Ask an Expert - Add Value to your Web Site!
You can add a great customer service feature to your Extension website with just a little bit of know how. This article is focus on County Extension Offices using TECO as their website tool, but Ask an Expert can be used on any website.
What if a visitor to your website has a question? They get the phone number and call or they could pick out the email address and email. How about asking online!
The Ask an Expert "widget" can adds a small dialog to your website for your customers to submit a question. Easy as pie. The cool part is you can answer the question, or you can lean on other extension experts nationwide. Here's how to get started:
By now you have all heard of and I hope visited the national eXtension project. The Ask an Expert system is part of that project you can take advantage of for your customers.
For more on eXtension visit them at http://extension.org
Here's how the Ask an Expert works:
A question is submitted from your Ask an Expert widget
2. The question shows up in the Incoming Question list at eXtension
3. The question is automatically assigned to an Extension agent who has registered to get questions for the widget (should be you). An email is sent to the agent when a question arrives. If no one is assigned to a widget or if the question lingers too long, the question is assigned to Extension agents who have volunteered to handle and route questions for Texas.
4. The agent answers the question and the response is emailed to the person who submitted the question. A copy of the answer is also retained on the eXtension FAQ system for others to find. If your are unable to answer you can assign someone else registered in the Ask an Expert system to provide an answer.
Simple enough. To get going we have put together 4 lessons and some video:
Lesson 1. What is Ask and Expert and How do I put it on my TECO Web Site?
Lesson 2. What is eXtension and how do I get an account?
AEWidget Lesson 2 eXtension.pdf
Lesson 3. How to claim your Ask an Expert Widget.
AEWidget Lesson 3 Claiming.pdf
Lesson 4. Answering questions through Ask an Expert.
