Customer Service...Online Experiences

[Kevin Robb]

[Mike Merz]

[James Mann]

[Kevin Robb]

[Lynn Terry]

Great topic, Kevin

I am having this dilemna as we speak... ordered a product, never received it, emailed the owner twice and still havent heard back! I'm assuming he was swamped with orders and emails and will eventually get back to me... This I can relate to, so I'm being patient for the time being... but plan to pursue it after giving it ample time.

On the flip side... Maybe you guys can help me figure out a way to resolve this issue in my own business -

I'm having a terrible time keeping up with email and have yet to come up with a workable solution. This, of course, is part of what I am working on in the upcoming 21-day Challenge - time management and scheduling as a whole - but at the moment, and for the last three months, I've been having a difficult time offering a timely response.

My first thought is that I obviously cannot personally reply to every single email... which disappoints me, because in the past I did pride myself on being able to do this. Now it would be one thing if were all orders or paid-clients - obviously then it would be logical to hire an assistant and keep on rolling.

The problem comes with the flood of emails from those that would like advice, reviews, solutions, etc - that are not profit-generating for me. In the past, when I was not so busy, I responded to these at the end of each day and really enjoyed doing so - and many of them did turn into profitable discussions in the end... However, when you run the risk of taking time away from a paying client, you have to draw the line...

One of the solutions I considered was to change my email address. I would leave my current address available, and with autoresponder, and use the separate address 'for business'. Done right, this could possibly work - for awhile, anyway. Regardless, I think many e-business owners are stuck filtering not only through the junk mail, but prioritizing the rest of their email by order of importance - as it relates to their long term goals.

I should really take advantage of my wonderful intern more than I have been... and consider hiring a part-time assistant again... But I also feel quite sure there are ways to handle the mass of email better than I do now...

At the moment I have over 900 emails. I sit down and get through about 30 of them as quick as I can, only to receive 50 more Some things take two seconds to handle, some take a good half hour. I'd love to hear how YOU handle your email... and am open to any advice you can offer!

[karadawn]

The email! Oh my......well, I suppose my best advice would be to get someone to work part time for you. That's the most obvious. Honestly with 900 emails, I don't know how you could get a better system going. I would be so overwhelmed!

Even if the person you hired part time only weeds through the junk and pulls out the most important emails that you need to reply to, or even organizes them in catagories...."most important", "least important", "possible trash". I suppose you could do this yourself, setting up folders in your email?

I'm lucky to not have that problem, I only get a handful of emails a day.

[Lynn Terry]

The problem with that is that I would have to tell them how to rate the emails - and some are on a case by case basis of course... during which time I could have had it done myself (and felt good that nothing fell through the cracks). Email is not something I'd want to contract out, honestly... It would have to be other tasks, which would then free me up to spend more time in the Inbox...

But hiring is next on my agenda... so keeping my eyes open for prospects

[Michelle Steiner]

But, maybe for the time being, you could set one up. Informing your contact that while you are sorry you are able to respond immediately, you will get back to them in *24 hours (example only). Then, each nite, while your "chilling" go through the emails, get rid of the junk, do your quick replys, and work on your harder emails. Also, in the morning when you first start your day, get rid of any junk that came in over nite. Set aside about an hour for this task, this should get your mail down fairly quickly.

I know it seems like a very obvious solutions, and maybe it is, but these are sometimes the solutions that we don't see.

Michelle

[Lynn Terry]

That is actually what I did about two months ago. The problem with the autoresponder message is that I end up getting a "mail delivery problem" error back for every piece of spam it responded to - resulting in even MORE email. And then... this was the best... my autoresponder went out to someone who also had an autoresponder... and of course my autoresponder responded to that autoresponse, which prompted another response... and so on and so forth until I had 700 of this persons responses! ha!

Currently I start my day with about 15 minutes of "inbox cleaning" - that gets me to a good starting point. From there I can plan my day according to little emergencies that have popped up (a server is down, a form isnt working, updates, etc) along with the days task list already in front of me. As for the rest of the email - many of them very good and things I definitely want to respond to - I try to spend an hour or so each evening with those.

Its still not enough... as they continue to come in continuously. Being offline for ONE day will swamp me... and I've been having a hard time getting caught back up ever since the downtime with the tornado incident back in May...

[karadawn]

How about setting up different email accounts? I have 3 main email accounts that I use - one for message boards, groups, and newsletters, one for Mom's Market, and one for Natural Home. Maybe that's why I never think I have too many emails even though I get around 100+ a day. The public email I use is my yahoo account which is also used for the message boards, etc......so I don't get as much junk in the rest of the accounts. Oh yes, and Yahoo has that nifty bulk mail folder, so that cuts out over 100 message a day. I really should scan through that once in awhile to make sure nothing important has landed in there, but Yahoo seems to be pretty reliable as far as spam filtering goes.

Just a suggestion! I think you will eventually find what works for you and run with it.

[Lynn Terry]

I do have seven email accounts... and 30 folders which I filter things into that either dont need immediate attention or can be grouped together... I also have "junk filters" set up for certain keywords (so if you expect a response from me, best to leave out the word "******" among others LOL)...

Great suggestions, though - keep them coming!! ... as I'm sure they're beneficial to others as well

[Mike Merz]

[Lynn Terry]

Ohhhh Mike

But hey - - Maybe this is the reason no one has heard from !

[Mike Merz]

[Lynn Terry]

Oh Mike, Silly you!

I simply meant that Becky might get filtered out with her latest & greatest... I can just imagine various ways to use the term "Marketing ******" or any slew of other keywords that relate to

I love her concept though...

-- and now, knowing Mike, we should probably change the subject --