Reference: Email-Communicating

Due to issues including productivity, effectiveness, and time zone differences, we recommend using electronic means to communicate with your RidgeStar Account Representative. If your Site contains the Tickets mechanism, please use that. Otherwise, Email to the Account Representative will work fine.

To most effectively use electronic communications, please follow these basic principles:

Restrict each Message to a single subject

In other words, avoid long, rambling messages that address multiple subjects. While such a letter may help you get your thoughts out, it may also end up hurting your chances of receiving help, as it doesn't get right to the heart of the issue. Your account rep may not know where and how to start helping you.

Restricting messages to a single, concisely written subject also empowers your rep to REPLY quickly and to ask clarifying questions. We refer to this single-subject/reply process as a "thread". Employing the thread process guarantees that your needs are met quickly and effectively.

Always create a Subject line that's related to the topic of the message

Avoid non-descriptive subjects like "Question" or "Hey"; they do little to inform your rep of the message's content. Rather, use the subject to summarize the Thread, for example: "User Table Modification", "Database Load Request", "New Invoicing requirement:".

Number your key points

Create and number key points within your Ticket. This empowers your representative to quickly reference your needs without repeating the entire issue in his or her Reply.

Use a Number and closing parenthesis for questions

To further expedite your requests, identify your questions using the syntax "n)", where "n" is the number. When your rep sees this syntax, s/he will realize that you are looking for a specific answer, for example:

1) Does this approach make sense to you?

Make sure to identify each question with a unique number. Your rep will use the number in his or her answer to refer to the questions, for example:

1. Yes, the approach makes perfect sense.

Remember that Electronic Communication is NOT a phone call

Answers may not be immediate. It could take your rep several minutes, hours, or even days before completely addressing a Ticket. If your rep doesn't address a particular issue, please address the issue again, rather than relying on conversations like "remember what we talked about?" (as your rep may not remember the issue or may have a different perception of the issue's resolution).

RidgeStar reps often perform very precision-oriented tasks. Programming requires concise, unambiguous definitions for proper implementation. Clear communications can help everyone!

We DO get to every request, but when the volume gets high in the RidgeStar offices, we prioritize them for service using a very precise definition. See Reference: Announcements-Request Priorities for a discussion of how we do that...