Customer service teams often handle a large number of tickets every day. However, they often have to manually extract data from files in order to make the tickets more useful. Automating the process of extracting data from customer support ticket attachments can help businesses improve their customer support.
This article explores how automation in Zendesk can transform customer support by eliminating manual tasks related to attachments. Companies can improve the efficiency of their customer support operations by using tools to automatically identify, transcribe, and extract information from attachments.
The Challenges of Manual Zendesk Workflows
Support teams face challenges when using manual processes in Zendesk. Agents spend a lot of time reviewing tickets and documents to find important information and categorize, prioritize, and route them. For example, a PDF receipt may contain a customer’s phone number that needs to be added to their profile, or an order ID may be in a spreadsheet that needs to be entered into custom ticket forms.
The current limitation on searchability within attachments in Zendesk prevents agents from searching within attachments or across the instance. This feature is often requested by the Zendesk community, however it’s implementation timeline remains uncertain.
In addition to reduced productivity and delayed response times, this labor-intensive process introduces additional challenges:
- Manual extraction is error-prone, which can lead to issues if customer information is entered incorrectly.
- Scaling the support process becomes difficult as volumes grow, as hiring more agents does not eliminate the manual review of attachments.
- The manual review process poses data security risks as it may expose sensitive information in attachments.
- Content that is not transcribed or indexed can’t be used for reporting and analytics.
The Solution: Automate Attachment Data Management with Knots
Automating the processing of support tickets with attachments can resolve inefficiencies and save time for agents. Knots modules offer an automated solution, extracting data from attachments and organizing it within Zendesk Support. Extracted data is organized, searchable, and reported on automatically. This leads to higher agent productivity, faster response times, and an improved customer experience. Here’s how Knots can transform your customer support processes:
Automatically Transcribe PDF and Image Attachments
PDFs, scanned documents, and images are common attachment types in Zendesk. Traditionally, they require manual review. Knots’ OCR Reader changes this by automatically transcribing text from these attachments into a machine-readable format. This text is then indexed, making it searchable and ready to be parsed into custom ticket fields.
For example, a ticket with a scanned order confirmation attached can have key details like the order number, customer name, and address automatically extracted and populated into the relevant fields by Knots’ OCR Reader. This eliminates the need for agents to manually open and review each document, saving significant time and effort. By ensuring that important details are captured quickly and accurately, agents can focus on resolving customer issues more efficiently.
Effortlessly Extract Data from Excel and CSV Attachments
Excel and CSV files often contain structured customer information that needs to be manually parsed and entered into Zendesk. Knots Studio, an integrated development environment within Zendesk, simplifies this process. It provides pre-built templates for common tasks like syncing ticket fields with backend systems or identifying duplicate tickets. Knots Studio can analyze the data in attachments and automate its population into ticket fields or custom objects.
For instance, an Excel file containing order information can be automatically processed to update the relevant ticket fields. This ensures that all necessary data is accurately and swiftly integrated into Zendesk even before an agent opens the ticket.
Process Word Document Automatically
If you receive Word Document (.docx) in the Zendesk ticket, you can also utilize Knots Studio, to read and process the document. Then, you can place the content as a ticket comment or a ticket field, allowing Zendesk to index the information. Furthermore, it’s possible to look up for information inside the document and automate the ticket.
Automate Data Entry with AI Assistance
Knots employs advanced AI and natural language processing (NLP) to automate data entry even further. This technology can identify key entities within unstructured text and categorize them into appropriate fields without manual transcription. For instance, AI can detect customer names, product details, and issue descriptions from the content of scanned documents and automatically fill in the relevant ticket fields.
This intelligent automation ensures that critical information is captured accurately and efficiently. This improves both the speed and quality of customer support. When tickets are received that contain scanned documents, email addresses found within the images can now be used to automatically update the requester information associated with the ticket.
By leveraging AI, support teams can handle more tickets in less time, providing quicker resolutions and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Boost Automation with External Integrations
To make the most of the information in Zendesk files, it’s important to connect Zendesk with other business systems. Zendesk automatically works with external systems like customer relationship management (CRM) tools and order management platforms. Using automation tools like Knots can help update information from Zendesk files in external systems quickly. This ensures that the information is consistent across all platforms and makes operations more efficient.
For example, once an order ID is extracted from an attachment and added to a Zendesk ticket, it can trigger an automatic update in your CRM with the latest order status, shipping information, and more. This seamless integration ensures that your support team has the most current information, giving them a holistic view of each customer, and ensuring that every interaction is both informed and impactful, fostering stronger customer relations and preemptively addressing potential issues.
Simplify Export and Archiving of Attachments
With the information from the attachments now securely processed, it’s critical to address data management within Zendesk to maintain optimal system performance and avoid hitting storage limits, thus risking additional fees.
Before simply deleting data, it is necessary to export it to ensure valuable information is not lost and remains accessible. There are multiple ways to accomplish this. The easiest and simplest method is to use the Ticket Export & Archive app, available in the Zendesk app marketplace. The app offers a seamless and efficient solution for managing attachments. It simplifies the export and organization process, reducing clutter and optimizing storage. Key features like scheduled exports and post-export deletion keep your Zendesk environment streamlined. The app converts tickets into organized PDFs, retaining original formatting and including all relevant details. Flexible storage options such as FTP server or cloud storage meet diverse business needs. Automation minimizes manual handling errors, saving time and ensuring reliability. Moreover, the app supports customizable storage and backup strategies that are essential for businesses with specific compliance and data governance requirements.
Ready for Effortless Attachment Automation? Get in Touch!
As businesses continue to seek ways to improve their customer support operations, the role of automation will only become more pronounced. Knots’ suite of Zendesk applications represents the cutting edge of this evolution, offering a range of tools that can transform the efficiency and effectiveness of support teams. By leveraging OCR, AI, and seamless integrations, Knots enables you to streamline workflows, reduce manual tasks, and enhance the overall customer experience.
If you’re ready to take your Zendesk workflows to the next level with effortless automation, our team is here to help. Contact us today to learn more about how Knots can revolutionize your customer support processes. We look forward to assisting you in leveraging these transformative technologies.
Unlock the full potential of your customer support team, providing faster, more accurate, and personalized service. Don’t let manual processes hold you back—embrace the future of customer support with Knots and experience the benefits of streamlined, automated workflows!
