Hi Mike/Leonard
A number of staff here are keen to keep individual emails too for the same kinds of reason you explain. Yet we are ploughing ahead with the forms as we are addressing 'user' needs and have had successful alpha and beta user test rounds . Pretty much all services make use of forms for public services and we'll design them for the right context e.g of they need to add an attachment they can. I 'think' most direct email users are just used to this method rather than there being a clear winner. In fact most people didn't even use a mailing app which makes it easier decision to use forms.
Once the initial enquiry has been made then the further discussions will be sent from staff accounts and they can go as old school as they like... for now!
Time will tell Leonard but thanks for the points - I will be checking against these in a few months :-)
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Mike Ellis
Sent: 28 April 2014 18:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MCG] How to manage service wide website email
On the other hand:
...providing on-page email addresses means those addresses absolutely will get scraped and spammed by bots...
...that's, er, spam *with* attachments - the worse kind..
...keeping a copy of what you've written: easy enough, you just send the person who filled in the form a copy of what they sent too. Easy enough with Gravity Forms / most WP form plugins - re. point 5, you just flag this up on the form page: "fill in this form - we'll send you a copy for your records too".
...form design: well, that's down to having a good designer, no?
cheers
Mike
_____________________________
*Mike Ellis *
Thirty8 Digital: a small but perfectly formed digital agency:http://thirty8.co.uk <http://thirty8.co.uk/>
* My book: http://heritageweb.co.uk <http://heritageweb.co.uk/> *
> Leonard Will <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> 28 April 2014 17:53
>
> From the user's point of view, I hope that you provide proper email
> addresses for people to contact you rather than forcing enquirers to
> use a web form. I strongly dislike these forms, because:
>
> 1. They force a message into a tiny box, often with a limited number
> of characters allowed (which the user is not told about until they hit
> it and further input becomes impossible, or even worse, when they try
> to send the message and receive an error saying that it is too long);
>
> 2. It is impossible to see a complete formatted message in one of
> these boxes;
>
> 3. It is often impossible to add attachments;
>
> 4. It is very difficult to keep a copy of what you have written, and
> any such copy cannot easily form part of a thread of messages in
> proper email software;
>
> 5. If the web system sends the user an email copy of the message as
> confirmation, it often does not say in advance that it is going to do
> so, so the worries of point 4 still exist;
>
> You can use proper email and still achieve the routing you seek by
> having a list of email addresses on your "contact us" page, either
> giving separate addresses for each topic or by using "mailto:" links
> with embedded subject lines that can be used for routing. Clicking one
> of these will open the user's email software and give them full
> freedom to compose a message. We don't all belong to the limited
> 140-character "tweet" generation!
>
> Leonard Will
>
> Zak Mensah <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> 19 April 2014 17:51
> hello all,
>
> As part of our new website redesign (see
> http://bmag-guide.fatelvis.mixture.io/ for a sneak peak) I need to
> tackle how the public get in touch with us. Do any of you manage lots
> of email well and if so how? For example do you use a ticketing system
> to ID every email with a unique ID?
>
> I have outlined my initial thoughts below:
>
>
>
> * The general contact form should have a list of options e.g. venue
> hire enquires, to help filter email to the right team
> * All incoming email should be routed through 1 primary shared
> email/ticketing tool which may have filters based on the subject title
> (see above point)
> * Routing all email enables us to get a true sense of the email
> traffic volume - currently we have no idea of the amount of email as
> it mostly goes to individuals
> * Setup a small number of shared email boxes so ALL of that team can
> see incoming, awaiting responses, answered. This reduces dependency on
> 1 member of staff and gives everyone the chance to share the workload
> * Should we have an SLA internally to ensure all enquires are answered
> within 1 working day etc
> * Could a similar system work for telephones?
>
> Any help either on the list or to [log in to unmask] very
> welcome
>
>
> Zak Mensah
> Digital Manager
> Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives
> 0777 522 7272
> 0117 9223606
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
> Council services online: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
>
> Keep up to date with the latest council news and sign up to our
> monthly email newsletter: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
>
> Have your say on consultations and view our webcasts:
> http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult
>
> ****************************************************************
> website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
> [un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
> ****************************************************************
****************************************************************
website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
[un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
****************************************************************
______________________________________________________________________
Council services online: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
Keep up to date with the latest council news and sign up to our monthly email newsletter: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ournews
Have your say on consultations and view our webcasts: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult
****************************************************************
website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
[un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
****************************************************************
|