We all know what it is like when you are waiting for something but have no idea when it will happen because those meant to provide it are not giving anything away about when it might show up. Well that’s akin to how our users feel when they need something from us but we put the ticket to one side to deal with later without saying so to them.
Or look at it this way. Which is worse – taking two days to deal with an issue without telling the user how long it will be or taking three days but making it clear from the start that it will be done in that time? Assuming the issue isn’t urgent (which is another matter altogether), many users would prefer the assurance of a set time even it means it will take longer.
The point is: Keep the user informed. It doesn’t have to be much and often a note to say that you are working on the issue or perhaps waiting for a third party will be sufficient. The key times to send an update will of course be at the start, at the end and when there is something new to say along the way. But it is equally important when there hasn’t been an update for a while and you just need to send some reassurance that the user hasn’t been forgotten.
This is highlighted in the best practice guide at UoS-iSolutions-IcM004-I Incident Management and Request Fulfilment Best Practice, for example in sections 2.1, 2.4, 5.1 and 5.2.