Your Ultimate HelpDesk Handbook

Discover HelpDesk from every angle and bring all customer tickets to asuccessful end.

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What is the handbook for?

This is the very start of your journey with HelpDesk. You don't have tolook around and dig into the app yourself to get started. Let's make it quick and smooth, what do you say?

We gathered together all our hints, techniques, and best practices into one handbook. After reading it, you'll be ready to move on to the real action. We'll cover topics like:

Connecting communication channels

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Setting up the HelpDesk
account

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Managing everyday ticket workflow

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Enhancing teamwork and task
management

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Speeding up work and automation

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Reporting and tracking performance

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Tips to improve customer satisfaction

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- What is HelpDesk
- Email
- LiveChat
- Social media
- Contact form
- Live chat providers
- Integrations/API
- OpenWidget
- Profile
- Domain
- Reply address
- Email template
- Getting a ticket
- What you can do with a ticket
- How the customer sees your message
- Teamwork on the ticket
- Branding
- Workflows
- Macros
- Canned responses
- Text enhancements
- Ticket summary
- Integrations
- Report types
- Improve customer satisfaction

Welcome toHelpDesk

What is HelpDesk?

HelpDesk is ticketing software that’s part of our product suite, right next to LiveChat, ChatBot, and KnowledgeBase.

HelpDesk can help you manage asynchronous and synchronous customer conversations in one place.

Connect HelpDesk to your customer's communication channels, such as email, live chat, social media, contact forms, and other custom contact points.

The main idea behind HelpDesk is to make your customer service actions transparent and organized with a single dashboard, where all customer messages drop in the form of tickets.

Channels

Communication channels are options that customers can use to contact you, make a request, or ask for support on an issue. We also call them ticket sources because all messages are converted into manageable tickets regardless of the channel.

After entering our app, you should first connect all your communication channels to HelpDesk. This will bring all messages into one interface, as expected. To get started, think about how your customers interact with you. You can also explore brief manuals for the communication channels that are most often connected to HelpDesk.

What communication channels would you like to connect to HelpDesk?

1. Email

There are several leading inbox providers available on the market, and best of all, HelpDesk is compatible with all of them to make your work easier. First, let's set up forwarding so that copies of your customer messages that are sent to different business email addresses will go to one place.

Configuration

Select the inbox provider for forwarding and click the appropriate link to follow the instructions.

Gmail/Google Workspace email forwarding

Set up Gmail

Microsoft 365 email forwarding

Set up Microsoft 365

Microsoft Outlook email forwarding

Set up Outlook

Other provider email forwarding

Set up other provider

Handle multiple inboxes in one place

If you're going to manage communication from multiple email addresses, the best option is to create and use separate HelpDesk's forwarding addresses for each email address you handle. This way, different teams, such as sales or support, can use separate email addresses but still work in one app.

2. LiveChat

You can integrate your LiveChat account with HelpDesk to easily turn real-time chats into manageable tickets that you can resolve when it's convenient for you. Reap the full potential of our product suite and get a big picture of your customer service workflow.

Configuration

If you're already a LiveChat user, go to LiveChat Marketplace to find and install HelpDesk from there. Then, you can import your data from LiveChat to HelpDesk and enjoy every customer conversation in one place.

3. Social media

Your customers love to message you directly using social media profiles because they're quick and require little effort. Organize daily conversations with your customers on social media channels in HelpDesk so you don't have to switch between profiles.

Configuration

Select social media channels to organize your communication in HelpDesk. Connect your social media profiles to HelpDesk using these three methods:

1. Integration through LiveChat

If you have a LiveChat account integrated with your HelpDesk, you can go to Marketplace and easily find the social media integration you're interested in.

2. Adding an email address in your social media profile details

If you set up forwarding correctly, you can edit your social media profiles by adding your email address in the relevant contact fields. That way, if a visitor to your social media profile writes you a message using that email address, it'll arrive at HelpDesk, where you can address it.

3. Integration through Zapier

If you have a Zapier account, you can integrate it with your HelpDesk account and create your own Zaps dedicated to managing your social media communication.

4. Contact form

Website visitors can have questions about your offerings or business. Be approachable and give them an intuitive contact form provided by us that they can fill out in minutes.

Configuration

First, create a contact form in HelpDesk and customize it to fit your brand and needs. Then, place it on your website and start collecting messages from your visitors.

