How do you handle answering the same question over and over again

Is there an Outlook plugin for this?

[transactiongeek]

My CSR guys get asked the same question over and over again, but for various reasons I do not want to put the answers in a faq.

Does anyone have a good tip, technique, or tool which would dig into a knowledge base, automatically grab the best reply to an email and then paste it into a mail client for replying to the customer?

Does anyone else have a similar problem?

[onlineleben]

Setup different autoresponders. Each question gets its own email address. So everyone with this special - not in the FAQ - question has the possibility to get an answer by mail.
You can also include an other email address in the autoresponse in case the question needs further resolving.

[aravindgp]

I don't know if it's good clean solution but it's what I use.

Different Folders: with Different Autoresponders mails(html pages stored with standard replies.)

Then setup rules so that replies go into different folders based on the words and standard questions.Usually arround 80% you will get with same words in different order.

Then setup autoresponder for the message arriving in that folder.

Usually I Use .html replies which are plain and simple.

Hope this helps
Aravind

[topr8]

there is a fantastic product called "email templates pro" which is an outlook plugin, it costs though.

they used to do a lite version which was free, you may be able to find it somewhere, it will do exactly what you want. we used to use it before we started using the bat as an email client - which incidently has template functionality built in

[transactiongeek]

Yeah, something like the email template pro solution is cool. Being able to reply to an email with a customized template at the click of a button is very efficient.

Anyone use anything else / similar?

[sun818]

I use a free program called RoboType from PCMagazine. You can store a long string of text and recall it by pressing a few keys. If an international customer asks me where their package is, I just type "/intl" and the wordy reply appears.

[Miklo]

We use Smartboard. It is very ease to use. When you copy something, the string of text is stored and if you want you can save them and even attach a hotkey for it, i.e. CTRL+M or whatever you want. It doesn't matter how long the string of text is and you can always adjust the message to the person you are replying to. The customer will have the feeling that he/she got a personal answer instead of an autoresponder.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Robotype works extremely well and its free

[Essex_boy]

I only receive around 10 - 15 emails a day and answer each one individually, I too receive repeat questions that require a standard answer.

So I have a selection of answers in word and just cut and paste them in to teh reply.

That way each email has a 'personal' feel to it and it saves me a bundle of time.

[Receptional]

We use Goldmine if that is any help. Very expensive but it is a complete CRM system, not just an email responder.

I am also now experimenting with salesforce, which is web based.

[steveallbrands]

Just use e-mail signatures in Outlook! It's already part of the program - no add-ons required.