Ticket Handling: Best Practices for Better Support

When I was a new customer support manager, I was part of a team and company that had an established process for handling inbound tickets. 

That meant I didn’t need to implement a tool or define processes from scratch — but over the past several years, I have had to constantly redefine, reinvent, and iterate on our ticket handling process as our team and business have changed.

Sound familiar?

If not — say you’re a new customer support manager at an early-stage startup — then one of your biggest challenges is creating a reliable system for managing customer service tickets. It’s mission critical, because how you handle incoming support requests makes or breaks your customer experience.

In this guide, I'll walk you through ticket handling best practices — from how to prioritize and categorize tickets to tips for improving the overall ticket resolution process. Plus, you’ll have actionable insights you can apply to your team.

But as Simon Sinek says, let’s start with why. 

Why effective ticket handling matters

When a customer submits a ticket, whether it’s a simple inquiry or a critical issue, how that ticket is managed will shape the customer's perception of your company. Ticket handling also impacts agent productivity, as it is key to smooth operations and scaling your customer support.

Effective ticket handling has these benefits:

• Higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. At its core, customer support is about delivering timely, helpful, and empathetic solutions to your customers' problems. A recent Salesforce study shows that nearly 90% of buyers say customer experience matters as much as products or services. Efficient ticket handling allows you to show that your company values customer concerns, which leads directly to higher satisfaction rates and long-term loyalty.

• Improved response and resolution times. A well-organized system, with clear categories and priorities, allows support agents to focus on the right tasks at the right time, reducing overall response and resolution times. Hubspot’s data shows that 90% of customers expect an immediate response when they have a support issue, with 60% defining “immediate” as 10 minutes or less. An efficient ticket-handling process can help meet these expectations and avoid unnecessary delays that could harm customer experience.

• Increased agent productivity. When your ticket-handling process is clear and organized, your support agents spend less time figuring out what to do next and more time actually solving problems. Efficient support teams not only handle tickets faster but can also focus on more complex issues, leading to higher job satisfaction and a lower turnover rate.

• Better data. Effective ticket handling gives managers the data they need to improve support processes over time. Tracking ticket types, resolution times, and customer satisfaction (CSAT) allows you to identify common pain points and recurring issues so you can address problems proactively. Continuous improvement is key to a successful support operation. 

• Better reputation and more brand trust. Your support team is the frontline of your business, and effective ticket handling creates a customer experience built on reliability and responsiveness. The opposite is also true.

These benefits lead to a support team that can become a key driver of customer loyalty and business success.

What does an effective ticket-handling system look like?

An effective ticket-handling system will vary between organizations, but the bones will be the same and usually include the following workflows or steps:

• The ticket comes into support. A customer contacts support through email, chat, social media, phone, or text. 

• The ticket is assigned to an agent. It can be auto-assigned using AI, routed manually by an agent, or taken directly from a ticket queue.

• The agent handles the ticket. They use established resources and processes to handle the ticket quickly and accurately, including categorizing it to give you clean reporting down the road. 

• The issue is resolved. The agent relays to the customer what was wrong and what was done to fix it and marks the case as solved. 

While the process may seem simple, there are plenty of ways things can go sideways if you’re not careful. Thankfully, there are also a few best practices that can help you guard against ticket handling pitfalls and keep your support process operating like a well-oiled machine.

6 ticket handling best practices for better support

Handling support tickets can be challenging even at the best of times, but with the right approach, you can turn support into a smooth and efficient process that benefits both your team and your customers. 

To help you get started, here are six best practices that will help you prioritize important issues, keep things organized, and ensure every customer feels valued and heard.

1. Set up clear processes for ticket categorization

When tickets first come in, they can vary widely. Some may be technical issues, while others might be simple billing questions. To manage this, it's often helpful to categorize tickets based on the nature of the issue.

By categorizing tickets, you’re able to:

• Assign tickets to the right agents (e.g., billing issues to the finance team; software bugs to the customer service team).

• Prioritize more urgent or complex issues.

• Reduce resolution times.

• Identify trends and opportunities.

Start by breaking down your tickets by issue type. Issues will vary depending on your business and industry, but here are some categories to help you get started:

• Billing issues — Anything payment-related falls here.

• Technical support — Problems with the product fall under this category.

• Product questions — This includes inquiries about how to use features or general "how-tos."

• Account management — This encompasses things like account updates or changes to customer preferences.

In addition to overall categories, you can use ticket tags to refine the system further. Tags are like keywords that make tickets easier to search, filter, and track. You might use tags for things like identifying VIP customers or specific issues (e.g., “bug report,”’ “feature request,” etc.)

By defining these categories clearly, you’ll be able to assign tickets to the right team members and prioritize them more effectively.

2. Prioritize based on urgency and impact

Not all support tickets have the same level of urgency. Some require immediate attention while others can wait a little longer. This is where prioritization comes into play. Establish clear criteria for determining which tickets need to be addressed first.

For instance, tickets related to service outages may need top priority, while general inquiries can be resolved later. Many ticketing systems allow you to automate prioritization by setting up rules based on keywords, customer type, or the nature of the issue.

A well-thought-out prioritization system ensures that your team focuses on the most critical issues first without ignoring lower-priority tickets.

Here’s an example system you can use to create prioritization:

• Critical tickets (e.g., service outages, major security breaches) should be handled immediately.

• High-priority tickets (e.g., billing disputes, system malfunctions) should be addressed quickly but not at the expense of critical issues.

• Low-priority tickets (e.g., feature requests, general product questions) can be resolved in a more relaxed timeframe.

Like many things, a best practice for ticket management includes regularly reviewing your prioritization criteria to ensure they align with your business needs as they evolve.

