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Beginning on Thursday, Sept. 8, OMMA is starting a pilot program to re-organize the way we receive and respond to customer service messages from the public to help with consistency and accuracy – here’s what that means for you.
New Contact Form
This is the most visible change. We’re moving away from listing lots of email addresses on our website’s Contact Us page. We’re replacing it with a form.
People will fill out the form, selecting a topic and providing us with detailed information about what they need. The form generates an email that goes to the Communications Department.
There is a handy short link you can use to send the public to our Contact Us page – omma.ok.gov/contact. We’ll be using that link often on printed materials, social media posts and more. Make it your go-to when telling someone how to contact OMMA.
Use this temporary link to preview the contact form.
Unpublishing Email Addresses
We will no longer actively publish or distribute most of the general OMMA email addresses listed on the current Contact Us page. Examples of emails we will stop publicizing are OMMAPatients@ok.gov, OMMAGrower@ok.gov, OMMALabs@ok.gov, OMMACompliance@ok.gov and similar addresses.
We’ll phase them out immediately on the website, newsletters, customer service responses and more. We’ll phase them out over time on things like business cards and email signatures as we transition out of OSDH into an independent state agency.
Also beginning Thursday, Sept. 8, those email addresses will be forwarded to OMMACommunications@ok.gov, and the Comms team will monitor and respond to the emails. But by phasing out the ways we publish the email addresses, over time we will steer more people to a new contact form we have created, which will replace all the email addresses on the website’s Contact Us page.
Inbox Monitoring and Liaisons
Many of the newly unpublished email addresses will have messages auto-forwarded to the Communications Department, along with what we get from the website’s new contact form.
Comms will respond to most of the emails and messages using a newly developed library of answers to frequently asked questions.
For unique or challenging issues, Comms will work with a dedicated team of inter-department liaisons to quickly coordinate a response. You may be hearing from one of the liaisons trying to track down information for the Comms team.
The inter-department liaisons are:
- Megan Guajardo (Call Center)
- Lesley Penhall (Commercial Licensing)
- Michael Kimball (Communications)
- Shalysta O’Mally (Compliance)
- Imani McGill (Labs)
- Garrett Sill (Legal)
- Rebecca Taylor (Metrc Support)
- Peyton King (Patient Licensing)
The liaisons are doing much more to improve communication between program areas at OMMA, but their role in helping with inbox responses is a key part of it. Please prioritize any messages you get from them about a customer service issue.
Timeline
On Sept. 8, OMMA will unpublish the general email addresses online and begin using the contact form at omma.ok.gov/contact.
Between now and then, Comms and the liaisons will be finalizing our initial library of answers to frequently asked questions to get ready.
Goals and Expectations
By limiting the number of people who actively respond to messages from the public and formalizing a process to develop the responses, OMMA will improve the availability, accuracy and consistency in our communication.
This well-rounded approach will provide a superior customer service experience for the public and limit our potential legal liability. It delivers on all of our core values – Consumer Protection, Integrity, Collaboration, Innovation and Quality Service.
Comms plans to respond to every incoming message within 3 business days. If we can’t address their concern or question, we’ll let them know we’re working on it, with a goal of responding in full within another 3 business days. We’ll always respond as soon as we are able, even when it isn’t possible to resolve it within 3 days.
For you, that means prioritizing messages you get from Comms or a liaison looking for information to help with a customer service or program area issue.
OMMA is embarking on this project with a willingness to make changes as we go to make sure this works. We expect some unexpected challenges, and we’ll do what it takes to adapt. Comms will keep staff in the loop.
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