How To Create a Support Ticket Form With Template and Examples

Would you like to create a support ticket form so your users can submit support tickets?

In this article, we’ll explore how to easily create a support ticket form and share some best practices for handling support tickets.

How To Create a Support Ticket Form

The simplest way to create a support ticket form is by using the WPForms WordPress plugin.

WPForms simplifies the process, allowing you to build and customize forms without any coding knowledge.

With its drag-and-drop interface and pre-built templates (including a dedicated support ticket template), you can quickly create a support ticket form that is usually pretty good in most cases.

One of the standout features of WPForms is its conditional logic. This allows you to show or hide fields based on user responses, making your form dynamic and responsive.

Note: To follow this tutorial you will need a WordPress website.

Step 1: Install WPForms & Import a Support Ticket Form

First, make sure you’ve installed and activated the WPForms plugin. If not:

1. Head to your WordPress dashboard
2. Navigate to ‘Plugins,’ click ‘Add New,’
3. Search for WPForms.
4. Once found, install and activate it.

Next, go to the WPForms section in your WordPress dashboard and click ‘Add New’ to create a new form.

You’ll be prompted to name your form and choose a template.

For a support ticket form, select the ‘Support Ticket Form‘ template.

This pre-built template includes all essential fields like Name, Email, Subject, and Message, streamlining the process.

In the form builder interface you’ll see the form fields already in place. At this stage, you can drag and drop additional fields from the left-hand panel if needed.

It’s important to make sure your form captures all necessary information to provide effective support.

The default fields usually suffice, but feel free to adjust them according to your specific requirements. For instance, you can click on any field to modify its label, description, or placeholder text.

Once you’re satisfied with the form fields, click the ‘Save‘ button in the top right corner. This saves your progress and ensures you won’t lose any changes.

Step 2: Customize Your Ticket Form

Customizing your support ticket form enhances its functionality and guarantees it meets the specific needs of your users.

To start, you’ll want to make sure that the form captures all necessary information for efficient issue resolution. Here are three key areas to focus on when customizing your support ticket form:

• Essential Fields: Add fields that capture important information such as the user’s name, email address, and a detailed description of the issue. Consider including dropdown menus for users to categorize their issues, which can help your support team prioritize and assign tickets more effectively.
• Conditional Logic: Use conditional logic to streamline the form and make it user-friendly. For instance, if a user selects a specific issue category, you can display additional fields relevant to that category. This ensures users provide all necessary details without overwhelming them with irrelevant questions.

• File Uploads: Allow users to upload files, like screenshots or documents, which can be critical for diagnosing and resolving issues. Make sure to set acceptable file types and size limits to avoid storage problems and maintain security.

Customizing your form with these elements not only improves the user experience but also equips your support team with the information they need to resolve issues promptly.

Step 3: Configure Ticket Form Settings

Go to the ‘Settings’ tab within your form builder. Here, you can optimize several key areas to make sure the form works as intended and provides a seamless experience for your users.

First, adjust the ‘General‘ settings.

Set the form name and description to reflect its purpose clearly. Make sure the submit button is labeled appropriately, like ‘Submit Ticket‘ or ‘Send Request‘.

It’s also a good idea to enable the anti-spam honeypot feature to minimize spam submissions without inconveniencing legitimate users.

Next, move on to ‘Form Confirmation‘ settings.

You can choose between a message, show a page, or redirect the user to a specific URL after they submit the form.

Opt for a confirmation message that reassures the user their ticket has been received and outlines what to expect next, such as response time or further instructions.

Don’t forget to configure the ‘Form Restrictions‘ settings. If you want to limit the number of submissions or set specific availability times, this is where you can do it.

Lastly, review the ‘Form Abandonment‘ settings.

Activating this feature will enable you to capture partial entries, allowing you to follow up with users who started but didn’t complete the form. This can be particularly useful for understanding potential issues or improving the form’s user experience.

Step 4: Configure Notifications

Proper notification settings guarantee that both you and your users stay informed throughout the support process.

Let’s walk through the key aspects of configuring your form’s notifications effectively.

First, decide who should receive notifications.

