Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 We are currently pushing our Self Service Portal and have had a lot of uptake on it, however we are still getting a large number of emails come through to the Service Desk, How did people phase out the emails? With no auto reply enabled in SM and too many emails for one person to filter through, what did you do? We are currently sending any correspondence with the information that we are no longer accepting emails as a form of call logging. We are hesitant to just stop logging the calls for obvious reasons though. Any ideas would be great! Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Hi Josh, Unless you force the issue, ultimately people will continue to do whats easier for them. I would include a notice in every email response from the service desk communicating a date, at which point emails will no longer be expected, make that date a reasonable time in the future but set the date. On that date, simply bounce all emails with a clear instruction and link to the self-service page so people can then go and raise the request there. I know that sounds harsh but there really is not any other way. Gerry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Munns Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 @Josh Bridgens +1 for what @Gerry said. We had to push out comms stating that after (x) date we would only accept requests via the portal or telephone if you are reporting an issue. Any rogue emails after said date were met with an auto response from the mailbox with a link to the portal and a message to say that emails were no longer monitored and would not be actioned. Since then the only emails we receive are from our monitoring systems which auto log requests for us. We gave the business around 4 weeks notice that the methods were changing and another 2 weeks after go live. We had very little push back to be fair to it worked well for us. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 @Gerry, @Dan Munns, We are happy to go down that route, how did you handle communications throughout a calls lifetime? Only comments on calls? if so, are users expected to check up on the call daily? Thanks for the input, I think it may be the only way. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Josh, You can reject emails that do not have a recognizable call reference using the Auto Responder. My knowledge on the exact specifics on how to do this is limited but I know it can be done. Gerry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 1 minute ago, Gerry said: You can reject emails that do not have a recognizable call reference using the Auto Responder. Fair point, with the inability to auto respond to emails that fall into a certain category, this would require manual monitoring of the emails to notify we are no longer accepting emails to log calls? Sorry for the 21 questions! Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHH Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 We also told customers support was portal only. Request updates are followed by a snippet email telling them their ticket has been updated and a link to the ticket. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 11 minutes ago, HHH said: Request updates are followed by a snippet email telling them their ticket has been updated and a link to the ticket. By this, are we talking about comments sending an email? Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Munns Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 To be fair we changed our mailbox address as well as went live with the portal. All emails to the old address after the agreed date were met with the auto response. Any monitoring emails going to the old address were changed over to the new one and the new address. Any random emails sent to the new mailbox were sent a 'please log a request via the portal' (to be fair not many) The change in mailbox address was subtle (itservicedesk@ from servicedesk@) so this may have helped. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHH Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 3 minutes ago, Josh Bridgens said: By this, are we talking about comments sending an email? Josh Originally it was the Email Template set in the Service Designer. Unfortunately for us we work in 8 different languages but we have to use a manual workaround using snippets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 9 minutes ago, Dan Munns said: To be fair we changed our mailbox address as well as went live with the portal. This would be a good way of handling this, unfortunately this is not an option for us at this point in time. I think this is going to be a plaster situation, the quicker we rip it off, the less painful it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 6 minutes ago, HHH said: Originally it was the Email Template set in the Service Designer. That's how we are doing it now, with emails being sent as updates, the only problem is that makes it reliant on emails still... and 8 different languages?! Incredible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHH Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 @Josh BridgensWe do have some challenges integrating everything but that's another story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Stevenson Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Josh, I know a couple of our customers on role out used the idea of lottery and informed their end users that for every call logged via the portal they would be entered into a lottery (doesnt have to be much but something like Alexa or google home as prize). People soon stopped emailing and instead opted for chance to win something. Kind Regards Keith Stevenson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 @Keith Stevenson I will have to see how well that idea goes down, I think I can get away with.... "log your call through the portal, and be in with a chance of your call being resolved!!!" What do you think? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Munns Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Lol. 'Did you know that 100% of email requests fall through the cracks? Need a resolution? Log it on the portal!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 @Dan Munns Today only! Log one call via the self Service Portal and receive a free Resolution! Terms and Conditions apply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 We really ought to have some pre-canned email templates for these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Munns Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 "For every email request received you will be entered into a lottery where you are guaranteed to win a prize! Prizes may be one of a following: Instant deletion of your request - with 'friendly' reminder on the IT processes Instant deletion of your request - with non 'friendly' reminder of the IT process A chance to have a chat (without coffee) with the CTO to explain why you feel you don't have to follow process! Please note: All entries will receive a copy of the IT process documentation, complete with mandatory 3 page quiz." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 4 minutes ago, Dan Munns said: Please note: All entries will receive a copy of the IT process documentation, complete with mandatory 3 page quiz." Failure of said quiz may result in your entrance to the Service Desk Games. And remember, May the odds be ever in your favour. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Munns Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 And if that doesn't increase portal uptake then I don't know what will. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Or slightly more assertive ------------------From now on, every email request we receive from you will be entered into a lottery where you are guaranteed to win a prize! * You will be ignored until you find a way to use this link: https:://selfservice/* You will be required to formally explain what makes you so special that you feel you do not need to use this link: https:://selfservice/ * You will be given 30 minutes of your own time to pop down to PCWorld so they can solve your problem for you, if they fail you can use your mobile device and access this link: https:://selfservice/ If none of these prize are appealing, please use this link: https:://selfservice/ to get help and get your issue solved. Thank you. ------------------ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyonel Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 2 hours ago, Gerry said: Unless you force the issue, ultimately people will continue to do whats easier for them. I would include a notice in every email response from the service desk communicating a date, at which point emails will no longer be expected, make that date a reasonable time in the future but set the date. On that date, simply bounce all emails with a clear instruction and link to the self-service page so people can then go and raise the request there. I know that sounds harsh but there really is not any other way. That's the approach I am taking and fighting with management over... Eventually we will get there! Based on the INSIGHTS event, I got a few good ideas on how to start changing peoples' mind: Step 1: add a very visual and attractive footer to all the templates we use in Hornbill, redirecting to the self service portal Step 2: setup an automatic response from the mailbox(es) with the same footer as mentioned above or a variation of Step 3: Display a strong warning about the end of mailboxes monitoring and requests creation, planned long in advance (e.g. From 1st June 2019, we will stop....) => pending management approval. It is not perfect, but it is a start... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 6 minutes ago, Gerry said: If none of these prize are appealing, please use this link: https:://selfservice/ to get help and get your issue solved. Thank you. I almost feel the Thank You is too kind, can we change it to "Do as you're told, or else"? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bridgens Posted July 3, 2018 Author Share Posted July 3, 2018 5 minutes ago, Lyonel said: From 1st June 2019, That's a fair distance away, any reason you expect it to be this long? Large number of supported users? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now