There are a lot of different features that come with customer support software. Agent and manager tools can range from communications modes like voice and text to report generators that gather data analytics into meaningful presentations. One feature that is not discussed much, however, is tagging.
Tagging is a popular element that agents and managers may overlook because of its simplicity. Regardless of how complex one may see it, the features is nonetheless powerful and can help call centers absorb entire customer populations at a glance. It works by allowing customers to append tags – individual words or phrases – to their support inquiries such as those submitted through an online portal. Tags regarding a specific piece of software could resemble something like “CRM,” “data speed,” or “hidden menu.” These all give customer service reps a quick look at what an underlying question will address.
From there, business reps could look at the “CRM” tag (News - Alert) and know that the question will have something to do with a piece of software. If that company in question develops several types of software, for instance, the tag could easily separate its CRM from their database management products. That sort of grouping paves the way for specific reports that may be of interest to the call center itself or its accompanying marketing, sales, HR, and other business departments. A recent blog post at TeamSupport spoke about this topic and has a list of several other benefits of using tags to mark their customers.
First, as mentioned before, tags can give users a quick lay of the land. For agents, the blog post continues, this means they can look at their tags for the day and know exactly what lies before them. Rather than blindly entering a group of 100 support tickets, agents can see the paths ahead of them. Interactive tags in customer service software can also allow agents to click tags and see how similar questions have been answered before. Those two pieces of guidance can help speed up the process of getting through all the tickets assigned in a day.
Reports through the same customer support software can address issues that tags highlight. Looking through the list of tags for the past three months, a manager could see that “hidden menu” came up more than its fair share of times. That could mean that part of the business's software was confusing and that a menu was hard to access. In company meetings that follow, software developers can see reports that include that information and make their next product upgrade better with such info in mind.
Sales and marketing teams can also benefit through reports that show trending tags. Not all support tickets mean something has gone wrong. Tags can indicate a user's focus or interest, and marketing teams can capitalize on group interests by addressing them directly in campaigns.
Finally, there is also the ability for managers to use tags to identify stand-out agents. As an example, if one rep is great at answering questions with the tag “data speed,” that agent's manager could tell the customer support software to route as many of those questions to the rep as possible. All these benefits added together shows that tags, although simple, can transform a business from one that works hard to one that works intelligently.
Edited by Maurice Nagle