Ticket management in 2025

Tag along as we break down why ticket management has become increasingly essential as customers continue to utilize different communication platforms and expect a consistent experience across them all.

Ticket management systems play an integral role within the modern customer service landscape, acting as a unified location where all user requests across various communication channels are centralized. Whether an individual initiates an interaction via email, social media, live chat, or any other platform, all tickets end up in the same place, making it easy for support agents to respond and ensure that no request slips through the cracks.

Beyond unification, these powerful solutions also offer a plethora of automation tools, internal collaboration features, extensive reporting capacity, and much more. Choosing the right ticketing software for your business can often be the difference between providing consistently excellent customer experiences (CXs) and leaving individuals frustrated and dissatisfied. Today, we’ll dive in further to what ticket management systems are, how to select the best solution for your unique requirements, and examine the top 10 platforms currently available on the market.

What is ticket management?

Ticket management refers to the process of organizing, tracking, and resolving both customer and internal requests within a business. These requests, or ‘tickets,’ can originate from various channels such as emails, phone calls, chat, or a self-service portal, which are then centralized in a unified ticket management system.

These platforms ensure that every inquiry is documented and assigned to the appropriate team member, making it easier to monitor progress and verify timely resolution. This capability allows teams to easily categorize tickets, prioritize them based on urgency, and maintain communication with the requester until the issue is resolved.

What is a support ticket?

A support ticket acts as a formalized request for assistance, typically submitted by a customer or employee, to address an issue related to a product, service, or internal system. Each ticket contains essential details such as the nature of the problem, the time of submission, and contact information, which helps the support team understand the issue and provide a solution. Ticketing software assigns a unique identifier to each request, allowing both the customer and support staff to track its progress throughout the resolution process.

Key components of support ticket management systems

Ticket management systems consist of various components that work together to manage, prioritize, and resolve customer issues. Understanding these key elements is crucial for companies looking to enhance their support processes, as each one plays a unique role in ensuring smooth communication and faster resolutions.

Let’s dive into some of the main ingredients in any capable ticket management platform:

Ticket routing

Ticket routing encompasses the process of directing incoming support requests to the appropriate department or individual for resolution. These assignments are often based on predefined criteria such as the type of issue, the complexity of the request, the urgency, or the skills required to resolve the ticket. Automating ticket routing ensures that each issue is handled by the right people without unnecessary delays, thus improving efficiency and response times.

Ticket categorization

Ticket categorization involves the classifying of incoming support tickets into specific categories based on the nature of the request. This enables support teams to organize and manage tickets more effectively. Categories can range from general topics such as ‘Technical Issues’ or ‘Billing Inquiries’ to more specific subcategories like ‘Software Bugs’ or ‘Refund Requests.’ In conjunction with ticket routing, proper categorization helps verify that tickets are directed to the appropriate personnel, thereby streamlining the entire resolution process.

Omnichannel support

Omnichannel support provides teams with the ability to manage customer inquiries across multiple communication channels from a unified platform. With this type of messaging, customers can contact a business through their preferred channel, while support agents can track, manage, and resolve all interactions within a single system. This seamless integration ensures that no matter where a ticket originates, it’s efficiently handled without disrupting the customer experience.

Studies show that 71% of consumers expect consistency across all digital channels, while only 29% say they receive it. This suggests that employing a well-rounded omnichannel approach can serve as a key competitive differentiator in any industry.

Reporting and analytics capabilities

Reporting and analytics capabilities allow businesses to monitor, measure, and analyze their support performance. By collecting and presenting data from all support interactions, these tools provide valuable insights into the efficiency of the support team, common customer issues, and areas for improvement. With customizable dashboards and reports, managers can monitor real-time performance, spot trends, and make data-driven decisions to enhance support processes.

Shared inbox

A shared inbox serves as a centralized communication hub where multiple support agents can access incoming customer inquiries. Unlike individual inboxes, a team inbox allows the entire customer service team to view, respond to, and track user requests in one unified location. This ensures that no message is overlooked and that efforts aren’t duplicated, as team members can typically see when somebody else is already working on a ticket.

Integration with other tools

Ticket management systems are capable of integrating with a wide range of external tools to streamline workflows across various departments. These connections enable the software to work seamlessly with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, email services, live chat solutions, and collaboration tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams. By linking a ticketing system with a CRM, for instance, agents gain access to a full view of the customer’s history, making it easier to provide personalized support.

Why is ticket management important? 

