Helpdesk - a quick setup

Ticketing systems are exceptionally useful tools for customer service, letting you manage incoming emails, keep track of communication, and reach out to your leads via email directly. In just 15 minutes, you can start using Tidio's own fully functional ticketing - a great companion tool to live chat. This guide will walk you through the steps to get Helpdesk up and running in your project.

In each step, we will also provide links to other articles that cover each topic in much more detail.

 

 

 

In this article, you will learn:

• How to connect your first mailbox
• How to use your own domain for your sender address
• How to manage your tickets
• What further steps you can take

 

 

Step 1: Connect your first mailbox

 

The first step to start receiving emails in your Tidio inbox is to connect at least one external mailbox. This mailbox can be something you've already been using for your customer support purposes, set up via Gmail, Outlook, or any other provider - or it can be a brand new address that you've just configured.

 

 

Integrate your existing mailbox

Head to the Settings > Helpdesk section in your Tidio admin panel:

 

 

 

In the Mailbox tab inside, hit the Connect mailbox button to start the process:

 

 

 

You will see a popup with three options. Select Connect with your existing email, and provide the address itself. Next, you will need to select the mailbox provider you're using: Gmail, Outlook, or other. Please note: if you want to connect your Gmail address, it's much quicker to use the dedicated Connect Gmail account option!

 

 

 

Finally, you will receive your unique Tidio forwarding address - this is what you need to copy and paste into your mailbox forwarding settings. This is the most important step, as it allows your incoming emails to be forwarded to your Tidio Helpdesk.

 

You can find more details on adding your different mailboxes in this guide.

 

 

Verify your mailbox connection

With some providers (like Gmail or Proton), you are required to additionally verify your new forwarding setup. Please note: verifying with Gmail is not necessary if you've selected the dedicated Connect Gmail account option earlier!

In cases where verification is required, right after you add your Tidio forwarding address into your mailbox settings, you should receive a verification email inside your Tickets inbox inside Tidio. Open it, and follow the instructions inside - that is usually a link you need to access, or a button you need to click.

 

 

 

Please note: in some cases, it's possible that this verification email can be automatically marked as spam. If you can't find this email, make sure you check the Spam folder in your Tidio inbox!

If you encounter any other issues with forwarding, please check out this troubleshooting guide - it covers the most common problems.

 

You can see more detailed information and guidelines in this general Helpdesk article.

 

 

Step 2: Set up your own domain and sender address

 

By default, the Helpdesk uses Tidio's own domain as the sender address of your emails. You can, however, improve your professional credibility (and customer experience) by configuring your own custom address. This will also help with the deliverability of your emails in general.

 

 

 

Connect your own business domain

The best available way is to connect your own domain with your Tidio project, and use that as the basis of your sender address. By default, the domain connection is done automatically through an app called Entri; but manual connection is possible as well (especially if your domain provider is unable to work with Entri). We'll only cover the automatic method here.

 

Head over to Settings > Helpdesk, and go to the Domains tab - then click on the Add domain button:

 

 

 

In the new window that pops up, provide the domain you'd like to connect:

 

 

 

This will let you proceed to the automatic domain connection, powered by Entri.

 

 

 

Once you continue, the domain will be analyzed for all the relevant details - all in order to allow a secure and smooth connection. During this process you will be asked to input your provider login details, in order to properly allow Tidio to connect with your domain. You will most likely need to confirm the connection request with a security code sent via email as well.

Once you successfully verify everything that's necessary, you will see a confirmation screen. Once the domain is properly connected, it may take up to 48 hours to fully verify. Finally, the domain will be listed as verified in the Domains tab:

 

 

 

When the entire process is finished, you will be able to select your own domain as the sender address inside the Sender address tab (in Settings > Helpdesk), and determine the exact email alias you'd like to use - just click on the Add sender address button in the top-right:

 

 

 

You can see more details on connecting your business domain in this guide.

 

 

Use your own existing email address

If you don't want to use your business domain (or don't have one), you can still use an existing email address as your custom sender address in Tidio. Go to Settings > Helpdesk, open the Sender address tab, and click on the Add sender address button in the top-right:

 

 

 

... and select the Own email address option in the window that pops up. Provide the address you'd like to use, and follow the instructions to verify that connection. Once verified, you will be able to choose that sender address whenever writing an email in any ticket thread.

