Do away with emails! Tools for more effective customer support

1. Email as a communication channel is a huge waste of time
2. Why ticket systems also offer no alternative
3. Project management tools that make your life easier
4. Our choice: Asana
5. More effort less emails - our progress by using Asana

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We're going to go out on a limb and throw something into the room:

1. EMAIL AS A COMMUNICATION CHANNEL IS A HUGE WASTE OF TIME.

Too much spam, too much irrelevance and often too many emails that complicate rather than simplify.

Classic e-mail now takes too much time and effort to forward relatively simple information. This slows down communication in most companies and in contact with customers. In addition, e-mails and their attachments are often not found later in the company network, disappear or are forgotten. You wait days for a response from the customer - whose email inbox is probably about to burst - which, in the worst case scenario, can drag out the current project.

The email complicates many things and a lot of time is often wasted searching for the right salutation, formulating a concise yet understandable request and the appropriate closing formula. Whether you work in a small office with five employees or in a large company with hundreds of colleagues, you will be familiar with the fact that communication is often complicated by emails. However, improving company and customer communication is not that complicated. All you have to do is find the right scheduling tool and adapt it to your individual needs. We at EXWE are here to help you with any questions you may have.

2. WHY TICKET SYSTEMS ALSO OFFER NO ALTERNATIVE

Now there will be people who will suggest ticket systems for customer service as an alternative. However, these tools are comparable to email communication, often focused on linear communication only. This is good for a single to-do, for which there is little context to consider within a project. However, there is no reference to the project and not everyone in the team or company can see all the information - this only remains fully visible to the ticket creator, which means that transparency falls by the wayside. As the issued ticket is usually only visible to those involved, it is also difficult to hand over a ticket to another team member if the worst comes to the worst. In short, there is a lack of insight into the entire project.

3. PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS THAT MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER

There are now many tools that make your project management easier. From Monday.com, ClickUp and Basecamp to Asana and Wrike - the range is diverse and therefore confusing. You can find out which app is the right one for your company by comparing them directly. It is important that you compare your requirements with the available functions right from the start. For example, Asana is the cheaper alternative (from €10.99 per month or in the free version with limited functions) to Monday.com (from €39.00 per month for 5 users). Both tools have very similar features, with Asana excelling in archiving, storage & automatic backup, while Monday.com has request, attendance and content management. No matter which app you end up choosing, using it will make everyday life and communication with your customers easier for you and your teammates.

4. OUR CHOICE : ASANA

We opted for ASANA and have been using the tool since 2016 - with success. The web and mobile application helps teams and groups to organize and manage their work - including direct feedback through comments, embedding documents, images and links. Asana offers companies mechanisms that structure the workday, link daily tasks to company goals and simplify communication during a project.

Instead of sending an email to your customer or chatting with a colleague, Asana creates a task. One or more people are assigned this task and it appears under "My tasks" for those responsible. The creator of the task is automatically added as a follower. Within this task, feedback can be given, work progress documented, due dates changed or marked as completed.

With Asana, you have the option of assigning a priority to tasks. This means you can tell your employees or the customer which tasks need to be completed immediately and which are lower on the priority list. In the best case scenario, your customers and your team will rely less on emails after introducing Asana and plan and communicate via the tool - whether in the office or on the go with the mobile version. Projects can be planned more effectively and the current status can be easily monitored.

5. MORE EFFORT LESS EMAILS - OUR PROGRESS THROUGH THE USE OF ASANA

By using Asana, we have been able to save a lot of time and work more effectively in recent years. We can better organize, oversee and prioritize our tasks and receive direct and quick customer feedback, to which we can respond quickly and effectively. In addition, all important information, photos and documents relating to a project are stored in one place and visible to everyone involved. Thanks to the tool, we no longer have to keep sending e-mails back and forth, forwarding content and placing participants in the CC.

It was precisely this experience that convinced us that email communication is a waste of time in today's world of tools such as Asana, Monday.com, Basecamp and others, and in many cases is more of a hindrance than a help. We can only recommend every company - no matter how big or small - to get informed and switch to a project management tool. If you need help choosing the right project management tool or would like us to help you with implementation, please contact us.

Did you like our article "Do away with emails! Tools for more effective customer support"? You can find more interesting articles and tips & tricks on our EXWE blog.