Effective ticket management is crucial to providing exceptional customer support, ensuring that every inquiry is tracked, assigned, and resolved efficiently. In today's competitive business environment, where customer expectations are now higher than ever before, having a robust ticket management system can make all the difference in maintaining satisfaction and loyalty. 

Here are some key advantages that well-rounded ticket management can provide:

• Streamlines support operations: Ticket management software organizes and centralizes all customer inquiries, verifying that no request is overlooked and making it easier to track and resolve issues efficiently.

• Improves response times: By automating tasks like ticket assignment and prioritization, ticket management systems help reduce response and resolution times, enhancing the overall CX.

• Enhances team collaboration: Ticketing platforms can foster improved collaboration by allowing multiple agents to access, comment on, and collaborate on requests, verifying the right expertise is applied to each issue.

• Ensures accountability: With clear ownership assigned to each request, ticket management systems ensure that every issue is addressed and no inquiry falls through the cracks.

• Supports multichannel communication: These solutions consolidate inquiries from various channels into a single platform, providing a seamless experience for both customers and support teams.

• Provides data and insights: Ticket management systems offer reporting and analytics features that provide valuable insights into support trends, team performance, and common customer issues.

• Improves customer satisfaction: Faster, more organized support leads to higher customer satisfaction, as issues are resolved more efficiently and with greater consistency.

Benefits of ticket management

From improving response times to ensuring that no request is overlooked, the right ticket management system can significantly enhance the overall customer experience.

Here are just a few of the key benefits enjoyed by both customers and support agents alike when leveraging a capable ticketing solution

Improved faster customer support

When a user submits a support request, ticketing systems automatically organize and categorize the issue, assigning it to the appropriate team or individual based on predefined rules. This eliminates the need for manual sorting and verifies that the right agent can begin working on the problem without delay.

Moreover, ticket management solutions enable faster customer support by centralizing all information related to each ticket. Agents can quickly access previous interactions, customer details, and any relevant files that aid in resolving the issue. This consolidated approach ensures that customer service representatives don't need to search across multiple platforms or request the same information from customers multiple times.

Better productivity and efficiency

Ticket management systems can boost support efficiency by automating a plethora of time-consuming administrative tasks. Features like pre-written responses or quick-access templates for common issues streamline agent responses, thus reducing the time spent crafting messages for FAQs. This capability empowers agents to handle more tickets in less time, leading to a significant boost in productivity.

Furthermore, these platforms help facilitate better collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members. With built-in collaboration tools, agents can leave notes, assign tasks, or escalate issues to colleagues without having to leave the platform. This assists in speeding up problem-solving, as representatives can easily hand off complex cases or ask for input without unnecessary back-and-forth.

Data-driven insights

Most ticket management software is capable of generating reports on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as ticket volume, response and resolution times, customer satisfaction scores (CSATs), and agent performance. With this data, organizations can identify trends, such as recurring issues or peak support periods, which help in forecasting and resource planning.

In addition to identifying patterns, ticketing systems offer detailed insights into team efficiency and the customer experience. Businesses can track how long it takes for agents to resolve tickets, evaluate which reps are handling the most high-priority issues, and assess customer satisfaction levels after each interaction. 62% of customers say that service insights are valuable in providing them with an exceptional CX, making reporting tools a key component of any ticket management solution.

Facilitates better team collaboration

Features like internal comments, notes, and tagging are often included in ticketing solutions, allowing agents to communicate about specific requests without needing to leave the system. This capability promotes real-time collaboration, as team members can discuss complex problems, share insights, or escalate tickets to those with specialized expertise. 

Even more, if a ticket requires input from different departments, representatives can easily collaborate by passing tickets between teams, attaching relevant information, and tracking its status at every step. This streamlined communication helps avoid redundancy, minimizes the risk of tickets falling through the cracks, and enables teams to resolve issues more quickly.

More organized ticket distribution

Ticketing platforms help ensure that all requests are quickly directed to the right person, whether it's based on the issue type, customer priority, or the expertise required. This structured approach ensures that each ticket is handled by the right individual, allowing for a more efficient and organized distribution of workload.

Moreover, these systems often include features like round-robin assignment, which evenly distributes incoming requests among support agents, and prioritization algorithms that help ensure high-priority tickets are handled first. Tools like these help prevent overloading certain agents while underutilizing others, creating a balanced and efficient workflow. 

10 best ticket management software in 2024

1. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is the market’s premier help desk solution, offering an abundance of self-service resources, powerful automation capabilities, and of course, a highly capable ticketing system.

