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ASP Forum
Waiting for Auto-Close
"How long should we wait for a response from the customer before
automatically closing an open incident? And should we send out
reminder notices? Right now, we're probably closing cases too
quickly, but if we auto-close after a longer period, this will
have a negative effect on our performance stats."
—Ben from Baltimore
Ben—
We set our auto-close process to send a follow up email after 2
business days and then to close the case after 4 business days
with an email letting the customer know that we believe they no
longer need our services.
I agree that FCR is very important and if we believe we have
provided a reasonable work around, then we close the case as
“Possible Workaround Provided” or “Resolved”. However, there are
many times we really need additional info from the customer and
after some period of time where we do not hear back, need to
close the case.
Determining the best time to close the service request depends
on what you’re waiting for. If you are waiting for confirmation
that what you provided them worked, then closing it at the time
you gave them the info is the right time. If you’re waiting for
additional information in order to proceed, then you need to
provide some time. How much may depend on your customer’s
expectations, which may also depend on the complexity of your
product and how complex a typical support question is.
—Glenn A. Mulno
The MathWorks Inc.
You can't close cases "too quickly". First Call Resolution (FCR) is
one of the most important metrics for support centers. It must be
tracked. It is the key to effectiveness and it is absolutely one of
the best gauges for measuring the impact of process improvement
efforts. I never recommend that support centers leave cases open
'waiting for confirmation'. Take the reverse approach. Close it if
you think you resolved the issue. Then measure "re-opens" to see how
often you are wrong. If its too high — figure out why and then
work to improve it. FCR is critical and if you don't measure it,
then it is very hard to improve it.
—Dave Brown
www.SupportCenterU.com
303-494-4932
We will follow up with someone twice to see if an issue is closed.
We generally leave a message on the second followup that we have
tried to reach them, and if the problem persists, to please call us
back. The calls are scheduled to happen with about a half hour
between.
I do like Dave's idea of measuring reopened tickets as a way to know
if the process to close tickets is working.
—Barbara Dove
Dove Help Desk, Div. of Sickle Brook Services
781-862-8855
Our policy is to send a reminder of the open ticket after one week,
and automatically close after 2.
—Peter Frank
Why not close immediately after replying? If the customer responds
to the email, then the case is open again. That’s how my support
infrastructure works – any new case or reply to an existing case
creates a task in our support task list. If a customer is waiting
to hear from us, then the case is “open,” even though we
technically “close” each case and assign it a case reason after
the first reply.
In other words, it doesn’t matter to me if a case is “open” or
“closed” in the traditional sense. What’s most important is that
if a customer responds to us, then we respond back. It’s as simple
as that.
—Gabe Anderson
Director of Customer Support
Articulate
www.articulate.com
[Any other advice on this question? Please send an email to
membership director Jane Farber at jfarber@asponline.com, and
we'll post your feedback.]
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