5. Live chat providers

If you use a live chat provider other than LiveChat from our product suite, you can still enjoy integration with HelpDesk. Connect your live chat solution to HelpDesk using these two methods:

Configuration

1. Integration through API

Browse the available API documentation to get the API token and acquire permanent API access for your HelpDesk account. Then, create webhooks and add events tailored to your needs.

2. Integration through Zapier

If you have a Zapier account, you can integrate it with your HelpDesk account and create your Zaps dedicated to managing your live chat conversations.

Connect with LiveChat

See how LiveChat and HelpDesk work together. Integrate them easily and enjoy the benefits of a powerful customer service platform. Integrate them with ease and enjoy the benefits of having a powerful customer service platform.

6. Integrations/API

HelpDesk's API documentation opens up many possibilities for integration with your daily tools. Bring your entire customer support workflow to HelpDesk and build your technology stack around it.

Configuration

Browse the available API documentation to get the API token and acquire permanent API access for your HelpDesk account. Then, create webhooks and add events tailored to your needs.

See all the recommended and available integrations that can streamline your workflow. If you need a custom integration, ask about its specifications on the chat.

7. OpenWidget

Install a widget powered by OpenWidget on your website to let visitors drop off contact requests, suggestions, feedback, and bug reports using well-known forms. Customize it with your avatar, name, and welcome message.

Configuration

Go to settings and select OpenWidget from the list of channels to create a free account and install the widget linked to HelpDesk. Alternatively, you can visit the OpenWidget homepage, review the details, and then create an account.

See all the recommended and available integrations that can streamline your workflow. If you need a custom integration, ask about its specifications on the chat.

Setup

The most challenging but crucial part is behind you. Now, it's time to configure the basic settings in your HelpDesk account to suit your preferences. In this section, you'll find out how to configure your profile, domain, reply address, and email template.

1. Setting up your profile

Access your profile to view and update your information and settings. Go to the "Agents" section in your HelpDesk and double click on yourself. You can also pick yourself from the list and then click on the pen icon in the upper right corner to edit.

Edit your name

Make sure your Name is what you want to be displayed to your customers.

Private email

The email address you used to sign up to HelpDesk. Your email isn't visible to customers.

Check out your teams

See which teams you currently belong to in the "Member of the following Teams" section. Click on the "Choose team" button to search for a team to join.

Set up email notifications

Define the notifications you'll receive by email.

Check out permissions

Find out what your role is in HelpDesk. If you need additional permissions, contact your admin.

Customize signature

Customize your signature to make each of your messages professional and trusting. Your signature will be embedded in your email template and all outgoing communication.

2. Setting up a domain

Add a domain provided by HelpDesk or add your own domain to increase the credibility of your messages.

You need to set up a custom domain if you want to:

Send messages from your own email address.
Send messages from an email address within our domain but with your unique name, e.g., company.helpdesk.com.

Once you’ve added and verified the domain, you can use it in your reply address.

Set up a domain

3. Setting up a reply address

Set up the reply address to manage outgoing messages. The idea is to set the display name and email address that the customer will see when you reply to their ticket.

Set up a reply address

4. Setting up an email template

Set up the email template so that every email sent to a customer will feature your branding. Make it colorful and eye-catching! Also, you can add multiple email templates for each team in HelpDesk.

Set up an email template

Tickets

1. Getting a ticket

Your customer can use email, a contact form, live chat, or a social media message to contact you. Every new conversation with your customer will turn into a manageable HelpDesk ticket if you've connected your communication channels correctly. Then, when all the tickets are in one place, agents can click on the ticket to respond to the customer's query.

Know the backstory

When a ticket is created from a live chat with an agent or chatbot conversation, it'll include a transcript so that you know the whole story.

Your tickets are available on the main dashboard, which consists of two sections:

Views on the left
Ticket list on the right

This dashboard is your main information center, which you can also use to perform actions that bring you closer to resolution.

Learn more about the main HelpDesk dashboard

By clicking on a single ticket from the main dashboard, you can make basic changes, such as changing status or priority using the menu button.

You can also select multiple tickets at once and use the menu that appears at the top to perform bulk actions.

2. What you can do with a ticket

Tickets give you a lot of opportunities when it comes to building relationships with your customers and solving their queries. Click on one of the tickets on the ticket list to see what's inside.

There are two sections in the ticket:

Communication feed on the left
Ticket details on the right

Communication feed

Use the communication feed to write and send messages to your customer or whisper to your teammates. Take advantage of the powerful communication toolkit.

Message area

Enter your response to the ticket and send it over by clicking on the "Submit" button. Bring in proper message structure and wording tailored to your customer.

