The Number One Thing You Can Do To Resolve Your Support Issues Faster
It’s hard to think of a more anxiety-producing task than having to submit a support ticket. You just know you’re either going to wait on hold forever, or if you choose an online option, once you hit “submit” on the ticket, it enters an abyss and it will probably be years until you hear back, if ever. At least seem like forever. If only there were a way to get your support issues resolved faster! There is. And it is so simple: details. By providing the most details you can when submitting a support issue, the faster your issue will be resolved. Really, there is no such thing as too much information.
Instructions
For many support personnel, the first thing they do when trying to fix a problem, is replicate the problem. If they can re-create the problem, they can see how the problem was caused and then reverse engineer to determine a solution. If you submit a support ticket without explicit instructions on how to create the problem, many support people will spend time experimenting and guessing how to make it happen, eating up time that could have been better spent resolving the problem.
Visuals
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, a picture can be worth a thousand minutes. Include screenshots of your issue so that the person working to resolve your problem has a visual reference. (Sometimes words are not enough). So for example, if you have a broken link on a web page, include the full url link in the description and a screenshot of the page that is broken. Send samples. If a report is not printing correctly, scan the report and circle the incorrect items. If it is a Dynamics NAV page or report that is giving you trouble, provide the exact the page number. (You can look it up by going to the little downward pointing triangle in the upper left of every page in NAV and then choosing Help -> About This Page.)
Subject Lines
A descriptive subject line is helpful for support to prioritize your issue. If you send in your ticket via an online method, be specific and descriptive in your subject line. For example, you want to say something such, “Error uploading ThisFile.csv to my database.” Not: “I really need help!” A detailed subject line will help them triage the issue, and get your problem in front of that expert quicker than sitting in a queue of “general problems”. Not to mention, it will help you keep track of your issue as many ticketing systems use the same subject line for email replies.
Contact Information
Provide as many different ways for a support person to get in touch with you, or the person who needs help. Often it is not the person who needs help who submits the help ticket. We sometimes see requests such as, “John in accounting needs help.” With no way to contact John. If whoever had submitted the ticket had instead said, “John Smith in accounting needs help issuing invoices in NAV 2017. He can be reached at 555-1234 or john@smith.com.” Chances are, the issue is going to be resolved much faster than anticipated. The support person does not have to spend time tracking down John and figuring out what his problem is, and instead can work on resolving John’s invoicing issue.
While this may seem like intuitive advice, when we are stressed and frustrated, we often forget to take the time to ask for help in the most constructive way. We all want our issues resolved quickly and by taking a deep breath and providing as many details as possible on the front end of the request, the faster the resolution is for everyone.
For more information on the various support services ArcherPoint provides, please visit our website. For any specific support need, please contact our support center at Support@archerpoint.com or call 1-866-462-4170, option 2.