This guide will help you to manage your inquiries. Each section below outlines key concepts and contains links to other articles in case you need more details.
Table of contents:
Set up connection between Newsroom and Inquiries:
- Step 1: Create an Inquiry Email Address (for Administrators only)
- Step 2: Create a Sender name
- Step 3: Connect Inquiries with the Newsroom or an inbox
How to use Inquiries:
Introduction: Inquiries
Inquiries allows you to manage, track, and respond to customer or media inquiries efficiently. It helps streamline communication, ensuring that no inquiry goes unanswered while improving response times and team collaboration. By centralising all inquiries in one location, teams can stay organised, assign tasks seamlessly, and maintain a clear history of interactions.
Step 1: Create an Inquiry Email Address (for Administrators only)
Click on Inquiries from the top menu. You will be directed to the Inquiries Dashboard.
Create an Inquiry Email address. Emails sent to this address will be converted to a new Inquiry. Go to Settings, the screen will open on the Email Set-Up tab.
- If no default Email Address has been setup: Click the Start Email Setup button.
- When the Inquiry address has been set up: Click the Edit button to make adjustments to the Inquiry Address. In the Edit Inquiry address change the Inquiry Address and the Assign default assignee (optional) and click Save button.
If your account contains multiple languages, click the button Create language-specific address to specify a different email address for each language.
Go to How can I set up email integration for Inquiries? for details.
Step 2: Create a Sender Name
If you wish to send out replies from the Inquiries tool set up a Sender name via the User Settings. Each user can choose their own sender name.
Go to How can I set up email integration for Inquiries? for details.
Step 3: Connect Inquiries with your Newsroom or an inbox
Your team likely collects inquiries from various channels. By integrating those channels with the Inquiries system, you can streamline this process.
Common use cases are:
- Set up the Inquiry Email address as a Reply-to email in the (Email) Sender settings
- Enable the Inquiries or the Form module on your Newsroom and send all submissions directly to Inquiries.
- Set up auto-forwarding from an external inbox to the Inquiry Email address to collect Inquiries.
See Email Sender Settings, How can I set up email integration for Inquiries?, In which ways can I use email integration in Inquiries?, Inquiries, Form for details.
Step 4: Using the Inquiries Dashboard
The Inquiries dashboard provides an overview of all received inquiries. At the top of the dashboard you can use the Search bar to find specific inquiries by keyword and/or click on the Filters button to refine your view by criteria such as tag, organization, or assignee.
In the left menu, you will find the following sections:
- Unread: View only inquiries that haven't been opened.
- Open: Displays active inquiries.
- Pending: Lists inquiries that are awaiting further action.
- Closed: Displays resolved inquiries.
- Statistics: Get an overview of inquiry trends and response rates.
- Settings: Customize the inquiries module to suit your workflow.
- Invite Colleagues: Quickly add colleagues so you can collaborate on Inquiry Management.
Go to Inquiries Dashboard for details.
Step 5: Managing Inquiries
If you need to log a phone call or if you do not have any integrations setup for Inquiries you can manually add an Inquiry. Click the Add Inquiry button on the top right. A new inquiry form will open, where you can enter:
- Subject (mandatory): The title or main topic of the inquiry.
- Language access (mandatory): The language setting for the inquiry.
- Inquiry description: The details or message related to the inquiry.
- Contact: The email or name of the person submitting the inquiry.
- Internal note: Additional private notes for internal tracking.
- Assignee name: The team member responsible for handling the inquiry (with an option to notify them).
- Deadline: The expected due date for a response.
- Consulted internally: Stakeholder who was consulted on the inquiry.
- Tags: Labels for the internal categorization of your inquiries based on themes or trends.
- Status: The status of the inquiry: Unread, Open (default), Pending, Closed
Click Save to add the inquiry to the list.
Go to Create and edit an Inquiry for details.
Updating an Inquiry
When you have integrations setup, replies from the contact will be added automatically in the Conversation field.
In case you need to manually update an inquiry, click on the inquiry in the dashboard.
On the left of the Inquiry screen you see the Contact Information section, which includes the contact's email and associated organization, as well as the Inquiry Details section.
On the right of the Inquiry screen you see the Conversation field. This part displays all incoming and send messages related to the inquiry, allowing team members to communicate efficiently:
- Use the Send message field to reply to the inquiry.
- Use the Log message tab to manually add a message, such as a phonecall or email.
- Use the Internal notes to add additional information for yourself or other team members
Modify any of the details and/or update a message or internal note in the Conversation field. Make sure to assign yourself or a team member, possibly with a deadline, to make the (collaboration) process as efficient as possible. Select one of the Submit as [status] options to apply the changes.
Contact and Organization management can be done in Contacts. In case you need to update any details, click on the contact or organisation name and select Edit Details. You will be redirected to the relevant detail pages in Contacts.
Go to Create and edit an Inquiry for details.
Step 6: Inquiries Statistics
The Statistics section in the left menu provides key insights into the performance and handling of inquiries. By leveraging these analytics, teams can identify trends, monitor response times, and optimize their inquiry management workflow.
- New Inquiries: Displays the number of inquiries received in the selected timeframe.
- Closed Inquiries: Tracks the number of resolved inquiries.
- Average Completion Time: Measures the average time taken to close an inquiry, helping assess efficiency.
- Contact Activity: Shows which contacts have been actively submitting inquiries.
- Organization Activity: Highlights the engagement level of different organizations in submitting inquiries.
Go to Inquiries Statistics for details.