This functionality allows customers to rate responses, agents to get feedback on their performance, and management to monitor performance and determine service levels.
What are ratings for and how do you get them?
The goal of any support agent is not just to close a case, but to make sure the customer was satisfied. The content of the customer's last message doesn't always make this clear, which is why a formal quality rating is needed.
Once the ratings feature is enabled, customers will be sent a request to rate the quality of the replies they received. Let's look in detail at the available settings and how the request works in different channels.
1. Rating email and help center cases
You can enable the functionality of rating cases received by email along the path: administrator account — "Settings" section — "Satisfaction ratings" subsection.
After enabling the option, you need to select how you want to send the satisfaction survey request to customers:
— In a separate email after the case is closed;
— In the signature of each agent's response.
Requesting the rating in a separate email after the case is closed
With this setting, once a case is closed, an email is sent to the customer, asking to rate the quality of the responses received.
After clicking on one of the ratings, the customer is taken to a separate page where they can add a comment if they wish.
Rating links remain valid for two more hours after the customer submits a rating. This window is included in case the customer accidentally selects the wrong rating or simply wants to change it. If the customer clicks a link they already used more than two hours ago, they'll see a message stating that their rating has been recorded and can no longer be changed.
If the customer closes the case themselves in their help center account, they can rate the agent's work right away in the modal window that appears.
On the case page in the help center, the customer is also able to change the assigned rating within two hours.
In the settings of this option you can choose when to send a satisfaction survey request: immediately after closing a case or with a specified delay after closing a case.
Regardless of the option chosen, once the changes are saved, there will be a non-deletable rule created, that is not possible to disable. A link to this rule appears in the tooltip text.
If you select the "with a specified delay after the case is closed" option, a rule for existing cases is created. According to this rule, a customer satisfaction survey email will be sent 24 hours after closing the case. If necessary, you can change this time, as well as specify other conditions. The main thing is to keep in the text of the letter the variable ratings_options_email_buttons, which is responsible for buttons with ratings.
If you select the "immediately after the case is closed" option, a rule for updated cases will be created, according to which, immediately after the case has been closed, the user receives a customer satisfaction survey email. If necessary, you can add some conditions, for example, excluding sending the survey to certain addresses. The main thing is to keep in the text of the letter the variable ratings_options_email_buttons, which is responsible for buttons with ratings.
This letter is also displayed inside of the case in the agent's account, but the buttons for ratings are inactive so that agents can't rate their performance.
The rating received from the user is displayed in the correspondence thread, in the "Case parameters" panel, and in the all cases list.
Requesting the rating in the signature of each agent's response
If you select this option, rating links are added to each agent's response before or after their signature. In the options settings, you can also select specific agents whose responses include grade links, and edit the text of the rating request. Most importantly, keep the rating_options_email_signature variable in the text, which is responsible for rating links.
As a result, customers can not rate the case as a whole, but each assignee individually.
After clicking on one of the ratings, the customer is taken to a separate page where they can also add a comment if they wish.
When the customer views the response from the help center, clicking on the rating does not redirect to a separate page, but just opens a modal window where, if desired, he/she can leave a comment.
Rating links remain valid for two more hours after the customer submits a rating. This window is included in case the customer accidentally selects the wrong rating or simply wants to change it. If the customer clicks a rating link in a response they already rated more than two hours ago, they'll see a message stating that their rating has been recorded and can no longer be changed.
In the agent's account, ratings are added in chronological order and contain a link to the rated response.
The last received rating is also displayed in the "Case parameters" panel and in the all cases list.
2. Rating chats
You can enable chat rating functionality along the path: administrator account — "Settings" section — "Satisfaction ratings " subsection.
After enabling the option, you need to choose from which link to send to the customer:
— with a request to rate the whole chat;
— with a request to rate each agent who responded in the chat.
Let's take a closer look at each option.
Rating the whole chat
This option should be selected if agents usually solve customer issues themselves, rather than involving their colleagues to help.
After saving the changes, a non-excludable and non-removable rule will be created for the updated cases. A link to this rule appears in the tooltip text.
If necessary, you can add other conditions and actions to the rule, for example, to exclude sending a message with a request for a chat rating in certain groups. The main thing is to keep the variable rating_full_chat_link in the text of the message, which is responsible for the rating link.
If you select this option and set a "closed" status for a chat (active or completed) the customer will be sent a link to rate agent responses.
After clicking on the link, the customer is taken to a page where they can rate it and add comments if they wish.
The rating is recorded in the reports for the agent who was the assignee at the time of rating.
The rating link remains valid for two more hours after the customer submits a rating. This window is included in case the customer accidentally selects the wrong rating or simply wants to change it. If the customer clicks the link they already used more than two hours ago, they'll see a message stating that their rating has been recorded and can no longer be changed.
