A business must ensure that its customers stay satisfied. You can only work on gaining new customers when you have a stable set of existing customers. That’s why providing your customers with the required help is extremely important.
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Most companies depend on toll-free calls, SMS, contact forms, and emails to provide customer service. Some companies also use live chat systems to get in touch with their customers when they face a problem.
The point is to be as accessible to your customers as possible. They should be able to contact you whenever they have a doubt about using your product.
When your company grows, you will deal with hundreds of customers. At that time, it will get extremely difficult to handle queries through email and calls. But, of course, you cannot halt the growth of your organization because you are comfortable dealing with customers through emails or phone calls only.
If you want to earn more, you must invest in an open source helpdesk system suited for your business needs.
What is an open source helpdesk system?
Helpdesk systems effectively solve customers’ problems by allowing them to create tickets. A ticket created by the customer is allocated to the customer service representative systematically.
The queries visitors create through the contact form can be converted to tickets with the help desk system. Each ticket is later assigned to customer service representatives according to their experience.
Some advanced third-party customer support help desk systems provide functionalities like triggering notifications to agents, displaying agent satisfaction scores, and detailed analysis reports.
If you are using an open source helpdesk system, you will be able to customize the software to meet the requirements of your company.
If there are any particular features you want in your helpdesk system, it is best to get an open-source system. You will be able to use, change, and manipulate the source code of the helpdesk system.
Who knows how you can solve the customer’s problems most effectively other than you? That is why you should go for an open source helpdesk system.
The features that your helpdesk system should have depends on the website’s platform, the business industry, and the number of customers. You do not really know if a ready-to-use helpdesk system will be able to meet your needs.
It is possible that you will need to customize the helpdesk system as per your requirements. This will make the life of your customer service representatives easy, and they will be able to provide good customer service in due time.
Top four open source helpdesk systems
There are a lot of open source helpdesk systems available in the market. That’s why it becomes difficult to make a choice. These are the top four options that you can consider based on your needs-:
1. OSTicket
OSTicket is an open source ticketing system used by more than 5 million users and 150,000 businesses. You can get a wide range of services through its free package. OSTicket has attracted a lot of customers by providing a free package.
When users like their service, they are tempted to buy the paid version. Because they know they can get far more with it.
It has incredible features like dashboard reports, a powerful filter, configurable help topics, and others, making it a must-have for your business.
2. UVDesk
UVDesk is a helpdesk system primarily made for e-commerce businesses. It is based on PHP, and anyone with extensive knowledge of PHP can customize it.
You will get to know the true potential of this software only when you make the necessary changes in its code. It is possible that the functionality of the software becomes better than before.
Your customization will make the role of the customer service representatives easier. Users can build their own modules. Its multi-channel support allows businesses to operate freely.
One of the biggest advantages of this software over others is that it is mobile-friendly. Supervisors can quickly open the system from their mobile phones and check the performance of their customer service representatives.
3. Zammad
Companies choose open source ticketing solutions because of their flexibility, affordability, and security. Zammad goes a step forward by being audit-proof which makes it a top choice for banking companies.
You will be able to see who made what changes and the time of the change. Users can build custom lists and overviews. The helpdesk system alone is so powerful, and the cherry on the cake is that it is customizable.
If you think anything is missing in the software to be properly useful for your organization, you can add the features to the source code.
4. ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System
ELEX helpdesk & Customer ticketing system offers the best features that can lead to the best customer service performance by your agents. You are provided with unlimited tickets and unlimited agent options when you use this system.
Now you no longer have to worry over how many agents you can register. It has multiple features which make it a powerful tool for customer service.
You can auto-assign tickets to an agent, a ticket submission form can be customized according to your needs, automated replies, quick reply templates, email blocking, you can filter email results, customer feedback, and agent ratings.
They have developed this system smartly. All your data is not stored in a cloud, but it is stored in your system itself. You can dig deep into your customer service statistics and customize the software further.
The plan is to make customer’s life easier, and this makes it the best customer service software in the market. You also do not have to worry about the security of your company’s data.
What are the benefits of an open source helpdesk system?
1. Customization
The biggest benefit of any open source helpdesk software is that it can be customized by your developers. You can analyze how your customer service department runs and then make the necessary changes to the software. This will help you serve your customers more effectively.
2. Integrations
You can integrate your open-source ticketing system with multiple other third-party add-ons. This increases its operational power and widens the portfolio of services you provide.
You may need to use a third-party tool like zoom to address the customer’s problems. You can add any tool to the system and assist the customers.
3. Scalability
The most important benefit of an open-source ticketing system is its scalability. You can buy one software when you start your business and customize it as your customers grow in number.
With time you will also learn more about how your customers behave. Using that information, you can add features that will improve the user experience. When customers can communicate their problems more easily, they are kind to the customer service experts.
4. Security
Open source software’s are more transparent in nature. The software’s community members make changes to the source code and provide it to the community. This makes user security tighter.
You and other customers have control over how the software functions. Most community members are concerned about things like security, and that’s why they work on improving it.
5. Supports any website platforms
Most open source helpdesk systems are compatible with most website platforms like WordPress, Wix, Shopify, etc. If the system you brought does not support the platform you want to work on, you can always customize it.
People work on multiple website platforms, and all of them can be your customers. It is not clever not to target a potential customer.
6. Business niche friendly
How can people who make helpdesk systems know what type of business you run? After all, there are so many different industries today, and micro industries have developed with time too.
Saas companies do not want to let go of potential customers just because the software does not suit the potential customer’s business industry.
7. Cost-effective
Not all open source customer service software is free, but considering how much they help your customers. They are a pretty cost-effective option for you. Customizing a closed-source software costs a lot more.
Sometimes, you can just add changes by installing versions updated by others. You may not even have to hire programmers if your helpdesk system has an active community.
Conclusion
Providing customer support is necessary if you wish to retain the customer you worked so hard to gain. That’s why it is vital to ensure that each customer is satisfied with the support they get. This is where an open-source helpdesk system can help you.
Sonnal S Sinha is a passionate writer as well as WordPress and WooCommerce rockstar who loves to share insights on various topics through his engaging blog posts. He runs a successful website design and digital marketing company. With 15+ years of experience in WordPress theme development, he strives to inform and inspire readers with his thought-provoking content. He helps thousands of small and medium businesses and startups create a unique online presence. Follow Sonnal S Sinha for your regular dose of knowledge and inspiration.
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