Its ticketing capacity acts as the cornerstone of the platform, providing valuable tools such as a unified team inbox, SLA management, and the ability to automatically convert emails into trackable tickets. Powered by Freddy AI, a wide array of intelligent features take the wheel to categorize, prioritize, and route tickets automatically, freeing up human agents to focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional customer service.

Key features

• Team inbox helps track and manage incoming support tickets from multiple channels with one inbox

• Agent collision detection ensures that multiple agents don’t wind up working on the same ticket by accident

• SLA management allows teams to set deadlines for ticket resolution based on different business hours or categories

• Ticket field suggestor automatically recommends fields to categorize, prioritize, and route incoming tickets

• Canned responses provide quick, consistent replies to common questions by creating preformatted responses

Pros

• Ability to create custom statuses that suit your workflow to identify what stage a ticket is in

• Handy thank-you detector prevents reopening of tickets when customers respond with a ‘thank you’

• Representatives can perform multiple actions on a ticket with a single click by automating repeated actions

• Resolve complex, multistage issues faster by splitting them into smaller tasks with parent-child ticketing

• Easily share ownership of tickets with other teams without losing visibility into progress being made on the issue

Why customers rave about Freshdesk

Freshdesk’s unmatched versatility empowers customers to access support in a variety of different ways, whether through AI-driven chatbots, community forums, or connecting with a live representative. The platform balances speed and effectiveness, ensuring that straightforward inquiries are resolved promptly, while complex questions can also be resolved in a thorough manner. Even more, Freshdesk’s extensive omnichannel capacity empowers users to reach out on whichever communication channel they prefer most.

But we know what you’re thinking: “Didn’t you create the software? Is it possible that you’re a bit biased?” Point taken. Let’s see what one of our many satisfied clients has to say instead. David C. lauds Freshdesk’s ticket management potential and collaboration features, saying, “One of the standout features of Freshdesk is its intuitive and user-friendly interface. It is easy to navigate, and the ticketing system is efficient, making it simple to manage and prioritize customer queries. The automation features are incredibly useful, helping reduce manual tasks by routing tickets automatically based on certain rules. Collaborative capabilities, such as assigning tickets

to different agents and tracking progress, foster effective teamwork.”

2. Zendesk

Zendesk's ticketing system is a software that helps businesses manage customer support requests by centralizing them all in one place. It can be used to track, prioritize, and solve customer issues across multiple channels, including email, chat, social media, and more.

Key features

• Group messaging serves to connect all relevant parties in a single chat to make interactions run more efficiently

• Out-of-the-box apps empower admins to integrate with other business systems without requiring any code

• Pre-built dashboards and custom reports help identify what customers need and ways to improve efficiency

Pros

• Get ahead of your customers with outbound notifications on WhatsApp and SMS to drive customer engagement and prevent escalations

• Agents have full access to customer context and tools—including order history, loyalty status, and web activity—helping them provide faster, more personalized service

• Teams can initiate, add, or modify workflows that are triggered by ticket changes or time-based conditions

Cons

• Cost can be prohibitive for smaller businesses, as even basic packages start out quite pricey

• Extensive set of features and general functionality is more geared toward large enterprises, which isn't ideal for SMBs

• Steep learning curve requires significant time to become acclimated to the platform

Price

Zendesk’s Suite Team plan begins at $55 per user per month, while you’ll need to reach out to the company directly for a custom quote on its Suite Enterprise package

3. ZohoDesk

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based customer service software that assists companies with managing customer-submitted tickets. It serves as an ideal option for SMBs and startups that are just beginning to establish their customer support efforts.

Key features

• Offer timely support with rule-based chatbots, making basic support quick and easy for customers

• Omnichannel support collects tickets from different channels and organizes them in a single interface, helping agents stay organized and reply faster

• Guided conversations build self-service experiences for both customers and service teams

Pros

• Create separate departments within your help desk to verify that all customer service efforts are organized into manageable sections

• Work modes automatically organizes open tickets to enhance agent productivity

• Notification rules instantly inform agents and customers about any progress made on a ticket

Cons

• User interface (UI) is a bit stodgy and difficult to navigate

• Excessive notifications can cause truly important alerts to get lost in the noise

• Implementation can be both time- and resource-intensive, often requiring assistance from a professional

Price

Zoho Desk’s Standard plan starts at $14 per user per month, while its Enterprise package runs $40 per user per month

4. HelpScout

Help Scout is a customer support platform that offers tools to help customer-facing teams streamline operations, improve collaboration, and deliver exceptional CXs. Some of its core features include a robust help center, real-time live chat, and a unified team inbox.

