How can I use this for my business?
Six questions that map your desk to a use case, a template and a way in, with three worked answers: a plumber, a webshop and a law firm.
Product screen with sample data. Intake is the previous working name.
Answer six questions
Answer these about your own desk. The answers name the use case, the template and the way requests arrive.
| Question | What the answer decides |
|---|---|
| What arrives? | Text a person writes in their own words fits. A form with fixed fields fits too: the first question and the follow-up questions replace the form. A photo, a file or a payment needed to decide does not fit. The text is routed and a person asks for the rest. |
| From whom? | Customers, staff, applicants, clients, tenants, residents, students or donors name your sector and its template. Customers and strangers use the Public link. Staff use the public link on the intranet. A system you already have uses the API. |
| How many a week? | Any volume runs the same steps. Under a few hundred a week, one request type and the Inbox are the whole setup. Above that, plan your Jev budget with the person who runs the installation. |
| What decides the next step? | The kind of request is a pick one signal. How serious, how complete or how good a fit is a scale signal. A yes or no fact in the text is a yes or no signal. A fact only the person knows, such as an order number, a date or a choice between options, is a follow-up question. |
| Who handles the rest? | Your team, in the Inbox. Every handoff and every routed request lands there with its judgments and its reason. Agents select Mark handled when the work is done. |
| Where does the outcome go? | To the Inbox. When a system of yours started the request through the API, it reads the outcome and its outcome reply through the API. Signed webhooks are planned after version 1. |
Find your desk
| You say | Use case | Template | Way in |
|---|---|---|---|
| “Customers email support and we sort it by hand” | Product support | Support triage | Public link on the contact page |
| “We run a webshop and returns eat our mornings” | Returns, delivery problems | Webshop returns | Public link from the order page, or the API from the shop |
| “Staff email IT with everything” | IT helpdesk, access requests | IT helpdesk | Public link on the intranet |
| “The contact form goes to sales and half of it is spam and vendors” | Sales leads, vendor pitches | Sales lead qualification | The API from the website form, or the public link |
| “People ask for quotes and we answer each one from scratch” | Quote requests, agency briefs | Quote requests | Public link |
| “Bookings come by email and get lost” | Bookings, property viewings | Booking requests | Public link |
| “New clients call or write and someone has to work out if we can help” | Client intake, existing clients | Client intake | Public link on the website |
| “We get complaints and have a procedure to follow” | Complaints | Complaint handling | Public link |
| “Policyholders report claims by email” | First notice of loss, policy changes | Insurance first notice of loss | Public link, or the API from the portal |
| “Hundreds of applicants for every vacancy” | Job applications, open applications | Job application screening | Public link on the job page |
| “Tenants report repairs at all hours” | Tenant repairs | Tenant repairs | Public link on the tenant portal |
| “Residents report problems in the street” | Resident reports, permits and benefits | Resident reports | Public link, or the API from the city app |
| “Prospective students and parents write with questions” | Course enquiries, student support | Course enquiries | Public link |
| “People write to volunteer, donate or ask for help” | Volunteers and donors, help requests | Volunteer and donor enquiries | Public link |
| “Our helpdesk already has the tickets, we want the triage” | Helpdesk tickets | Any | The API |
| “We want a chatbot” | Live chat | None | Out of reach. Offer the public link. |
| “We want it to write the answers” | Answers written for each request | None | Out of reach. Offer outcome replies. |
A plumber
A plumber with two vans gets twenty quote requests a week. Each one needs the same three facts: what, where and how big. Today the plumber answers every one by phone in the evening.
Start from Quote requests. Rename Indoor painting to Bathroom and kitchen plumbing, and put your own districts in “Where is the work?”. Replace the wall size question with “How many fittings need work?”, and point Outcome for each answer at the new answer. Put your call-out price in the reply of Standard quote.
A leak through a ceiling or a gas smell is not a quote. The Individual review signal hands off danger, so a person calls back.
Write ten examples from last month's requests in your own words, select Replay, and publish when they match. Read quote requests.
A webshop
A webshop selling homeware gets returns, exchanges and “where is my parcel?” every morning. Its shop system knows each order.
Start from Webshop returns. Set the return window and the order limit to your policy. Your shop's return form starts each request through the API and passes the order number as the reference. A return inside your policy ends as Return approved, and the customer reads your return instructions in its outcome reply. A damaged item, a late return or a large refund hands off to a person.
Read returns, exchanges and refunds and delivery problems.
A law firm
A small law firm gets enquiries in employment, family and property law, and some in areas it does not handle. A fee earner spends the first call of each one on the same questions.
Start from Client intake. Rewrite the Practice scope signal's options for your practice areas. Keep the deadline question and the named other party question. A deadline within seven days hands off, so a person answers in time. A named other party hands off, so the firm checks for a conflict before anyone gives advice. An enquiry outside your practice areas ends as Outside the practice, with a reply that points the person elsewhere.
Read client intake and existing clients.
