Introduction
As your company expands and grows, the volume of support tickets will also constantly increase. This places a great deal of stress on your support team leading to agent stress and burnout. Your customers are also frustrated due to the long wait time, leading to a bad overall customer experience.
Though avoidable, this chain reaction might have significant negative effects on your support function. To resolve this, support teams in such growing companies turn to ticket deflection through self-service options. Ticket deflection allows customers to help themselves and relieves your support agents of some of this workload.
In this article, We will look at how using AI for automated ticket deflection and resolution can lower the number of incoming tickets and improve customer satisfaction.
What is Ticket Deflection?
Ticket deflection is a customer service strategy that reduces the number of support tickets by guiding customers towards self-service resources. With the help of chatbots, community forums, knowledge bases, FAQ pages, and in-app tutorials, businesses can empower customers to help themselves without the need to reach out to support.
Ticket deflection is a customer service strategy that reduces the number of support tickets by guiding customers towards self-service resources. With the help of chatbots, community forums, knowledge bases, FAQ pages, and in-app tutorials, businesses can empower customers to help themselves without the need to reach out to support.
Ticket deflection is widely used by support teams across Customer support, IT, HR, Facilities, Sales, etc. By implementing ticket deflection, support teams can reduce their workload, improve response times, and enhance the overall customer experience by providing immediate and accessible solutions.
How has Ticket Deflection evolved?
Ticket deflection has evolved from simple FAQ pages to sophisticated AI-powered solutions. Initially, businesses relied on static knowledge bases and community forums to provide answers to common questions. While effective to some extent, these resources lacked the interactive and real-time assistance customers often needed.
AI-Powered Ticket Deflection
AI Ticket Deflection refers to using solutions such as AI-enabled chatbots, smart search on support portals, etc. to instantly guide customers to the right solutions. This reduces the need for customers to search through multiple KB articles or wait in line for a human agent to attend to their query.
AI Ticket Deflection allows support teams to offer more dynamic and personalized support. This reduces incoming tickets and frees up support agents to focus on complex tasks. AI-powered solutions offer accurate and relevant responses and can learn from past interactions to get even better.
A Gartner study on AI in customer service predicts that AI will deflect 85% of customer service interactions by 2030, leading to significant cost savings.
Examples and Use Cases of Ticket Deflection
- Knowledge bases and FAQs: Having an extensive knowledge base and FAQ section on your support website will assist users in finding answers to frequent queries. For example, if a customer wants to reset his account password, he can avoid contacting support thanks to a step-by-step guide in your KB resources.
- Community Forums: Community forums allow customers to post queries and share knowledge. Ticket deflection can be achieved with such peer-to-peer support collaboration. For example, SaaS firms run community forums to host discussions product features, bugs, new releases, and other software problems.
- AI-Powered Chatbots: Deploying chatbots to handle simple inquiries in real-time. For example, an e-commerce site might use a chatbot to answer questions about orders or returns. This would deflect tickets from the support queue. Studies show that AI-based conversational assistants can increase productivity by 14% for support agents.
- Interactive in-app tutorials: Applying interactive tutorials in your app will help users navigate common features and processes. For example, a SaaS company can cut down on onboarding-related support inquiries by helping users to walk through the process of setting up their accounts or navigating essential features.
- Automated Email Reactions: Configuring automated email replies for frequently asked questions. For instance, clients who email a support address with questions about order tracking get an automated response right away that includes instructions and a link to the order tracking website.
- Mobile App Support: Self-service options for mobile app users to help themselves. For example, a banking app has a mobile support portal that offers guidance on account resets, verification, KYC, etc.
What is Automated Ticket Resolution?
Automated Ticket Resolution is a method that aims to automatically handle and resolve support tickets without human intervention. This involves analyzing incoming tickets, categorizing them, and applying predefined solutions based on the nature of the issue.
This can be done by suggesting solutions from the knowledge base or performing automated actions, such as password resets or troubleshooting steps. This approach is utilized by various support teams to enhance efficiency, reduce response times, and ensure consistent and accurate resolutions, ultimately leading to a better support experience for both agents and customers.
How has Automated Ticket Resolution evolved?
Automated ticket resolution has also evolved from basic automated responses to more advanced AI-driven workflows. Initially, auto resolution in customer support was limited to scripted responses and rule-based systems. While these solutions could handle repetitive tasks, they lacked the ability to learn and adapt to new queries.
Automated ticket resolution using AI
With the progress in machine learning models, AI-driven support ticket resolution has become more intelligent and capable of handling a broader range of issues. AI-driven ticket resolution solutions can now understand context, predict customer needs, and provide accurate resolutions, all while continuously learning from each interaction to improve over time.
Examples and Use Cases of Auto Resolution
- Automated Ticket Categorization: Incoming tickets can automatically be categorized based on content, intent and urgency. For example, a finance team can categorize tickets into payroll, contractor payments, and refunds. This ensures they are transfered to the right agent and get resolved quickly.
- Instant Responses with AI: You can offer Gen AI answers to frequently asked customer queries by retrieving information from KB resources. For example, an ecommerce brand can set up AI chatbots to instantly respond to inquiries about customer specific order details and delivery tracking.
- Predictive Issue Resolution: You can now have the ability to predict and resolve issues before they even arise and escalate. For example, an IT help desk can use AI to monitor system performance and notify users of account expiry or software updates.
