Service Tip: Checking on related requests

- A PIM tip by Michael Warden

In our last review of our Code Blues we had an interesting item come up.  A user was frustrated when they received our automatic notification from Zendesk that their request was resolved. Apparently, there was another open ticket and they were anxious to hear from us.  Not getting an update when at the same time getting a satisfaction survey created a disappointed customer.  

This was an interesting case - it’s something that is preventable, as anyone in MSIS can see all active requests in Zendesk.  It’s not part of our standard work to check on other open requests, though, so we thought that might be worth considering.  Before we dive in, though, is this a problem that has shown up elsewhere or was this a one time occurrence?

To check this, we looked back over all of the Code Blues since June 1 - the last three months.  In there, we found the following when looking to see if there were other open tickets that created confusion or a less than perfect customer experience:

Month	Code Blues	Related to Multiple Tickets	Percentage
June 2014	20	3	15%
July 2014	21	0	0%
August 2014	15	4	27%
September 2014 (partial data)	4	1	25%
Total	60	8	13%

So, a little more than 1 in every 10 Code Blues had another ticket open at the time.  This isn’t enough for us to change everything we do, but we thought it would help to show the data and open up the discussion across the organization.  

Some possible countermeasures:

1. Use Zendesk to check if there are other open tickets

It’s very easy to use Zendesk - through one click - to see if there is anything else open.  All you have to do is click on the user’s name in the upper left side of the screen and you will see all other tickets associated with them.

2. Ask them if there is anything else they are waiting to hear from us on

This is a natural way to wrap up the conversation, with phrases like “Is there anything else MSIS is working on I can help you with?” or “Is there anything I can check on progress for you?”.  This may often result in a ‘no, that’s all today’ but it opens the chance for helping them on these tickets.

3. Include a reference to other requests in your confirmation of resolution

When we ask customers if they are all set, remind them they can mention any other active requests.  

Through these little things, we can hopefully see better customer experiences and a better relationship with all of their service needs.

Hope this helps!

Michael