Contact Centers: Improve E-mail-based Customer Service

While use of e-mail as a method of communication between business and the consumer continues to expand, customer satisfaction with this method of customer service remains low, according to a white paper released by eGain Communications, a customer service and contact center software provider. In order to better the customer experience with e-mail communication, eGain offers the following tips in its white paper:

* Determine the optimum response time for your customers. Ask your customers how long they expect to wait for a response, set a response time based on their expectations and your capabilities, and then stick to it.

* Send an automated response to acknowledge that an e-mail has been received. Customers typically are willing to accept a delayed response if they know their requests are being processed.

* Consistently monitor response times. Set up alarms that are triggered if an inquiry isn’t handled within a reasonable, specified time. Measure agent performance, and schedule reports that track inquiries. Don’t use handling times by themselves as a means of evaluating performance, as this often causes poor service quality.

* Make cross-channel customer information available to contact center agents. Your representatives should be able to access customer information quickly and completely. A common customer information database that includes account and billing information across all channels will save significant time and effort.

* Create a knowledge base that is available to all contact center agents. This will keep responses consistent. Remember to take into consideration customers’ frequently asked questions, which typically comprise 80 percent of queries.

For more information, visit www.egain.com/best_practices/library.asp. See white paper “Mission-Critical E-mail Customer Service: 10 Best Practices for Success”.