After every app demo and technical support call, a summary of the call must be created. In most cases, this will include sending a follow-up email to the merchant, adding other pertinent information about the call to the email ticket summary and either adding or updating the Contact and Company information in FreshDesk.
In rare cases, a follow-up email to the merchant may not be necessary. If the merchant was looking for a solution we don't provide - e.g. labels, fulfillment - or if they were aggressive or confrontational on the call, and further correspondence would result in a negative reaction, it is recommended that you do not send a follow-up email. However, you should still update or add a Contact (or Company) in FreshDesk with a brief summary of the call.
Call Summaries provide other team members with details about the merchant or their setup requirements if they need to assist the same merchant in the future. This can prevent response delays, misunderstandings and unwanted frustration.
It is strongly recommended that you take notes during the call so that your summary is as detailed and relevant as possible.
Creating your summary and sending a follow-up email as soon after the call as possible will provide the merchant with important information they may need to get started right away. It will also help you to transpose your call notes while the conversation is still fresh in your mind.
Email Follow-up
- Gather and, if required, update the notes you took during the call.
- Sign in to FreshDesk.
- Click the 'New' button on the right side of the main menu bar. This button is visible on any page in FreshDesk.
- Click 'New email' on the drop-down list.
- Copy the merchant's email from either the booking confirmation or the Outlook reminder.
- Past the merchant's email address into the To field on the new FreshDesk email. The email address must be formatted correctly without any space at the end. An error will be displayed if the email address is formatted incorrectly.
- Enter a subject line
- For technical support follow-ups: [App Name] Technical Support Call - Follow-up
- For demo follow-ups: [App Name] Demo - Follow-up
- In the Description field, begin your email with a friendly greeting and thank-you message. It is strongly recommended that you use a canned message that includes these elements, along with a closing paragraph. This will save you time.
- To access canned messages, click the icon with a star symbol inside a message bubble. This icon can be found below the Description field.
- After the greeting, provide a summary of the key topics you discussed during the call.
- Add any relevant links or canned messages that direct the merchant to Help Center guides.
- Provide any special instructions related to their setup requirements that may not be specifically referenced in the Help Center guides.
- Close the email with a Call-to-Action that invites the merchant to respond - i.e. 'If you need further assistance or have any questions, please let me know.' This 'CTA' should be included in the canned message.
- Your default FreshDesk signature should be added to the email automatically. Check that the signature is correct.
- Proof-read the entire email to make sure there are no typos or incorrect links, and to ensure that your summary is easy to understand.
- Click the Send button at the bottom of the page. This will send the email to the merchant and assign a Ticket number to the email.
- From within the email (Ticket), add a Summary at the top of the page. The summary should provide other team members with important information about the merchant's setup or the issue you helped resolve. For example, if your ticket included instructions on how to set up Live Rates, and the merchant mentioned wanting to use multiple carriers in different situations, you can explain this in the Summary section.
Contact And Company Updates
Once you have sent the email follow-up and added a summary, be sure to add or update the Contact and Company details with any new information.
- To the right of the email Ticket, click Edit beside 'Contact Details'.
- Update the contact's full name and title if known.
- In the Notes section, add any information that is relevant to the individual contact. For example, if the merchant has expressed frustration with technology in general, you may want to include a note about this so that team members assisting the merchant in the future will be prepared.
- If the contact is an agency rep, be sure to note this in the Contact Notes.
- Click either Add or Show company details. If no company details have been added before, the 'Add' option will be displayed. If the contact has already been linked to a Company, the 'Show' option will be displayed.
- If you are adding company details, add a company name, if known. If a Shopify domain has been provided, the company name should be easy to discover.
- Update the Notes section with any information relevant to the company and what they want to accomplish - e.g. They are a bakery that sell products only within the US and require overnight delivery for Hawaii and Alaska.
- Add a Shopify domain for the company if one has been provided. If the company has multiple domains, add as many as you are aware of.
- Update the Review Status as needed. For example, if you have asked the merchant to leave a review, select 'Requested' from the Review Status list.
- Save the updates.