Top 15 help desk best practices

Customer service isn't static – it’s constantly evolving (and unpredictable at times). Today's customers expect lightning-fast, efficient, and personalized interactions across every channel they use. Your help desk sits at the heart of delivering these experiences, acting as the frontline for building brand loyalty and fueling business growth. However, rising customer expectations and a constant influx of support requests can leave even the most dedicated teams feeling overwhelmed

We’re here to unpack 15 actionable help desk best practices specifically designed for 2024 (and your CX success). These insights, combined with the power of Freshdesk, will empower you to streamline workflows, boost agent productivity, and most importantly, leave your customers feeling valued and satisfied.

What is a help desk?

Modern help desks are where customer inquiries, requests, and issues come together. But what exactly is a help desk, and how does it work? From troubleshooting technical glitches to answering product-related questions and offering general guidance, a help desk is a dedicated team (or even a single person) responsible for fielding and resolving customer support issues. 

Traditionally, help desks focused on internal IT support but now they serve both internal employees and external customers, with a centralized point of contact for all support needs. A help desk functions with a number of moving parts, including:

Basic breakdown:

Ticketing system: The cornerstone of a help desk is a ticketing system. This software captures and organizes customer inquiries, allowing agents to track progress, prioritize issues, and collaborate effectively.

Multichannel support: Modern help desks offer support across various channels – email, phone, chat, and social media – ensuring customers can reach you on their preferred platform.

Knowledge base: A comprehensive knowledge base empowers customers to find solutions independently through articles, FAQs, and other self-service resources.

Reporting and analytics: Help desks provide valuable data on customer interactions, resolution times, and other key metrics. This data allows for continuous improvement and optimization of support processes.

Beyond troubleshooting:

Omnichannel support: Customers expect to connect with support on their preferred channel, be it email, phone, chat, or social media. A well-equipped help desk provides seamless omnichannel support, ensuring customers can reach help easily.

Personalized interactions: A good help desk experience feels personalized. Help desk agents strive to understand individual customer needs and tailor their interactions accordingly.

Proactive problem solving: The best help desks don't just wait for issues to arise. They use data and customer insights to anticipate problems and proactively address them, preventing customer frustration in the first place.

Why  is optimizing your helpdesk with best practices important?

Even with a help desk in place, the sheer volume of inquiries, evolving customer expectations, and ever-growing support channels can leave even the most seasoned service professionals feeling overwhelmed. A help desk that’s reactive and disorganized can quickly become a bottleneck for customer satisfaction and agent productivity. Here’s why optimizing (adopting best practices) is important:

Boost customer satisfaction

Searching for ways to earn higher satisfaction scores and increase loyalty? Happy customers thrive on personalization and attentiveness, especially from a brand they trust. Streamlined workflows, automation tools, and knowledge base resources empowered by help desk best practices enable agents to resolve issues faster, freeing up time for more complex cases and personalized interactions. 

Improve communication & collaboration among support agents

Another great help desk best practice prioritizes clear communication protocols and proactive collaboration within the support team. By implementing knowledge-sharing initiatives, standardized ticketing procedures, and internal communication channels, all leads to a more cohesive and efficient team environment.

Simplify monitoring of help desk success

Data-driven help desk best practices provide actionable insights into customer behavior, common issues, and agent performance through robust reporting tools. This knowledge empowers you to easily track key metrics and make informed decisions for continuous improvement.

15 help desk best practices for 2024

Empowering your help desk with the right strategies and tools is key to unlocking its full potential. Let’s outline the details (and benefits) of 15 actionable help desk best practices designed to elevate your customer experience in 2024.

1. Choose the right helpdesk software

Your help desk software is the foundation of your customer service operation. The right platform should be powerful yet user-friendly, offering features that streamline workflows, automate tasks, and empower agents to excel. Look for a help desk solution that aligns with your specific needs and budget, while offering features like:

• Ticketing system: A central hub for managing all customer interactions, ensuring efficient issue tracking and resolution.

• Automation capabilities: Automate repetitive tasks like ticket routing and follow-up emails, freeing up valuable agent time.

• Omnichannel support: Provide seamless support across multiple channels (email, phone, chat, social media) to meet customer expectations.

• Knowledge base management: Empower customers to find solutions independently with a comprehensive and easily accessible knowledge base.

• Meaningful metrics: Gain valuable insights into customer behavior, agent performance, and overall help desk effectiveness through robust reporting tools.

2. Ensure a single, seamless customer journey

Customers expect to connect with support on their own terms. They might start a conversation via email, switch to chat for a quick clarification, and then prefer a phone call for a complex issue. Omnichannel support ensures a consistent and seamless customer journey across all touchpoints. Here's how to prioritize omnichannel support and keep customer frustrations in check:

• Offer support across multiple channels: Make it easy for customers to reach you through their preferred channel, be it email, phone, chat, social media, or a self-service portal.

