Powered by The FAQuarium - most popular questions at top of list

How much does it cost?

The actual cost of using SupportByEmail depends on the volume of enquiries you receive and respond to via the system, and we operate two billing models to accomodate low-usage customers at an affordable level and high-usage customers for a regular monthly fee.

The metered billing system is ideal for smaller businesses that typically receive ten questions per day or less. You pay only for your usage, based on the number of messages sent from the system at a flat rate of a few pence per message and settle your bill at the end of each month.

The volume billing option offers a discount for prepayment on a higher volume of emails. Prices start at 29.99 for up to 500 messages each month, with discounts equating to as little as 2p per message for very high volume use.

We also ensure you only pay for results - if you have to type a message in full after the system failed to find a matching response in your questions database, you will not be charged for that message!

How much can I save using SupportByEmail.com

Though it is impossible to say specifically how much time you might save using SupportByEmail.com, reports from our customers are very encouraging and indicate significant time savings are easily achievable.

The time saving you might expect is dependent on several factors, and it is important to realise that the more time you invest in creating your knowledge base the better your results will be. We will gladly give advice on setting up your knowledge base should you need it.

That is not to say that you must spend a long time preparing the system before you can use it. It is possible to build your database over a period of time, simply by responding to customer queries as you usually would. As our billing model is based around the results you achieve, you will only begin to pay for SupportByEmail.com once your database is large enough to help you answer questions.

Can I evaluate the system?

You can sign up for a SupportByEmail.com account free of charge at http://www.supportbyemail.com/register.php and even begin building your knowledge baseto evaluate the software. You will be given a fully functional account and a free allowance of 20 messages that can be sent using the system.

Once this allowance has been used can choose to continue using the system by following the steps to activate your system on screen.

If you would rather see an established knowledge base in action you can log in to the demo system at

http://www.supportbyemail.com/login.php

System:   demo
Username: demo
Password: demo

The demo system contains a selection of questions about SupportByEmail.com itself, and you can send your own questions to demo@supportbyemail.com and use the system to answer them.

Can I change my billing options at any time?

You can change your billing method at any time, so if you realise you would be better off using a volume account you can switch to this method right away. Changes to your billing method can be made from the administrator menu under "Manage System".

As volume accounts are payable in advance, to switch you will need to pay the first month's fee for whichever volume option you choose as well as any outstanding balance on your metered account.

If you are upgrading from a volume account to a higher monthly message allocation, any unused message allowance will be added to your first month's allocation at the higher level and the billing period altered in line with the current date.

If you are downgrading to a lower volume account or metered billing there is nothing to pay right away. Your volume account will continue until your allocation is used up or the end of the billing period, whichever is sooner, before the new billing method takes effect.

What payment methods do you accept?

You can pay securely online for SupportByEmail.com by Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Switch.

We also accept payment by cheque, standing order or BACS transfer by prior arrangement. Please contact billing@supportbyemail.com for details.

All metered accounts are payable monthly in arrears; volume accounts monthly in advance except by special arrangement.

Can I use my existing support email address?

To use a support email address on a domain you control yourself, simply create your SupportByEmail.com system as normal and receive yourcompany@supportbyemail.com and arrange for your mail server to forward your support email to this new address.

Alternatively, we can arrange for your email address to be routed directly through our system and filtered into your SupportByEmail.com mailbox. Please contact support@supportbyemail.com to arrange this.

Either way, customers will continue to send and receive messages to and from your existing support address without even realising you are now using SupportByEmail.com.

Can you handle DNS for our domain?

SupportByEmail.com does not offer any DNS management services, however Lightwood Consultancy Ltd who operate the service will be able to arrange any web hosting services you might need.

Please contact hosting@lightwood.net to discuss your requirements.

Can you handle all the email for our domain?

SupportByEmail.com does not offer an email management service, however Lightwood Consultancy Ltd who operate the service will be able to recommend or arrange the necessary email facilities.

Please contact hosting@lightwood.net to discuss your requirements.

What happens to sent messages?

From the administrator menu you can configure how the system handles your sent messages. The options are to

1. Store a copy of outbound messages in the system associated with the appropriate customer
2. Send a carbon copy (CC) of each message to a mailbox outside

Either or both options can be used and it is strongly recommended that you use at least one method of storing your outbound emails.