Text formatting

Shape your message with text formatting tools so that it resonates with your purpose and intent.

Links

Add helpful links to internal and external resources to best explain the solution to the customer.

Images

Insert useful images into the conversation. Images and screenshots are always quick to scan and easy to digest.

Canned responses

Save your best and most used messages as canned responses to keep them handy and save time. Recall them by typing the hash (#) in the message area, then enter the shortcut for the desired response.

Attachments

Upload necessary attachments to solve the customer case. You can use attachment formats such as pdf, jpg, doc, xls, csv, or zip, and upload files up to 10 MB to send them in the conversation.

Mentioning

When you're in need, type "@" along with your teammate's name to mention them in a ticket and leave a private note. Anything you write will remain between the two of you as the mentioning only works in private mode.

Screen recording

The screen recording feature uses your browser's built-in capabilities for screen sharing. Use the screen recording feature to capture your screen and create a video response.

Stay organized

Arrange your tickets based on their status or significance using the Archive, Trash, and Spam folders. Also, HelpDesk automatically archives tickets with Pending, Solved, and Closed statuses after 60 days of inactivity to keep your dashboard neat.

Be specific

Customers contact you when they have questions or something needs clarification. Don't make their task harder, and make sure your answers are straightforward so they can move on.

Take individual approach

Try to understand the customer case and be personal throughout the process. Address the customer by using their name to make them feel welcome. Mirror your customer’s language and behavior to build trust and make the experience enjoyable.

Better yourself

Grow as a professional and strive to learn from every customer message. Be proactive: Join Learning Space courses and fulfill your role to the best of your ability.

Ticket details

Check out the ticket details to track basic information about the customer case and its current progress. The ticket details are made up of three parts: Ticket info, Responsibility, and Requester. Use the available options to manage your ticket, update it, and streamline your workflow.

Ticket ID

The ticket ID is a unique value for every ticket. You can use it to quickly search for a ticket that interests you or use it to communicate with other agents to seek their assistance.

Creation date

The exact day the ticket appeared in your system. You can estimate how much time you have left to send a response to the customer according to your internal rules.

Last message

The exact day the message exchange took place between you and your customer. You can use this information to decide whether to send a follow-up message or close the case.

Status

Statuses help you identify which tickets need your attention. There are six main statuses that you can use when resolving customer tickets:

Open tickets

When a new ticket is created in HelpDesk, it gets an “Open” status.

Pending tickets

When you respond to an open ticket, its status will automatically change to "Pending".

On hold tickets

A ticket with an “On hold” status is a case that cannot be completed right away and requires consultation.

Solved tickets

Mark a ticket as “Solved” when you’re sure that you’ve provided the customer with the necessary answers and left them satisfied.

Closed tickets

Set the "Close" status when you get a message with information that doesn't apply to you or your team.

Spam

The “Spam” status is reserved for malicious or other unnecessary messages you don’t need to deal with.

Rating

One hour after the conversation, you can ask the customer about their service experience through a short email evaluation survey. You can use this rate to measure and improve satisfaction.

Priority

Use ticket priority to determine how quickly you should handle a ticket. Priority levels define urgency for your team and are tied to the next steps in escalating the case. There are four priority levels in HelpDesk: Urgent, High, Medium, and Low.

Source

The source indicates how the ticket was obtained. By integrating with different communication channels, you can track this data, prioritize different channels, and spend more time on the ones that get you the most customer queries.

Custom fields

Create custom fields to store additional information about tickets, requesters, and organizations. Custom field values can be managed and viewed by the teams you specify.

Deleting a ticket

If you want to delete your ticket, click on the menu in the upper right corner in ticket details.

Team

A team is a specialized group of people who deal with a specific customer case type. To change the team, click on the "Change" button.

Agent

The agent is the person responsible for the ticket and its successful resolution. To change the agent, click on the "Change" button.

Followers

You can add yourself as a follower if you want to be notified of any change in a particular ticket. You can also add other agents as followers to keep them in the loop.

Customer ticket assignment strategies

Defining responsibilities is a key part of the ticket resolution process. Depending on how you manage your ticket workflow, you can use three effective ticket assignment strategies to share duties and clarify ownership:

Manual
assignment

Supervisor
assignment

Automated
assignment

Learn more about ticket assignment

Requester

See the requester's details, such as name or email address. You can change this data at any time to keep information consistent.