Typically, you’ll want to alert your support team whenever a new ticket is submitted. You can easily set this up by entering your team’s email addresses in the notification settings of your form plugin.

If you have multiple departments, consider using conditional logic to route tickets to the appropriate team automatically.

Second, customize the notification email. A generic email might not provide enough context or clarity. You should include essential details such as the ticket number, customer name, and issue summary.

This helps your team quickly understand the nature of the request and prioritize accordingly. Consider the following elements:

1. Subject Line: Make it clear and specific, like ‘New Support Ticket: [Issue Summary]’.
2. Message Body: Include all relevant information and use merge tags to personalize the message.
3. Reply-to Address: Ensure it’s a monitored email so your team can follow up efficiently.

Step 5: Configure Confirmations

First, decide on the type of confirmation you want to provide. WPForms offers three options: message, show page, and redirect.

Type	Description	Best For
Message	Displays a brief confirmation message on the same page	Simple acknowledgments
Show Page	Redirects to a specific page with more detailed info	Detailed follow-up instructions
Redirect	Redirects to an external URL	Additional resources or tracking systems

Choose the option that best fits your needs.

For most cases, a simple message works great. You can customize this message to include a thank you note, the ticket number, and an estimated response time.

To set this up in WPForms, navigate to the “Settings” tab of your form builder. Click on “Confirmations,” then choose your preferred confirmation type.

If you select the message option, type your custom message in the text box. For the show page or redirect options, provide the URL of the page you want users to see.

Step 6: Add Your Ticket Form to Your Website

Now that your support ticket form is set up and confirmations are configured, it’s time to add the form to your website.

Follow these steps to seamlessly integrate the support ticket form into your website:

1. Create a New Page or Post: Log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to ‘Pages’ or ‘Posts’. Click ‘Add New’ to create a new page or post where you want to embed your support ticket form. Give it a clear, descriptive title like ‘Support Ticket Form’ to make it easy for visitors to find.
2. Add the Form Using the WPForms Block: Once you’re in the editor, click the ‘+’ icon to add a new block. Search for the ‘WPForms’ block and select it. From the dropdown menu, choose the support ticket form you previously created. The form will automatically embed into the page or post.
3. Publish the Page or Post: After embedding the form, review the page to ensure everything looks correct. If you’re satisfied, click the ‘Publish’ button to make the form live on your site. This will allow your visitors to start submitting support tickets immediately.

Adding a support ticket form to your website is a straightforward process that greatly enhances your customer service capabilities.

Remember to test the form thoroughly to make sure it works as expected and captures all the required data.

Your goal is to create a seamless and efficient process for both users and your support team, ultimately leading to quicker and more effective issue resolution.

Don’t forget to periodically review and update your form to adapt to new requirements and feedback from users.

Support Contact Page Best Practices With Examples

Things are not gonna improve just creating a support ticket form. You have to make sure customers can easily find it, fill it and have a little patience before you can reply with a meaningful solution.

Follow these best practices to create a page for your support ticket form.

1. Make Your Contact Us Page Easy to Find

This one might seem basic. But it’s a surprisingly common oversight. See, if your customers need help, they probably don’t want to spend 15 minutes playing hide and seek with your “Contact Us” page, right?

So how can you make your Contact Us page easy to find?

1. Use common phrasing. Don’t get cute with your labels – something along the lines of a classic “Contact Us”, “Support”, or “Help” is easy for everyone to understand.
2. Put a link in a common place. Companies seem to use both header and footer links for the “Contact Us” page. I’m a fan of sticking your link in the header because it’s the most prominent position. But if that doesn’t fit your design, fat footer links are still pretty easy for people to navigate according to usability experts.

For example, Slack opts for a prominent Support link in their header:

But Zapier opts to put it in a fat footer instead:

2. Simplify As Much as Possible

Have you ever had to go through those automated messages when you call a company for support? Press 2 for this, hit # for that…did you feel cared about?

Of course not! Instead, it feels a bit like the company is trying to make you give up.

Now, you may not be quite at the level of massive automated call centers. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try to streamline your contact methods.