 

You can see more details on using your own sender address in this guide.

 

 

Step 3: Start managing your tickets

 

Now that you've connected your chosen mailbox (or several), your Helpdesk is up and running - and you can start receiving tickets, creating new ones from scratch, and responding to incoming emails.

 

 

 

Navigate your ticket folders

All the tickets forwarded to your Tidio mailbox will be shown in the Unassigned folder. Whenever you are assigned a ticket (either by yourself or by someone else), the ticket becomes visible in the My open folder. The Solved folder holds all of the tickets you (and your team) have closed. You will see basic information next to each ticket, wherever it currently is.

 

Browse individual tickets

Click on the chosen ticket to open it. At the top bar of the ticket, you can see (and change) the current assignee, status, and priority. You will also see several other options there: mark the ticket as spam; merge tickets from the same sender (if any such tickets are available); block the sender's email address entirely; and the option to delete the current ticket.

 

 

 

Respond to tickets, leave internal notes, forward emails

When viewing a ticket, you can respond to it directly, leave internal notes for your team, or forward the ticket to another recipient (or recipients). Naturally, you can also select the sender address that you wish to use when responding to this ticket. You can see these different options inside each ticket; you can also use the additional Cc and Bcc options if you need to add more recipients.

 

 

 

Create new tickets from scratch

To create your own ticket from scratch, click on the Create a ticket button next to the tickets folder list. You will see a popup window where you compose your new ticket, providing details such as the subject, recipient, sender, priority, assignee. Of course, you also need to compose the actual message (or internal note), and select the ticket's initial status.

 

 

 

Use ticket statuses

You have three different statuses to use when managing your tickets: Open, Pending, and Solved. You can select a new status whenever a change is necessary, but all new incoming tickets start out as open. A ticket is usually pending when you're awaiting a response, or when the ticket is simply not solved yet. You should mark the ticket as solved when no more communication is necessary in that particular thread.

 

 

 

To learn about every aspect of managing your tickets in detail, see this dedicated guide.

 

 

Step 4: Take it to the next level

 

Now that you've set up the basics of your Helpdesk, it may be time to configure some additional settings that will help you and your business. These details can take your ticketing to the next level, so they are well-worth exploring!

 

Automatic response

Whenever someone sends you an email, they can receive a pre-prepared automatic reply from Helpdesk. To activate that, navigate to the Automatic response tab inside Settings > Helpdesk, and enable the toggle. Compose the message itself underneath, and make sure you hit the save button when you're done. 

 

 

Custom email signature

Each operator can add their own signature in the Custom email signature tab, inside Settings > Helpdesk. You can add text with basic formatting options (including hyperlinks) as well as images (when adding multiple images, they can only be placed vertically).

 

 

 

Custom views

By default, you can only see three general folders: Unassigned, My open, and Solved. However, you can create your own filters, allowing you to see different kinds of tickets separately, based on the conditions you configure. You can sort your tickets into different categories automatically, and quickly access them whenever needed.

 

 

 

To add your first custom view, click on the plus (+) sign next to the Views list, and use the Create view option. In the new window that pops up, you configure the new view's basic settings (such as name and visibility), as well as the conditions that determine which tickets will be listed in the view.

 

To see all the details of this process (as well as practical examples), take a look at this dedicated guide.

 

 

Customer satisfaction survey

Whenever you solve a ticket, an automated satisfaction survey can be sent to the customer via email. This is enabled by default, and can be managed via Settings > Customer Satisfaction in general. We recommend you modify this survey and tailor it to your needs.

 

 

 

This satisfaction survey allows the recipient to select one of five options (emojis), and leave feedback if their choice wasn't positive. You can modify all the text, as well as how soon the survey is sent. You can later check all your survey results as well.

 

You can learn more about collecting customer feedback via tickets in this guide.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Setting up Helpdesk lets you manage much more communication within Tidio directly, and as a result - increase your efficiency. Using the steps above, and the detailed configuration options shared for further reading, you can start providing better support in a way that suits your business.

For any advanced settings or assistance, feel free to reach out to Tidio support anytime.

 

Please see this Help Center section for everything associated with Tidio's Helpdesk.