In the agent's account, the rating request message is also displayed in the correspondence thread, but part of the rating link is hidden so that agents cannot self-rate themselves.
The ratings given by the customer appear in the correspondence thread, in the "Case parameters" panel, and in the all cases list.
If agents do not manually set the "closed" status in chats
The default rule for requesting a rating only works if agents manually set the "closed" status in chats, that is, if you have your own rules that do that, the rating request is not being sent to customers.
In this situation, you need to add the "Send a message to chat" action to the rule that sets the "closed" status in chats and contains the [rating_full_chat_link] variable to insert a link to rate the chat.
Rating each agent who replied in the chat
This option should be chosen if customers often address several questions on different topics within one chat and several agents need to be involved to answer them.
Given that the customer must necessarily distinguish different agents' responses, you can select this option only if all personal or group signatures for chats in all languages (if you have added multiple languages) use the variable staff_full_name, which adds the name of the responding agent to the responses in chats. If this variable is not present in all signatures, an error will appear when you save the changes, telling you to add the variable to all signatures (all agents or all groups) for chats.
After selecting this option, a non-disableable and non-deletable rule for updated cases is created. A link to this rule appears in the tooltip text.
If necessary, you can add other conditions and actions to the rule, for example, to exclude sending a message with a request for rating for chats in certain groups. The main thing is to keep the variable rating_chat_replies_links in the text of the message, which is responsible for the rating link.
If you select this option and set a "closed" status for a chat (active or completed), Deskie checks how many agents responded in the chat and then sends the rating links to the customer.
For example, if only one agent responded in the chat, the customer receives only one link to rate the responses of that agent.
If several agents responded to the chat, the customer receives a link to rate each agent individually and a link to give a general rating (in this case, all agents who responded are receiving the same rating).
After clicking on the link, the customer is taken to a page where they can rate it and add comments if they wish.
The rating link remains valid for two more hours after the customer submits a rating. This window is included in case the customer accidentally selects the wrong rating or simply wants to change it. If the customer clicks the link they already used more than two hours ago, they'll see a message stating that their rating has been recorded and can no longer be changed.
In the agent's account, the rating request message is also displayed in the correspondence thread, but part of the rating link is hidden so that agents cannot self-rate themselves.
The ratings given by the customer appear in the correspondence thread. The last given rating also appears in the "Case parameters" panel and in the all cases list.
If agents do not manually set the "closed" status in chats
The default rule for requesting a rating only works if agents manually set the "closed" status in chats, that is, if you have your own rules that do that, the rating request is not being sent to customers.
In this situation, you need to add the "Send a message to chat" action to the rule that sets the "closed" status in chats and contains the [rating_full_chat_link] variable to insert a link to rate the chat.
3. Time limit for rating response quality
You can limit the period during which a customer can rate an agent's response. Once the period expires, the rating form becomes unavailable — a placeholder page is shown instead, with information about how long ratings were accepted.
You can enable this option in the admin account under "Settings" section – "Satisfaction ratings" subsection.
Once enabled, specify the period during which a customer can submit a rating. You can choose the unit — hours or days. The range is 1–720 for hours and 1–365 for days.
Once the period expires, the option to submit a rating disappears. When the customer follows the link from the rating request, they'll see a placeholder page with information about how long ratings were accepted.
4. Agents access to ratings and customer comments
Once you have activated the satisfaction ratings for cases, you must decide what type of access to those ratings and customer comments agents should have.
a. By default, the "only ratings for each case" option is active. This way agents see just brief reports in the "Dashboard" section and ratings for each case, but without comments on them. Agents have a general understanding of how well they are doing, but do not see the whole picture and cannot influence rating post factum.
b. If you select "list of all ratings and comments on them", the original functionality remains the same, but additional changes take place:
in the agent's account a subsection "New assessments" appears, where ratings are processed according to the Inbox Zero principle;
in addition to ratings, agents see comments on them;
new rules are added to the administrator's account, which can be used to send a follow-up satisfaction survey email to the customer to re-evaluate the case by email and/or a follow-up satisfaction survey message to the chat to re-evaluate the chat. Thanks to these rules, agents are able to correct their mistakes if they initially received an unsatisfactory rating.
Let's take a closer look at the functionality of re-rating in different channels.
Re-rating email and help center cases
If for cases by email and those ones from the help center the option "in a separate email after the case is closed" is selected and the option "list of all ratings and comments on them" is selected in the "agent access to ratings" settings, then an additional rule is created, which can be used to request a follow-up rating of the agent's performance. The link to the rule also appears in the tooltip text in the "agent access to ratings" block.
