• We welcome content that is not political, divisive, or offensive. If we feel your content leans this way or has the potential to, it may be removed at any time. A hot pepper forum is not the place for such content. Thank you for respecting the community!

Help a guy out...

AJ Drew

AJ Drew

After my hospital stay, I fell way behind with email responses.  Between the chatty emails, the customer service emails, and the spam I got overwhelmed.  Also, business has been swift.  So my wife is coming to the rescue by taking over customer service.  You know, the why did my box go from KY to OH via Alaska (yes, that happened this year).
 
All email used to go to ajdrew@PeppersByMail.com, now we have Aimee@PeppersByMail.com for time sensitive things like where is my box?  Or will you replace the box the post office played foot ball with?  So I set up auto responders that explain the change.

Want to know if they work and sound good.  I don't want patrons thinking I dont care about them.  Its just I am overwhelmed with all the email and need to make sure the important ones are answered quickly.
 
.So if a couple folk could write to those addresses and see what happens, if you get a auto reply, if the wording sounds good, that would really help me out.
 
Just tested it AJ, works fine. Some tips:
 
Set up a service@peppersbymail.com (or something similar) for everything relating to customer service. That way people who want to reach you personally don't have to get this automatic e-mail, and it doesn't clutter up in your inbox. You could still inform the customers that you have a new e-mail address for customer service. It should take just a few weeks for people to get used to the switch. It also ensures you don't burden your patrons with having to send their e-mail twice.
 
Start your message with Dear Sir/Madam, 'hello' is a bit basic. 
 
A good example of a customer service email:
 
Subject: We received your email and we're working on it!
 
Dear Sir or Madam, ((a name is better, but in this situation that's hard to automate))
 
Thank you so much for reaching out to us! 
 
We are working very hard on answering all of our customers' questions. We promise to get back to you within ((x, whatever you feel like is achievable, but keep your promise)) days.
 
Thanks again,
 
A.J. Drew
PeppersByMail
 
 
You could and should give a personal twist on it. 
 
Edit: Also, you mentioned you have spam problems. What email client are you using? Nowadays most spam should be able to be filtered out almost perfectly.
 
Excellent post B3rnd!  Solid info and suggestions.  I second the "service@pbm" addy AJ.  
 
Wanted to go with Customer Service but wife thinks stay personal.  I dont even like auto responders.  Very impersonal, but need something to get folk who write me for customer service to write her.  Thought about forwarding to her, but then she would get hit with what might be the real problem: I am a talker.  I really do like talking with folk, but I have turned so many patrons into pen pals that my email box is constantly filled.

Actual spam is not much of a problem anymore.  I made the horrible mistake of using the email address sales@peppersbymail.com.  I think folk automatically send to that address at every domain.  Mostly import places trying to hawk their goods, but oddly it seems Russian women want me.  I am not using a locally installed email client, I am using a web based one.

Now I am thinking about using google.  I can use g mail with my domain and they seem to have the goods on spam.
 
You can have a dedicated customer service address and still be personal. It's all about how you approach the customer. They won't think twice about the address they're mailing to. It's just about making it easier for you and your patrons. 
 
I'd suggest not using emails but a ticket system. Emails are too messy. Even if companies use email these days they usually start a ticket. This way they get a ticket number to refer to, and you can set statuses like "Open" "Resolved" "Working" etc. And the tickets are accessible to you and your wife, and you get alerts when one is started/updated (which can be by use of a form on your site and/or by sending an email). This way you have records of everything, the statuses, and this also lets you and your wife both participate in the same ticket instead of emailing just one person. Plus, you have all of the customers concerns in one "thread" like ticket instead of searching for individual emails.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
I'd suggest not using emails but a ticket system. Emails are too messy. Even if companies use email these days they usually start a ticket. This way they get a ticket number to refer to, and you can set statuses like "Open" "Resolved" "Working" etc. And the tickets are accessible to you and your wife, and you get alerts when one is started/updated (which can be by use of a form on your site and/or by sending an email). This way you have records of everything, the statuses, and this also lets you and your wife both participate in the same ticket instead of emailing just one person. Plus, you have all of the customers concerns in one "thread" like ticket instead of searching for individual emails.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, that is even better. But I didn't think of mentioning it because it would take some setting up before it's live, and got the vibe AJ needs a solution right away.
 
If you have someone to set a ticket system up for you AJ, it will be much easier and better. And it's all back-end so the customer doesn't even notice it. It's just super easy for you and your wife. Future project perhaps.
 
Hot Pepper - OS Ticket looks frigging great.  Thank you.  I am going to read more when my head is clear.  Helped someone move a chunk of farm equipment earlier. Had to take a special pill.
 
Thought to let you know that off season, I am going to install software that fuses the online store with Stamps.com  Best part is when I buy the postage an print the label, it sends the tracking information to the patron automatically.  No more cut and paste for the label, tracking info to the patron, and it saves money on postage.  Someone here pointed me to it but I forget who.
 
Point being, folk here have been so very helpful.  I doubt things would be going as well as they are without some of the input.  I can grow and love to do it, but when it comes to organization skills and business sense I am about as bright as one of my ducks.  Having so much help really, well it really helps.
 
b3rnd said:
 
Yeah, that is even better. But I didn't think of mentioning it because it would take some setting up before it's live, and got the vibe AJ needs a solution right away.
 
Click to expand...
 
Yes and Yes.  Sticking with email for now but am going to set up something like support.PeppersByMail.com, install the ticket software and start experimenting soon.  Going to use seperate url and seperate db, but I can easily have two windows open to check on the order itself.  The idea of a database where I have all the tickets connected and noted will be great.  But ye, it will take time.


 
 
Installed the software recommended above at: http://support.peppersbymail.com
 
If anyone would like to create some insane trouble tickets.  I would love to hear how it works from your end.

Help.  I ate all the peter peppers I ordered and my pecker did not grow.  Am I doing this right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top