Key features

• AI drafts use information from past conversations and help articles to generate on-brand responses

• Individual and team assignments ensure that all conversations end up in the right place

• @mentions help tag in team members to make it super clear who needs to jump in and help

Pros

• Easily see who’s working on which conversation so you don’t double up on work

• Private notes help teams get input, share updates, and improve overall collaboration

• Agents can easily insert help articles to make all interactions as helpful and informative as possible

Cons

• Integration capabilities lag behind similar providers

• Limited search functionality can make it difficult to track down specific tickets and customer information

• Restricted customization capacity, particularly in self-service resources like the knowledge base

Price

Help Scout’s Standard plan begins at $22 per user per month, while its Pro package will set you back $65 per user per month

5. Gorgias

Gorgias acts as a customer service platform that assists ecommerce companies in providing support for their online stores. It's designed to streamline support operations and provide timely assistance to customers.

Key features

• Customer information like previous conversations, orders, reviews, or subscription details are available for each contact, providing agents with enhanced context

• AI-powered workflows automatically perform tasks like routing tickets, while responses can be personalized with templates and custom ecommerce variables

• Fast-loading chat widget serves to quickly answer user questions with generative AI before they become tickets

Pros

• Easily create a unique help center for your brand with the power of AI

• Connect an AI agent to all your knowledge, data, and policies in just a few clicks, with no complex logic or code required

• Email, chat, social, phone and other channels are all managed from a unified platform where you can refund, update, cancel, or approve return requests

Cons

• Limited integration capacity can make it difficult to connect with existing apps and systems

• User reviews mention an unresponsive customer support team when assistance is required

• Can be prohibitively expensive for some, particularly startups and SMBs

Price

Gorgias’s Pro plan starts at $300 per month, while you’ll need to reach out to the company directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise package

6. Gladly

Gladly is a customer service software that leverages an array of intelligent tools to help businesses provide personalized service to their customers. It’s designed to put the customer at the center of the support process, rather than using a ticket-based system.

Key features

• Robust customer profiles arm support teams with a detailed view of each individual, helping them personalize interactions and gain context

• Conversation timeline empowers agents with a customer’s entire conversation history, no matter which channel they come from

• People Match connects customers with the most relevant service rep based on their unique history, situation, or needs

Pros

• Task management helps to set reminders or resolve customer issues with teammates, keeping every interaction tied to the customer under a single communication thread

• Use customer-centric data to power your workforce management solution and make better cross-channel staffing decisions

• Answer Threads generate conversational interactions with customers, automatically answering routine queries in an engaging manner, thus reducing manual workloads

Cons

• Several user reviews mention glitches and lagging that can disrupt the user experience (UX)

• SLA features can become jumbled and confused when a customer reaches out through multiple communication channels

• Limited customization in modifying the user interface, ringtones, and alerts

Price

You’ll need to contact Gladly directly for a custom quote on its various plans and packages

7. Front

Front is a customer service platform that converts your email inbox into a multi-channel platform to respond to customer service requests and enhance internal collaboration. It can be used by support, sales, and account management teams to deliver exceptional support at scale.

Key features

• Workflow automation speeds up time to resolution and automatically routes, assigns, and tags messages at scale

• AI-powered tools help increase agent productivity and efficiency with intelligent drafts and summaries

• Reporting and analytics features serve to measure and improve the CX with insights into response time, customer satisfaction, busiest hours, and much more

Pros

• Aggregate all your channels—email, SMS, social media, live chat, and more—to streamline customer communication

• Easily build, scale, and maintain custom workflows without any coding

• Keep multiple stakeholders in sync with real-time collaboration features like shared drafts and comments

Cons

• Upper-tier packages are significantly more expensive than comparable solutions

• Mobile app has limited functionality, making it difficult to utilize when on the go

• Lacks many of the popular automation features that are offered by similar solutions

Price

Front’s Starter plan begins at $19 per user per month, while its Premier package will set you back $229 per user per month

8. Kustomer

Kustomer is a customer service CRM platform that helps businesses administer user support across multiple digital channels. It’s designed to manage high support volumes and optimize customer experiences throughout the entire service journey.

