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Email Response Management Systems for Contact Center Improvement

Contact center solutions embrace a collection of technologies that include software and other tools to improve efficiency. Managing multiple communication channels requires a call center to have tools to handle TTY/TDD, live chat and email. When properly managed, the modern contact center allows customers to use their preferred method to interact with their favorite brands.

Firms have experienced increased email traffic, especially as web-based forms become a popular method for requisition customer service and support. Customers, however, expect prompt resolutions to their issues, regardless of how they contact a businesses, so contact centers must find ways to quickly process email without increasing resource utilization.

Email response management systems (ERMS) play a vital role in the contact center because they provide a framework that automates and accelerates the processing of incoming service requests. For some issues, software can resolve customer issues without any human interaction. For matters that require a human agent, the ERMS can help by improving the quality and efficiency of service.

 

About Email Response Management System

Firms depend on content center technology solutions to reduce the time required for customers to receive responses to their inquiries. As the amount of email continues to increase in corporate environments, the email response management response system has become essential.

Rather than using human resources to open, evaluate and forward email messages, contact centers can choose to use software automation. ERMS works faster than employees and can substantially reduce labor costs. Such contact center improvement can dramatically improve customer service quality.

ERMS equips contact centers to automatically acknowledge the receipt of a message via an email reply. After that, the system routes the message according to predefined rules so that it arrives in the mailbox or queue where it can receive appropriate attention.

As messages travel through an organization, the EMRS tracks its status and progress. Thereafter, managers use the statistics provided via analytics and reporting functions to identify and resolve bottlenecks and other inefficiencies to further improve the customer experience.

 

Using ERMS in Contact Centers

An ERMS immediately analyzes the content and structure of incoming email messages and process them based on predefined rules. By relying on software rather than on human resources, companies can quickly, accurately, and affordably process large volumes of mail.

Based on a set of data points, the system can automatically discard spam messages as well as emails that come from undesirable domains. After analyzing the subject lines and content of valid messages the ERMS sends a reply that confirms receipt of a message and assigns a reference number to it.

Next, the message is matched to a list of pre-formatted responses to common questions. As a result, many issues can receive an almost immediate resolution without any human interaction. Messages that require the use of human resources are routed based on available agents and their skills. As a result, issues reach the lowest-cost agents and queues that have the capability of providing an answer.

The ERMS tracks messages as they move through the system and provide managers with feedback that helps them refine their processing rules and evaluate agent performance. The system can also archive messages for regulatory compliance and the development of enhanced automatic responses.

 

Key Features of Email Response Management System

Companies that understand how an ERMS works should also become familiar with their important features. Although the specific capabilities of a product might vary from another, practically every ERMS either has or should have the same core feature set.

  • Source Filtering – Managers can configure the system to receive email messages from certain domains. This can come in handy for use with web forms, subdomains and to curtail spam.
  • Scalability – An ERMS has the ability to accommodate organizational growth in terms of agents and mailboxes.
  • Format Flexibility – The system can accept email messages in multiple formats, including those submitted via web forms that include ASCII and rich-text.
  • Attachment Management – These features allow contact centers to seamlessly process email attachments.
  • Content filtering – Eliminate duplicate, spam and test messages before they enter the queue. The ERMS can also reject messages based on other pre-defined rules.
  • Acknowledgement – With the ability to automatically confirm the receipt of messages, the system improves customer confidence.
  • Forwarding – When properly configured, the ERMS will send incoming messages to a list of designated recipients. Managers can also use skill-based routing to ensure that messages reach agents who are qualified to resolve particular issues.
  • Automatic assignment of ticket/tracking numbers – These features give customers an easy way to reference their issues while interacting with a firm.
  • Status Monitoring – ERMS applications can track the status of received messages and monitor metrics such as completion and response time. The software can also generate daily, weekly, monthly, and annual reports.
  • Automated Responses – Managers can create template-based automatic replies to common inquiries.The auto-response library feature can resolve many customer issues without using any human resources.
  • Suggestions – Email response management systems can suggest relevant answers to contact center agents to speed issue resolution.
  • Spelling and Grammar – Embarrassing mistakes can counter the benefits of speed. Contact centers equipped with ERMS have access to features that reduce grammatical and spelling errors, improving communications and professionalism.
  • CC and BCC – Systems can be configured to send copies of responses to visible or hidden email addresses so supervisors can monitor performance.

 

ERMS for Contact Center Improvement

Companies that turn to ERMS for contact center improvement enjoy fantastic ROI in terms of human resource utilization and customer satisfaction and retention. Speed improvements made possible by automatic responses and skill-based routing improve the customer experience while reducing agent stress levels.

Email response management systems in contact centers give firms a cost-effective way to manage large volumes of incoming emails without increasing operational expenses. As a result, customers receive faster, more accurate answers.

An ERMS also improves the experience for agents by properly matching their skill levels to their assigned issues. Ultimately, such a win-win scenario through the use of this customer service technology boosts profitability, making it a wise choice for almost any contact center.

 

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