15 best email ticketing systems for 2024

A core component of any ticketing software is its ability to centralize all customer interactions into a single location, thus reducing the amount of disparate systems involved in the customer support process. Fewer moving parts typically means fewer opportunities to make mistakes, which almost always translates into enhanced customer satisfaction. 

Email ticketing platforms go even a step further than other typical email help desk software by automatically converting emails into tickets to verify that no requests slip through the cracks. These solutions provide tangible benefits for all parties involved, allowing support agents to manage tickets directly from their email interface and customers to receive expedited answers to their questions. 

Today, we’ll dive into what email ticketing systems are, some best practices to help maximize their potential, and the 15 best software currently available to your organization.

What is an email ticketing system?

An email ticketing system is a customer support tool that converts incoming emails into trackable support tickets, allowing businesses to manage customer requests more efficiently. Instead of manually sorting through email inboxes, these platforms automatically capture and log each email as a separate ticket, assigning it a unique ID for easy tracking. The best email ticketing system will also consolidate all interactions onto a single pane of glass, ensuring that every customer query is acknowledged and resolved systematically.

Benefits of email ticketing systems

By converting messages into organized, trackable tickets, email ticketing software serves to streamline communication and verify that no request goes unanswered. Whether a company is handling a few daily queries or managing thousands of tickets, these platforms provide the structure and automation needed to improve support processes.

Key advantages to be gained by leveraging an email ticketing solution include:

Optimize communication and organization across help desk

An email ticketing system streamlines communication by centralizing customer queries, support requests, and internal issues into a single platform. This ensures that all interactions are organized and accessible to help desk agents, reducing the chances of losing important information. With ticketing software, each request is also assigned a unique identifier, making it easy to track, prioritize, and follow up on.

Better efficiency and productivity

Tasks such as ticket creation, assignment, and prioritization can all be automated through ticketing software, ensuring that all requests are directed to the right department without delay. This reduces the administrative burden on staff, allowing them to focus more on resolving issues rather than managing them. 

Additionally, features such as a knowledge base integration, canned responses, and internal collaboration tools allow agents to quickly find solutions and communicate with other team members. These tools minimize the need for repeated research or escalations, thus leading to quicker resolutions.

Enhanced customer satisfaction, loyalty, and engagement

Through streamlined communication and organized workflows, customers receive more timely responses to their inquiries, creating a smoother overall support experience. Ticketing platforms also allow for personalized responses, as representatives have access to an individual's full history and can address concerns with a deeper understanding of past interactions.

In terms of loyalty and engagement, ticketing solutions keep customers informed throughout the support process with regular updates and notifications. This transparency builds trust, showing individuals that their concerns are being actively worked on. Self-service options such as knowledge bases and FAQs are often integrated into ticketing software as well, empowering users to find solutions on their own.

Analytics and reporting

Data from tickets, such as issue type and response times, are typically collected automatically and can be analyzed to identify trends like frequently reported issues or peak times for support requests. By examining these patterns, businesses can make informed decisions on how to allocate resources and improve service processes, resulting in more efficient operations.

On the reporting side, email ticketing systems offer built-in tools that generate detailed reports on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as ticket volume, average resolution time, and agent performance. These reports help managers identify bottlenecks, track compliance with service-level agreements (SLAs), and measure overall support team efficiency. 

Better ROI

The automation capacity typically provided by email ticketing platforms enables support teams to handle more tickets in less time, thereby improving productivity without increasing headcount. As a result, organizations can save on operational costs while delivering faster and higher-quality customer service.

In addition to operational savings, a well-managed support process ensures quicker resolutions, which often leads to happier customers who are more likely to return for repeat business. Loyal customers tend to have a higher lifetime value and are more likely to recommend a company to others, driving organic growth.

It’s often possible to integrate your ticketing software with other vital systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) and social media tools.

What are the best practices for using an email ticketing system?