Key features

• Provide instant answers with CRM-powered chatbots and quick access to FAQs within the chat widget

• Eliminate manual triage by deploying self-learning AI models that automatically tag and route conversations

• Timeline view captures every customer action in a threaded, chronological view, providing agents with the context needed to deliver exceptional CXs

Pros

• Effortlessly scale support with knowledge base deflection across chat, email, and forms

• Vast apps ecosystem and open API can connect and display key information such as billing status, order number, and order status

• Auto-translation for 70+ languages and quick access to canned responses, suggested actions, and dynamic text help enhance agent productivity

Cons

• Relatively expensive compared to similar solutions with comparable features

• SDKs can be difficult to integrate due to poor documentation and unusual connection patterns

• Frequently experiences lagging during chat sessions, leading to delays in response times

Price

Kustomer’s Enterprise plan begins at $89 per user per month, while its Ultimate package will set you back $139 per user per month

9. HappyFox

HappyFox is a cloud-based help desk platform that helps companies manage customer support and track issues. It’s built around a powerful ticketing system, knowledge base, community forums, and smart rules engine. 

Key features

• Pinned tickets act as daily to-do lists, helping set priorities and organize time better

• Ticket statuses assist in slicing and dicing tickets into more manageable chunks

• Quickly select related requests and apply bulk actions like changing ticket status, assignee, and due date

Pros

• Users can craft easy-to-read replies with a rich text editor while the composer auto-saves edits in real-time

• Notify and rope in support team members for a quick discussion by leaving them a private note on tickets

• Support agents can see which other team members are viewing and acting on a ticket to avoid collision and overlaps

Cons

• Limited customization options can make it challenging to tailor the platform to fit unique business needs

• Restricted alerting capacity creates difficulties in following progress on specific tickets

• Knowledge base is difficult to update and navigate—for instance, writers must publish an article to preview it

Price

HappyFox’s Basic plan starts at $9 per user per month, while you’ll need to contact a sales representative for a custom quote on its Enterprise PRO package

10. Hiver

Hiver is email management software that helps teams collaborate and communicate more efficiently. It turns your Gmail or Outlook inbox into a shared mailbox that multiple users can access and manage.

Key features

• Shared inbox serves to turn emails into actionable tasks and give them designated owners

• Conversation followers allows supervisors to follow email threads of interest to get notified on progress made on customer queries and escalations

• Use notes and @mentions to tag colleagues and collaborate seamlessly without CCs and forwards

Pros

• Help teams avoid mistakes like email duplication with real-time collision alerts

• Users can set up trigger conditions based on the content in the email body to make automations more contextual

• Intelligently identify and close conversations that get reopened due to non-actionable ‘Thank you’ responses from customers

Cons

• Limited integrations can complicate workflows across complex IT environments

• Specifically focused on email at the expense of other communication channels

• Emails can’t be assigned to more than one team member, hindering collaboration when two agents are working together on the same ticket

Price

Hiver’s Lite plan begins at $19 per user per month for up to 10 users, while you’ll need to contact the company directly for a custom quote on its Elite package.

Choosing the right ticket management software for your business

Selecting the right ticket management software for your organization starts with understanding your specific needs and goals. Begin by assessing the size of your support team, the volume of tickets you handle, and the complexity of the issues you need to manage. If you have multiple support channels, look for a solution that offers omnichannel integration, so all interactions are managed from a single platform. Don’t forget to consider other key features like automation, collaboration tools, and reporting capabilities as well. 

Next, evaluate the software’s ease of use and how well it integrates with your existing tools, such as CRM systems or communication platforms. User-friendly interfaces will help your support team adopt the platform quickly and efficiently, while compatibility ensures that information can be shared seamlessly across your IT infrastructure. By balancing functionality, accessibility, and ease of integration, you can choose the ticket management system that best meets your business’s unique requirements.

Optimize your ticket management for 2024 and beyond with Freshdesk!

Freshworks’ Freshdesk serves as a comprehensive help desk solution, providing users with a plethora of self-service resources, AI-powered tools, and of course, a robust ticket management system.

Freshdesk emphasizes every step of a ticket’s lifecycle, from creation and categorization to assignment and resolution, offering a wealth of intelligent features that help streamline the entire process. For instance, ticket dispatch empowers companies to create specific rules for prioritizing and routing requests, while SLA management helps ensure that tickets are resolved within agreed-upon time frames.

Even more, specific automations can be performed on tickets, triggered by either elapsed time or specific events, verifying that no customer request slips through the cracks. Other standout tools like ticket templates, threads and tasks, and a shared inbox further help organize ticket management efforts and improve internal communication as well.