Being able to create a ticket by e-mail to the ticket system sounds so easy, and actually it is: No special tool, no additional login are necessary – if a problem occurs, you simply write an e-mail from the familiar working environment to your support team, and the matter is settled for the time being. However, there are a few pitfalls with this.
When you create a ticket by mail, you may also want to inform other people about the process and include them directly in the addressee group. Both you and all other addressees will be informed about the ticket creation by the ticket system. Further communication on this ticket can now also be done by mail, as comments made in the ticket by the editors are sent as mail to the notifier(s) (including people on Cc:) and all replies to notifications are filed as comments in the ticket.
Here already lurks a pitfall: Even a “reply to all” from one person on Cc: to the original mail of the reporting person(s) is already included as a comment in the ticket – even if it may not have been meant as such!
So if you want to send a reply to the reporter(s) and all other persons on Cc: that should not be included as a comment in the ticket, don’t forget to delete the mail address of the ticket system from the addressee line!
There is another pitfall to avoid if you want to create another ticket by mail. Here, too, the “Reply to all” is in play: Maybe you don’t have the exact mail address of the ticket system at hand right now and choose the way to open a mail sent to the ticket system earlier (or one in which you are the addressee in the Cc: line) and address it to the ticket system again as “Reply to all”. Quickly change the subject line and the new ticket can be created – you think.
In fact, however, this mail is processed as what it originally was, namely a reply to a mail about another ticket! Your supposedly newly created ticket has thus ended up as a comment in a previous ticket. You can easily avoid this by addressing a new mail to the ticket system for each ticket to be created.
We can help you overcome other challenges related to the implementation of a ticket system. Feel free to contact us!