While an email ticketing platform can provide the tools needed to efficiently manage customer inquiries, its ultimate success or failure depends on how well it’s utilized. Establishing clear guidelines for overseeing tickets and communicating with customers can elevate your solution from just another basic tool to a critical asset for customer service.

Some best practices that your organization can employ to maximize the potential of its email ticketing software include:

1. Embrace automation features

Email-based ticketing systems offer plenty of room for automation. Activities such as tagging, responding, and routing can all be automated to save time and resources. Expediting these routine tasks also serves to boost morale within your team by removing repetitive responsibilities from employees’ day-to-day regimens.

2. Prioritize and order customer emails

Ticketing software makes it easier to categorize and order customer queries as well. By breaking requests down into higher- and lower-priority tickets, team members can easily determine which issues are most urgent while employing a more logical, linear workflow. 

3. Make effective use of data

Effective ticketing platforms often provide a variety of reporting and analytics tools that can help display relevant information in a clear and understandable way. Teams can leverage these capabilities to gain a comprehensive overview of where they’re excelling and where they may be falling short, empowering them to make adjustments accordingly.

For example, if your dashboard indicates that your average resolution time is longer than expected, you might want to investigate why this is and possibly implement new self-service resources. 

4. Put your customers first

When implementing your email ticketing platform, it's important to ensure that it helps serve both your broader business objectives and customers’ needs. To verify that your solution remains effective over time, we suggest conducting regular surveys and soliciting feedback from users, as this can provide valuable insights into customer satisfaction levels.

Feedback forms are often included within the ticket or chat interface itself, allowing individuals to conveniently offer suggestions while the experience is still fresh in their minds.

5. Remember your SLA commitments

Email ticketing can help you meet the agreed-upon standards of service stipulated in your SLAs. All team members should remain aware of these agreements at all times and prioritize incoming tickets accordingly. Many ticketing solutions offer tools designed specifically for SLA management that can alert staff when they’re in danger of violating an agreement, enabling them to act accordingly. 

What are the key features of email ticketing software?

From organizing incoming requests to automating workflows, email ticketing software is designed to enhance both the efficiency and quality of support operations. However, it’s important to keep in mind that not all solutions are the same. Understanding the key features of these systems is crucial for businesses to select the right tool that meets their specific needs.

Let’s dive into some of the main attributes that different email ticketing platforms might offer:

Ticket conversion and management

Email ticketing software offers the functionality to convert customer messages into tickets with unique identifiers. This verifies that all communications from a particular customer appear in one place, making the tracking process much easier.

Easy email integration

Your ticketing system should be able to connect with common email applications like Outlook and Gmail. Integrations with external applications and systems enables support agents to respond to all customer queries, no matter which app they prefer.

Automated ticket assignment

Many email ticketing platforms offer the ability to set up customizable rules that automatically assign tickets to specific team members. For example, your routing rules might match technical queries with representatives that have IT-related skills and expertise. Alternatively, you may design your auto-routing to direct requests to the next available agent to speed up resolution times.

Analytics and reporting tools

Response times and customer satisfaction levels are a couple of common KPIs that companies often monitor when gauging their team’s performance. Your dashboards should be customizable and updated in real-time to ensure you’re receiving the right information at the right time.

Joined-up thinking

Advanced email ticketing solutions are typically highly integrable, providing the option to connect with other vital systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM) and social media tools.

Creating a knowledge base

A knowledge base acts as the cornerstone of any capable email ticketing system, providing a centralized repository where end-users can help themselves and support agents can access company knowledge more quickly. These bases generally house useful resources like FAQs, knowledge articles, and how-to guides, often eliminating the need to create a ticket at all.

Who can use email ticketing software?

Whether it’s responding to customer concerns, resolving technical issues, or managing administrative tasks, an email ticketing platform can provide the structure necessary to ensure that all incoming requests are addressed in an effective manner. The flexible nature of these solutions also allows them to be employed in a variety of different ways across distinct industries.