+ Add more people

Reach multiple recipients with your message by adding them to the loop. This way, every person related to the case can stay on top of things and be informed.

3. How the customer sees your message

Perfect! You already know how to manage tickets, but are all those changes made to the ticket details visible to the customer? The answer is no.

Indeed, all ticket changes will be confirmed in the communication feed with a short notification to keep agents and your team up to date. Still, they will remain invisible to your customer. Your customer can only see the messages you sent to them using the communication feed on the left, and they clearly stand out.

Your Ultimate HelpDesk Handbook | HelpDesk (100)

4. Teamwork on the ticket

HelpDesk is designed for both small and big teams that need to handle customer communication. Working on tickets streamlines information flow between people, speeds up the resolution process, and improves knowledge sharing and productivity. Invite your team to HelpDesk and see how your workflow gets better and better.

Creating teams

Think about the teams in your organization and move them into HelpDesk to reflect your actual workflow. Go to the "Agents" section and click on the "+Add" button to create a new team. Set teams up by skill sets or departments. You can also go a little further and break them down by geography, language, or product line.

Learn more about teams

Managing multiple email addresses

You can create a dedicated forwarding address for each of your teams in order to streamline your ticket handling process. This way, you can easily separate messages directed to sales, marketing, or other departments, but still, all communication will drop into one HelpDesk dashboard.

Adding teammates

Move your entire team involved in driving customer success to HelpDesk. Move to the "Agents" section to see your teammates on the list. Click the "+Add" button to invite new users by entering their email addresses, choosing their roles, and assigning them to the proper team.

Invite Your Teammates

Choosing roles

When adding a new user, you can select one of three roles to differentiate responsibilities. Depending on the role, you have access to various sections and settings in HelpDesk. Divide roles among teammates to provide excellent customer service.

Admin

Has all possible permissions. When you create a HelpDesk account, you instantly become an admin. As an admin, you can add more users, set global settings, access all reports, and manage your entire HelpDesk account to serve your team best.

Agent

Works with tickets in HelpDesk but doesn't have to make changes to global settings. An agent can use all features to handle customer tickets, change their personal settings, or access reports to see the team's data.

Viewer

Is a free user you can add without updating your subscription details. A viewer has limited access to HelpDesk and can browse or read tickets but can’t take any action. This is an ideal role for people who want to stay informed.

Learn more about roles

The right person in the right place

Assign your agents to appropriate teams so that their competencies and skill sets align with the team's purpose.

Assigning an agent to a ticket

When a ticket hits your list, know that the customer is in need. Enter the ticket and click the "Assign" button to start skills-based routing. Select a qualified agent who can quickly and efficiently resolve the customer case.

Learn more about assigning

Using cooperation features

HelpDesk is packed with useful features that will speed up the troubleshooting process and improve your team's workflow. Use a set of collaboration features to deliver a great customer experience.

Private mode in the communication feed

When handling a ticket and writing text in the message area, you can click on the toggle marked Private to enter private mode and send private notes. Use this feature to document your findings on a case, add quick notes, brief a teammate before changing the assignment. You can also use private mode to mention your teammate by typing "@" and their name to assist you if the case is complex.

Learn more about private notes

Followers

Become a ticket follower to oversee the ticket resolution process. Click "Follow," and you’ll be notified of any changes to your ticket in real time. Mention agents, add them to the loop and work together for the best assistance.

Learn more about followers

People in the loop

Click on the "+Add More People" button and add more message recipients. Engage other people who you think should be updated with the information. Add the "People in the loop" parameter to your email template and let your end recipient know who's involved.

Learn more about people in the loop

My views and shared views

Organize your work and click on the "+Add Filter" button to filter out the tickets you want to keep at hand. Then save your settings as a view that allows you to browse through your selected tickets quickly. If you feel the view you created is essential for your team to meet their goals, mark it as "Shared." You can access all created views and "Shared Views" and easily navigate between them using the left side of the main dashboard.

Learn more about views

Collision detection

The collision detection feature prevents unwanted situations where several users are working on the same request. Instead, respect each other's work and time by following what the collision detector shows.

Learn more about collision detection

Viewer role

Use the viewer role for internal and external professionals who can contribute to solving the customer case. This role is unlimited and free, so your subscription details remain the same.

Learn more about viewer role

5. Branding

Speak to your customers using your voice and elements they can easily associate with you. Customize your HelpDesk account and reflect your company's branding in your communication.

Customize domain

The domain included in your email address can build trust and increase the credibility of your messages. Setup your own domain or use the domain provided by HelpDesk to be seen as a legitimate business.

