E mail is ubiquitous in skilled life. We use it to speak with coworkers, to provide standing updates on tasks to giant teams, to plan conferences and gatherings, and for a slew of different issues. For these working in buyer assist, it might probably usually be the first mode of communication with prospects.
There are good causes e mail has remained a useful instrument for buyer assist: It may be used asynchronously, it’s low price when in comparison with different conventional assist strategies like telephone assist, and over 4 billion individuals on this planet have entry to it.
Though e mail appears ready-made for buyer assist, commonplace e mail purchasers like Gmail and Outlook aren’t. As a way to create the very best expertise for each brokers and prospects, you want entry to a specialised instrument. That instrument is e mail assist software program.
What’s e mail assist software program?
E mail assist software program is a instrument used to prepare, handle, and reply to buyer requests despatched through e mail. They normally embody options that assist with agent collaboration and efficiency monitoring. Some even embody choices to automate sure duties to enhance total staff productiveness.
Key options to search for in e mail assist software program
In the event you’re new to e mail assist software program, you might not be precisely positive what you’re on the lookout for. And not using a level to start out from, starting your search could also be relatively tough. That will help you in your approach, right here’s a listing of key options any worthwhile e mail assist software program ought to have:
Collaboration: As these working within the area know, buyer assist is a staff sport. Search for instruments that embody options like inner notes and project capabilities.
Automation: Handbook duties take up lots of time that could possibly be higher spent serving to prospects. Search out instruments that allow you to automate issues like dialog sorting and tagging.
Group: Getting the suitable individuals on the suitable requests means higher, faster solutions for purchasers and fewer trouble for brokers. Instruments that allow you to create a number of inboxes for various groups, and even specialties, can save lots of time and complications for everybody concerned.
Ease of use: Bear in mind, there are two teams you should take into account when occupied with ongoing ease of use: prospects and brokers. Make sure that the expertise is nice for each for the very best outcomes.
Analytics: Many e mail assist instruments have some reporting options. Having these insights into staff and particular person efficiency can assist you enhance dramatically. Search for instruments which have dashboards prepared out-of-the-box to get these insights even sooner.
The 9 finest e mail assist software program platforms
Although many e mail assist software program share some related options, some instruments are higher suited to sure use circumstances than others. With that in thoughts, we’ve put collectively a listing of instruments that cowl a variety of makes use of so that you’re extra knowledgeable and higher capable of decide the suitable resolution on your staff.
1. Assist Scout
Greatest for customer-focused groups.
Assist Scout has been within the buyer assist enterprise for over a decade. Although Assist Scout now gives an entire assist resolution, it initially began out as e mail assist software program. Though these choices have expanded, e mail assist stays a core competency.
Assist Scout’s shared inbox instrument offers you entry to collaboration options like non-public notes and @mentions to get enter from others, and it gives further context for buyer requests. Buyer profiles give brokers much more perception into who they’re interacting with and any points the client has had up to now, lowering back-and-forth conversations and dashing up response instances.
You additionally get entry to quite a lot of productiveness instruments like saved replies to reply routine requests rapidly and workflows to automate quite a lot of guide duties like dialog sorting and assigning. There’s additionally collision detection, which reveals when an agent is actively engaged on a request to assist remove duplicate work.
The pre-built studies dashboard reveals the place your staff’s doing finest and areas the place you possibly can enhance. You’re additionally capable of embody CSAT and NPS surveys to get an entire image of your efficiency.
Lastly, Assist Scout’s easy setup permits you to rise up and operating in simply a few hours, and the intuitive interface means you could be a energy consumer by the tip of day one. In the event you ever have any questions, Assist Scout’s world-class assist staff is out there 24/6 to help.
Value: Beginning at $20/consumer per 30 days.
2. LiveAgent
Greatest for groups using many alternative channels.
LiveAgent is a buyer assist platform that had an preliminary deal with stay channels, particularly stay chat. Together with their chat providing, they now even have a ticketing resolution, which is the instrument one would use to handle e mail interactions.
They’ve a considerably commonplace characteristic set for essentially the most half; nevertheless, they do have a few gadgets that make them distinctive, like the power to create totally different SLAs by channel and a slew of integrations if you should work together with prospects from quite a lot of totally different platforms. Nevertheless, some fundamental options like efficiency reporting are restricted to their higher-cost plans.
Value: Beginning at $15/agent per 30 days.
3. ServiceNow
Greatest for IT groups.
ServiceNow is a instrument that empowers groups to handle all points of IT assist. One facet of their providing is their e mail assist instrument. The structure is just like a Kanban board, and brokers are capable of replace the standing of a difficulty immediately inside the job.
As a repair or decision progresses, they will regularly replace the ticket to extend transparency and permit for others to collaborate on the difficulty. There are additionally quite a lot of different instruments, like a self-service portal. In the event you’re on the lookout for an IT resolution, ServiceNow is a good possibility.
Value: Contact ServiceNow for pricing.
4. HappyFox
Greatest for venture administration.
HappyFox is a mixture of a shared inbox and a venture administration instrument. You get entry to a lot of shared inbox options like inner notes, dialog routing, agent collision detection, and satisfaction surveys (although the final two options are solely provided on their higher-cost plans).
One factor that makes their product distinctive is the power to view conversations in quite a lot of totally different views. There’s a typical inbox view just like a standard e mail consumer, a Kanban board view, and a card view. With the ability to visualize conversations otherwise could also be very helpful for some groups.
Value: Beginning at $29/agent per 30 days.