Email Response Woeful, Says Jupiter

Per Jupiter Research, circa 2006 (and still not any better today):

"Though 92 percent of ecommerce websites offer email as a customer-support option, only 41 percent of those sites acknowledge receipt of customers' messages with automated email responses, according to a new JupiterResearch report. The retail category results remained relatively consistent with previous years', but in other industries, such as finance and travel, auto-acknowledgement decreased significantly. Since 2000, the number of sites responding to emails within 24 hours continues to decrease, according to the report, titled "U.S. Customer Service & Support Metrics, December 2005."

Only 45 percent of sites resolved email inquiries within 24 hours; however, fully 39 percent of sites took three days or longer or did not respond at all. JupiterResearch points to two factors for such unresponsiveness: the continuing increase in email volume and broad failure among contact centers to invest in appropriate email handling technology.

"Failure to resolve requests via email is driving continued use of cost-intensive telephone work, negating any potential cost savings from handling inquiries via email," said David Schatsky, SVP of Research at JupiterResearch."

How using MailFlow can Solve These Problems:

1. MailFlow has a built-in autoresponder system, that can let your customers immediately know that you received their email inquiry.

2. MailFlow is a completely centralized, multi-user, email system that is accessed using an ordinary web browser from any network (or Internet) connected PC.

3. Using MailFlow, email workload is easily distributed when a customer service rep is not available.  Other reps are able to easily see and respond to messages (with complete history kept in "tickets") when a rep is away or on vacation.

4. MailFlow is available from any Internet kiosk, hotel laptop, or home computer.

MailFlow has built-in tools that make answering customer service email quick, easy, consistent, and accurate.

5. MailFlow contains the reporting tools management needs to ensure customer service quality, and staff load balancing.

6. MailFlow is very affordable.