Better Customer Service Email with Shared Inbox and Collaboration

A variety of factors contribute to defining the best customer service email. For some brands, fast response times indicate better customer service. Others may value personalized customer experiences over the speed of service. Ideally, better customer service email experiences will include both. 

At a time when digital customer journeys tend to be longer than traditional in-store experiences, it’s essential to prioritize email communications for customer service. Implementing a solution that enables brands to reduce time-to-close-metrics and create qualitative feedback methods can shape more positive customer experiences. In turn, these experiences result in more positive feedback, increased brand loyalty, and new business leads. 

Three Easy Steps to Better Customer Service Email

Different brands measure the quality of their customer service with a wide variety of rulers. Salesforce defines customer service as a strategic function that delivers immediate support. Today, strategy is more frequently emphasized as a key component of customer service. A solid customer service strategy can help organizations better understand their customers’ needs and increase satisfaction.

As an essential business communication tool, email should play a significant role in customer service strategies. Its ever-evolving capabilities can help brands deliver immediate, personalized customer responses. If your team is stuck using outdated email practices, like restricting members to a single email account, you can implement more efficient ways to provide  better customer service emails. 

Step 1: Set Up a Shared Inbox for Customer Service Inquiries 

Customer service email accounts receive high volumes of daily emails. Managing this kind of account requires a team, ideally made up of people who will work together to address the incoming workload. A great solution for customer service inquiries is to use shared inboxes because they make it easy for all team members to follow the same email best practices and procedures from one account. 

Shared inboxes also allow organizations to create a separate, generic email account, like service@[yourcompanyname.com], to address specific customer needs. The benefits of a customer service shared inbox include:

• One central location for all customer service matters
• Requests organized by folders or labels and accessible to all team members
• Clear accountability from assigning emails to specific team members
• Integrations that improve operations 

Gmelius offers a truly collaborative shared inbox that fits right inside your Gmail account. By improving standard email practices, Gmelius allows team members to work collaboratively using one interface. As emails come in, managers can assign incoming service requests to the appropriate agent(s), set a status such as “open,” or “pending,” and tag the email as urgent. 

In addition, team members can add email notes, like: “Please address this customer matter in regard to invoice #123.” Instead of forwarding a message and creating a long email thread that requires additional information, users can assign emails immediately to the person who can best address a specific request.

The email assignee understands it is an open task that must be addressed immediately, and they have the attached invoice number for reference. Including all the information required to handle requests prevents further coordination and empowers team members to meet customer service needs with professionalism and efficiency. 

See Gmelius in action here: 

Step 2: Automate for Faster and Better Results 

A customer service shared inbox takes time to manage. Between the number of requests and the quality required for replies, many teams could benefit from automated responses. 

Gmail’s Workspace platform offers valuable features to help streamline customer service email management. Gmail filters act as automation rules that help organize incoming emails into the appropriate Gmail labels. Users can also set filters to create canned responses.

Using Gmelius’ smart email sequences, teams can automate follow-ups to save time spent writing repetitive email responses. Members can also set auto-responses for customers who fail to respond within a specific timeframe. For example, you can send a thank-you message to notify a customer their request has been resolved and thank them for reaching out. 

Gmelius’ workflow automation feature offers many email best practices to make customer service more efficient, like sorting multiple shared inboxes, organizing emails by shared labels, and triggering Service-Level Agreement (SLA) rules. Team members can also add a service request to a Kanban board for further management actions. This practice ensures that if an agent cannot resolve an email immediately, there is an organized process in place that everyone in the department can follow. 

Staying in touch throughout the customer service process can be difficult, as addressing requests is what takes the most time. By using automation rules and sequences with Gmelius, organizations can create positive customer experiences, strengthen brand identity, and improve customer loyalty. Quality interactions can set one business apart from another by keeping loyal customers engaged and developing a framework for generating new ones. 

Step 3: Create a Library of Email Templates

Once you've implemented a shared inbox for your department and set automation rules to ensure efficiency, it's time to personalize your system to achieve the best results possible. 

Excellent customer service leaves a lasting impression. Creating personalized email templates that everyone in your service department can access ensures your business makes the most of every opportunity to meet customers with positive experiences.

Thoughtful responses show that your brand takes time to craft custom messages. Customers hate when companies see them as another number. They want valuable, personalized experiences that make them feel important and keep them coming back. 

Gmelius enables teams to add personal touches by creating variables that populate templates as agents compose messages. Once created, templates are accessible to all team members. 

Email templates ensure professionalism, consistency, and help maintain brand messaging. Creating a diverse library of email responses provides agents with a collection of templates they can use at any time. For example, agents can create short or long-form thank you messages, formal apology emails, or emails that point to other resources or products to increase sales volume. Positive customer service experiences ultimately nudge the consumer's journey toward conversion—and ultimately, to loyalty.

Shared inboxes offer many advantages for customer service departments. Further optimization with simple automation rules and email templates benefits teams and helps companies provide a better customer service email. 

Create a better customer service email system with Gmelius. Check out our features and integrations and learn how Gmelius is built to improve team communication and collaboration. Ready to get started? Sign up today!