investment.
Summary
Freshdesk might feel slightly limiting on the CRM side, but it’s a robust ticketing system that doesn’t require a considerable investment. The intuitive interface is also crucial for me, as I prefer to keep my adoption rate high and minimize the time it takes to train my team.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Intuitive interface
- Flexible queue assignment
- Easy onboarding and offboarding
- Offers a free plan
Cons
- Can’t merge tickets into one case
- Several relatively essential tools aren’t included (add-ons only)
Free Plan: No free version available
Offers customized pricing
Why I Chose ConnectWise
At first glance, ConnectWise looks like a program that started in early 2000 and stayed there. However, ConnectWise is one of the most complete ticketing systems I’ve ever encountered.
It did take me a while to understand how everything works with its data-dense interface. Once the management and automation are up and running, though, there’s nothing else to do but wait for great results.
Pricing
- Basic. Quoted Price. Includes: Project management, ticketing, resource management, SLA management, Customer Portal, Email connector, MSP/RMM integration
- Standard. Quoted Price. Includes: User-based billing, active directory integration, GL integration, contact management, generating, building, and sending custom reports.
- Premium. Quoted Price. Advanced marketing, procurement and inventory, report writing, cloud infrastructure, billing, monitoring, and management.
Features
ConnectWise offers multi-channel ticketing and intelligent dispatching. Users can see their team’s availability in real time to increase productivity. Automated escalations can address all urgent matters promptly for the customer.
Integrations
In addition to third-party integrations, ConnectWise allows custom integrations. Users can customize functionality to create integrations using the SDK and open architecture APIs.
Summary
ConnectWise’s learning curve is steep, and I can’t deny that it’ll take a while to understand what ConnectWise can do thoroughly. However, once you dip your feet deep enough to start managing and automating the process, you’ll see that you’re only touching the tip of ConnectWise’s power. Tech-savvy users who are willing to tinker would do great using Connectwise.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Flexible customization
- One of the most complete CRM ticketing systems in the industry
Cons
- Dated Interface
- Steep learning curve
The Ticket to Success
Each business has specific needs that not all CRM ticketing systems can meet. Some of our picks are made to cover all the business needs, but some pricing plans can be too costly depending on their budget.
Remember to understand your business first before picking a CRM ticketing system. If you’re still unsure, I recommend you try the system you like the most through a free trial. Check out my top picks for yourself and see what they can do to be the ticket to success for your business.
Check out our other blogs too! Our CRM experts publish helpful content daily, covering everything from how-to guides to advanced topics like CRM retargeting.
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