Customers who contact your support team for help expect a timely response. However, without a proper ticketing system, your team could miss or overlook the customer's inquiry, leading to frustration for both the customer and your support team. The HubSpot help desk software can help you avoid this situation by ensuring every customer inquiry is logged, organized, and promptly addressed.
This blog will help you find the perfect ticketing app that streamlines your support operations, enhances team productivity, and delivers exceptional customer service with minimal effort. ChatBees’ AI customer support can also help you achieve these objectives.
What Is a Customer Support Ticketing App?
A customer support ticketing app is a software tool that organizes and tracks customer support requests, streamlining the resolution process. It organizes all incoming requests into “tickets, whether they come through:
Email
Phone
Live chat
Social media
Here’s how it works: The system automatically creates a ticket when a customer reaches out with a problem or question. This ticket is like a digital note that says, “This needs attention.” Each ticket is given a unique number so it can be easily tracked. The ticket then goes into a queue where your support team can:
See it
Prioritize it
Take action
The system records all the steps taken to resolve the issue, and once it’s handled, the ticket is closed. For example, let’s say you run an online store and a customer emails you about a delayed order.
The ticketing system instantly creates a ticket for that email. Your team:
Sees it
Recognizes that it’s urgent
Starts working on it right away
The system tracks everything done to fix the problem and updates the customer. Once the issue is resolved and the customer is happy, the ticket is closed.
Top Benefits of Using a Customer Support Ticketing System
Here are five benefits of using a ticketing system for businesses:
Query Management
A ticketing system offers a centralized platform to manage and track queries. Let’s say if a business receives customer queries through email, phone, and social media. A ticketing system will consolidate all of these into one platform. This helps agents to address queries in an organized manner.
Performance Analytics
Modern ticketing systems offer analytics to review the quality of support delivered and team performance. Managers can track metrics like:
Response time
Resolution time
Customer satisfaction
Prioritization and Assignment
Not all tickets are of the same urgency or require the same expertise. A ticketing system allows issues to be prioritized and assigned to the most appropriate team or individual.
Knowledge Base Creation
Over time, businesses can utilize past tickets to create a knowledge base or FAQs for common issues. For instance, a web hosting company might notice recurring questions about setting up a particular CMS. Using these tickets, they can create a step-by-step guide for customers to refer to in the future.
Scalability
As businesses grow, so do customer inquiries and other internal requests. A ticketing system helps companies to deal with such requests at scale, without compromising on efficiency or service quality.
6 Essential Features to Look for in a Ticketing Software Tool
1. Unlock Efficient Support with Omnichannel Support
Omnichannel support improves the overall support experience while keeping your IT team organized. Clients should be able to raise their issues and receive feedback through the channel they prefer most. Depending on their preference, it could be:
Email
Social media
Live chat
Walk-in
Help desk
According to research by Gartner, customer service and support leaders must focus on consistently meeting customer expectations to win customer loyalty.
2. Boost Support Performance with Ticket Assignments
This feature automates your team's query distribution and assigns the inquiry to a representative with more expertise on the particular issue. This will improve customer satisfaction and efficiency since the most equipped rep will address the problem.
Your employees should be able to create and distribute tickets to the right agent. The software you select should enable users to categorize, prioritize, and assign queries to other employees or relevant professionals. The software should create a workflow that organizes inquiries based on:
Type
Priority
Department
3. Increase Productivity with Workflow Automation
This feature automatically completes easy, regular tasks, thus improving team productivity. The feature can utilize Macros, SLAs, bots, or automation rules to enable the software to resolve simple tasks and leave the complex ones to live agents.
The software should be tailored to tag inquiries containing specific keywords or notify agents when their expertise is needed. It should also allow integration into a third-party application used for:
Sales
Finance
Human resources to save time searching for problems.
4. Satisfy Customer Needs with a Knowledge Base
Customers nowadays prefer self-service, as it empowers them to resolve problems independently. A ticketing system such as Support.cc with a knowledge base is a win for any organization in a support helpdesk.
This feature enables businesses to provide information on common issues so that clients do not call for assistance. They can resolve simple problems on their own. When done right, customer self-service increases the speed at which issues are resolved and customer satisfaction.
