What Role Does Software Play In The Field Service Industry? Part 8: Automated Emai

This is the eighth article in a nine part series about the role that software plays in the field service industry. It’s focus is on automated email and how software can help you run a better service business by improving your emailing operations. We’re passionate about software and the service industry, and we want to help you find the right software for your business, whether it’s our product or a competitor’s.You’ll receive the next white paper in the series next week, but if you can’t wait we encourage you to use the links at the bottom of the page to read the rest of the series now.

How Can Software Improve Automated Emailing Processes For The Service Industry?

How Does Automated Email Affect Service Businesses?

Automated email can and should be much more useful than an “Out Of The Office” auto reply email without being any more complicated to set up and implement. A good service management software solution will include functionality for a variety of automated email features that can do the following:

Incoming emails are converted into open work orders
Work order status changes trigger an email notification
Work order assignments trigger an email and schedule a Google Calendar or Outlook event
Orders that are closed send a notification to the customer
Orders that are opened send a notification to the customer
Email correspondence regarding an open order is automatically copied into the “Services Requested” notes for the order

The way that these features are configured should be customized for your specific processes. Some examples of how typical service businesses use the above functionality are seen in the next section.

Work order status changes trigger an email notification

When a technician updates an order status you can configure your automated email tool to email that update to the relevant parties
The people who receive order status emails can be configured independently for each order status, or customized each time you want to send an email.
- Example: If an order status is relevant to your accounting department you can include your accounting personnel and no one else. If the order status is applicable to your customer and your service manager then you can configure emails to be sent only to them when the order status is relevant to them.
Order status emails are a great way to maintain customer contact without spending more time contacting them manually