• Maintain consistent messaging: Keep brand voice and messaging consistent across all support channels, regardless of the agent or channel used.

• Provide a unified customer view: Use your help desk software to create a unified customer profile that tracks all past interactions, regardless of channel, empowering agents to provide personalized support.

3. Create help desk groups

Your help desk agents are subject matter experts, capable of tackling even the most complex inquiries with confidence. Creating dedicated help desk groups brings that specialization to the surface and allows support teams to benefit from:

• Deeper expertise: By focusing on a specific area, agents can develop a deeper understanding of customer needs and product functionalities, leading to faster and more accurate resolutions.

• Improved efficiency: Matching customer inquiries with specialized agents streamlines the workflow, reducing resolution times and boosting overall efficiency.

• Enhanced customer satisfaction: Customers are more likely to feel heard and understood when interacting with agents who possess in-depth knowledge of their specific needs.

4. Leverage helpdesk automation

CX professionals’ time is often consumed by repetitive tasks such as ticket routing, sending follow-up emails, and resetting passwords. Help desk automation empowers you to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up valuable agent time for higher-value interactions with the help of:

Automated ticket routing: Automatically route incoming tickets to the most qualified agent based on predefined criteria, ensuring swift and efficient issue resolution.

Auto-responder emails: Set up automated responses to acknowledge incoming tickets and provide basic troubleshooting steps, reducing the burden on agents for routine inquiries.

Self-service portal automation: Empower customers to find solutions independently by automating knowledge base suggestions and FAQs within your self-service portal.

5. Incorporate service level agreements (SLAs)

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) establish formal agreements between your help desk and your customers, outlining the timeframe for resolving various types of support requests.

Not only do they outline metrics like first response time and resolution time but SLAs help CX support:

• Set clear expectations: SLAs set clear benchmarks for response and resolution times, ensuring customers understand the level of service to expect.

• Improve accountability: SLAs hold your team accountable for meeting defined performance standards, fostering a culture of efficiency and continuous improvement.

• Boost customer satisfaction: Meeting or exceeding SLA expectations builds trust and increases the likelihood that your customers leave happy.

6. Build an extensive knowledge base and FAQs

Customers who can find answers to their questions independently, helps free up your agents to focus on more complex issues. This empowered state is achievable by building an extensive knowledge base and FAQs, a cornerstone of many help desk best practices.

A well-maintained knowledge base is a central repository of self-service resources, including:

• Articles: Detailed guides and troubleshooting steps empower customers to address their own common questions.

• FAQs: Answers to frequently asked questions presented in a clear and concise format step in as a resource that can reduce agent load.

• Videos: Visual tutorials and demonstrations for a more engaging learning experience, leads to faster resolutions and a more positive experience for customers.

7. Create canned responses and templates

Need a way to deliver consistent, high-quality responses that save your agents time? Canned responses are pre-written text snippets that agents can insert into tickets to address common inquiries or provide standard information. Templates, another help desk best practice, are pre-formatted email structures that agents can personalize for specific situations by:

• Maintaining consistent messaging: Canned responses guarantee consistent brand voice and messaging across all customer interactions.

• Saving time for agents: Pre-written content allows agents to respond to common inquiries quickly, freeing up time for more complex issues.

• Improving overall experience: Faster response times and consistent communication contribute to a more positive customer experience.

8. Use real-time reporting

Real-time reporting gives you valuable insights into your help desk performance and make data-driven decisions, providing a live snapshot of metrics like agent performance, customer satisfaction scores and even ticket volume (trends).

By leveraging real-time reporting, you can:

• Identify bottlenecks: Pinpoint areas where your help desk operation is slow or inefficient, allowing for targeted improvements.

• Optimize workflows: Use data to streamline workflows and allocate resources effectively.

• Proactively address issues: Identify potential problems based on real-time trends and take preventative measures.

9. Enable third-party integrations

The modern help desk ecosystem is built on collaboration. Third-party integrations, a key help desk best practice, empower you to connect your help desk software with a variety of other business applications, breaking down data silos and streamlining workflows.

Some valuable third-party integrations to keep in mind:

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Gain a holistic view of the customer journey by integrating your help desk with your CRM system.

• Communication tools: Integrate with tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to facilitate seamless internal communication among support agents.

• Productivity tools: Connect your help desk with project management tools or document sharing platforms to streamline workflows and improve agent productivity.

10. Train your helpdesk team

By prioritizing ongoing customer service training for your help desk team, you'll cultivate a culture of continuous learning, improve agent performance, and ultimately elevate the customer experience.

Investing in continuous learning and skill development elevates your help desk agents:

• Expand knowledge and expertise: Regular training ensures agents stay up-to-date on product knowledge, industry best practices, and new technologies, empowering them to tackle complex issues with confidence.

• Sharpen communication skills: Effective communication is key to building rapport with customers. Training programs can help agents hone their active listening, empathy, and clear communication skills.

• Increase their confidence: Investing in training empowers agents with the knowledge and tools they need to excel, leading to increased agent confidence and job satisfaction.

11. Hire the right people

Hiring the right people involves finding candidates with the right blend of technical skills and soft qualities.

Look for these key qualities when assembling your help desk team:

• Technical skills: Depending on your specific needs, look for candidates with expertise in relevant software, troubleshooting skills, and a basic understanding of your industry.

• Problem-solving skills: The ability to analyze issues, identify root causes, and develop effective solutions is essential for any help desk agent.

• Excellent communication skills: Strong written and verbal communication are crucial for building rapport with customers, clearly explaining solutions, and actively listening to their concerns.

• Customer focus: Hire individuals with a genuine passion for helping others and a commitment to providing exceptional customer service.

12. Conduct customer satisfaction surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys, a key help desk best practice, provide valuable insights into customer sentiment and help you identify areas for improvement.

Here's how incorporating customer satisfaction surveys benefits your help desk operation:

• Gather valuable feedback: Surveys allow you to collect direct feedback from customers about their experience with your help desk, pinpointing areas of strength and weakness.

• Highlight areas that could work better: By analyzing survey data, you can identify specific areas where your help desk operation can be optimized to better meet customer needs.

• Prove your customer-focused approach: Soliciting feedback demonstrates your commitment to continuous improvement and a focus on customer satisfaction.

13. Aim for first contact issue resolution

First-contact resolution is an important help desk best practice that minimizes any back-and-forth communication between agent and customer.

Prioritizing first-contact resolution, with a robust knowledge base and well-defined processes can:

• Impact customer satisfaction: Swift issue resolution reduces customer frustration and fosters a sense of accomplishment for both the agent and the customer.

• Improve efficiency: Resolving issues on the first contact frees up agents to focus on more complex inquiries, boosting overall efficiency.

• Reduce costs: Minimizing back-and-forth communication translates into reduced operational costs associated with handling repeat inquiries.

14. Continuously analyze helpdesk data 

By continuously analyzing your help desk data, you'll gain a deeper understanding of your customer base. Regular data checks have the power to help you:

• Uncover hidden trends: Identify emerging customer issues, product usage patterns, and areas where your help desk processes can be optimized.

• Make data-driven decisions: Make informed decisions about resource allocation, training needs, and future investments in your help desk operation.

• Predict and prevent issues: Anticipate potential problems and take preventative measures before they escalate into major customer service issues.

15. Gather feedback from customers and team members

Gathering feedback from both customers and team members, a crucial help desk best practice, provides valuable insights from diverse perspectives and fuels ongoing optimization.

Embracing a feedback-driven approach means your help desk aligns with everyone’s needs:

• Customer feedback: Regularly solicit customer feedback through surveys, reviews, and direct conversations to identify areas for improvement from the customer's perspective.

• Agent feedback: Empower your agents to provide feedback on processes, tools, and training programs to identify areas where the help desk can better support them in delivering exceptional service.

• Continuous improvement: Being dedicated to open communication and feedback collection, you can continuously identify areas for improvement and refine your help desk operation over time.

Optimize your help desk with Freshdesk!

With these 15 actionable help desk best practices in mind, how can your team put them into practice? With the right tools and resources: Freshdesk is a smart and scalable help desk software solution designed to empower your team, streamline workflows, and elevate your customer experience from all angles. Get specialized support for you help desk with:

• Robust ticketing system: Freshdesk offers a central hub for managing all customer interactions, ensuring efficient issue tracking and resolution.

• Seamless omnichannel support: Provide effortless support across multiple channels (email, phone, chat, social media) to meet and exceed customer expectations.

• Automation capabilities: Automate repetitive tasks like ticket routing and follow-up emails, freeing up valuable agent time for personalized interactions.

• Advanced help desk analytics: Gain valuable insights into customer behavior, agent performance, and overall help desk effectiveness through robust reporting tools.

• Customizable knowledge base: Empower customers to find solutions independently with a comprehensive and easily accessible knowledge base built with Freshdesk.

• Third-party integrations: Freshdesk seamlessly integrates with a wide range of third-party applications, fostering a more connected and efficient ecosystem.

Scalability and security: Freshdesk is a secure and scalable solution that can grow with your business needs.