7 items to include in an eCommerce trouble ticket

The likelihood of experiencing a technical issue on an eCommerce website during the holiday shopping season is high. No matter how much planning or preparation an online retailer does, online shoppers will inevitably encounter something that doesn’t seem quite right.

Whether some products are showing available when they’re actually out of stock or whether pages are taking too long to load, consumers won’t be pleased. No matter the issue, when unforeseen problems arise, it’s important for the alerted team member to – like the phrase goes – keep calm and submit a trouble ticket.    

Although submitting a trouble ticket sounds fairly straightforward, the more detailed the description, the better. In fact, enhancing the description of submitted requests can help development teams avoid cases where the requirements and expectations are unclear, which can save precious time. Also, when this level of clarification happens early in the process, redundant efforts to capture the requirements or even rework the development are avoided. 

Whenever possible, a trouble ticket should include explicit statements with regard to:

1. The unexpected behavior or functionality.
2. Steps detailing how to reproduce the problem, including the various permutations of those steps, where applicable.
3. Screen shots, when applicable, of the problem as well as of any user interaction referenced in the description.
4. UI/UX analysis documentation and visuals.
5. Stating each environment in which this scenario can be reproduced. Giving as much detail about the environment where it was discovered will obviously be helpful (the URL of the page when the error happened, browser application and version, etc.).  
6. Logs of any kind that are seen. This could be the logs that the browser creates or full error output to the browser or email.
7. Very detailed description of the expected behavior. This includes indication of what should change and what should remain the same. Screen shots are helpful here, as well. Test cases will be created by the development team based on this description, so the more detail provided, the more efficient and thorough that process will be. 

Some businesses will employ a CRM to handle trouble tickets while others may use a home-grown solution. Either way, the more detailed the description, the easier it will be to find a remedy.