In the final part of Email Essentials, I’ll show you how to use automation tools to improve the quality of customer service you’re delivering and the turnaround time on email messages.
Review of Email Etiquette
- Respond promptly.
- Respond professionally.
- Protect patient privacy (and the practice).
Email Automation
- Buy some time while still delivering great service.
- Cut email handling time while improving the quality of your replies.
3 Approaches to Automation
- Autoresponders
- • What: Email sent automatically.
- • How: Triggered by the form…or from your mail program.
- • Why: Acknowledge an inquiry, set expectations, soft promotion, and buy time.
- • Activation: Etna builds autoresponder into each form. Notify us if you would like to change or deactivate yours.
- Templates and Signature Files
- • What: Prepared language with opportunities for customization.
- • How: Stored in files for rapid reference or directly loaded from your email software.
- • Why: Save time and improve message quality.
- • Creation: Write them in Word, and store them where they are easy to access. Use Outlook signature files for quick deployment.
- Contact Center Software
- • Solutions like mymedleads.com are increasingly common.
- • Features: Allows multiple staff members to handle one body of emails, measure email response times, track and monitor conversions, and allow you to use templates.
Revisit Automation Often
You can’t “set it and forget it.” Remember that things in your office will change over time (e.g. the number of times you’ve done a procedure, awards, accolades, etc.), and you’re autoresponse templates will consequently need to be updated. I recommend that you revisit your autoresponse messaging and protocol for handling email communication every 6 months.
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