Set up a domain

Customize reply address

The email address is one thing that recipients pay closeattention to. Tailor your reply address to your team's needs and its mission so that your messages look trustworthy when they hit the inbox.

Set up a reply address

Customize email template

Personalize your customer communications and customize the visual appearance of the messages you send using HelpDesk. Include useful parameters, such as ticket ID, agent's name, or ticket history, and let all elements match your branding. This is optional, so if you want to keep it conventional by using plain text, you can always do so.

Set up an email template

Customize contact form

Create your contact form by writing a header, caption, confirmation, and selecting a team and necessary consents. Then, embed the contact form on your website so that visitors can easily contact you, and you gain another trackable ticket source.

Set up a contact form

Customize signature

Show who you are and create your signature. It'll be automatically added to messages. You can include images, insert links, and use simple text formatting to make your signature stand out and inspire trust.

Set up a signature

Be credible

If you add branding elements, you can increase customer confidence in your messages and build trust.

Automation

Speed up your customer service workflow with available ticket management and messaging features.

1. Workflows

Leave the manual work behind and bring automation into your day. Create workflows to cut out repetitive and labor-intensive tasks and lower the time spent on handling tickets. HelpDesk automation is easy to use and intuitive no matter how technologically advanced you are.

Set up workflows

You can also use pre-made workflow templates to get a quick start.

2. Macros

Transform lengthy to-dos into quick completions. Use fully controlled macros that combine a preset series of actions to automate tasks instantly with one click. Tailor them for private use or share with your team, increasing task productivity and focusing on your most critical projects.

Create macros

3. Canned responses

Have all the answers at your fingertips. Save the most common messages as canned responses to focus on more complex customer cases and unusual issues. Also, canned responses can help you maintain consistency in your brand's tone of voice and customer communications, as your team is made up of different people with vibrant personalities.

Keep resources

Save links to external resources, e.g., your product sign-up page, help center, FAQ, and product pages so you have them at hand when needed. Type #resources, and your aids are already here.

Work smarter

With canned answers, you don't have to learn everything by heart. Instead, the answers are ready and waiting for you to recall them. This option will especially appeal to the newbies on your team and help them feel more confident.

Save instructions

Keep multi-step instructions as canned responses, but send them in manageable chunks. Break down the entire instruction into several easy-to-digest canned responses so you can be precise and considerate.

Learn more about canned responses

4. Text enhancements

Improve your day-to-day conversations using AI-powered text enhancements. Effortlessly modify the tone, expand your thoughts, or improve your grammar in a snap.

Discover all the benefits of using AI enhancements

5. Ticket summary

Use ticket summary to automatically create a brief and informative overview of a customer support ticket. This feature will assist you in quickly grasping the ticket's context and essential details without going through the entire conversation.

Find out more on ticket summary

6. Integrations

Integrate HelpDesk with the apps and tools you use every day to build relationships and serve customers. Grow your HelpDesk account with dedicated integrations and exchange data between systems to increase your efficiency.

LiveChat

Check out ›

Shopify

Check out ›

Salesforce

Check out ›

Zapier

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GitHub

Check out ›

Jira

Check out ›

Hubspot

Check out ›

All integrations

Check out ›

Check out all integrations

Create helpful chatbots

If you want to engage your customers from the moment they enter your website, you should try ChatBot. This little buddy can serve 24/7 as your first-line support agent and answer all the simple questions for you. Scale up your support services without increasing employee headcount.

Metrics

Customer support is also about measuring your performance to better yourself. Dive into historical records based on your conversations, available in the "Reports" section, and see if you've met your goals over time.

1. Report types

HelpDesk tracks your ticket activity in real time so that you can draw conclusions and improve support. Use the six available reports to follow your customer service progress.

Last 7 days

A summary of the last seven days of ticketing activity.

New tickets

A summary of the number of tickets received in a given time period.

Ticket satisfaction

An overview of the ticket ratings given by your customers.

First response time

An overview of how quickly your customer gets an answer to their question.

Resolution time

A summary of the average duration from ticket creation to agent assignment.

Solved and closed

A summary of the number of solved and closed tickets.

As an admin, you can also export your data to gain in-depth insight into tickets and create custom analytics.

Weekly summary reports

Admins can get a report with an overview of the team's customer service achievements in a single message. You can set this notification in your user profile settings. It's an excellent way to keep track of your weekly efforts and stay up to date.