Some of the ways in which these systems might be leveraged within various sectors include:

Customer support teams

When customers send emails to support teams about issues such as order status, product defects, or refund requests, email ticketing software automatically converts these messages into tickets, categorizing them by type and urgency. By organizing requests systematically, agents can prioritize urgent issues, streamline their workflow, and provide timely responses.

HR

In an HR setting, employees often send emails regarding benefits enrollment, payroll discrepancies, and leave requests, which an email ticketing platform then converts into organized tickets. These solutions may also support the integration of other HR tools, such as performance management or onboarding platforms, allowing for a more cohesive approach to employee support.

IT

Automating the creation, categorization, and prioritization of tickets empowers IT teams to resolve issues more quickly, which is critical when incidents occur. Once all details are recorded, email ticketing systems can then route the request to an appropriate specialist, allowing teams to address issues systematically and minimize downtime.

Finance

Financial institutions typically receive numerous emails related to account inquiries, transaction issues, or loan processing queries. The structured approach made possible through email ticketing solutions verifies that critical issues, such as fraud alerts or transaction errors, are handled promptly, while less urgent requests are still managed in an organized manner as well.

Marketing

In marketing departments, email ticketing systems might be used to efficiently manage a variety of internal and external requests related to marketing campaigns, project approvals, and client inquiries. For example, when team members or external partners send emails requesting campaign materials, feedback on content, or approval for marketing initiatives, the ticketing system automatically converts these emails into organized tickets. 

Education

When students or staff encounter issues related to IT services, academic inquiries, or administrative tasks, they can send an email to a designated support address. For instance, a student having trouble accessing online coursework or experiencing technical difficulties can submit an email, which the system will route to the IT help desk for resolution.

Healthcare

For healthcare organizations, patients or caregivers can send emails related to appointment scheduling, prescription refills, or medical record requests, which the software will automatically convert into support tickets. These requests are then categorized and routed to the appropriate department, such as medical records, billing, or patient services.

Top 15 email to helpdesk ticketing systems in 2024

1. Freshdesk

Freshworks’ Freshdesk is a comprehensive help desk software, offering extensive omnichannel capabilities, wide-ranging automation features, robust security protocols, and much more to assist support teams in serving customers in a variety of different ways.

Its powerful ticketing system acts as the central component of the platform, providing valuable tools such as a unified team inbox, SLA management, and the ability to automatically convert emails into trackable tickets. Advanced AI-driven attributes also work around the clock to help gather and analyze vast amounts of information, thereby empowering businesses to leverage data-driven insights to adjust their strategies over time.

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 responses to common questions by creating preformatted replies

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 offers a wide-range of support options, enabling end-users to access assistance in whichever method they prefer. Self-service options like our AI-powered chatbot, knowledge base, and community forums serve as an initial line of defense, while escalation to human agents can be easily accommodated through our intelligent ticket assignment tool. Even better, the platform’s extensive omnichannel capacity empowers users to reach out on whichever channel they prefer.

Take it from one of our satisfied clients, Ben F., who lauds Freshdesk’s comprehensiveness and ticketing capabilities, saying, “Freshdesk has delivered a tremendous amount of functionality and features with a small price tag. Features such as canned responses or the AI powered "thank you detector" allow support agents to focus on solving customer problems rather than spending time doing administrative work. Additionally, robust automations and simple, yet effective tools such as ticket forms, ticket templates and scenario automations improve our resolution times and customer satisfaction.”

2. HelpScout

Help Scout is a customer communication platform that offers tools to help customer-facing teams provide better support. The platform includes a shared inbox, help center, live chat, and more.

