How do you prioritize tickets when your queue is overflowing?

This is absolutely key. When the inbox is overflowing one of the most powerful things you can do is break incoming queries down into categories then create quality macros for those pain points and give your agents straightforward notes on how to use them and when/how to tailor or escalate a response. Once that is taken care of, use that macro information and get it out to customers before they have a chance to file a ticket; either as an outbound email, chatbot response, social media post or a combination thereof. In order to do any of that you have to have a practical understanding of your ticketing system. You can’t change your spark plugs without knowing how to look under the hood.

This is especially important if you work in a highly regulated industry. It’s crucial to have clear metrics and workflows outlined, but sometimes quick pivots are necessary. You always want to provide a response as fast as reasonably possible, but never at the expense of violating policy, or worse — customer rights. When dealing with critical, time sensitive responses, one of the best things you can foster is a good working relationship between compliance, legal and service departments. Building an environment that allows those groups to work closely, efficiently, honestly and emphatically empowers them to stay agile, effective and in line with KPI expectations.

If communication with your customer is important, communication with your team is critical. Your support team is your voice and your nerve endings when your customers needs your attention, so minimizing miscommunication is a top priority. Speaking bluntly, your agents need to be able to trust you. And not like, ropes course retreat trust, I mean “this customer is mad, WE might have messed up, I may have accidentally contributed to that and I’m kind of freaking out” trust. They need to know they won’t be punished for honestly communicating a problem the same way you wouldn’t punish your nerve endings for telling you that your hand is on fire. There are a ton of practical ways to run an updates system, but trust is the glue.

Whatever framework you use to triage customer issues, treat it like a food safety poster in back of house at a restaurant: Clearly posted where your staff know where to find it quickly and easily and make sure everyone is adequately updated if the system changes. Make it as simple as possible. You want something that suits your needs without adding extra off-ramps for people to get lost. Have consistent, low pressure quizzes to keep your agents sharp and comfortable. Then, when your team encounters a curveball, you can point to your food safety poster and say “this new issue fits into this category, therefore we will respond in this manner, with these minor adjustments to suit this particular situation” and have people actually understand.

Adjusting priorities is an important tool to keep your queue from overflowing. If something unusual surfaces two or three times in short succession, check in with your agents, assess if it’s a coincidence or emerging trend and prepare a response (as needed) before you get overwhelmed. You will probably want to have a couple of different queues for your agents or AI to sort tickets into so they can be escalated appropriately. Depending on how frequently things get escalated, you may want to set an alert so tickets in less popular queues don’t get neglected. Clearing out solved tickets is an important practice, but make sure you’re clear on protocol so you’re not accidentally deleting important information.

Sharpening your skills can feel like flossing — it’s annoying, it reminds you of your weak spots but it’s incredibly important. It can be easy to forget that in this moment in history we’re basically experiencing a second Industrial Revolution. Things are moving very quickly every day, but a lot of those new things are tools that can make our lives a lot easier. It’s important to manage burnout — your well-being is the best tool you have. But when you can, make yourself a cup of tea and learn some new tricks. And stay open to surprise. Some of my best and most beloved skills are in things I didn’t think I wanted to learn.