Zero to Hero: 3mail

When we last left off, we had switched gears from real-time chat services to asynchronous contact options starting with our Tickets module. This installment continues with asynchronous customer communication via email.

If email responsibilities are shared across your team, you've probably run into questions like:

• Has anyone answered this yet?
• Who's handling this request?
• Where did that message go?

If any of those questions sound familiar, you're exactly the kind of team 3mail was designed for.

3mail gives your team a shared workspace for email so everyone can stay on the same page. Many customers find that simply having visibility into who is handling what eliminates a surprising amount of confusion.

Messages can be organized with tags, assigned to staff, stored indefinitely, and even collected through web forms - all without leaving the LibraryH3lp ecosystem.

The 3mail module transforms a queue into a mailbox. However if you prefer to use an existing in-house email solution over 3mail, that works too; simply skip this installment and know that all of LibraryH3lp's email integration points will work just fine with what you've already got.

If you think that you might prefer 3mail over Tickets, you’ll want to make sure you’ve set up "3mail" as your queue’s preferred asynchronous contact module and set up your identity as seen by guests (covered in Zero to Hero #3). Or if you think you'd like to use both modules, then you'll need to create a second queue connected to 3mail since a queue can have only one choice of asynchronous contact module at a time.

Now let's visit the 3mail page ( US, CA, EU, SG ).

Try composing and sending an email first. You can also play the part of a guest by replying to the email you sent. As a guest, you can also send a new, incoming email to your queue's email address.

Next you'll probably want to customize your mailbox settings a little. In particular, you may wish to set up a signature that is included at the bottom of every outgoing email.

Finally you may wish to set up 3mail notifications. Options here include visual, audible, and email alerts.

The next installment will cover the FAQ module and how you can build both private and public knowledge bases.