“Self-service delivers personalized engagement, increases customer satisfaction and reduces operational costs by deflecting common customer inquiries,” according to Forrester. If a customer fails to resolve the issue, the ticketing system should seamlessly transfer them to an agent.
5. Detect Problems Early with Reporting and Analysis
Early detection of problems will enable you to resolve them before they bottleneck your operations. Select a solution that allows you to analyze tickets' progress and review agents' performance. This feature lets you comprehend what issues your agents spend more time on, the frequently reported inquiries, and areas that need improvement.
6. Get a Ticketing System That Scales
The needs of your organization are bound to double over time. Your ticketing software should grow with you. As your business grows, you'll undoubtedly receive hundreds (if not thousands) of inquiries, which will come from a variety of channels, including:
Phone
Email
Live chat
Social media
You now require a more extensive support crew to handle the increasing volume of queries, likely increasing workloads. Your representatives must:
Maintain a professional demeanor
Treat each customer as an individual
Be ready to provide prompt, round-the-clock, individualized support.
28 Best Ticketing Apps to Boost Your Service Team’s Efficiency
1. ChatBees AI Ticket Agent
ChatBees enhances your teams efficiency throughout the ticket lifecycle with an AI Agent, reducing the number of clicks required by human agents or engineers and improving ticket resolution time by up to 52%. By building a comprehensive Knowledge Graph from historical tickets in HubSpot and other internal data sources, such as Confluence, Web Help Center, Google Drive, Notion, etc., ChatBees provides a unified view that places the customer at the center of your agents' daily workflow.
Through the Hiver mobile app, your agents can effortlessly manage incoming customer conversations on their Android or iOS devices. What sets Hiver apart is that it works right inside your inbox (Gmail or Outlook), so there’s no need for your support team to migrate and learn to use an external platform.
3. Zendesk
Zendesk‘s ticketing system allows you to efficiently track and manage incoming queries and offer omnichannel customer support through channels such as:
Email
Live chat
Knowledge base
Its cloud-based system is designed to meet the customer support requirements of large enterprises. The platform comes with features such as:
SLA (service level agreements) management
Custom workflows
Analytics
In addition, Zendesk offers a mobile app for iOS and Android devices to help manage customer tickets on the go.
4. Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a popular service desk platform that helps businesses manage support queries efficiently. Teams using Freshdesk can offer customer support across channels such as:
Live chat
Email
Social media
The platform also has a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. The app allows agents to perform any action on a support request and work from anywhere.
5. Zoho Desk
Zoho Desk is a help desk ticketing system that helps teams centralize and manage customer interactions across various channels such as:
Email
Social media
Live chat
Phone
Efficient Ticket Management
The platform offers direct assignment and round-robin automations to help managers assign incoming tickets to the right agent. You can also filter tickets based on their urgency, type of customer, or ticket status. This allows support teams to prioritize the queries they need to work on.
6. Kayako
Kayako’s customer support software empowers businesses to manage customer inquiries and support interactions efficiently. It offers ticket management and multichannel support across:
Email
Social media
A knowledge base
Kayako also has a mobile app for Android and iOS devices, which makes customer service more convenient for those on the go.
7. HubSpot Ticketing Software
HubSpot's Service Hub tools let you manage customer support tickets on one dashboard. Reps can view all communication on each ticket and oversee the case's progress throughout the troubleshooting process. Tickets are also linked to a customer’s contact card in the CRM, making it easier for customer service reps to reference past engagements with the company.
Affordable Ticket Management for Small Businesses
HubSpot's Service Hub provides ticket analytics that customer service managers can use to track their team's performance. What I like: HubSpot Ticketing Software is a cost-efficient option for small business owners. You can use it for free and upgrade to premium additions as your business grows and your needs increase.
I’m a big fan of HubSpot’s AI chatbot features, which allow you to quickly create and deploy a ChatGPT-powered bot on your site that can help customers 24-7.
8. HappyFox
HappyFox is help desk software built around ticket automation. Its support ticketing tools pre-fill ticket properties when created, saving customer service reps time in their workflow. The software also provides templates businesses can distribute to their customer service teams.
