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Set up your Problem Pipelines & Statuses
Set up your Problem Pipelines & Statuses

Here's how to set up your Problem Pipelines so your customer-facing teams can quickly & efficiently record client issues.

Isobel Honour avatar
Written by Isobel Honour
Updated over 5 months ago

Prerequisites 

  • You'll need CRM Admin rights in order to follow the steps in this article

Why do we need to set these up?

No matter what kind of products you sell, it's important to have a process in place for dealing with any customer issues which may arise, either during or after a sale.

By setting up Problem Pipelines, customer-facing teams can record client issues as a CRM ticket and pass it in real-time to your Customer Service, Warehousing or Accounts team quickly and easily. This not only ensures everyone follows a predefined process when dealing with a customer issue, but it enables you to identify which issues occur more frequently than others. Using detailed accounts and sales data, issues can then be resolved at the source, so your teams can turn every problem into an amazing customer experience.

Common Problems

Depending on the nature of your business, you may find there are common issues which arise more often than others. Some may be to do with a specific product or range of products you sell, and others could even be linked to the courier you use.

Below are just a few examples of some Problems. Make a list of the types of issues your customers experience, as this will help you in the set up process later on:

  • Damaged goods on delivery (e.g. issue with courier)

  • Products not fit for purpose

  • Incorrect items delivered

What are Problem Statuses & Problem Pipelines in the CRM?

Problem Statuses

These represent the key stages that happen (or could happen) when dealing with a typical customer query. For example, your first Status may be 'Acknowledgement Sent' and the next could be 'In Hand', then finally having either 'Confirmed Successful' or 'Unable to Progress' as your closing Status.

Problem Statuses need to be set up first, before we can slot these into your Pipelines.

Problem Pipelines

Problem Pipelines are essentially funnels or journeys which should depict your typical process for dealing with customer queries/issues. When you set these up, you can choose the order in which your Statuses should appear for each Pipeline, so that your teams take the right actions in the right order.

Note: lots of CRM customers have more than 1 Problem Pipeline, especially if they have different types of customer queries/after-sales processes which require a different approach. So, it's important to think about the types of Statuses you want, and the types of Pipelines you'll need.

How do I set all of this up?

Step 1: Go to Settings Centre

To add a new Problem Status, click on the settings icon in the bottom left-hand corner.

Step 2: Navigate to Service in Settings 

Once within the Settings Centre, navigate to the Service section and scroll down until you reach the Problem Status configure option.

Step 3: Add New Problem Status

By clicking on the 'Click to Configure' link, the Configure Problem Status window will open. To add in a new Problem Status, click on the plus icon along the top of the screen.

Step 4: Add a Description

You'll then be asked to give the new Problem Status a Description. Please make sure this is relevant to the customer service stage that this Status will be used for. Click 'Create'.

Step 5: Choose Additional Preferences

Now you've created the Problem Status, you'll need to choose some additional preferences for this Status by clicking the Pencil Icon next to the newly added Status. Then, the below side panel will appear with some additional drop-down lists for you to configure.

  • Task Required: In the CRM, you can ensure users take ownership of a record by setting them a Task. As a result, you can determine if a Task is required or not when a Problem is in this particular status. 

  • Closed State: If this status is going to be a closed status, such as 'Confirmed Successful' or 'Unable to Progress' then ensure this is selected. 

  • Status Outcome: For reporting purposes, you can choose whether the status is a positive, neutral or negative outcome. For example, an 'Unable to Progress' status may be a negative outcome, whereas a 'Closed Successful' status may be a positive outcome.

  • Allowing Editing: You can choose whether the Problem, once in this particular status, can be edited, read only or only admin users can edit. 

  • Obsolete: If you no longer need a status anymore, you can choose to obsolete it. By obsoleting a status users will no longer be able to choose this from the drop-down.

  • Status Detail: Status detail can be helpful when further clarifying the current status. For example, a status of 'Unable to Progress' doesn't really explain why, so you may have a status detail for 'No Spare Part' and 'Customer went to Competitor'. 

Once happy with your amendments, click out of the side panel and your changes will be saved.

You'll need to follow this process to create every single Status.

Please Note: there is no limit on how many status detail options you can add. However, only 50 will show in the drop-down when selecting in the CRM. You can still search for any remaining options not shown by typing into the field.

Now, we need to add your Problem Statuses to a new Problem Pipeline!

Step 6: Go to Settings Centre

Click on the settings icon in the bottom left-hand corner.

Step 7: Navigate to Service in Settings

Next, navigate to the Service page and scroll down until you reach the Problem Pipelines configure option.

Step 8: Configure Problem Pipelines

By selecting the 'Click here to Configure' link, the Configure Problem Pipeline window will open. Here, you'll see all of your existing Problem Pipelines. To add a new one, simply click on the plus icon in the top right-hand corner.

Step 9: Add Problem Pipeline Detail

You'll then be asked to give the new Problem Pipeline a Description. Make sure this is relevant to the after-sales process that the pipeline will be used for. Then, click 'Create'.

Now you've created the Problem Pipeline, you'll need to add in the required statuses by clicking on the pencil icon.

This will then open the below side bar, where you can make various edits to your new Problem Pipeline.

Step 10: Add Statuses into Pipeline

To add in Statuses, click on the plus icon next to the 'Status' heading.

You'll then be presented with a list of all the active Statuses that you currently have configured within the CRM. Here, you can select the Statuses you wish to add to the Problem Pipeline. Once happy with your choices click 'Update'.

Once added, you can then drag and drop the Statuses into the desired sequence to ensure users follow them in the most appropriate order.

Step 11: Add Closing Statuses

Finally, you'll need to set up your closing Statuses by clicking the plus icon next to the 'Closing Status' section.

You'll then be presented with a list of all the closing Statuses configured within the CRM, including 'Unable to Progress' and 'Confirmed Successful'. Click 'Update' once happy with the selection.

You're all set! You've now created Problem Statuses and added these into a new Problem Pipeline! Customer-facing teams can now use these when dealing with a customer query!

Problem Sources

It can be useful to set up Problem Sources too in the CRM if you want to gather extra insights in the ticket logging process.

These help you record where the customer's query came from. For example, did the customer call in about the issue, or did they send an email in? By collecting this information, it can help you distribute the right amount of resource in the right places, or even help identify new initiatives you could put in place to alleviate pressures from elsewhere. For example, if 80% of your queries come through via the telephone, you could consider adding a chat feature to your website to encourage customers to get a more instant response, rather than waiting on-hold in a queue.

You can configure your Problem Sources by following the steps in this guide.

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