{"id":12769,"date":"2022-11-04T16:25:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T16:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helpcrunch.com\/blog\/?p=12769"},"modified":"2022-12-14T11:47:36","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T11:47:36","slug":"shared-inbox-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helpcrunch.com\/blog\/shared-inbox-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Provide Top Customer Service with a Shared Inbox?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite the variety of communication channels that are available today, customers still prefer email to all other technologies. In fact, two in every three<\/a> people consider email the easiest way to reach out to businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, I would also rather send an email if I needed to contact customer support or service. It is easy to use, has no character limit, allows all sorts of attachments, stays there even after I log off, does not pressure me to answer immediately, and supports forwarding to other people and adding them to the thread. Yes, I would definitely send an email!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, not everything is rosy in the realm of business email communication \u2013 62%<\/a> of businesses do not answer customer service emails. There may be different reasons for that, but one of them is often a lack of organization and collaboration within the team. Many service teams use shared inboxes for communication with customers, but when nobody is responsible for answering emails and the team is swamped with more urgent live chats and phone calls\u2026 well, emails are often placed on the back burner and then forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, don\u2019t get me wrong here \u2013 I am not trying to say: \u201cDon\u2019t use shared inboxes\u201d. On the contrary, I think they are super useful and effective, and in a \u201cdistribution list vs. shared mailbox<\/a>\u201d comparison they are definite winners. However, the way you use shared inboxes in customer service makes a huge difference, and this is what this post is about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

What is a shared inbox?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before plunging into practical recommendations, let\u2019s recall briefly what a shared inbox is. It is an inbox to which your whole team has access. It has a common address, and anyone can read and respond to messages with threads visible to all the members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shared inboxes are tremendously effective in customer service. For customers, it does not matter who picks up their request, what matters is that it is handled right. And a message landing in a common inbox has much higher chances of being read and processed quicker than a message in a personal inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, some shared inbox tools, such as HelpCrunch, provide a common platform not only for emails but also for all customer communications, regardless of the channel \u2013 live chat, in-app messaging, or email. This way, nothing gets lost in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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