If the option "with a specified delay after the case is closed" is selected in the rating settings, the rule for existing cases will be created. According to this rule, if a case has already been closed and rated and has a "for follow-up rating" label, the customer will receive an email with a link to change the rating. If necessary, you can change the conditions and actions in the rule, the main thing is to keep the ratings_options_email_buttons variable in the text of the email, which is responsible for the rating buttons.
The new rating will completely replace the previous one (in the correspondence thread, in the "Case parameters" panel, in the all cases list, in the brief reports in the agent's account, and in the reports on ratings in the administrator's account).
Re-rating chat cases
If the chat rating is enabled in your account and the "list of all ratings and comments on them" option is selected in the "agent access to ratings" settings, then an additional rule is created that can be used by an agent to request a follow-up rating of their performance. The link to the rule also appears in the tooltip text in the "agent access to ratings" block.
You can add other conditions and actions to the rule if necessary, the main thing is to keep the variables rating_full_chat_link (if the option "the whole chat" is selected) or rating_chat_replies_links (if the option "each agent who replied in the chat" is selected), which are responsible for the rating link in the text of the message.
According to the rule, if a chat has already been rated earlier, a message containing the link to change the rating will be sent to the customer after adding the "for follow-up rating" label.
In Deskie, the default behavior when an agent sends a new message in a closed chat is to create a new chat. Since an agent needs to reach the customer in the current chat — not a new one — to correct a rating, when sending a new message in a closed chat that already has a rating, the agent sees a modal with options to "create new chat" or "reply in current chat", along with guidance on when to choose each.
5. Working with ratings in agent account
a. A new parameter appears in the brief reports with data about agents' response ratings.
b. In the all cases list, right after the "Subject" column, a new column appears, which can be used to determine the rating.
c. A new field — "Rating given by user" — appears in case parameters.
d. If you selected "list of all ratings and comments on them" when configuring the functionality, the agent has significantly more options.
A subsection "New ratings" appears in the "Dashboard" section, which allows you to work with ratings according to the Inbox Zero principle.
All ratings are initially displayed in "new" so that the agent can review them and take action if necessary. The ratings are then moved to "processed".
e. In the course of the correspondence itself, a rating is added with a comment, so the agent can easily understand when exactly it was given.
In the case parameters, the "Rating given by user" field becomes a link — to quickly go to the rating with a comment.
The same happens with smileys in the list of all cases. Clicking on them not only opens the case but also scrolls to the rating with a comment.
f. For the convenience of working with cases that have ratings, the all cases list has filters and sorting by ratings.
6. Ratings in reports in the admin account
After activating the satisfaction rating functionality, a new subsection of reports appears in the "Team" section — "Satisfaction ratings". It displays both general indicators with dynamics and the entire list of ratings received by agents.
The administrator can delete ratings that he/she considers biased so that they do not spoil the agent's statistics.
The icon for deleting a rating appears on the right side of the rating line when you put the cursor over it.
Important: the logic of filters in this subsection is slightly different from the other sections of reports. Since the rating is always recorded for the agent who was the assignee at the time of the customer's rating, when selecting filters by the assignee, it is the one for whom the rating is recorded — that is, the one who was the assignee at the time of rating, and not the assignee currently set in the case.
At the same time, the filters by participants work as in other subsections — the case is rated for each agent who has sent at least one response in the case.
In the list of ratings, the time and date act as a link to the case in the agent's account. Also, in the table of the "Leadership" subsection appears the column "% ratings of responses" when you activate the rating functionality.
How is the reply quality score calculated?
The new response quality score is available in the brief statistics (Dashboard section) in both the admin and agent accounts. It's calculated as follows:
% of cases rated "Great" − % of cases rated "Poor"
For example, overall figures: 82% "Great", 12% "OK", and 6% "Poor". In this case, reply quality is 76%.
The logic is simple. "Great" ratings are something to be proud of, so their percentage forms the base. "OK" ratings don't indicate excellent quality, so their percentage doesn't add to the score. "Poor" ratings signal problems, so their percentage reduces the overall response quality.
7. Ratings in API
If necessary, you can work with ratings through the API.
a. You can add ratings using the following methods:
— adding a satisfaction rating to a case http://deskie.io/api/cases#add_case_rating
— adding a satisfaction rating to a specific agent response: http://deskie.io/api/cases#add_message_rating
b. The following methods for working with cases have parameters that allow you to view ratings and comments on them:
— viewing the list of cases: https://deskie.io/api/cases#view_all_cases
— viewing data of a specific case: https://deskie.io/api/cases#view_case
— viewing messages of a specific case: https://deskie.io/api/cases#view_messages
c. To get a list of all ratings and comments on them there is a separate method: http://deskie.io/api/stats#ratings. It's very useful if you want, for example, to download a list of ratings and comments on them once a day to display them on your website.