Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | Admin |
Fields that describe the customer rather than the ticket. More reliable than ticket fields, and underused.
Create one
- In Admin Center, click People in the sidebar and select Configuration > User fields, or Organization fields for the company rather than the person.
- Click Add field and choose the field type. A drop-down beats free text every time you will later want to filter or report on it.
- Enter the Display name. Check the field key it generates while you are here: it is what placeholders and the API use, and it cannot be changed after you save.
- Add a Description if the field needs one. Admins see it; nobody else does.
- Decide whether the customer can see the field, then populate it, ideally in bulk.
A new organisation field is active straight away and appears on every organisation, so create it when you are ready for it to be visible rather than as a placeholder for later.
Why these are better than ticket fields
They are set once and maintained centrally, rather than filled in by an agent under time pressure on every ticket. That makes them far more complete and far more trustworthy in reporting.
The fields worth having
- On organisations: plan or contract, segment, region, account manager, renewal date.
- On users: role at the customer, language preference, whether they are a named contact.
They drive more than reporting
Triggers, SLAs and routing can read them. An SLA based on the customer's plan, held on the organisation, is far more reliable than one based on a field somebody sets per ticket.
Drop-downs, not free text
Same rule as everywhere: a fixed list groups cleanly and free text does not. If you will ever count it, it must be a list.
Decide what customers see
Fields can be visible to the customer on their profile. Internal segments and account notes should not be, and that is a per-field setting worth checking.
Fill them or remove them
A field completed on a fifth of organisations is worse than no field: it looks authoritative in a report and describes a minority. Populate it in bulk or drop it.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.