WordPress can be used as a platform to communicate with customers online to solve their problems or answer their queries.
Even with core WordPress features just blog posts, you can update customers on your newest offers, products and events etc. All blog posts provides you a comment form which can be used for threaded discussions on your website. (See – Start your WordPress website today)
But if you want some traditional problem solving way then you may use forums/message boards or support ticket options.
What is the difference between Forums and Support Tickets?
Forums are good for online public discussions, where one client raises a question, the experts provide the solution and the topic is kept open for others to participate in, share their experiences and provide better ideas.
Whereas Support Tickets works in private, where a client raises some issue which is then resolved by the expert and the discussion is kept private between the support agent and the customer.
What plugins you should make use of to interact with your clients?
bbPress is popular WordPress plugin for hosting forums on your website. It is focused on ease of integration, ease of use, web standards, and speed.
You can install bbPress on your WordPress site (Read – How to install plugin?) to start using it.
On the other side, most of the Support Ticket plugins provides you both free and premium versions. Free versions has certain limitations but you can use them as a stepping stone towards support ticketing system on your WordPress website.
WP Support Plus and JS Support Ticket are two good plugins to start Support Ticket Management on any simple WordPress installation. The plugins allow users to submit tickets and report problems or get product related support. It empowers users to set the problem status, priority and category of each ticket.
Once a ticket is submitted, it shows up on admin area dashboard where the site administrator or assigned support agent can further the discussion and resolve the client’s issue.