Key features

• Shared inbox funnels all communications into a single, unified location that can be accessed via your desktop computer or mobile app

• Collision detection allows agents to see when a colleague is already working on a ticket, ensuring customers never receive duplicate responses

• AI summarize can quickly sum up long conversations, helping reps get up to speed quickly after an escalation or when handing off a case to a teammate

Pros

• Workflow automations can be leveraged to handle repetitive tasks like conversation routing or tagging high-priority cases

• Offers ability to create a help center with answers to FAQs, how-tos, and videos, while customizing its look and feel with your company logo and brand colors

• Internal notes and @mentions can be used to document case updates and collaborate with teammates 

Cons

• No ability to merge tickets together, creating heavier manual workloads when several users are experiencing the same issue

• Limited search functionality can make it challenging to track down specific tickets

• User reviews mention that lagging and bugs can hamper the user experience (UX) at times

Price

Help Scout’s Standard plan begins at $22 per user per month, while its Pro package starts at $65 per user per month

3. ZohoDesk

Zoho Desk is a cloud-based customer service software that helps businesses manage customer support and interactions. It offers a variety of features, including a ticketing system, HQ dashboard, and workflow automation.

Key features

• Reply assistant provides human agents with recommended responses to user inquiries, promoting consistency in answers and quicker replies

• Suggested articles offer recommendations for useful links to include in replies to users, allowing them to delve deeper into responses

• Private email threads serve to help collaborate with external partners and consultants, while private comments can be used to communicate with internal teams

Pros

• Users can manage multiple email addresses from a single interface

• Automated notifications serve to alert support agents of new activity on tickets

• Ability to organize emails based on criteria like time, status, and priority, ensuring agents are well-equipped to make more effective decisions

Cons

• Overabundance of features creates a convoluted interface that can be overwhelming for some users

• No ability to bulk upload information into the knowledge base, requiring heavier manual workloads

• Steep learning curve to customize the platform to unique business needs

Price

Standard plan begins at $14 per user per month, while Zoho’s Enterprise package will set you back $40 per user per month

4. Kayako

Kayako is a cloud-based help desk software that helps companies manage customer service and support departments. It allows support teams to manage conversations across multiple channels, such as email, live chat, Facebook, and Twitter.

Key features

• SingleView brings every interaction your customers have with your business into the help desk support ticketing system

• Canned responses provide predetermined replies to common questions, allowing reps to respond promptly to a high volume of questions

• Smart routing prevents multiple agents from responding to the same ticket by automatically combining all of a customer’s inquiries and routing them to one designated representative

Pros

• Offers customers the ability check the status of their tickets, see what activity has taken place, and add additional information

• Save time with end-to-end workflows that route conversations, answer common queries with one-click replies, and more

• Robust reporting and analytics allows managers to visualize their team’s workload and performance with at-a-glance dashboards for KPIs

Cons

• More expensive than comparable solutions, particularly for lower-tier packages

• Limited multilingual capabilities can make it difficult to offer support for global audiences

• Receiving email attachments can be hit-or-miss, particularly when they’re over 10 megabytes

Price

Essential plan begins at $39 per user per month, while you’ll need to reach out to Kayako directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise package

5. Zendesk

Zendesk is a cloud-based customer service platform that helps organizations improve customer experiences (CXs) and communication. It offers a variety of products and AI-features aimed at enhancing the UX for support agents and customers alike.

Key features

• AI agents serve to help customers resolve issues on their own across all of your channels

• Custom business rules allow users to initiate, add, or modify workflows that are triggered by ticket changes or time-based conditions

• Service level agreements assist in verifying that customer contracts and business goals are met through defined response and resolution times

Pros

• Sends customers a notification to confirm your support team received the request and that help is on the way

• 1,000+ prebuilt apps and integrations available from the Zendesk Marketplace

• Reduce ticket volume by offering access to help articles that empower customers and internal teams to share knowledge and find answers on their own

Cons

• Price and excess of features may not be ideal for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)

• Ability to customize contact forms is limited and they lack conditional logic

• Restricted reporting and analytics capacity, especially in lower-tier packages

Price

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

6. Front

Front serves as a digital platform that combines all work communication, including emails, apps, and conversations, into a single, unified inbox. It's designed to help teams collaborate more efficiently and can be used for a variety of different purposes, including ticket management.