By sharing these ticket templates across the entire department, companies can create a consistent tone and layout for customer-facing communications.
What I like: I like HappyFox because of its intuitive and easy-to-use interface. During my demo, navigating the product felt natural, and I never struggled to locate any buttons or complete basic tasks like ticket assignment or categorization. HappyFox offers a competitive feature set at an attractive price point.
9. Gorgias
Gorgias is an all-in-one customer service ticketing system designed for ecommerce businesses. Like other help desk options, it organizes customer support requests from multiple channels (phone, email, web forms, live chat) into a unified inbox. It also offers:
Powerful automation features
AI-powered chatbots
Advanced analytics regarding service performance and its impact on sales
What I like: Gorgias is a sleek and robust solution for serious e-commerce businesses. If you sell products online, Gorgias offers robust integrations with platforms like Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce and features designed to enable e-commerce success.
10. Kustomer
Kustomer is an AI-powered CRM platform designed to deliver omnichannel customer support. It uses a unified timeline view to provide a comprehensive overview of a customer’s journey from the initial purchase to creating a support request, enabling agents to deliver personalized, informed support.
What I like: Kustomer is an exciting option on this list. I like that it offers a unified CRM approach to its ticketing system. Kustomer is similar to HubSpot CRM, which is used alongside HubSpot Service Hub, allowing you to have a 360-degree view of the customer lifecycle.
It’s pricey when considering the 8-user minimum and add-ons. Still, I think Kustomer is an excellent option for brands looking to unify their sales and support software solutions.
11. LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a customer service ticketing solution focused on simplicity. It may not feature all the fancy reports and AI-powered insights of other options on this list. Still, LiveAgent is a very capable help desk solution that will:
Unify customer support inquiries from all channels
Automate repetitive tasks
Integrate with your CRM
For the price, LiveAgent is an excellent option for companies with fundamental customer service needs.
What I like: I like LiveAgent because of its simplicity and value. The user interface is functional, and the product contains every feature necessary to manage customer support operations from the ground up. It's great that they offer a completely free version of their product (with limited features) that can help fledgling businesses get started with their first customer service ticketing system.
12. Front
Front is a customer communication hub that organizes customer requests from all channels into an intuitive interface. Automation features and built-in analytics help you maintain maximum efficiency so your reps can focus on solving for the customer instead of handling admin tasks.
What I like: My first impression of Front’s interface was positive. Navigating the app felt intuitive, and I liked how responding to customer requests felt as familiar as sending a chat on Facebook Messenger.
Another useful feature was the contextual AI assistant, which can analyze the entirety of a case and catch you up on the details. This is super valuable if a customer reopens an old ticket or you take over a case from another rep and need a refresher/primer on the case details.
13. ProProfs Desk
ProProfs Help Desk is an affordable yet comprehensive cloud-based ticketing system designed to streamline your customer support operations. It offers:
Multiple shared inboxes
Live chat
A self-service knowledge base
Automated ticket routing
These features help you stay on top of incoming customer requests.
What I like: I love that ProProfs offers a free forever plan, which is valuable for individuals and startups beginning their customer support journey. Also, ProProfs has an intuitive interface reminiscent of Gmail, which creates a shallow learning curve for new reps.
14. Spiceworks Help Desk
Spiceworks is a free, cloud-based help desk and network monitoring solution for IT professionals. It includes:
Ticket management
A knowledge base
A mobile app
Analytics features
End users can raise tickets to Spiceworks via:
Email
Mobile app
User portal
Your Internal Helpdesk Solution
Tickets can be automatically assigned and routed based on your determined prioritization schema. Spiceworks differs from other options on this list because it is designed as an internal helpdesk tool. This means employees submit tickets to IT instead of external customers contacting your support team.
What I like: It’s free! Spiceworks is a free tool with no admin or ticket limit. While its capabilities might not be as robust as premium options from competitors, it offers more than functional ticketing system capabilities. You might wonder how Spiceworks remains free, and the answer is ads. It sounds annoying, but after poking around the product, I got used to it pretty quickly.
