Customer emails and referring for follow-up

Customers are not required to enter an email address when initiating an AskUsNow! chat. This means that if we're going to need to follow-up with a customer, we need to ask for their email address.

The customer's information, including if they've provided an email address or not, is available for you while chatting, in the INFO TAB for easy viewing:

The Patron's name and email is listed: "Patron: Jennifer (email@email.com)"

A customer without an email address would show as
"Patron: Jennifer (No e-mail provided)" or "Patron: Anonymous (No e-mail provided)"

Why is it important to have an email address?

It is important to know if a customer has given you an email address or not so that when follow-up is required, you'll know to ask for the email address. Always let the customer know why you're asking for an email address, "So that we can get back with you with the information you need, would you mind giving me your email address?" or "I'd like to send some articles to you, what is your email address?"

An email address is required if any follow-up is needed after the chat session has ended.

For transcripts, a customer has another opportunity, after the session is over, to put in their email address to get a transcript- the information they submit there is not recorded anywhere and is used only that one time to give them the transcript of the session they just finished:

What happens if there's no email address?

If the customer didn't come in with an email address and you didn't secure one in chat (either you forgot, they never agreed to tell you, or no email was needed), please make sure to NOT mark the session for follow-up (resolution codes follow-up by me" or "follow-up by patron's library") since no follow-up can be done without an email address.

There may be some rare circumstances when you want to flag a session as an FYI for a library- if this is the case, please add a "librarian only note" to let the home library know why you're marking it for follow-up. Otherwise, all sessions will be visible normally at the home library, so there is no need to flag it special.

What Resolution code should I be using if there is to be no follow-up?

Use the ANSWERED resolution code for any session that does not require or can not be followed up with. You may not have answered the question to your standards, but if the customer doesn't want or need follow-up OR there is no email address to follow-up to, the question should be marked Answered.

Think of the Answered resolution code as "no follow-up needed"  instead.

See our article on Resolution Codes for a more detailed rundown of the rest of the codes.

What if I receive a session for follow-up but there is no email address?

If a session comes into Shared Follow-up or your library's NEW list, and there is no email address for follow-up, first check the chat session to see if there was one provided during the course of the conversation.  If no email is present, and the session isn't an FYI, the person who is tasked with reviewing and closing sessions (usually the liaison), can close out the session as no follow-up is possible.