Every business is sometimes faced with customer care issues, complaints or negative feedback of some kind or another. It can be frustrating, and often difficult to manage. However, handling these issues promptly and judiciously can turn an angry customer into a loyal customer. To help eMail Manager customers identify, respond to and track these types of emails, we’ve listed some suggestions to help keep these emails from slipping between the cracks.

1. Create a rule that forwards email with specific keyword triggers (e.g. “complaint” “return” “negative feedback”) into an Urgent folder.  If an email gets by the rule, make sure support staff knows to move it to the Urgent folder.
2. Create several standard replies that allows support staff to send a quick response while reviewing the issue (e.g. “We’ve received your complaint and want to assure you that we are giving the matter serious attention…”).
3. Depending on the issue, use categories and priorities to escalate the email. If necessary, forward the email to a manager or appropriate department for resolution.
4. Use Notes to set reminders for follow-up and to document exactly what has transpired (e.g. “Sent email to shipping to inquire about the delay… waiting for response”).
5. Never let an email go more than 24 hours before the first response or more than 48-72 hours before the second response (if necessary).
6. Once an issue is resolved, change the category or add references to identify recurring issues, so managers can run a report to  quickly identify them.

In order for this to work, support staff trained in dealing with these issues should be assigned to Urgent folders and know to give them priority.