Key features

• Customer histories provide a complete view of past conversations, enabling agents get up to speed on context and resolve new requests as efficiently as possible

• Automated workflows empower representatives to organize and prioritize conversations across all channels at scale

• Shared inboxes help manage all inbound messages from an intuitive, email-like interface

Pros

• Promotes clear ownership and accountability by automatically routing messages to the right team and assigning them to the right person

• Send personalized responses by @mentioning teammates to loop them in, aligning on next steps in comments, and drafting responses together

• Powerful search functionality allows reps to quickly find what they’re looking for with filters and keyword search

Cons

• Mobile app is rather limited in functionality, as users are often unable to replicate their performance on desktops

• Regular outages and downtime lead to frequent periods where end-users can’t submit tickets

• Upper-tier packages are extremely expensive compared to other similar software

Price

Starter plan begins at $19 per user per month, while its Premier package starts at $229 per user per month

7. HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub is a cloud-based platform that assists businesses in managing and monitoring customer service interactions. It offers a centralized location for managing customer inquiries, tracking tickets, and automating processes. 

Key features

• Powered by HubSpot’s Smart CRM to deliver more complete insights out of the box and unify customer-facing teams

• SLA management helps manage support team performance at scale and ensure agreed-upon standards of service are continually met or exceeded

• Customer portal empowers individuals to access assistance through a secure portal where they can track their support tickets and reduce time to resolution

Pros

• Team management tools help keep staff organized and productive by ensuring they can access the right tools

• Automated support features help eliminate unnecessary processes, allowing teams to focus on solving customer problems

• 360-degree insights empower support reps with context and feed valuable information back to sales and marketing teams

Cons

• Can be complex to use, requiring a steep learning curve, particularly for non-technical employees

• Overwhelming amount of features and customization options might be overkill for small- and medium-sized businesses, and complicate navigation for team members

• Ticket numbers not included in subject line of incoming messages, requiring agents to search on contact cards or within requests

Price

Hubspot’s Service Hub Professional plan begins at $90 per user per month, while its Service Hub Enterprise package starts at $150 per user per month

8. SalesForce Service Cloud

Salesforce Service Cloud is a CRM platform that helps organizations provide better customer service and support. It's built on the Einstein 1 Platform and leverages various AI tools to help businesses increase productivity and reduce costs.

Key features

• Swarming with Slack allows agents to instantly collaborate to solve cases, address incidents, and complete field service requests faster

• Help Center can be easily branded using clicks, not code, while enabling customers to find answers quickly by embedding a strong knowledge base for the most commonly asked questions

• Customer service AI offers conversational, predictive, and generative capabilities to provide relevant answers and create seamless interactions

Pros

• Drive efficiency and boost agent productivity with AI-generated summaries for any work, ticket, or interaction

• Guide agents with AI-generated next best actions crafted from your trusted data

• Agent productivity tools equip agents with instant access to a complete view of the customer, while also offering better data and insights

Cons

• No ready-to-go solutions for niche markets; the platform requires significant customization to mold to specific business needs

• Most advanced customization requires APEX coding, which can be difficult for even seasoned developers

• Reports can be challenging to create and understand without help from an administrator

Price

Salesforce’s Starter Suite begins at $25 per user per month, while its Enterprise package will set you back $165 per user per month

9. Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based collection of business applications that helps companies improve operational efficiency and control costs. It's designed to assist businesses in building sustainable operations, gathering valuable insights, and fostering improved relationships with customers.

