Here at RJMetrics(a Magento Company), we have a team dedicated to the success of our customers: the Customer Success Team (not the most original name, I know, but it works for us). This team is composed of bright, hardworking, orange-clad account managers and analysts dedicated to ensuring our clients can successfully leverage our platform for their business.

If you've been following along with the blog posts from our team, you probably saw Sal's post on the history of our support universe. This week, I want to dig into the process we use for managing what happens after someone click's "submit" to provide a look at the life of a support ticket and how we've improved that process for both clients and our team.

A Long, Long Time Ago

When we originally spun up our support system, our support ticket queue was the wild, wild, west. Tickets would come in and an analyst would grab them and try to solve as many as possible. There was no clear way to get the ticket to the best person available or to solve simple requests quicker than large, cumbersome requests. Something had to change.

Forming an Efficient Intake Process

We designed a clear ticket intake process to manage incoming tickets. Now, the second you submit your request, it's added to our "New Tickets" queue. How long a ticket is in that queue depends on a number of factors, including volume of tickets in the queue, time of day, and day of week. Our help center operates Monday through Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00pm ET. During those hours, tickets are removed from the queue in the order they came in. One by one, your ticket moves towards the front of the line until it gets a first response.

Enter, the Triager

Instead of the "New Tickets" queue being a grab bag for analysts, the first response to a ticket now comes from a triager, a member of our analyst team (like myself) who's responsible for managing the "New Tickets" queue. Support tickets come in all shapes and sizes, so the first thing the triager decides is which Customer Success team can best handle the request, and directs it to that team.

• Account Managers (AM) - Our account managers are experts in contracts, account orientation, our product offerings, and best practices for using our tools. First Response: The triager loops in an account manager to assist you one-on-one with the request.
• Data Analysis Services (DAS) - These analysts are skilled in using RJMetrics to solve your larger business questions, especially when you aren't sure where to start. First Response: Most subscriptions include a specific number of Data Services requests. The triager will inform you how many requests you have left and confirm you'd like to use one. Once you confirm, they'll send it to the DAS team.
• Data Warehouse Analysts (DW) - This is where the majority of tickets are handled. These analysts handle topics like data discrepancies, advanced calculated columns, report building questions, and questions about your update cycles. Tickets meant for the DW team have two potential first responses.
  • The Quick Solve. This is my favorite part of triaging, and one of the additions that greatly improved our support process. If a ticket includes all of the pertinent details for solving the issue, the triager will solve it on the spot. First and last response all in one. (We have a friendly internal competition on quick solve percentage. So, if you're a client, please include all necessary information so I can beat Akash. And you’ll get your answer sooner–win-win.)
  • First Response. If additional information is needed to solve the request, the triager will ask any relevant clarifying questions, and loop in a member of the DW team to assist.
• Professional Services (PS) - This team handles analyses that fall outside the bounds of a standard subscription. They leverage their expertise to untap your analytical potential by enhancing and expanding upon their use of RJMetrics and the products of our partners. First Response: The triager will put you in contact with Professional Services, who will begin to scope out the request.

And Finally, the Resolution

Now that the ticket is with the best person, it can be worked on one-on-one with you until resolution. As I mentioned earlier, tickets come in all shapes and sizes, so this is where the life of each ticket varies. Some tickets only require an hour for an analyst or account manager to research the best solution. Some tickets require a few emails or a phone call to achieve resolution. Larger requests, usually DAS or PS tickets, could take longer as our team collaborates with you to build the perfect analysis.While the life of each ticket varies in length, the Customer Success team is always dedicated to getting you the best response in the most efficient way possible.

I fully anticipate that we'll have more learnings as we continually aim to improve our processes. If you have any feedback on our experiences (or some of your own) – I'd love to hear it!

P.S. If you take away one thing from this blog post, it’s that I need to beat Akash, so please include as much information as possible in your support tickets–which will also lead to quicker responses for your questions.