AI in customer support automation
AI has been reshaping customer support by automating repetitive tasks, reducing response times, providing great self-serve options and improving overall support efficiency. Using advanced algorithms, AI is personalizing interactions to each customer’s preferences, fostering stronger relationships and enhancing experiences.
AI support solutions are great as they scale effortlessly with your growing support needs, while ensuring high-quality service standards. They give you the ability to provide 24/7 availability, so that customers receive help whenever they need it, day or night, which significantly boosts customer satisfaction.
The need to adopt AI in customer support has never been more pressing. With the rapid pace of technological advancements, especially the breakthrough of Generative AI with ChatGPT in November 2022 has started this new wave. Companies are rapidly adopting Gen AI solutions and as a result the customer expectations have also increased.
These AI-powered solutions not only allow companies to meet the evolving demands of customers but also give them a competitive edge, helping them stay ahead in the market.
According to Forbes, 56% of companies have already adopted AI in their customer support operations, recognizing its potential to transform how they manage customer interactions.
Key AI Solutions for Ticket Deflection and Resolution
Comparison Table: Traditional vs. AI-Driven Support Ticket Deflection Methods
| Method | Traditional Support Ticket Deflection | AI-Driven Support Ticket Deflection |
| Chatbots and Virtual Assistants | Limited to basic, rule-based responses. Cannot handle complex queries. | Provides instant, personalized responses. Integrates and retrieves info from your KB and other systems. Handles complex queries, initial triage and troubleshooting. |
Knowledge Base Optimization | Static and manually updated KB resources. Cannot identify gaps and improve based on support tickets. | Can identify gaps and suggest changes to KB articles to always keep them up to date. Ensures easy access to accurate and relevant information. |
Smart Search Functionality | Basic search capabilities that provide a list of relevant articles for users to navigate through. | Smart search that gives direct, Gen AI answers to customer queries. This eliminates the need for customers to read through relevant articles. |
Self-Service Customer Portals | Customer portals with basic FAQs and static knowledge articles. Difficult for customers to navigate and find relevant information. | Customer portals that provide personalized recommendations based on past history and intent to significantly reduce the volume of incoming tickets. |
Comparison Table: Traditional vs. AI-Driven Support Ticket Resolution Methods
| Method | Traditional Ticket Resolution | AI-Driven Ticket Resolution |
Automated Ticket Categorization & Routing | Manual categorization and routing, often leading to delays and errors. | Automatically categorize and route tickets based on content and urgency. Ensuring quick handling by the right personnel. |
| Sentiment Analysis | Manual evaluation of customer messages. Time-consuming and leads to bias and errors. | Evaluate the tone and emotion, prioritize urgent or sensitive issues, and ensure critical cases receive immediate attention. |
| Instant Responses | Delayed responses due to manual handling. | Instant responses to common queries by pulling information from the knowledge base. Auto resolves the ticket without support intervention. |
| Predictive Issue Resolution | Reactive problem-solving, often leading to escalated issues. | Predicts and resolves issues before they escalate, such as monitoring system performance and automatically addressing common problems like password resets or software updates. |
Since implementing HappyFox, Sonny’s BBQ has seen a notable overall reduction in the volume of internal and brand support tickets. This decrease can be attributed to the system’s robust automation capabilities and the effective use of business intelligence to preempt and resolve issues more efficiently.
Sonny’s BBQ
Implementing Ticket Deflection and Resolution Strategies with AI
Successful implementation of AI-powered ticket deflection and resolution strategies often involves several key steps:
Salesforce study on AI in customer service suggests that companies that are leveraging AI are seeing an average of 20% faster resolution times.
Measuring the Success of Ticket deflection strategies with AI
Deflecting tickets with AI is just the beginning. However, it’s important to measure its success for your specific use cases. It helps us understand AI’s impact and ensures ongoing improvement. Monitoring KPIs demonstrates how well AI solutions reduce the number of tickets received. We can also observe how successfully they increase customer satisfaction and resolution efficiency. Here are a few key metrics to track –
Ticket Deflection Ratio: (Ticket Deflection Ratio =Number of Self-Service Views/ Number of Support Tickets) Measures effectiveness of self-service resources.
Some of the other ways to measure include –
- First-Contact Resolution Rate: Higher rates indicate quick, accurate responses.
- Average Handling Time (AHT): Reduced AHT shows efficient ticket resolution.
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Scores: Higher scores reflect positive customer experiences.
- Return on Investment (ROI): Evaluates financial benefits of AI implementation.
- Self-Service Engagement Metrics: Tracks views, unique users, and session durations for self-service tools.
AI-Powered Ticket Deflection with HappyFox
HappyFox is a premier provider of AI-driven customer and employee support solutions, dedicated to delivering exceptional support experiences.
HappyFox offers a suite of AI tools specifically designed to enhance ticket deflection and resolution strategies. These solutions not only improve self-service capabilities for customers but also boost productivity for support agents and managers.
Here’s how HappyFox’s AI-powered tools can transform your support operations:
Conclusion
AI-powered ticket deflection and resolution strategies present a great opportunity for businesses to improve their customer support operations. You can now easily handle higher ticket volumes more efficiently, reduce costs, and improve overall customer experience.
As you consider implementing AI in your support processes, remember that success often comes from a thoughtful, phased approach. Start small, focus on high-impact areas, and continuously refine your strategies based on performance data and customer feedback.
Ready to explore how AI can transform your customer support? Contact HappyFox today to learn more about our AI-powered support solutions.