3. Track ticket statuses and follow up

Keeping track of ticket status is essential to ensure everything runs smoothly. In Help Scout, there are statuses of Active, Pending, and Closed (along with corresponding colors) to make it easy for your team to tell what’s happening with each conversation. 

Other customer support software will include similar core status labels like Open, In Progress, and Resolved. 

For example, tickets that come into the queue can be in “open” status. From there, you can have someone triage the ticket, either taking it on themselves or assigning it to a team member who can help. 

Then, when an agent starts working on it, they can change the status to “in progress” until it’s resolved. At that point, they close the case by putting it in “resolved” status and move on to the next conversation. 

Tracking ticket statuses also makes it easy to determine where customer issues are in the support pipeline and where you need to improve. For instance:

• Open tickets: If you have tickets left in “open” too long, it might mean that you don’t have enough agents to manage your current ticket volume. Alternatively, agents might just be accidentally leaving cases in the wrong status. Diving into the cause of too many open tickets is important, as each issue requires a different solution (i.e.,  hiring vs. training).

• In progress tickets: This status lets you track whether tickets are being worked through quickly enough to meet customer expectations. Tickets that are left “in progress” for longer periods or forgotten without follow-up need to be resurfaced and closed out. You can also track trends for the types of tickets that are staying “in progress” for extended periods of time. Are they all handled by the same agent? Are they tickets that require collaboration with other teams? Are they all about the same product or issue?

• Resolved tickets: This status can help you determine how quickly issues are being resolved and the reasoning behind that speed, be it fast or slow. This is also called a resolution metric (more on that below). 

While the statuses above are the norm, you could potentially create more ticket statuses depending on the needs of your company. For example, if you’re often waiting an extended amount of time for clients to respond, a “waiting for client” status could be useful to track just how widespread the issue is and how long you’re waiting. This could shine a light on some communication improvements you may need to make.

However, keep in mind that custom statuses aren’t available on all platforms, and keeping statuses simple is usually the best option for most businesses.

4. Measure ticket resolution time

Ticket resolution time, or how long it takes to close a ticket, is one of the most important KPIs for support teams. Faster ticket resolution leads to higher customer satisfaction, but speed shouldn’t come at the cost of quality.

To improve resolution times, regularly monitor and analyze ticket metrics. For instance, are certain categories of tickets taking longer to resolve? Are particular agents struggling with certain types of issues? By identifying bottlenecks, you can provide targeted training or allocate resources to improve efficiency.

Make it a point to communicate expected resolution times to your customers. Setting realistic expectations helps manage customer frustration and reduces the likelihood of escalations.

5. Create and use predefined responses (but keep them personal) 

Predefined saved replies can save your team a lot of time, especially for common customer inquiries. These are pre-written replies that allow agents to respond to FAQs quickly without drafting a new message each time.

For example, if you frequently receive password reset requests or shipping inquiries through your ticketing system, you can create templates that agents can modify as needed. This not only speeds up response times but also ensures consistency in communication.

However, it’s important to balance efficiency with personalization. Templates should be a foundation that agents can personalize when necessary to maintain a human touch. For example, including the customer’s name in the greeting instead of simply writing “hello” can go a long way in personalizing the experience.

Your agents should also be coached to provide details of the issue to confirm they understand the problem. Generic responses like “We’re working on the issue” shouldn’t be used since it’s not personalized to the customer’s specific request. 

6. Review closed tickets for continuous improvement

Once tickets are resolved, don’t just close them and move on. Each support ticket provides valuable insights into customer pain points, product issues, and potential improvements for your team. Take advantage of this data to fine-tune your ticket management best practices.

There are two ways you can use closed tickets for improvement: internal reporting and creating a quality monitoring (QM) system.

Use internal reporting to analyze trends in ticket volume, types of issues, and common resolutions. This data can inform product development, improve your knowledge base, and even provide feedback to other departments, such as sales or marketing.

Quality monitoring (QM), also known as quality assurance (QA), is the act of measuring the quality of the interactions and casework of your support team. It measures how well your team performs in specific areas like communication, empathy, knowledge, and accuracy. 

Create a QM process to celebrate how well your team is doing, and find opportunities to coach. You can also use QM to hold your team accountable to the KPIs your customers have come to expect. For help in setting up a QM system, check out Help Scout’s guide.

How to optimize your ticketing system

Beyond managing individual tickets, the platform or system you use can impact your team’s efficiency. Here are some quick tips you can use to optimize your ticketing system for the best results.

Use automation, but use it wisely

Automation tools can handle repetitive tasks, such as assigning tickets to agents, setting priority levels, or sending follow-up emails. For example, you can set up rules that automatically route technical support tickets to the correct agent or assign billing issues to your finance team.

However, automation should enhance — not replace — the human element of customer support. Balance automation with personalization to ensure your team remains engaged and responsive to customer needs.

Centralize communication channels

If your team handles customer inquiries through multiple channels — email, phone, live chat, social media — use a help desk that integrates with all the communication channels your customers use to reach you. A centralized platform ensures that tickets from all channels are logged, tracked, and managed consistently. This prevents any issues from slipping through the cracks. 

Ensure easy access to knowledge resources

Empower your support team with easy access to an internal knowledge base, product documentation, and any other internal resources they need to resolve tickets. A well-structured internal knowledge base helps agents find the right information quickly, leading to better customer communication and faster resolution times.

As a new support manager, it’s important to not only make sure your knowledge base is filled with the correct information but to encourage its use among your support team.

Design a ticket-handling process that works for you

By putting a structured ticket-handling process into action, prioritizing tickets effectively, leveraging automation and data, and tailoring your system to the needs of your business, you can empower your support team to work efficiently, improve customer experience, and deliver outstanding customer service.