Customer Support

Customer Support

Customer Support - An Overview

Zoho CRM provides the Customer Support & Service management (Help Desk) features, such as Cases (Trouble tickets), Solutions (Knowledge base), Case Routing & Escalation through Workflow rules, and easy to deploy Web-to-Case forms for capturing customer-specific cases through Websites. In addition, you can synchronize customer-specific email messages as Cases from Microsoft Outlook mail client to the Cases module in Zoho CRM.

The Cases and Solutions functionality can be used to streamline organization-wide Customer Support processes by integrating Sales & Customer Support in a single system. Integration between Sales and Post-sales support management helps organizations in resolving the customer reported cases in the least possible time, enhancing customer satisfaction and allowing for more cross-selling and up-selling opportunities in future.

Cases refer to the feedback received from the customers on various issues pertaining to the use of products or services.

Solutions refer to the resources within the organization that enables solving repetitive problems encountered by customers.

Working with Solutions

Over a period of time, direct customer support helps your organization to build a rich knowledge base for future reference. A Knowledge Base in the form of solutions (also called as articles or frequently asked questions) that enables your organization to solve the repetitive problems encountered by customers using limited resources. The Solutions module in association with Cases is very useful for organizations that are mainly focusing on post-sales support, particularly technology and knowledge-based industries.

Availability
Permission Required
Users with permission to View, Create, Edit, and Delete permissions in the Solution module can access the feature.

Standard Fields in Solutions

Following are the list of Zoho defined standard fields available in the Solutions module:

Field Name
Description
Data type
Maximum Limit
Solution Number
Displays the case ID after creating a solution
Number
16 digit
Solution Title*
Specify the subject of the solution.This field is mandatory
Text box
Alphanumeric (255)
Solution Owner
Select the name of the user to whom the solution is assigned.
Pick list
-
Product Name
Select the name of the product to which the solution has to be associated.
Lookup
-
Question*
Specify the Question. This field is mandatory
Text box, Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric (255)
Answer*
Specify answer or solution for the question. This field is mandatory
Text Area
-
Status
Specify the status of the solution.
Pick list
-
Created By
Displays the name of the person who first created the solution.
Date/Time format
 
Last Modified By
Displays the name of the person modified the solution.
Date/Time format
 
Description
Specify any other details about solution.
Text box
32000 characters
Comments
Specify additional comments about the solution.
Text box
32000 characters

Creating Solutions

In Zoho CRM, you can create solutions by:
  1. Entering data in the solution details form: You can manually fill in the Solution details gathered from various external sources.
  2. Importing solutions from external source: You can gather data through various sources and import the CSV and XLS format files into Zoho CRM.
Note
  1. Some of the standard fields may not be visible or editable depending on your organization's business process.
  2. In case you want to add or modify fields, please contact your System Administrator for more details on the usage of other fields.

Create Solutions Individually

You can create solutions individually by using the following:
  1. Filling in the details in the solution creation form.
  2. Cloning the solution with few changes in the existing record.
Note
  1. By default, the person who creates the solution will own it.
  2. To change owner, click the Change link in the Solution Owner field from the Solution Details page and select another user.

To create solutions individually

  1. In the Solutions module, click New Solution.
  2. In the Solutions Home page, enter the solution details. (Refer to the table below)
  3. Click Save.

To clone solutions

  1. Click the Solutions tab, click a particular solution that you want to be cloned.
  2. In the Solution Details page, click Clone.
  3. In the Clone Solution page, modify the required solution details. (Refer to the table below)
  4. Click Save.
Note

  1. You can add comments only in the edit mode.
  2. The Add Comment field will not be available while creating the solution.

Attach Documents to the Solution

You can attach additional documents to the solution.
To attach documents
This feature allows you to attach documents, spreadsheets and presentations to the solution. You can attach them in the following ways:

Working with Cases

In the world of Internet, online Customer Support has become an integral part of the organizations' business process. Customer Support is an important activity in all types of product and service industries. In general, case trouble tickets are used to capture customer feedback on various types of issues that arise after purchasing a product or service from your company. Sometimes customers provide good feature requests using this platform, that may be useful when developing future product or service enhancements.

Availability
Permission Required
Users with permission to View, Edit, and Delete the Cases Tab can access the Cases module.

Typical Case Management Process

  1. Customize the fields in the Case page according to your organization's Customer Support process (You may use the existing fields, disable some of the fields, or add new custom fields).
  2. Set up the case generation process by completing the Case form, importing the case data from external sources, or capturing cases directly from your Website using Web-to-Case form.
  3. Assign cases to the correct users using the workflow rules.
  4. Follow-up on cases until resolutions are sent to the customers.
  5. Once the resolution is working fine, add the solution to the publicly accessible Solutions module for future reference.

In Zoho CRM, cases can be generated through a phone call, email, or from the website. You can also generate cases from customer specific e-mails in Microsoft Outlook using the Zoho CRM Plug-in for MS Outlook.  See Also   Plug-in for Microsoft Outlook

Standard fields in the Cases module 

Following are the list of Zoho defined standard fields available in the Cases module:
In Zoho CRM, you can create cases by:

    • Related Articles

    • Block Spammers

      You might face many spammers and harassers who try to fake a genuine chat and trick your operator into wasting their time and resources. Most spammers will try to gain your operator's trust by sounding like an actual customer but eventually trick ...

    • Defining Departments inside Zoho SalesIQ

      To better organize your Support operation, and maximize the ability to connect with customers, we made it easy to create Departments within your Zoho SalesIQ. Add all your customer supporting departments inside Zoho SalesIQ, and each Department can ...

    • Introduction to Zoho CRM

      Introduction to Zoho CRM What is CRM? Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can be defined in many ways depending on what an individual intends to achieve. For some, it is the strategy to identify, understand, manage, and cater to the business needs ...

    • How to add a GC bot to your IM channel

      Let's create a bot that will help you attend to your customers around the clock. Bots work all day every day to provide your customers with comprehensive support— they can effectively respond to customers, ask the right questions at the right time, ...

    • Troubleshooting

      Troubleshooting integration of Zoho CRM with Zoho Advanced Analytics 1. Why am I unable to integrate Zoho Advanced Analytics with Zoho CRM? Make sure that you have admin privilege before integrating Zoho Analytics with Zoho CRM. The integration of ...