Greetings everyone,

I would like to know if customers prefer email support over helpdesk or vice versa. After you post, please post a reply explaining why.

Thank you in advance.

I really don't care whether I receive support by email, helpdesk or even phone -- as long as it's prompt, friendly, helpful, and available 365 days a year. :)

I -as a host ànd as a customer- prefer to use a HelpDesk with ticketing-system.
It is more practical, you get stats (average response time etc.) and it has more options (you can let your customers post tickets, and choose the right department for it at the same time (billing, technical etc.), which saves time for the host to determine by whom the ticket should be replied).

... but that's just my opinion :) .

I agree with both of you. I just want to make sure since customers have to create an account for helpdesk and I thought maybe they don't like that. But keep voting and replying.

Originally posted by Mr. Amazon
I agree with both of you. I just want to make sure since customers have to create an account for helpdesk and I thought maybe they don't like that. But keep voting and replying.
Actually, a lot of helpdesk programs will allow you to accept email requests, from unregistered users. We use perldesk to do this. So anytime an email is sent to a specific address, it is injected into the helpdesk, and a ticket is created. The customer can still reply via email, and the host can reply through the helpdesk.

-Dan

Originally posted by serve-you

Actually, a lot of helpdesk programs will allow you to accept email requests, from unregistered users. We use perldesk to do this. So anytime an email is sent to a specific address, it is injected into the helpdesk, and a ticket is created. The customer can still reply via email, and the host can reply through the helpdesk.

-Dan


I like that method best, seems the most practical as well.
I find it somewhat annoying to log into a help desk rather than writing out a simple email. I can see the downside of using email though, the lack of required information recieved probably occurs too often.

Exactly, the problem with starting a ticket with email is that a lot of the time the user does not provide enough information and the host has to spend time replying to those tickets asking for more information. I guess if you don't get that many support requests, then that won't be of any importance.

Here's the thing though. The user that gives you too little information via email, is going to give you too little information via the helpdesk as well. Sure there are a couple of things that get added to the ticket created via helpdesk, but the problem itself, is going to be the same.

We use this method so that potential clients can send requests in, rather than have them register as users and waste their time, and ours when we have to delete the account later. We urge our users to open tickets through the helpdesk, as it makes for easier management. However, we do have some clients that prefer using email, and I would not want to take away their ability to do so.

-Dan

As a customer, I prefer the convenience of email.

As tech support, I prefer a helpdesk to demand more information from the customer and to manage support tickets.

As a customer I want both. Being able to search old records etc as mentioned earlier, but also sometimes I just need to send a question away real fast, don't want to hassle with Helpdesk login procedures etc.

Deciding from the votes (email: 7, helpdesk: 8, eitherone: 6), I would gather that the best is to offer both. It might be a little more work, but that's ok, as long as the customer is happy ;)

We offer our customers both so that they can decide which method they prefer for support.

Most support requests seem to come from email though.

Mr. Amazon,

We have had our business for about 1 1/2 years and after many months using a very nice help desk system, I decided to get rid of it. We had too many issues with some customers getting confused and trying to enter their account username and password to login to the help desk even though we had in bold red letters that they needed to get a help desk account to login.

I think that for us hosts, a help desk is great, but not so great for the customers. Customers like to be able to contact you without hassle in a fast and efficient manner, for most of them, opening up their email client is easier and less problematic. As far as customers not being specific, well you will get that with or without a help desk. Some customers will never give enough information to be able to start troubleshooting right-away. As Dan said, there are help desk scripts that will pretty much grab any email message. Ticketsmith is one. It is very, very light and it is free :)

This is just my opinion ;)

I voted for helpdesk because email is too troublesome... Logging onto it, click on this and that. And if your customers do not have an email program installed... well.. laziness saids it all :o

Email is easier than having to log into a support desk and submit a ticket. However the support desk we'll be using soon will catch email at a certain address, covert it into tickets, meaning it's easier for us to view the requests, and this means there is less confusion between replying - we've had a couple of cases where two of us have replied to the same question.

As a customer I prefer email (okay; I'm lazy).

As a host I prefer helpdesk (okay; I'm lazy).

I think I get it now. There should be a script that lets the user email in tickets/replies, but gives an admin interface to the host.

I'm sure all hosting companies prefer the help desk. I'm not sure about the rest of you but we often deal with users who have a typo in their email addresses program, use an old account, or simply say the message didn't get there. Of course we can dig through the logs and say the message was accepted by your server at X time, but it's easier to say we have a help desk with tracking, please use it. This way they can't complain about not receiving a response because it's all traceable. I also think it's in the best interest of the customer because of the host doesn't reply / update the ticket they can prove the message is there and just not being answered.

Originally posted by Mr. Amazon
Deciding from the votes (email: 7, helpdesk: 8, eitherone: 6), I would gather that the best is to offer both. It might be a little more work, but that's ok, as long as the customer is happy ;)

Your best option will offer both e-mail management and helpdesk services.

You're right though, the goal is to keep the customer happy. :)

Originally posted by Mr. Amazon
I think I get it now. There should be a script that lets the user email in tickets/replies, but gives an admin interface to the host.

As it was mentioned, PerlDesk (and a few of the higher priced others), allow just this. It's a change to the mail settings on the domain that directs mail to those addresses (support@ sales@ etc) right to the help desk instead of the e-mail client. Pretty nifty

Greg Moore

As a client, and not host, I have no problems starting a ticket through the host's site, but would prefer to send replys etc via e-mail.

As for having to setup a second account: why hasn't anyone integrated the wto systems already?? :confused: You signup for an account, wich creates a help desk account, and preserves the link between the two. You automatically verify that someone is a customer because they only get a help account when they signup for hosting, and you also have instant access to the customers account information etc. If no-one's made a script like this, PM me if your interested in making one ;) $$

Douglas

I personally use HelpDesk, as it helps in automating everything and keep things tidy.

Also, for every single customer we get, we also set up a perlDesk account for them so they dont have to go through registering with it.

As a customer, EMAIL!
As a provider (non hosting but still...) HELPDESK!

'nuff said :)