Handle emails

Emails are handled from the same 8x8 Contact Center app panel as phone calls and chats. To receive or place emails using the 8x8 Contact Center app, you must:

  • Be a member of the email queue to which the email is routed.
  • Set your status to Available in the 8x8 Contact Center app.

What happens when I am offered an email?

When you are logged in to the 8x8 Contact Center integration app with the status set to Available, and an email is offered, a notification pops on the screen, prompting you to accept or reject the incoming email. The notification lists the name of the customer, the email subject, the queue it came from, and the time spent waiting in the queue.

What is a typical inbound email flow?

When an email is offered to an available agent, a notification displays prompting the agent to accept or reject the interaction.

Note: To receive interactions, agents must have their status set to Available.

  1. Log into your Salesforce account.
  2. Go to App Launcher > 8x8 Service Console.
  3. Click the 8x8 Contact Center app icon from the bottom-left corner of the page.
  4. Log in to the integration app using your credentials.
  5. Select Ready to work, or set your status to Available.
  6. When an email interaction is offered, click to accept it.
  7. The email opens in the 8x8 Contact Center app, and the system searches the Salesforce CRM for customer information that matches that email address. The number of matches is listed in the customer’s avatar in the 8x8 integration panel. Depending on the situation, the email could return:
    1. No matching records: The search yields no results for the customer and the CRM screen pops a Case tab, and a New Contact tab for you to fill in with relevant information.
    2. A single matching record: The search yields a single matching record and screen pops a Case tab, and the customer information on the screen. The inbound email message is included in the Case tab in Salesforce.
    3. Multiple matching records: The search yields multiple search results and only the Case tab pops on the screen. In this case, you need to click the avatar and manually select which of the matched record to link the new case to. Once selected, click to return to the email in the 8x8 app panel.

      4. Note: If multiple matches are found, click the avatar and select the correct contact to reply to. By default, the CRM matches the case to the first match in the list.

  1. Click Reply to reply to the email.
  2. (Optional) To preview the original email, click the Show trimmed content icon in the message panel.
  3. Type the response.
  4. Click next to the contact’s name.
  5. Select a From address for your reply.
  6. Click to send the email.
    The post-processing time initiates if your administrator has set it up for your tenant. Post-processing gives you time to wrap up notes for the chat.
  7. Click Wrap up.

    8. Note: If post-processing times out your status will change to Available.

The case is updated with the reply email, and the app sets your status to Available. Click Work Offline if you need more time to complete any post-processing task.

What is the screen pop behavior for email interactions?

When an email interaction is offered, the 8x8 Contact Center integration app looks up the email address of the incoming interaction and then searches the Salesforce CRM for a matching record. The number of matches is listed in the customer’s avatar in the 8x8 app panel. Depending on the situation, the email could return:

  • No matching records: The search yields no results for the customer and the CRM screen pops a Case tab, and a New Contact tab for you to fill in with relevant information.

  • A single matching record: The search yields a single matching record and screen pops a Case tab, and the customer information on the screen. The inbound email message is included in the Case tab in Salesforce.
  • Multiple matching records: The search yields multiple search results and only the Case tab pops on the screen. In this case, you need to click the avatar and manually select which of the matches to link the new case to. By default, the CRM matches the case to the first match in the list. Once the correct match is selected, click to return to the email in the 8x8 app panel.

Forward emails

Note: The forward option is used to forward an email interaction to an external email address.

Let’s say you receive an email from a customer that requires information on a pending invoice. All invoice related issues are handled by the financial department, which is external. You can easily forward the email to the financial department so they can provide a solution to the customer. The forwarded email includes the original message received from the customer.

Note: Forwarded emails remain linked to the customer database in the Salesforce CRM, not to the address the email is forwarded to.

  1. When an email interaction is offered, click to accept it.
  2. The email opens in the 8x8 Contact Center app, and the system searches the Salesforce CRM for customer information that matches the email address.

Note: If multiple matches are found, click the avatar and select the correct contact to reply to. By default, the CRM matches the case to the first match in the list.

  1. Click the arrow next to the Reply button and select Forward.
    - OR-
    Click Reply > More actions > Forward.
  2. Add the external email address(es) in the To field.
  3. Select a From address.
  4. Click Continue.
  5. Type a message or simply leave the original message received.
  6. Click to send the email.
    The post-processing time initiates if your administrator has set it up for your tenant. Post-processing gives you time to wrap up notes for the chat.
  7. Click Wrap up.

Note: If post-processing times out your status will change to Available.

The case is updated with the forwarded email, and the app sets your status to Available. Click Work Offline if you need more time to complete any post-processing task.

Transfer emails

The transfer option allows agents to transfer an email interaction to another queue. Let’s say as a sales agent, you receive an email from a customer that requires help from Customer Support. You can easily transfer the email to the support queue so they can provide a solution to the customer.

Note: Emails can only be transferred to a single address.

  1. When an email interaction is offered, click to accept it.
  2. The email opens in the 8x8 Contact Center app, and the system searches the Salesforce CRM for customer information that matches the email address.

Note: If multiple matches are found, click the avatar and select the correct contact to reply to. By default, the CRM matches the case to the first match in the list.

  1. Click the arrow next to the Reply button and select Transfer.
    -OR-
    Click Reply and from the bottom of the panel select the transfer icon.
  2. From the queue list, select the queue to which you want to transfer the email.
  3. Select Transfer.
  4. In the warning window that displays, select Continue.
  5. Click Wrap up.

Note: If post-processing times out your status will change to Available.

