Here’s why you don’t want agents immediately responding to email.
People who respond quickly allow countless interruptions throughout the day. They don’t stay focused on any one task, need to take time to refocus after every message and are likely less productive, researchers have found.
To encourage agents to stay on task and respond efficiently to email:
- Set reasonable standards for responses. Designate a time frame for in-office replies and a shorter one for customer responses. A reasonable benchmark is four hours.
- Combine messages. Set the standard, managers. Instead of sending a bunch of individual emails covering different topics, keep a list of small items to include in one daily message.
- Go email free for a day. Of course, you need to answer customer messages. Try it in the office to encourage people to visit or call colleagues in the same building.
