Client Support System Gets a Brand New Look

The past couple of months we’ve been hard at work on improvements to our WordPress client support system. The entire system was rebuilt from the ground up and now conforms to Hidden Depth’s Atomic Framework.

Beautiful new look

In line with last year’s Hidden Depth brand update the support system now reflects our branding. The new look is very clean and fresh. We want it to feel easy to discuss support issues with us.

The only place images are used is on the login and register pages. Images are sourced from our Picography free photography website and add a bit of fun and personality.

Simplified ticket status

Originally ticket status could be classified as Open, In Progress, On Hold, Closed. Now tickets are either Open or Closed so everybody knows where they stand.

Clients can now mark their own tickets as Closed. This is one of those small things we added and thought nothing of it. Then realised how helpful it was when people started using it. Not every ticket is black and white. Sometimes we assume clients will have further questions for us when we send a response, so we leave the ticket open. Other times clients may be polite and reopen a ticket to say ‘thanks’. This feature gives the client the power to tell us when they got everything they need.

Comments

The comments section now feels more like a messaging app. Once a ticket was open, we want to encourage conversation to arrive at a resolution.

When you view a ticket it automatically scrolls to the latest comment at the bottom of the page. A small thing for desktop users but a really useful feature for mobile users.

Replies

We’ve made replies easier too. The reply box now sticks to the bottom of the page so you can scroll back up and view previous comments while still being able to view/edit your reply.

Better mobile web design

The original website was a desktop support system. I know from personal experience that this approach can be frustrating when you try to open and respond to a ticket on your phone and it takes a lot longer than on a laptop. The new system is beautiful on mobile and makes managing tickets much faster.

As with 90% of our projects nowadays, a mobile first approach was followed. Designing with mobile in mind as the first port of call has the added benefit of limiting the amount of space you can fill with fluff. The site is fully responsive so tablet and desktop users still get a great experience.

Updated WordPress Support System plugin

A great add-on to the support system is the WordPress plugin we built. The plugin integrates with a client’s WordPress website and allows them to open, read and reply to support tickets right from within their own website’s admin area.

The plugin has also got a fresh new look to match all other branding.