The app sets your status to Available and new interactions can be assigned to you. Click Work Offline if you need more time to complete any post-processing task.

End interaction

Let’s say you receive an email interaction from a customer that informs you he paid the invoice he received from the company. If no follow-up is required, you can simply end the interaction from the 8x8 Contact Center app.

  1. When an email interaction is offered, click to accept it.
  2. The email opens in the 8x8 Contact Center app, and the system searches the Salesforce CRM for customer information that matches that email address.

Note: If multiple matches are found, click the avatar and select the correct contact to reply to. By default, the CRM matches the case to the first match in the list.

  1. Click the arrow next to the Reply button and select End interaction.
    -OR-
    Click Reply > More actions > End interaction.
  2. In the confirmation window that displays, click End.
  3. Click Wrap up.

Note: If post-processing times out your status will change to Available.

The app sets your status to Available and new interactions can be assigned to you. Click Work Offline if you need more time to complete any post-processing task.

Send new email

Let’s say you have to send a new email to the Sales department regarding a warranty claim. You can easily create new email from the 8x8 Contact Center app. When you start creating an email, the app changes your status to Busy to prevent you from receiving new interactions until you wrap-up or change your status to Available.

  1. Log into the 8x8 Contact Center app for Salesforce.
  2. Click Add interaction from the left side of the 8x8 Contact Center app.
  3. Select Email.

Note: Your status changes to Busy.

  1. Fill in the required fields:
    • From: Select an email address that the recipient will see.
    • To: The email address of the recipient.
    • Subject: Used to add a description to highlight what the email is about.
  1. Click Compose.
  2. Type your message.

Note: You can use the features at the bottom of the panel to add your signature, attach files, or access the knowledgebase.

  1. Click to send the email.
    The post-processing time initiates if your administrator has set it up for your tenant. Post-processing gives you time to wrap up notes for the chat.
  2. Click Wrap up.

Note: If post-processing times out your status will change to Available.

The case pops on the screen and includes the email and attachments, then the app sets your status to Available so new interactions can be assigned to you. Click Work Offline if you need more time to complete any post-processing task.

Create a follow-up email

Let’s say you sent an invoice to a customer and the invoice is now overdue. You can create a follow-up email to remind the customer of the invoice payment issue, and link the email to the case generated when you first sent the invoice. This will ensure that all follow-up emails are documented within the same case.

  1. Log into the 8x8 Contact Center app for Salesforce.
  2. From the Salesforce navigation menu, select Cases.
  3. Open the case you want to follow-up on.
  4. Select Details.
  5. Scroll down to MainNumber and copy the number. You will need it when you create the email.
  6. Click Add interaction from the left side of the 8x8 Contact Center app.
  7. Select Email.

Note: Your status changes to Busy.

  1. Fill in the required fields:
    • From: Select an email address that the recipient will see.
    • To: The email address of the recipient from the case you are following up on.
    • MainNumberID: Add the MainNumber copied from the case details and verify that the numbers match. This will ensure the email relates to the existing case in Salesforce.
    • Subject: Used to add a description to highlight what the email is about.
  1. Click Compose.
  2. Type your message.

Note: You can use the features at the bottom of the panel to add your signature, attach files, or access the knowledgebase.

  1. Click to send the email.
    The post-processing time initiates if your administrator has set it up for your tenant. Post-processing gives you time to wrap up notes for the chat.
  2. Click Wrap up.

Note: If post-processing times out your status will change to Available.

The follow-up email and any attachments are now visible in the case’s feed.

Pull emails

Let's say you are on the phone with a customer who says they sent pictures of the damaged product they received to the support email address. The email was routed to the email queue, but you are not enabled to serve emails at the moment. As an agent, you can pull the email from My assigned queues, to assess the damage and speed up the resolution of the case.

This feature allows you to browse pending emails, view the sender and subject, and accept the email that requires immediate attention. You can pull emails from your assigned queues at any time, even if they are not enabled, within the limit set by the admin for handling blended interactions.

Note: This feature is only available if enabled by the admin.

  1. Log into the 8x8 Contact Center integration.
  2. Set your status to Work Offline.
    If your status is Available or Busy, the 8x8 Contact Center integration may offer you a new interaction before you can complete pulling email interactions from an email queue, depending on your admin settings.
  3. Click My assigned queues.
    -OR-
    Click Show menu and select My assigned queues.
  4. Hover over a queue and click to retrieve an email from that specific queue. The icon displays the number of queued emails.

    5. Note: Clicking Pull email next to the header name for the email queues allows you to pull emails from all queues.

  5. In the Queued emails window that displays, search for the relevant email. You can use the search bar to locate an email or click the arrow > icon in front of the wait time to preview the content of the email.
  6. Select an email and click Accept interaction. The email opens in the 8x8 Contact Center app. If the email is from an existing customer, the customer information and a Case tab display in the CRM.

    7. Note: Only one email can be pulled at a time. You can pull emails up to the limit set by the admin for handling blended interactions.

  7. Click Reply to respond to the email from the 8x8 Contact Center app.

The Queued emails window includes the following information that you can use to determine which email to pull from queue:

  • Wait time: Displays how long the email has been in the queue.
  • Case/Follow-up: Displays the case or follow-up number for the email. New emails are identified using an integer number (e.g. 406). Follow-up emails are identified using a decimal number (e.g. 406.1).
  • Queue: Displays the name of the queue the email came from.
  • From: Displays the email address of the sender.
  • Name: Displays the name of the person that sent the email.
  • Subject: Displays the subject of the email.

You can use the search bar to search queued emails by queue name, email address, contact name, or subject.