In this article you'll learn:
- How to set up your shared inbox
- Handling tickets: receiving and replying them
- What the extra options are
Do you prefer to watch our instructive video first? You can do so right here:
The setup
- Create a separate email address. To make one you can go knocking at your IT guy’s door. He can create a new email address such as “support@mycompany.com”. Or start right away if you already have a shared email address.
- Now we have to forward all of the emails that are being sent to this address to your unique Teamleader Focus address. When in Teamleader Focus, go to “Settings” and click on “Shared inbox”
- In “Shared inbox setup” you can click on “Start setup”
- In the popup you’ll find your unique Teamleader Focus shared inbox address in the form of “###@teamleaderticketing.be”. Use this address to forward your support mail to. In your website management tool you usually have the option to create different kinds of email addresses, such as an IMAP address or a forwarding address. It’s the latter that suits us best.
- Add every forwarded inbox under "Replying to tickets". You can add multiple addresses and Teamleader Focus will automatically select the correct address.
So if you set up a support address with a forward to your shared inbox address, then all mails to “support@mycompany.com” will arrive directly into your Teamleader Focus shared inbox.
Working with shared inbox
Receiving and replying to tickets
There you go: your shared inbox is now fully operational: from now on you’re receiving support emails directly into your Teamleader Focus account. The ticket itself looks something like this:
Thanks to the integration with your CRM in Teamleader Focus, you always know who the ticket is from and which company he or she works for - at least, if the email address is known in your CRM. If this is not the case, a new contact will be created automatically.*
*Note to prevent spam contacts in your CRM: To avoid spam contacts being created in Teamleader Focus, configure a stricter spam filter in your email inbox. Review and adjust your email forwarding rules and settings to ensure that spam emails are properly filtered out before reaching your CRM.
Assigned to: when assigning the ticket to a colleague, this colleague will receive a notification about the ticket both in-app and via email (if email notifications are enabled). You also receive notifications if you receive an answer to a ticket of yours or when your ticket gets reopened.
When replying to a message, you have several options:
- You know the answer: respond with the “Public reply”
- You need to check internally: reply with “Internal note”. Type your message, set the status to “Pass to…” and select a coworker. He or she will be notified of the internal message. The customer can’t see this message.
- You need to check externally: send the question to “Third party”. Type your message, set the status to “Escalated to third party” and select a third party in the field next to “Customer”. This is not visible for the customer.
Creating tasks
Another useful tool in the shared inbox is creating tasks from tickets. Let’s say you can’t give an answer to a customer question immediately, or his problem takes some adaptations in the long run, then you can create a task from this ticket and assign it to yourself or a coworker. The task then contains a direct link to the ticket, so you always have access to the original question. You can create them by clicking the “+” symbol at the bottom of a ticket page.
Third party forwarding
If the question is out of reach for you and your colleagues, you can always choose to send the question to an third party. Same as for internal replies, the customer won’t see the communication between you and the third party. Activate this feature by:
- Navigate to “Settings” and click on “Shared inbox”
- Click on the toggle next to “Enable third party ticket forwarding”
Extra settings
There are some extra settings available in Teamleader Focus to optimise your support: