A CRM ticketing system tracks support requests, orders and other work on the same record as the customer they belong to. This guide explains how one works, how it differs from a help desk, and what to check before you choose one.
What is a CRM ticketing system?
A CRM ticketing system is ticket tracking built into your customer relationship management software. Each ticket has a status, an owner and the details you need, and it is attached to a customer.
That link is the point. When a customer calls about a ticket, the person who answers can see the ticket, the last email, the recording of the previous call and the open invoice on one screen. Nobody has to ask the customer to explain it again.
CRM ticketing system vs help desk software
A help desk such as Zendesk or Freshdesk is built for high-volume support teams. It gives you SLA clocks that count business hours, a customer portal and queue management. It knows little about the sale, the order or the invoice unless you connect it to your CRM.
A CRM with ticketing starts from the customer record. It suits businesses where the same team sells, delivers and supports, and where a “ticket” is just as likely to be an order, a claim or an installation as a support request.
| You need | Better fit |
|---|---|
| SLA reporting in business hours | Help desk |
| A portal where customers log in to see tickets | Help desk |
| Tickets next to calls, quotes and invoices | CRM with ticketing |
| Deadline alerts and escalation by workflow | CRM with ticketing |
| The same board for tickets, orders and jobs | CRM with ticketing |
| One tool for sales, service and billing | CRM with ticketing |
What to look for
- Your own stages. Open, In Progress and Resolved suit support. Orders, claims and jobs need different stages, and you should be able to name them yourself.
- Your own fields. Ticket number, priority, due date, owner, order value, files. A ticket should hold what your process needs.
- A board and a list. A Kanban board shows where work is stuck. A list lets you sort, filter and export.
- Automatic customer updates. The customer should hear that the ticket was received and that it was resolved, without anyone remembering to tell them.
- Tickets created for you. A website form or a support email should be able to open the ticket.
- The customer’s history on the ticket. Calls, emails, texts and invoices should be one click away.
How ticketing works in BaseCloud CRM
In BaseCloud you build the ticketing system from a custom table and a Kanban board.
- Create a table. Add the columns your tickets need, such as priority, owner, due date and attachments, plus a choice column for the status.
- Show it as a board. Each status becomes a column, with a count of the tickets in it. Choose which fields appear on each card.
- Work the board. Drag a card to the next column and the status changes for everyone. Files such as photos and PDFs open from the card.
- Automate the follow-up. An automation workflow can start when a ticket is added or its status changes. It can text, WhatsApp or email the customer, or tell the next person it is their turn.
Every ticket belongs to a client, so it shows on that client’s record with the rest of their history. The same setup tracks orders, claims, manufacturing jobs and onboarding.
We use it ourselves. BaseCloud’s own tickets used to live in Jira, and they now run on these boards. If you are weighing that kind of move, see how BaseCloud compares as a Jira alternative, a Trello alternative or a monday.com alternative.
What columns and workflows cover, and what they don’t
Most of what a ticket needs is a column or a workflow away. Ticket numbers are a column a workflow fills in. Checkbox columns give every card a checklist. A workflow can alert a manager when a ticket is still open after four hours, send a survey when it closes and create recurring jobs on a schedule. Workflows have no monthly run limit.
BaseCloud has no customer portal, no SLA clock that counts business hours, and no backlog planning, burndown charts or timeline view. If your support team reports against contracted response times, or your developers plan in sprints, keep a dedicated tool for that work and connect it to the CRM with a workflow.
Is a CRM ticketing system right for you?
It is a good fit when your tickets belong to customers you also sell to and bill, and when you want one place to see everything about them. It is the wrong fit when support is a large, separate operation measured on response-time targets.
To see a board built for your own process, book a demo or start a 7-day trial.