Key features

• AI-based routing classifies issues and assigns them to the best-suited agent to increase first-contact resolution (FCR) rates

• Intelligent, conversational, and generative AI-driven chatbots can resolve customer issues in real-time

• Forecast reports allow organizations to plan for the right level of staffing based on seasonality, predicted number of cases, and conversational volume

Pros

• Offers more than 1,000 prebuilt flows and ability to add custom data connectors to your ecosystem to eliminate manual processes where applicable

• Easy to detect emerging trends and identify improvements across support topics, agent-customer interactions, and knowledge management

• Support teams can effectively communicate with customers in the language of their choice using real-time translation

Cons

• Implementation, integration, and staff training are all relatively complex compared to similar software

• Aimed at businesses who are already utilizing other software in the Microsoft suite of products, limiting its effectiveness for those that aren’t

• Customizing to fit your specific businesses needs can require significant investments in both time and resources

Price

Microsoft Dynamics’ 365 Customer Service Professional plan starts at $50 per user per month, while its Customer Service Premium package runs $195 per user per month

10. Hiver

Hiver is a customer service software that helps businesses manage support channels directly from their Gmail inbox. It can be used as a ticketing system, email management tool, and collaboration platform.

Key features

• AI summarizer transforms long email conversations into concise notes, preventing teams from having to read every response in an email thread

• Collision detection helps avoid duplicate responses by issuing real-time alerts when another team member is viewing or responding to a ticket

• SLA management monitors and ensures timely responses by ensuring tickets are resolved according to agreed-upon standards of service

Pros

• Shared drafts, email notes, and internal tagging empower teams to collaborate internally on customer requests

• Vast automation potential, as rules can be designated to automatically assign, tag, or prioritize tickets based on specific criteria

• Robust reporting and analytics capabilities enable companies to track key metrics like response time, ticket resolution rate, and CSAT

Cons

• Only allows users to manage conversations in Gmail and and doesn’t enable them to build third-party integrations

• Email filter can be wonky, sometimes letting spam in and other times filtering emails to the wrong section

• User reviews mention occasional lags when loading messages which can hamper the UX

Price

Hiver’s Lite plan begins at $19 per user per month, while you’ll have to reach out to Hiver directly for a custom quote on its Elite package

11. HappyFox

HappyFox is a cloud-based customer support platform that’s built around a help desk ticketing system. It also includes useful self-service features such as a knowledge base and community forums.

Key features

• Ticket queues allow businesses to add one or more rules to filter tickets based on priority and responsibility

• Categories sort all incoming tickets into different groups like customer support, sales, marketing, and billing

• Pinned tickets act as daily to-do lists, assisting teams in setting priorities and organizing their time better

Pros

• Quick actions available to help save time by directly changing ticket priority, status, due date, and assignees from the ticket list

• Ability to select related tickets and apply bulk actions like adjusting status and due dates

• Enhances internal communication by offering private notes that can notify and rope in support team members for a quick discussion

Cons

• Many of the most powerful features, such as asset management, are reserved for the top-tier plan

• Limited social media integration can restrict ability to reach users on the channels they utilize the most

• User interface (UI) is cluttered, making navigation and finding specific tickets challenging

Price

HappyFox’s Basic plan starts at $9 per user per month, while you’ll need to reach out to the company directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise PRO package

12. Intercom

Intercom acts as a customer service tool that helps companies resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently. It's designed to handle the demands of internet-based companies and includes a variety of features including internal collaboration features, an extensive help center, and a powerful ticketing system.

Key features

• Tracker tickets can share updates and resolve issues impacting many users with a single ticket

• Automated workflows serve to streamline actions like assigning ticket types to specific teams with a visual, no-code builder

• Side conversations empower reps to start a conversation with external partners from within the context of the customer interaction

Pros

• Send ticket forms through a bot or directly in your product to reduce the back-and-forth

• Assign back-office teams a separate ticket that allows for internal, private notes

• Convert a conversation to a ticket with a single click so agents can resolve the issue without losing context

Cons

• Unreliable search functionality which can lag or freeze, thus extending ticket resolution times

• Overabundance of features results in a convoluted interface that can complicate navigation

• Many user reviews mention a poor customer support experience when reaching out for assistance

Price

Intercom’s Essential plan begins at $29 per user per month, while its Expert package runs $132 per user per month

13. Jira Service Management

Jira Service Management is a ticketing system that helps teams manage incoming requests. It also excels in project management, assisting users in planning, tracking, releasing, and managing software products.

