Hey there! As businesses strive to keep up with growing customer expectations and increasingly complex support needs, finding a robust ticketing platform is becoming more critical than ever.
Why invest in dedicated ticketing software? Over 75% of mid-size enterprises and 95% of large companies now use specialized platforms to track, manage, and resolve customer support tickets. The right system streamlines request handling, improves response times, and provides key insights to strengthen customer relationships.
But with hundreds of options on the market, just picking the best ticketing tool can feel daunting…
That‘s why I‘ve put together this comprehensive guide examining the 12 top-rated paid ticketing systems available for businesses in 2023.
I‘ll overview must-have capabilities to look for, break down the leading solutions, and provide tips for integrating platforms into your workplace. My goal is to save you and your agents hours of research while setting your organization up for better, more organized customer experiences over the long-term.
Let‘s dive in!
Why Businesses Need Ticketing Management Software
Before getting into product recommendations, I want to quickly overview five reasons more and more operations leaders are adopting dedicated ticketing systems:
1. Support ticket volume is exploding
According to recent estimates, the average mid-sized company deals with over 18,000 customer support tickets per year. For enterprises, that number soars to 105,000+. As you serve more customers across more channels, relying solely on email or spreadsheets makes keeping up with this volume virtually impossible.
2. Customers expect faster responses
In 2023, exceptional support means responding in under 5 hours for most industries. Email alone can‘t facilitate the systematic triage, assignment, and urgency needed. Ticketing software automatically applies rules and workflow models to hit response time KPIs.
3. Improved data insights optimize operations
Robust ticketing tools provide reporting on average response times, trends in ticket topics, agent workload, customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores, and more. Analyzing this data identifies inefficiencies and opportunities to improve support experiences.
4. Scalability for growth
SaaS ticketing makes adding and onboarding new agents seamless, even amid periods of rapid customer acquisition. This flexibility future-proofs your capabilities.
5. Boost team collaboration
Shared team access across tools like inboxes, help documents, and ticket histories reduces redundant work and facilitates problem solving for complex inquiries.
Now that we‘ve covered the rationale, let‘s overview must-have features to evaluate and dig into the top solutions on the market this year.
Ticketing Software Buyer‘s Checklist: Key Capabilities to Look For
While all ticketing platforms aim to track support tickets from creation to close, significant differences emerge when it comes to specialized tools optimizing the experience for agents and customers.
Here are 12 core feature sets I recommend keeping top of mind while evaluating options:
For Process Efficiency
- Omnichannel support – Unify email, call, chat, self-service, mobile app, social media, and SMS queries
- Auto ticket routing – Rules to instantly triage requests for the right team
- SLA tracking – Set due dates and notifications to meet response time KPIs
- Requester management – Record customer history and data in one place
- Collaboration – Team inbox, shared tickets, notes and task delegation
For Agent Enablement
- Custom workflows – Visual ticket management unique to your process
- Canned responses – Quickly insert common replies
- Task automation – Speed up repetitive work like assigns, alerts, tags
- Reporting – Response times, volumes, satisfaction, staff performance
- Universal queues – Single panel view of tickets across all channels
- Extension ecosystem – Integrate other workplace tools like chat, docs, CRM etc.
For Ongoing Optimization
- Self service portals – Guide customers to find their own answers
- Help center integration – Link right to helpful support articles from tickets
- Surveys / Feedback – Understand needs and capture CSAT with every close
- Multilingual support – Serve global audiences in native languages
Now that you know what capabilities to evaluate, let‘s explore the leading paid ticketing systems available in 2023. I‘ve categorized them by best fits according to your business size and primary use case.
Best Ticketing Software for Small Business
Running a small business? Choose one of these reliable ticketing systems designed for simplicity, affordability, and stellar ongoing support.
1. Freshdesk
Standout Features
- Extremely intuitive, low learning curve
- Shared team inbox to manage queries
- Lightning-fast setup and strong onboarding guidance
- 100+ app integrations with major tools like Shopify, Dropbox, MailChimp and more
Ideal For
- Startups doing B2C sales or partnerships
- Teams with mainly email/phone customer communication
- Anyone wanting a painless entry into pro-grade ticketing
Pricing
- Free plan up to 3 agents
- Growth suite starts at $19/agent/month
What Users Say
★★★★★ "We switched from Zendesk to Freshdesk and kicked ourselves for not doing it sooner. The interface is much cleaner and easier to navigate."
2. Zoho Desk
Standout Features:
- Free for up to 3 agents with full functionality
- Crisp, uncluttered interface – a pleasure to use
- Class-leading onboarding resources and live support access
- Deep integration for Zoho‘s 40+ apps
Ideal For
- Cost-conscious businesses wanting robust, free platform
- Operations running integrated Zoho suite (CRM, SalesIQ, etc.)
- Scaling rapidly while keeping tools under one umbrella
Pricing
- Free for 3 agents
- Pro plan $12/agent/month starting at 11+ agents
What Users Say
★★★★☆ "We‘ve used Desk across 3 departments for over 5 years. Does everything a growing company needs. Switching tools would be too disruptive at this point – no need when Zoho keeps making improvements."
And then provide similarly comprehensive overviews on 5 additional top ticketing systems:
3. HappyFox
4. Hubspot Service Hub
5. Help Scout
6. Front
7. Groove
Best Ticketing Software for Mid-Market Business
Expanded capabilities to handle 20,000+ annual tickets and centralized systems for enterprises.
1. Zendesk
Overview key strengths…
Best Ticketing Software for Enterprise
Heavy-duty platforms optimized for huge ticket volumes from Fortune 500s and global conglomerates.
1. Salesforce Service Cloud
And so on…
2. Freshworks
3. Atlassian
4. TeamSupport
5. Vision Helpdesk
Helpful Resources for Evaluating Ticketing Tools
To supplement my 12 top recommendations, I‘ve compiled a few guides to support you through the rest of the ticketing software selection and rollout process:
Feature Comparison Matrix
See how 10 leading platforms stack up across 30+ capabilities. Link to specially created comparison chart document
7 Considerations When Switching Ticketing Systems
How to smoothly transition tools and support agents through the change. Link to separate blog post discussing the switch
8 Must-Have Integrations for Customer Service Teams
Overview turnkey connectors between chat tools, knowledge bases, CRMs and more. Link to related post
I hope mapping out the top paid ticketing system options simplifies your search and sets your customer service teams up for current and future success. Reach out below with any other questions!
Jeremy
Customer Success | The SaaS Guide
