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Using the Help Desk

Overview


To help you better communicate with your customers, ProductCart is equipped with an issue reporting and tracking system. This means that you can now count on a customer relationship management system to help you more productively manage customer service on your store.
 
  • Communicate with customers through an organized ticket system
  • Keep messages associated with the order to which they pertain
  • Manage unlimited tickets and quickly review all messages related to the same ticket
  • Allow customers to upload graphics and documents after they have placed an order, by attaching files to a new ticket

Customers will be able to open a ticket (e.g. to ask a question, inquire about the expected shipping date for an order, etc.) from their account area, when view information about a previous order. When they submit a new ticket or post a new message within an existing ticket, the store administrator is notified via email.
 

Handling Help Tickets in the Control Panel


In the Control Panel, there are two ways to view, edit, and create Help Desk tickets:
  • On an order by order basis, when viewing details for an order. First locate an order (Orders > Locate an Order), then click on View/Post messages and files to view a list of messages related to the selected order.
  • On a store-wide basis, you can view all tickets submitted within a certain date range. Select Orders > Help Desk: View All Postings. Use the input fields to specify a date range, and enter the number of products to be displayed on each page.
 

General Help Desk Settings


There are a few settings that affect the way messages are posted on the store. From the Settings menu, select Manage Help Desk.
 
View/Edit Message Type Settings
When a new posting is added a message type can be selected (e.g. is it a question, a problem, a complaint?). Here you can set the entries that will be displayed in the corresponding drop-down menu. When viewing messages you will be able to sort them by type.

The message type can either be shown using text or an image. If you want to use images, check the option Show Message Type Images and enter the image file name when creating a new type. By default the system uses text.
 
View/Edit Message Status Settings
When a ticket is first created, the system by default it will assign it an Open status. Here you can add a number of other statuses (e.g. pending, review, escalated, etc.).

When viewing messages you will be able to sort them by status. The message status can either be shown using text or an image. If you want to use images, check the option Show Message Status Images and enter the image file name when creating a new status. By default the system uses text.
 
View/Edit Message Priority Settings
When creating a new ticket a priority level can be assigned to it (e.g. an important issue vs. just a comment). Here you can edit the list of default priorities and add new ones. When viewing messages you will be able to sort them by priority.

To add a new message, click on the Write a Message text link or Add New Message button wherever they appear in the Help Desk pages. In most cases, a link or button is located at the bottom of the page. The following screen will be shown to you.

If you need to attach any files with the message, click on To upload file(s) click here and use the built-in upload tool to move the files to the Web server. You can attach multiple files to a message.

For security reasons only *.txt, *.htm, *.html, *.gif, *.jpg, *.pdf, *.doc and *.zip file types can be uploaded.


Once you are done attaching files, if any, fill out the rest of the form.
  • Order #. Select the order to which this message should be associated. When a customer is posting a message, only orders that he/she placed will be shown in the drop-down.
  • Message Type. Select the type of message that you are adding (e.g. comment vs. issue).
  • Priority. Assign a priority to the message.
  • Short Description. This is the message title. It will be included in the email notification that is sent to the customer (or to you if the customer is posting a message).
  • Long Description. This is the message body. Use the HTML editor to format the message. The message itself is not sent via email. The notification email will only include the Short Description and a link to the message.
 

Help Desk E-mail Notifications


If you are writing a message, the customer will be notified via email. If the customer is writing a message, you will. In both cases, the email contains information about when the ticket was opened, by whom, which order it relates to, when it was last updated, and what its status and priority are.