15. AzureDesk
AzureDesk is a cloud-based help desk and ticketing system that offers all the must-have customer support features you expect from fancier systems at an affordable price. It includes:
Ticket management and tracking
Reporting
Knowledge
Collaboration features to loop in colleagues directly on tickets where you need assistance.
To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with AuzureDesk’s UI. It felt like a more complex version of Outlook. Perhaps it was a purposeful move to associate it with Microsoft and its Azure cloud computing services. Regardless, other options on this list are more accessible on the eyes.
What I like: It's refreshing to see a product that offers a single, all-encompassing plan at a reasonable price. If you go with AzureCloud, you’ll never have to worry about upgrading for more seats or missing out on cool features only available in higher versions. You see what you get with AzureDesk, and the price is decent!
16. SupportBee
SupportBee is a customer service ticketing system based on simplicity and collaboration. It features:
A shared inbox
Knowledge base
The ability to create your customer service portal where customers can send and track the progress of their support requests
SupportBee is designed to be lightweight, easy to use, and get you up and running in under five minutes. It is an excellent option for small businesses looking to get started with a basic customer service ticketing system.
What I like: SupportBee is affordable and easy to use. It may not include fancy automation features and AI-driven insights like other options, but not everyone needs them. SupportBee is an excellent option for smaller companies on a budget who still insist on a quality, functional product.
17. Help Scout
Help Scout is a ticketing system for growing businesses. It can handle all aspects of customer support through:
Email
Self-service
Live chat
Customer data and more
Keeping in line with the increased demand for multiplatform work, Help Scout can integrate with 50+ apps such as:
HubSpot
Google Apps
Shopify
What I like: Help Scout emphasizes collaboration with features like @ tagging to loop in colleagues for help on a ticket. Customer support is a team effort, and when I worked in support, my colleagues and I leaned on one another often to solve tough cases. If I had access to features like this during my support days, it would have been a big help!
18. Vision Helpdesk
Vision Helpdesk is a multi-channel ticket management software that supports ticketing through:
Email
Social media
Phone
Live chat
It allows you to manage customer interactions seamlessly in one unified dashboard. It also comes with automation and workflow rules, so the right tickets always end up in the hands of the rep most suited to handle them.
Vision also includes gamification features, which allow agents to set up “levels and quests” to increase productivity and efficiently close out customer tickets. In addition to task management capabilities that allow for:
Creating
Tracking
Assigning tasks
Vision Helpdesk makes these features available on Android and iOS devices.
What I like: Vision offers a special version of its software called Satellite Help Desk. This system is just like the regular ticketing system but with the added ability to manage customer support for multiple companies or brands. Such a specific use case makes Vision valuable for certain special-needs companies.
19. Intercom
Intercom is a leading customer service platform that emphasizes AI-powered features. It includes an AI Agent to answer customer questions 24/7, which it claims can resolve up to 80% of customer conversations without needing to loop in your team. It also provides an AI Copilot to assist agents and an AI Analyst to identify trends and areas for improvement automatically.
Intercom also offers the expected features of a help desk ticketing system, like:
A shared inbox
Knowledge base
Automation workflows to manage ticket assignment and flow
What I like: Intercom offers an impressively comprehensive set of AI features that feel tightly integrated into the system's framework. As a former customer support agent, I see how the AI Copilot is a precious and time-saving feature.
The AI Copilot will read an incoming ticket and automatically suggest an informed response based on information in your knowledge base. Agents can click to load the AI quickly generated response into their inbox and then personalize it to fit their voice.
20. TeamSupport
TeamSupport is a fully featured customer service ticketing system designed to meet the specific needs of B2B companies. It includes:
Ticket management
Live chat
Collaboration features
SLA management
AI-powered chatbots
Integrations with many popular CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot
TeamSupport is a unique offering because it focuses on customer relationships. Many other help desk tools concentrate on individual tickets, but TeamSupport enables the management of entire customer accounts, which often contain multiple contacts and complex interaction histories.
