Lots of us include a contact option on our websites, a webform or an email address. Great! People love having a way to reach out directly.
What's not great is when those avenues to contact turn out to be roads to nowhere.
How many times have you reached out only to get nothing? For me, the answer is "too many".
A 4-step process to be more responsive to customer emails
The best way to fix this problem is to make these channels a priority. Here's a simple four-step process to improve your responsiveness to customer emails:
- Assign these emails to a specific person.
- Set and track expectations for response time to customer and forwarding to appropriate person.
- Make this part of the performance review process.
- Add copy to your site that explains the process, establishes the timeframes and provides another point of entry for customers (only if that one's monitored, too!).
Why does it matter?
It feels like crap to be ignored. It's frustrating to not get the information you need. It motivates us to go elsewhere.
Do you want people having those feelings about your organization? Can you afford to lose business to your competitors?
Didn't think so.