HUD's Web Management Operating Procedures

Customer Service Standards

Web Managers have two customer groups: internal customers (HUD managers and staff) and external customers (citizens and business partners)

Standards for Serving Internal Customers:

• Understand what they do and who their customers are, so you can help them find ways to use the web to do their work
  
  
• Educate them so they know how to use the web to do their work
  
  
• Promptly respond to their questions (1 business day) - answer internal questions first
  
  
• Update customers regularly on the status of your efforts for them
  
  
• Let them know when you've completed something for them - don't make them have to ask
  
  
• Help them enhance their own requests so they will be completely satisfied with the results
  
  
• Acknowledge their accomplishments
  
  
• Always show a "can-do" attitude - if you can't help them try to get them to someone who can - never say "that's not my job"

Standards for Serving External Customers

• Respond to email in a timely manner (meet the Departmental standard)
  
  
• Audit email for timeliness and quality. Elevate issues about timeliness and quality of email responses to management
  
  
• Understand what they want and need and make sure we respond
  
  
• Refer when we can't answer a question ourselves - never tell them "that's not my job" or "I can't help you"
  
  
• Print information and mail to people without Internet access
  
  
• Market what we have available on the web so our customers can find it

Handling Webmail

Email that comes in through the website ("webmail") is one of the primary means for listening to our audience and for providing good customer service.

HUD's policy is that we try to respond to webmail within 2 working days. If research is required, we may take up to 2 weeks. If it's going to be longer than that, we need to let the requester know approximately how long it will take.

People who use HUD's website may report potential inaccuracies in data that is presented on the website, via the webmail system. In these cases, Web Managers or their designees must forward the message to the Office of Administration, for processing under the requirements of Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 and commensurate guidance from OMB "to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information disseminated by Federal agencies." If inaccurate data is found on the website, the Web Manager must work with the appropriate office to correct the data as soon as possible.

Departmental Web Team Duties

The Departmental Web Team establishes procedures for handling webmail and monitors webmail management Departmentwide.

The Departmental Web Team forwards or responds to webmail addressed to the generic "webmanager.hud.gov."

Duties of All Web Managers

Because we receive - Departmentwide - thousands of webmails each month, you need to create and train a network of people throughout your organization to respond. The good news is that many of the messages that we get fall into just a few categories, and we have developed some boilerplate responses "http://hudatwork/po/odoc/webinc/webmail/boilrplt.cfm" that you and your network can use.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the people in your network understand the importance of good customer service, that they know the proper tone to use to respond to webmail, and that they keep you informed of significant trends or anomalies.

Responding to Webmail

• Response to webmail should be conversational, as if you are speaking in person, and it always should be positive and helpful in tone. Whenever possible, we try to give the person a straight answer or provide a suggestion about where the person can get an answer. We never say, "sorry, can't help you" - we always try to offer a suggestion or next step.
  
  
• If webmail comes to you inappropriately, just route it to the proper office, copying the requester so he/she knows where the message has been sent. If you can identify where the person lives, route it to the appropriate state webmail box (for example: AZ_webmanager@hud.gov). If you can't identify where the person lives, route it to the proper program Web Manager in Headquarters.
  
  
• If the requester has special circumstances - for example, person with disabilities - the Department may have specific experts who could respond best. Contact the Departmental Web Team if you are unsure to whom to refer a webmail.
  
  
• Use the "Common Questions" responses on www.hud.gov and "Standard Responses to Webmail" section of HUD@work to form webmail responses. Keep copies of all emails received and responses sent. You may be able to use prior responses to answer questions quickly.
  
  
• If you receive a lot of webmail on the same subject, develop a standard response and share it with your peers. Forward it to the Departmental Web Team to include in our master list of boilerplate responses.
  
  
• We do not attempt to "control" webmail - it would slow down the response. However, Web Managers should monitor response times and the quality of responses on a periodic basis, to make sure we are providing good customer service through our webmail.
  
  
• Webmail that was misdirected to HUD should be forwarded to the mailbox: nothud@hud.gov. Webmail coming to that address will be sent to USA Services, which serves as a clearinghouse for misdirected questions.
  
  
• Get it right the first time. In a quick survey of webmail requesters, we learned that if it took more that one exchange to pin down what the requester wanted, the requester was not pleased with the response received.
  
  
• Use an appropriate greeting for every email response you send. Use the requester's name in your response, if possible. In our survey, when the reply included some form of greeting (i.e., "Dear Ms. Smith" or "Dear Bill"), the requesters were pleased with the response they received.
  
  
• Take time to add background information or "next steps" to your reply. Requesters appreciate your taking the time to give them a thorough response. Whenever possible, point out places on our web pages where the requester could locate helpful information.
  
  
• Anticipate additional questions and respond before they are asked. Many times, requesters don't know exactly what to ask. So take the time to think through what the requester really wants, and provide a comprehensive response that anticipates questions and additional information needs.
  
  
• When sending URLs in email responses, remember that we have some easy-to-use "aliases" for our most requested web pages. See Appendix F.

Web Manager Mailboxes

To facilitate quality customer service, we've established "generic" email boxes for each state. The address for each of these mailboxes follows the same format: two letter state abbreviation, followed by Webmanager@hud.gov (for example, AZ_Webmanager@hud.gov). The Regional Web Managers can access each of the generic mailboxes in their Regions and can request rights for others in the Region to respond to the webmail that comes into those boxes. To add or delete access rights for generic state mailboxes, the Regional Web Manager must send an email to the Departmental Web Manager for Field Operations, who submits the request to the CIO.

Many of the Headquarters Web Managers have found it effective to establish "generic" webmail boxes for their program areas. That way, several staff can be involved in answering webmail. To request a generic webmail box, Headquarters Web Managers must contact their Office Technology Coordinators (OTC).