Key features

• Advanced forms enable teams to use a no-code editor and built-in templates to quickly collect information and resolve tickets

• Customized labels assist companies in categorizing and grouping tickets based on predefined criteria 

• Linking helps establish relationships between two or more issues, alerting teams to widespread issues and cutting down on response times

Pros

• Time-saving tools like ticket views, approval workflows, and automation enable teams to cut down on resolution times

• Choose from 1,000+ popular applications and integrations to customize the platform to meet your needs

• SLA management features ensure that the most important tickets are first in line with prioritized queues

Cons

• Rather basic set of features that can limit its usefulness for large organizations with complex requirements

• Lack of internal chat function may hinder collaboration between team members

• Restricted multilingual capacity makes it difficult to serve global or multicultural customer bases

Price

Jira Service Management is free for up to 3 agents, while you’ll need to contact it directly for a custom quote on its Enterprise package

14. BoldDesk

BoldDesk acts as a cloud-based help desk software that offers a ticketing system for customer support teams. It boasts a powerful set of features at a reasonable price, acting as a great solution for SMBs operating on a modest budget.

Key features

• Mutli-branded ticketing forms provide businesses managing more than one brand with the option to create a ticket form based on a specific one

• Spam control helps detect junk emails automatically to avoid creating unnecessary tickets

• Canned responses allow agents to reply to tickets quickly with frequently used response templates

Pros

• Offers the ability to combine two or more requests, as well as their attachments and messages, into a single ticket

• Quick actions are available to change category, status, assignee, and more without opening a ticket

• Internal collaboration tools, such as private tickets, private notes, and shared tickets, empower teams to work together more quickly to solve customer issues.

Cons

• Multilingual translation is unreliable, potentially leading to misunderstandings with global customers.

• Limited customization capacity can make it difficult to tailor the platform to match your brand identity.

• An extensive learning curve required to utilize all features, which can hinder its effectiveness effectively

Price

BoldDesk’s Scale plan begins at $25 per 3 users per month, while its Enterprise package will set you back $75 per 3 users per month

15. Gorgias

Gorgias is a customer support platform that includes a ticketing system for ecommerce businesses. It emphasizes a set of features aimed at online retail companies and one of its biggest draws is its deep integration with the ecommerce platform Shopify.

Key features

• AI-driven workflows help manage manual workloads by empowering teams to set rules to automatically prioritize and route tickets

• Fast-loading chat widget enables teams to interact with users directly from their website and automatically answer their questions with generative AI before they become tickets

• Revenue tracking serves to help monitor the impact of customer support efforts on sales

Pros

• Centralizes all information like previous conversations, orders, reviews, and subscription details for enhanced context

• Easily personalize responses with templates and custom ecommerce variables

• Robust omnichannel capacity allows teams to connect with users through email, live chat, social media, SMS, and more

Cons

• Packages can get expensive quickly for teams that handle a high volume of monthly support tickets

• Tunnel vision on ecommerce companies can limit its viability for businesses in other industries

• Reporting and analytics are basic and can be challenging to export

Price

You can use Gorgias’s pricing calculator offered on its website to determine your specific cost based on the volume of monthly tickets you’ll need to handle

How to choose the right email ticketing system for your business

With myriad email ticketing options available to you, it’s essential to evaluate the features, functionality, and scalability of different platforms to ensure they align with your unique business needs. From small companies handling a modest number of customer inquiries to large enterprises managing complex support workflows, finding the right solution requires a thoughtful approach. 

Factors to consider during your selection process include:

Ensure it is secure and is compliant

When assessing potential email ticketing platforms, look for providers that offer end-to-end encryption for both incoming and outgoing communications to ensure that sensitive information remains secure during transmission. Software should also provide robust user authentication, such as two-factor authentication (2FA) or single sign-on (SSO), to prevent unauthorized access to the system. 