How does the knowledge base work?

You build your knowledge base by creating a number of standard reply templates that can be used as the basis of your email replies to customer questions.

You can label each answer, for instance with a typical question such as "Are my credit card details safe?" or with a description of the answer such as "Information on credit card security". The organisation of your database is entirely up to you.

Against each answer you must set one or more keywords and their relevance to the answer. There is no limit to the number of keywords you can set but a large number of keywords indicates an answer is more general than one with a small number and would be ranked accordingly when you ask the system to suggest responses.

Example keywords and weightings for "Are my credit card details safe?" might be, amongst others:

  "credit card" - weight 10
  "safe"        - weight 7
  "security"    - weight 7
  "ssl"         - weight 5

This configuration would suggest the answer you entered for questions such as:

"Is my credit card information transmitted over ssl?"
"I am worried about credit card security. Is your site safe?"
Even a question as vague as "Is your shop safe?" would find this answer in the list of suggestions.

There is no single correct keyword weighting pattern, however we would suggest that one person is responsible for keyword weightings across your entire knowledge base for consistency.

Are my credit card details safe?

We use WorldPay to process all our credit card transactions, which implements the highest level of security possible. Your credit card details are encrypted and sent direct to WorldPay.

We do not even see your credit card details ourselves so the security of our own systems, though very high, is not even an issue where your credit card information is concerned.

Can I get a discount for a high volume of emails?

If you typically respond to more than ten messages per day you may find that the volume billing method suits you better than the metered scheme.

To obtain a volume discount you must pre-pay for the number of messages you expect to send in any particular month. Prices start at 29.99 for Volume 500, allowing you to send up to 500 messages per month.

The full price list can be found at http://www.supportbyemail.com/pricing.php

Can I get a discount as a non-profit organisation?

For details of special rates for educational, non-profit and government funded organisations please contact us at billing@supportbyemail.com

Can I run a copy of the SupportByEmail.com software on my own server?

For very high volume clients it can be more cost effective to licence the SupportByEmail.com technology for use on your own servers.

The basic system requirements are
Apache Web Server 1.3.12 or greater
MySQL 3.23 or greater
PHP 4.0.4 or higher with Zend Optimizer

For full licencing terms and current rates please contact us.

Can SupportByEmail integrate with my particular web site?

We can provide an integration service whereby the SupportByEmail.com engine is tailored so that customer responses relate to elements of your existing database.

An example of this is if your emails to customers include an order number in the subject field and the customer replies to that message keeping the order number intact, we can provide a link to reference the order information page on your own server when viewing each question.

Each integration exercise is different so there is no fixed price for this work, but we are happy to quote for any integration you may require.

What about SPAM ?

You may find your SupportByEmail.com mailbox receives unsolicited email just as, unfortunately, almost every mailbox on the Internet does. Our system has anti-spam software installed which systematically rejects incoming emails that are known to be SPAM. However this isn't perfect and messages can and do slip through the net.

Though this is a nuisence, we assure you is it not a nuisence that will end up costing you money. As SupportByEmail.com only charges for email messages sent through the system where an answer has been suggested you will not be penalised for junk landing in your mailbox.

What about email viruses or worms?

SupportByEmail.com is a purely web-based service which diverts your incoming support message from your regular mail reader to our system. It is not believed to be possible to distribute an email virus or worm via a web-based system as such viruses exploit security holes in the mail reader on your PC.

Therefore you can be assured that you will not receive a virus, nor accidentally send one to your customers through SupportByEmail.com

Who are Lightwood Consultancy Ltd?

SupportByEmail.com was designed and developed by Lightwood Consultancy Ltd in response to clients' needs for assistance in dealing with questions generated through their web sites.

Since 1999, Lightwood has provided bespoke programming solutions to an International client base, primarily supplying backend software to power dynamic web site solutions.

By implementing SupportByEmail.com as a pay-as-you-go online application service it is hoped that many small businesses can afford to benefit from this valuable time-saving technology.

More information about Lightwood Consultancy Ltd can be found on the corporate web site at http://www.lightwood.net/