Guides by topic
Guides on support email and help desks
How a small team answers customer email: shared inbox or help desk, how fast to reply, what to measure, and replies and articles to start from.
9 guides and 1 free template, each working in any tool.
Guides
- A help desk and a CRM in one tool: what a team of 10 to 25 gainsWhen a team of 10 to 25 should run support and sales from one customer record, what it gains and gives up, and what to check before choosing a tool. 7 minute read.
- How to measure a support team of 10 to 25Five numbers that tell a small support team how it is doing: first reply, missed targets, what waits on you, satisfaction and helpful articles. 7 minute read.
- What a 15-person team should budget for a CRM, a help desk and a phone systemA 15-person team’s monthly bill for a CRM, a help desk and a phone at Zoho, Freshworks and Pipedrive, read October 26, 2026, and how to budget your own. 8 minute read.
- Help desk vs shared inbox: which does a small team need?What a shared inbox and a help desk each do, five signs a small team has outgrown its inbox, and how to switch in an afternoon. 8 minute read.
- How to choose help desk software for a small teamChoose a help desk from your own channels and volume: the questions that matter at 10 to 25 people, the real cost, a trial plan and a scoring table. 9 minute read.
- How to write a knowledge base article, with a templateFour fill-in templates for knowledge base articles, the rules that keep them short and true, and how to choose your first ten from your inbox. 9 minute read.
- Handling calls after hours as a small businessThree ways to handle calls when you are closed — a closed message, voicemail, an on-call person — and how to make sure no message is lost by morning. 6 minute read.
- How a small team should handle support emailA shared inbox fails in two ways: two people answer, or no one does. A simple method for owning each email, tracking who it waits on and how long. 7 minute read.
- How fast should a small team reply to customer email?Skip the industry averages. Set your own reply target in business hours, measure every case against it, and know when a Friday email is due. 6 minute read.
Free templates
- Support email templates: 15 replies for a small teamFifteen free support email reply templates for a small team: bugs, refunds, billing, login help, feature requests, angry customers and more.
Beside these guides
- Support in ContactRollEmail cases, help articles and a help center.
- Response-time calculatorWhen a reply is due, counting only business hours.
- A shared inbox that keeps the customer’s historyUse case.
- ContactRoll help articlesSetting up support email, articles and the help center.