7 Tips on How to Choose the Right Customer Email Management System

What are customer email management systems?

Customer email management systems are comprehensive software solutions designed to facilitate the organization, automation, and optimization of email-based communication with customers, clients, and prospects.

Key benefits of customer email management systems

Adopting a customer email management system can help you streamline your email-based customer support and solve a bunch of other issues like:

• Manual and time-consuming email management: Managing emails manually can be time-consuming and error-prone, leading to inefficiencies and reduced productivity. Automation features in email management systems can handle routine tasks like sorting, tagging, and prioritizing emails, saving time and reducing the risk of human errors.

• Difficulty in tracking customer engagement history: Keeping track of all customer interactions and communications can be challenging, leading to misunderstandings and miscommunication. Customer email management systems give you a central place to see all your past emails, calls, and chats with each customer. This helps you give more informed responses and offer better customer service.
  
  
• Fragmented customer data: Customer data is often scattered across various departments and systems, leading to a lack of a unified customer view. According to a Salesforce report, 56% of customers have to repeat information to different representatives. A comprehensive email management system can integrate with other customer relationship management (CRM), team collaboration, and project management solutions for a unified view.
  
  
• Lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing: In B2B organizations, different teams may handle email communication with the same client, leading to fragmented knowledge and inconsistent responses. Robust email management systems often have collaborative features that allow teams to share customer information, email history, and notes. This fosters cross-team collaboration, leading to better customer service and more unified communication.

So, how do you actually pick the right software for your business? Here are 7 strategies to help you out.

7 tips for selecting the perfect customer email management system

1. Understand your business objectives

Start by defining your business objectives and how a customer email management system can help achieve them. Are you looking to improve response times, enhance customer service, increase lead generation, or gain better insights from your email interactions? 

For instance, if your objective is to improve response times to customer inquiries, a system with automated routing and canned responses can be invaluable. Likewise, if you’re looking to improve customer retention, you may benefit from email management solutions that gather customer feedback.

Whatever your objectives are, lean on them to guide your vendor selection process.

2. Budget with ROI in mind

Set a realistic budget for your CEMS investment, keeping in mind the potential return on investment (ROI). While it's important to control costs, don't compromise on essential features and quality to save money. 68% of consumers are prepared to switch to a competitor just after three poor experiences or fewer.

3. Focus on automation capabilities

One of the primary reasons for adopting a CEMS is to automate repetitive tasks. Evaluate the system's automation capabilities, such as:

• Auto-response;
• Email routing;
• Intelligent task assignment;
• Email categorization;
• Follow-up reminders.

Automation not only saves time but also ensures consistency and reduces the risk of human error. It enables your team to focus on more strategic and value-added tasks while the CEMS handles routine, repetitive email-related chores.

4. Think about scalability

Based on the 2022 Zendesk CX report, support ticket volumes rose across all channels, with a particularly significant 10% increase observed in email. Your CEMS should be prepared to absorb increased email volumes and accommodate new team members without significant disruptions.

Look for a customer email system solution that can grow with your business, accommodating changes seamlessly and preventing disruptions to your workflow.

5. Analyze the tool's specific features

There are plenty of CEMS out there, some are better than others. To find the right one for your business, you must consider your business’s specific needs and how your customers like to interact with you.

Let's say you run a B2B SaaS company and you use Slack for customer support alongside an email ticketing tool. In this case, you'd want a CEMS that can seamlessly bring these two channels together without causing chaos.

Related read: How to send emails to Slack channels

In the end, the key is to really nail down your business requirements and then find the features that align best with your goals. It's all about making sure your CEMS works for you and your customers.

6. Pay attention to integrations

Consider the tools and software your business already uses, such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, and helpdesk software. An effective CEMS should seamlessly integrate with your existing tools and software ecosystem, ensuring that your email communication is part of a holistic, interconnected customer service strategy.

7. See if the solution provides reporting features

If you’re not looking at your customer service data, it’s about time! Collecting and analyzing data in customer service is invaluable as it provides actionable insights into customer behavior, enabling businesses to proactively address issues, personalize interactions, and optimize their support processes. And, there is a lot of data that lives in customer emails!

Thus, when searching for a perfect customer email management system, ensure it offers reporting features, such as:

• Email volume reports;
• Response time metrics;
• Resolution metrics;
• Ticket status and progress;
• CSAT surveys;
• SLAs breaches;
• Agent performance metrics.

In short, harnessing the reporting features of a customer email management system gives you a valuable opportunity to gain profound insights into your customer interactions. Plus, data helps you bolster your operational efficiency and resource allocation, guaranteeing sustained growth and competitiveness.