Slack for CS
Slack is a widely used team communication tool that enables real-time messaging, file sharing, and collaboration. It is not only a platform for communication but also includes features that help organize workflows and tasks. For Customer Service (CS) team, Slack can be used to streamline the process of tracking assistance requests from other teams, ensuring timely resolution and enhanced collaboration.
In Slack, teams can create channels, which are dedicated spaces for specific topics, departments, or projects. In the company{s Slack, you will find the following channels that are relevant to perform our job:
CS-Payment
CS-Risk-Collaboration
Customer-Service-Department
These channels serve as a centralized place for all requests, eliminating the need for scattered emails or messages and keeping the team focused on resolving issues quickly.
Slack's Lists
Slack’s native integration with To-Do Lists also enables the CS team to create task lists directly within the platform. These lists can be used to:
Create checklists: Team members can make lists of ongoing requests or projects, with specific action items for each. This helps ensure that nothing is overlooked.
Assign tasks: The CS team can assign tasks to specific team members, ensuring clarity on who is responsible for each request or project.
Set deadlines: Slack allows you to set reminders or deadlines for each item on the list, ensuring that follow-up is timely.
Track progress: As the requests are completed, team members can check off items, visually indicating progress and keeping the team on track.
With this, team members can easily see what’s pending without needing to navigate between multiple applications.
Why do we use Slack?
Improved visibility: Everyone on the team can see the status of pending requests in real time and who is working on them.
Centralized communication: All conversations related to requests are kept in one place, making it easier to track progress and follow up.
Better collaboration: Slack fosters a collaborative environment where team members can share ideas, ask for help, and make decisions more quickly.
Accountability: Assigning tasks and using lists ensures that responsibilities are clearly outlined, making it easier to track who is working on what.
Efficiency: Slack integrates with a wide variety of productivity tools, helping streamline workflows and reduce the need to toggle between different platforms.
How to find the lists?
Please note that depending on the nature of the issue you're escalating, you'll need to select the appropriate list to submit your request.
You can easily navigate to the channel that will be in charge of reviewing the request. Once in the correct channel you will find the list on the top part of the window, right below the name of the channel.
If you click on the list, the site will take you to a view of the list and its contents:
The list will let you see the requests sorted by Status, this way, as a team, we can be aware of the issues that are being worked on as follows:
New: Issues that are being created, this is the tab that you should use to create your request for assistance. Once all the information is completed, you should move it to "Not Started"
Not Started: The team will receive a notification that a request has been submitted to them and that the case is still not being worked on.
Team Checking: On this tab are the items that are being checked by the team in charge, the team receiving the request is the one moving the items here. As customer service agents, we can check the status and confirm that the issue is already being worked on.
Inform Customer: This tab will be updated by the team in charge of the review, once they have completed their review and have reached a decision or an update, we will receive a notification to contact the customer with the response. In this tab we can always receive a contact back from the customer with some type of retort or missing information, for this reason, we can always move it back to Not Started for the team in charge to check again. Do not move the issue to "Done" until the customer is satisfied and the case is completely solved.
Done: On this tab, we will only move cases where the customer has already received a final response, meaning that the case is closed and no pending information is expected from either party.
Backlog: here we will move all items for tracking and history purposes. Only supervisors or managers will move the cases to this tab in order to first check if the case was handled correctly or if there is any feedback that needs to be shared.
How to create a Case?
In order to create a new case you can do it be accessing the list that you need to report to and click on "Add item" at the bottom of the "New" tab.
On the previous picture you can see the ideal template with the pertaining information of the case. Try to include always the following information:
Name of the issue: Must include the account ID and a brief mention of the issue.
Intercom ticket: Keep in mind that all cases that need to be reviewed need to be linked to a ticket number in intercom.
Assignee: the person assigned to the case, if you are not sure of the person, you can leave this field blank and the team in charge will update according to the people on shift.
Submitted by: include your name here.
Priority: it is important to understand that some issues might take more time than others, but what defines the priority of the case is how much the customer is being affected by the issue. For example: if the customer can play normally, we can use a Medium priority. If a customer is unable to play normally, we can use High. Suggestions and recommendations can be placed as Low priority.
Status: All cases must go through all statuses, make sure to use the correct one.
Date submitted: make sure to select the correct date, its format is: dd/mm/yyyy
Due date: specify the due date to solve the case or to receive a first response from the team in charge. Again, this should match the priority selected for the case and if there is a delay, we should always ask for an update to the team in charge.
Intercom ticket: include the number of the ticket you generated back in Intercom.
Channel: include the channel used to report the case, the team in charge might add other channels depending on their own needs.
Brief description: use keywords to the case and a very brief explanation of the main issue.
Full Information: Here you may include everything the customer has already tried, every single thing the customer has shared including screenshots or videos.
Once you have created the case, you can manually move it to "Not Started", the team in charge of the review, will be automatically notified of a new case and then, they will be in charge of moving it to "Team Checking".
If the customer contacts back with more information, or you need to add anything to the case, make sure to add a comment so that we can keep track of the information shared and when it was shared.
Best practices
Be organized with your comments and your escalations: make it so that, when another coworker needs to follow up on it, they can actually understand the issue and what is supposed to happen next.
Update the case: escalations should be regularly checked at least once during the morning shift and once during the afternoon one. This means requesting updates from the department in charge and leaving comments when necessary.
Follow up with customer: check if the customer has already received a follow up email. We should follow up with the customer at the very least every 24 hours to let them know that the case is still being reviewed.
Avoid using abbreviations: while most of us might be familiarized with the most common abbreviations in the industry, avoid using them to make sure we are all aligned with what is expected for the escalation to unfold.
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