What I like: TeamSupport offers a solution specifically for B2B companies. While B2B companies can use any other options on this list, TeamSupport offers smartly designed features to meet the unique needs of companies that work with other businesses instead of individual consumers.
For example, TeamSupport's comprehensive customer database provides a holistic view of customer interactions and service history. It also has complex SLA management functionality to track SLAs at different levels depending on:
Products
Ticket types
Customer contracts
21. Tidio
Tidio is an all-in-one customer service platform with a ticketing system for managing customer inquiries from multiple channels (live chat, email, social media) within a unified inbox. It is popular among small—to medium-sized businesses and is particularly suited to e-commerce companies.
Tidio offers proactive messaging features to engage with visitors through automated messaging based on website activity. This feature is useful for mitigating support requests and initiating conversations that boost sales.
What I like:
During my product demo, I was impressed with Tidio’s user-friendly interface, which I felt was responsive and intuitive.
I appreciate that Tidio boasts a quick setup time and a reduced need for rep training.
I also liked their Lyro AI chatbot, powered by Claude AI, which connects to your support content.
I tested the chatbot and found its responses to be markedly natural and humanlike. The chat UI was also attractive.
22. Re:amaze
Email isn't always the quickest way for your customers to solve their problems, Re:amaze (by GoDaddy) can help them get answers right inside your app. When you build your help docs in Re:amaze, you can take advantage of its drag-and-drop-style editor, and then embed your content into your website or app, right alongside Re:amaze's chat widget.
Whenever a customer contacts you, you'll see their account inside your app, with all the data on their past purchases and support tickets, so you never have to ask for extra info. I appreciated the shared status page for agents and customers.
A Comprehensive Customer Support Platform
The customer support app lets you know when there's a shortage or technical difficulty, considerate for both parties. The platform also has some valuable team features. For motivation, a leaderboard view shows how well agents are doing about one another. Plus, you can see when team members view or reply to customer conversations, avoiding agent clashes. Re:amaze integrates with eCommerce platforms and offers a chatbot and live chat option.
23. HelpCrunch
HelpCrunch was a pleasant surprise among low-priced help desk software options. It included everything great help desk software should, including:
A customizable knowledge base (with a language translation feature in the Pro plan)
Practical inbox features, like customizing what information shows on tickets before opening them and reporting features (though I found these relatively basic).
Customizable Inboxes for Efficient Ticket Routing
But HelpCrunch stands out for its automation features. The platform enables you to create custom ticket inboxes, with specific rules that automatically route specific tickets to those inboxes. For example, you can have all emails tagged "feature request" flow into an inbox dedicated to these requests, keeping your shared inboxes nice and tidy.
Personalized Automation with Auto Messages
The platform also allows you to create auto messages that will be sent differently depending on the rules you set. For example, these can be a follow-up sent to a customer or lead after a certain time. These messages can include custom attributes that speak to individuals by name, providing a personalized experience.
24. Support.cc by 500apps
Support.cc comes loaded with many benefits, including:
Ticket management
Helpdesk automation
Advanced reporting
Knowledge base management
It lets users view customers’ interactions in one dynamic interface, enabling them to process tickets efficiently and seamlessly. It has a tool, Kanban View, allowing users to:
View new
Open
Pending
Closed helpdesk tickets
25. JIRA Service Desk
Jira service desk allows your agents to create several projects for organizing and processing inquiries. If you support several products, areas, or departments, you can create a service desk project for each topic and have agents send their queries using their email.
Jira works with Confluence to help users create a knowledge base for internal documentation. This allows users to self-serve and find solutions to simple queries, thus allowing your team to solve more complex tasks.
26. ServiceDesk Plus
ServiceDesk Plus is a great helpdesk support software that enables users to:
Manage incidents
Problems
Changes
Assets
Users can create customized reports and real-time dashboards to offer analytics and insight. You can easily:
Manage resources
Track progress
Manage requests for any agent
The service catalog lets users publish their custom service catalog with a custom SLA. The software has a configuration management database that allows users to track, manage, and visually scrutinize changes.
27. Jitbit
Jitbit can easily be implemented and allows users to manage requests in real time. You can access ticket activity, messages, and attachments in a single view. It saves time; users do not have to pin teammates for extra information. It has a mobile application, hence allowing managers to respond to inquiries wherever they are. Their plan starts at $29 per month.
It also offers supplier service level management to aid manage service agreements. You can create reports and manage the workload. The software is a feature-rich solution that will easily integrate with ITIL. It has two plans; essential for small organizations and mature for larger teams. Pricing depends on your needs.
Top 5 Benefits of Using a Customer Support Ticketing App
1. Centralized Query Management: Know Who Is Handling the Problem at All Times
A ticketing system offers a centralized platform to manage and track queries. Let’s say, if a business receives customer queries through email, phone, and social media, a ticketing system will consolidate all these into one platform. This helps agents to address queries in an organized manner.
2. Performance Analytics: Keep Improving Support Over Time
Modern ticketing systems offer analytics to review the quality of support delivered and team performance. Managers can track metrics like:
Response time
Resolution time
Customer satisfaction
3. Prioritization and Assignment: Triage Support Requests with Ease
Not all tickets are of the same urgency or require the same expertise. A ticketing system allows issues to be prioritized and assigned to the most appropriate team or individual.
4. Knowledge Base Creation: Build a Resource Hub for Common Issues
Over time, businesses can utilize past tickets to create a knowledge base or FAQs for common issues. For instance, a web hosting company might notice recurring questions about setting up a particular CMS. Using these tickets, they can create a step-by-step guide for customers to refer to in the future.
5. Scalability: Manage Increasing Support Requests as You Grow
As businesses grow, so do customer inquiries and other internal requests. A ticketing system helps companies to deal with such requests at scale, without compromising on efficiency or service quality.
How to Create a Ticketing System for Customer Support?
Before creating a ticketing system for customer support, you must identify your business needs. Consider the following:
Expected Ticket Volume
Estimate the number of tickets you anticipate handling daily. This number will determine whether you need a basic system or something more robust to handle many inquiries.
Features Needed
Determine essential features such as ticket submission channels (email, web forms), categorization, automation rules, and ticket assignment workflows.
Integration Capabilities
Identify existing tools (like CRM systems) that the ticketing system should integrate with to enhance functionality.
Choose the Right Software: Find Your Perfect Match
Next, select software that aligns with your top requirements for a ticketing system. The options range from simple open-source solutions to comprehensive enterprise platforms. Select a tool that is:
Easy to set up and work around: Its interface should be user-friendly.
Cost-effective and doesn’t include any hidden charges.
Equipped with most of the key features you’re looking for in a ticketing system, such as automation, collaboration, multi-channel capabilities, WhatsApp integration, email management, SLA management, and more.
Integration with Tools: Get All Your Software on the Same Page
This may include:
CRM System: To maintain customer history and context.
Communication Channels: These are live chat, social media, and email to centralize customer interactions.
Knowledge Base: To provide self-service options for customers, reducing the volume of incoming tickets.
Train Your Team: Get Everyone on Board
You must focus on the following while training your team:
Ticket Management: How to create, update, and resolve tickets.
Response protocols: Guidelines for interacting with customers and managing expectations.
Using features: Training on how to leverage automation and reporting tools to improve efficiency.
Monitor and Optimize: Keep Improving for the Best Customer Experience
After implementation, continuously monitor the performance of your ticketing system. Use analytics to track:
Ticket Volume and Resolution Times: Identify trends and areas for improvement.
Customer satisfaction: Gather feedback to enhance service quality.
Team performance: Assess how well the team manages tickets and where additional training may be needed.
Use ChatBees’ AI Customer Support Software to 10x Customer Support Operations
ChatBees optimizes RAG with our AI customer support software for internal operations like customer support, employee support, etc.. It provides the most accurate response and easily integrates into workflows in a low-code, no-code manner.
ChatBees' agentic framework automatically chooses the best strategy to improve the quality of responses for these use cases. This improves predictability/accuracy, enabling these operations teams to handle more queries. No DevOps is required to deploy and maintain the service.
Try our AI customer support software today to 10x your customer support operations. Get started for free, with no credit card required. Sign in with Google and start your journey with us today!