If you’re like most small businesses, you’re probably going to rely on forms to handle most of your support – whether those forms go to email or tickets. So, my advice is simple:

Keep those forms as short as possible. Obviously, you need to collect some information to actually solve the issue. But try to collect as little as possible in order to make that happen.

Typically, adding form fields to your forms only decreases conversions. And that’s the last thing you want your “Contact Us” page to do.

Let’s go back to our Slack example. Take a look at their “Contact Us” page:

Three fields! With one of them being optional. That’s all.

Some companies, like Buffer, even just go with a raw “mailto” link. No form fields to fill out!

3. Provide Other Avenues for Help

Ok, before I get into this one, I need to make it clear that there’s a fine line between suggesting other avenues for help and making it feel like you’re trying to deflect customers from your live support channels.

Of course, you probably are hoping your customers can use your knowledge base to help themselves. But that doesn’t mean you should make them feel like they can’t avail themselves of your live support!

So how can you walk that line? Zapier does one of the best jobs I’ve seen. They have a set of relevant links on the right side that automatically update as their customers move through the form:

It’s not so overwhelming as to cause customers to feel like they’re being pushed away from the contact form. But the changing links are eye-catching enough to get noticed.

4. Make it Human With Names and Pictures

Nowadays, people don’t want to interact with faceless businesses. So…don’t be a faceless business when they’re trying to get in contact with you!

For example, look how Zapier features real, smiling faces on their “Contact Us” page:

And lest you think I’m cherry-picking, Zapier isn’t the only one! WordPress.com is another smiling company to join the ranks:

The worst thing you can do? Use one of those generic stock photos of a woman with a headset. Nothing screams “we’re a faceless business” more than the same stock photo that’s used on a million other “Contact Us” pages.

5. Tell People When They Can Expect a Response

Unless you’ve got a superhuman support team, you probably can’t offer your customers an instant response. That’s natural.

But what you don’t want to do is completely leave your customers hanging. So, after a customer submits your contact form, give them at least a rough idea of when they can expect a response.

For example, Basecamp boasts of their, well, superhuman response times:

What’s really cool is that this number changes day-to-day. It’s a constant reflection of how quickly Basecamp responds.

But it’s not just the super fast companies who post response times. Campaign Monitor opts to display their response times of “a few hours” immediately after someone submits Campaign Monitor’s contact form:

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can I Ensure My Support Ticket Form Is GDPR Compliant?

To guarantee your support ticket form is GDPR compliant, you’ve got to:

• Collect only necessary data
• Inform users how their data will be used
• Include a privacy policy link
• Get explicit consent before submission
• Use SSL encryption to protect data during transmission

Regularly review your practices and update the form as needed. Always provide an easy way for users to request data deletion.

What Are the Benefits of Using CAPTCHA in Support Ticket Forms?

Using CAPTCHA in your support ticket forms helps guarantee spam and automated submissions. It ensures that only genuine users can submit tickets, reducing the workload on your support team.

CAPTCHA also enhances security by blocking bots that might exploit vulnerabilities in your form. By including CAPTCHA, you’ll improve the overall efficiency and reliability of your support system, providing a better experience for both your team and users.

Can I Automatically Assign Tickets to Specific Team Members?

Yes, you can automatically assign tickets to specific team members. To do this, you’ll need to set up rules within your form plugin, like WPForms.

Use conditional logic to assign tickets based on the issue type or department selected by the user.

How Do I Set Different Priority Levels for Support Tickets?

To set different priority levels for support tickets, navigate to the WPForms plugin in WordPress.

Edit your support ticket form and add a dropdown or radio button field. Label it ‘Priority’ and include options like ‘Low,’ ‘Medium,’ and ‘High.’

This way, users can choose the urgency of their request.

Save your changes, and you’re ready to manage tickets based on their priority levels.

Final Thoughts

Your support ticket form will streamline customer inquiries, ensuring no query goes unanswered.

Now, with an efficient support ticket system in place, you can enhance your customer service and improve response times. Don’t forget to continually review and refine your form to keep it effective.

Further more you should create a knowledge base, to help customer self solve most common issues. Heroic KB is a perfect solution for it. It’s a proven solution in reducing support cost and retaining customers.

You’re now well-equipped to handle customer support like a pro!