On Monday morning, you open your dashboard and discover 150 tickets waiting for you. Your backlog has exploded over the weekend. How did you get here, and more importantly, how do you get out of it?
In this guide, discover what support backlog is, why it accumulates, and how to manage it effectively.
The support backlog refers to all tickets or customer requests awaiting processing at a given moment. It is the "stock" of unresolved requests.
A zero backlog is unrealistic (there are always tickets in progress), but a backlog that is constantly growing is a sign of an imbalance between incoming volume and processing capacity.
The simplest indicator: how many tickets are currently open?
More revealing: what is the average age of pending tickets? A backlog of 50 tickets created two hours ago is not a problem. Fifty tickets older than seven days is a red alert.
20 P4 tickets pending is acceptable. 20 P1 tickets is a crisis.
Is the backlog increasing or decreasing day by day? The trend is just as important as the absolute figure.
Product launches, incidents, promotions, seasonality... Certain events generate peaks that the team cannot absorb.
The team is simply too small for the incoming volume. It's a structural problem.
An uncorrected bug, missing information on the website... These problems generate avoidable tickets.
If each ticket takes too long to process, capacity automatically decreases.
Waiting for the customer, a third party, an internal team... These tickets stagnate and inflate the backlog.
Agents handle the most recent or easiest tickets, leaving older ones to pile up.
A high backlog = guaranteed SLA breaches. Commitments can no longer be met.
Identify critical tickets (SLA approaching, VIP customer, blocking issue) and handle them first.
Agents from other teams, managers returning to the field, temporary workers, external service providers, etc.
Group similar tickets together and process them in batches. An agent who specializes in a particular type of request is more efficient.
Inform customers of the unusual delay. An informed wait is less frustrating.
Tickets without customer response for X days, obsolete requests, duplicates... Clean up your system.
Identify frequently asked questions and automate the answers.
Klark automates the processing of simple requests, reducing the workload and preventing backlogs from accumulating.
The more customers find things on their own, the fewer tickets come in.
A bug that generates 50 tickets per day? The real solution is to fix the bug, not to process the tickets.
Analyze the volume and adjust staffing levels. Chronic understaffing is not sustainable.
Training, better tools, response templates, easier access to information... Every minute saved counts.
Start each day with a review of the backlog:
A display visible to everyone helps keep the backlog under control. When it turns red, everyone sees it.
Notification when the backlog exceeds a threshold, when a ticket becomes overdue, when the SLA is approaching...
Trend analysis, pattern identification, adjustments for the following week.
The backlog interacts with other KPIs:
"We'll catch up later" is rarely true. The backlog that accumulates becomes increasingly difficult to clear.
FIFO (First In, First Out) should be the basic rule. The oldest tickets first (except in emergencies).
Closing tickets to lower the counter without actually processing them = angry customers who come back.
Recruitment takes time. Anticipate rather than react when the backlog explodes.
Clearing the backlog without understanding why it formed guarantees that it will return.
It depends on your volume and your SLAs. A backlog of 2-4 hours of work is generally healthy. Anything beyond a day is cause for concern.
No, that's unrealistic and can lead to sloppy work. Aim for a stable and manageable backlog.
Plan ahead: keep capacity available at the end of the week, set up weekend on-call shifts, or communicate longer lead times for requests made on Friday evenings.
No. Email tolerates backlogs better than chat. Prioritize according to the expectations of each channel.
The support backlog is a barometer of the health of your customer service department. A controlled backlog means a properly sized team, efficient processes, and satisfied customers.
The keys to mastering the backlog:
Is your backlog exploding? Discover how Klark can help you reduce it.