Evaluate cost and predicted ROI

It’s essential to consider both the initial investment and ongoing expenses when breaking down the total cost of ownership (TCO) of email ticketing software. Many systems operate on a subscription-based pricing model, with costs varying depending on factors such as the number of users, feature sets, and storage needs. It's important to assess what your organization truly requires—some advanced features might come at a higher price, but may not be necessary for smaller teams. Don’t forget to check for hidden costs, such as fees for customer support, upgrades, or integrating with existing software.

SLA management

Be sure to seek out solutions that support customizable SLA rules, as these empower your organization to set time-based response and resolution targets for different types of inquiries. The system should provide automatic ticket prioritization based on these rules, verifying urgent or high-priority issues are addressed promptly. 

Tracking and reporting features are critical for effective SLA management as well. Software should offer real-time tracking of ticket statuses, allowing you to monitor agreed-upon performance standards and identify potential bottlenecks before they become issues.

Collaboration and communication tools

In an email ticketing system, features like internal notes and comments enable team members to communicate within a ticket without the customer seeing the conversation. This helps support staff discuss solutions or share updates privately while working together to resolve issues. Other collaboration features like shared inboxes or ticket queues can ensure that multiple team members have access to incoming requests, which can improve overall response times and service efficiency.

Make sure it is scalable to business needs

Scalable ticketing software should offer flexible pricing and feature plans that allow you to easily add more users, departments, or support channels without requiring a complete system overhaul. Look for cloud-based solutions that provide automatic updates and upgrades, ensuring that your system stays current with new features and performance enhancements.

Another key factor in scalability is the system’s ability to integrate with other technologies your business might adopt in the future. A flexible platform should seamlessly connect with third-party applications such as CRM software, project management tools, and analytics platforms. 

Workflow automations

Automation features that allow for the automatic assignment, categorization, and prioritization of requests are essential in an email ticketing platform. Tools that trigger notifications or escalations when tickets approach response deadlines or SLAs also help ensure that issues are resolved promptly and that no tickets slip through the cracks.

You should also consider the software’s ability to automate more complex workflows, such as integrating with external tools and systems. For example, the email ticketing solution should be capable of triggering actions in other platforms, like sending customer data to a CRM or creating a task in a project management tool. 

Out of the box analytics and reporting

Evaluating the reporting and analytics capabilities of an email ticketing platform requires determining how well the system provides actionable insights into your support operations. Look for software that offers a variety of pre-built reports, such as metrics on response times, resolution rates, and SLA compliance. This data should be easily accessible and presented in graphs or charts, allowing you to quickly assess team performance.

Additionally, be sure to verify that the solution allows you to filter data by different categories, such as time periods, departments, or customer types, so you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your service levels across various dimensions.

Check if it fits within your current infrastructure and can integrate with other software

Here, you’ll need to consider whether potential platforms can easily connect with the systems your company already relies on. Seek out solutions that support popular integration methods, such as APIs, webhooks, or native integrations, which allow seamless data flow between platforms.

Moreover, it’s important to ensure that potential systems are compatible with your current communication channels—email clients, chat systems, and other tools—so that it can work within your established workflows without causing disruptions.

Optimize your email ticketing for 2024 with Freshdesk!

Ready to streamline your customer support process? Freshdesk acts as one of the most comprehensive ticketing systems available on the market, offering an abundance of automation tools, collaboration features, reporting and analytics capacity, and more.

With Freshdesk, organizations can automatically convert emails into trackable support tickets that can then be managed collaboratively from a single team inbox. Once tickets have been created, workflow automation can also be leveraged to instantly categorize, prioritize, and route requests to the most appropriate agent, thereby expediting the entire resolution process. 

Even more, robust reporting tools like curated reports, custom reports, visual dashboards, and more can assist businesses in making data-driven decisions that help refine their approach over time. All the while, Freshdesk’s supreme flexibility allows companies to tailor the platform to fit their specific needs and scale services over time to grow alongside their evolving requirements.

• We’re confident that once you experience the power of Freshdesk for yourself, you won’t want to try anything else—sign up for a free trial or request a demo today!