How does your customer service team cope with thousands of support requests? Do you have a catch-all email address with a brimming inbox? Are replies getting lost in the shuffle? Find customer complaints go through the roof because emails aren’t answered on-time? It might be time to queue in customer support automation software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Studies show US companies lose $1.6 trillion due to poor customer service<\/a>. Conversely, 55% of satisfied customers are willing to spend more money. And most demand quick or instant reactions to their support queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer support automation software helps to manage the flood of incoming emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The inbox no longer remains a swamp of unanswered questions. Replies flow back and forth between teams. Software like shared inboxes lets businesses take back control of customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve gathered together 3 types of software to help you manage customer emails. Each brings its own benefits in battling the tide of support requests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your team is drowning in emails then read on to throw them a lifeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A shared inbox allows all your support agents to receive and send emails from the same address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, say your shared customer support address is help@company.com. Emails are either forwarded to the right department or accessed by multiple agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s great for a limited amount of requests but what if you get hundreds per day? Who manages that? What about replies? Do they come from help@company.com or the agent’s address?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shared inbox software<\/a> manages things for you. You can share one inbox with all your support agents and still give great customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve broken down the main features of a shared inbox service and how it can benefit your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though there’s one address, shared inbox software makes use of your full team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email conversations are assigned to the right person or department. Delegation is a simple two-click process<\/a>. Managers can track who’s sent what and when.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The team member is notified by only the emails that need their response. This reduces waste and improves customer response time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all emails are easy to answer so teams should work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good shared inbox software allows for real-time collaboration. Chat with other team members within an email thread and group conversations. See the progress of a support request together. Managers can view progress at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tagging emails allows easier searching for past responses so why reinvent the wheel? If someone else has a solution a quick tag search brings up the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No more forwarding or blind carbon copies, just a managed workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A customer service survey<\/a> by Microsoft found customers hated having to repeat requests. It was worse still if their requests weren’t answered to begin with!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a shared inbox, unanswered emails are simple to flag. Managers can track late replies and highlight them as such. The end result is Inbox Zero<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Redirect customer emails to the right department using automation rules. These can be as simple as if the email contains a keyword forward to Joe Bloggs<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, the best software integrates with your existing CRM and eCommerce platforms. Our shared inbox connects with 1,500 different tools including Dropbox and Zendesk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email bots offer an automated way to respond to incoming emails. They use Artificial Intelligence to deliver custom responses that you set up in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They’re like a chatbot but instead of offering live chat, communications are handled through email. And like modern chatbots, customers don’t always know they’re talking to a computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The keys to a successful email bot are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The AI customer service software<\/a> analyzes the support request, searching for keywords and phrases. These then trigger predetermined responses that are sent within seconds. The tone is natural and mimics a real email thread conversation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest advantage of an email bot is speed. The analysis takes microseconds and customers receive an automated reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But not everyone likes talking to a bot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although bots are becoming more human-like they’re not there yet. Customers often prefer to speak with a real human to solve their real problem. Incorrect responses based on a wrong email analysis do more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email bots are still a useful tool. Used in conjunction with a shared inbox and a ticketing system, they can help balance the workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Email is still the most used digital customer service channel<\/a> but costs can be prohibitive. The price to manually handle a help desk ticket is $22. That can be reduced significantly through automation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar to shared inbox automation, support tickets can be redirected through a series of rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a ticket arrives, the software analyses the contents and subject line. Predetermined actions then filter tickets and forward them to the right department for response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you offer a FAQ database, the software can tag related answers or attach them to replies. This is a great way to offer instant responses without human interaction. Many queries could be resolved if customers searched FAQs so this method does the hard work for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ticketing systems seem like the best solution, however, not all customers agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sixty-one percent of polled clients felt they’re being treated more like tickets than paying customers. If things become too automated then a business can lose the human touch. And if you lose a customer it’s almost impossible to rebuild that relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Balance things out using an integrated system. Harness the power of ticketing with a human-led shared inbox to combine speed with real emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers want their requests handled as soon as possible and now they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer support automation software makes sure queries are handled in an efficient way. Shared inboxes, chatbots, and ticketing systems mean messages no longer mount up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Shared Inbox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Distribute Workload<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Team Collaboration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Unanswered Replies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Shared Inbox Automation Rules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Email Bots and AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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3. Support Ticketing Automation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Business Lifelines Through Customer Support Automation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n