Get More Done with the Same Staff by Sharing Group Inbox

During 2019, American workers received an average of 126 emails each day. That’s a staggering number! Consider how many of these emails are un-necessary or confusing threads about your customers. Evidently, email management needs to be a priority for companies. Read on to learn how a shared group inbox can make your team more productive, reduce inbox overload and promote collaboration.

The Problems with Email

Years ago, people were sure email was dead. Many companies turned to other systems for internal communication. Yet, email remains the #1 way for companies to communicate with their customers and their employees.

Yet, we all know the pain of getting cc’d on a dozen emails. Forwarded emails quickly lead to clutter in everyone’s inboxes.  

Pretty soon all those emails are a jumble of confusing threads where people have responded to not-the-latest email in a thread. It’s impossible to maintain clarity about who has to work on what. This is the main reason email is notorious. 

Relentless forwarding and copying others on emails can quickly stunt productivity. Yet, your team needs a way to collaborate and share information. But how?

Collaborate with a Shared Group Inbox

A shared group inbox is one inbox that all team members can access. The team will send and receive emails from the same address. 

Shared inboxes typically have a catchall email address like info@ or support@ so that any team member can reply to customers or business partners from a branded email address. 

By having one shared inbox, your team can stop forwarding emails and CCing everyone in the organization.

But a shared inbox doesn’t mean giving everyone on your team the login details for your support inbox. Good shared inbox providers, each team member has his or her own password. That way you get increased productivity while maintaining top security. 

Key features of shared inboxes include the ability to right-click to assign an email to a specific employee. There’s no need to cc anyone. The tagged teammate can start replying to the email as soon as they’ve been assigned it.

Shared inboxes also allow you to collaborate effectively within your team. But you don’t have to do it by replying all. You can chat with team members before replying to an email to ensure you have the right info.

Also, having this kind of gtd email management gives you analytics on your team’s response rates as well as individual performance. 

Plus, your shared inbox can easily integrate with other business tools 

Inbox zero is a dream few people ever achieve. But with a shared inbox, that dream is possible. Emails can be marked as pending or closed so that everyone can see the status. You’ll never lose an email in the sludge this way. 

Now, let’s explore some of the key benefits of a shared group inbox. 

No More Duplicated Efforts

One of the biggest advantages of a shared inbox for your team is that everyone will be on the same page about who is working on what.

Have you ever had two people respond to a customer? This looks unprofessional and slows productivity. With a shared inbox, the whole team can see who is assigned to take care of each email.

Also, replies to emails inside the shared inboxes are visible to everyone. No one ever needs to be CC’d on those threads.

Goodbye Internal Emails

With a shared group inbox, you can get rid of internal emails once and for all!

There is a section for email notes right next to all the threads in the inbox. Team members can easily type anything they want to ask, state or confirm in the notes section. 

This keeps inbox clutter down and keeps all relevant information about each issue all together. 

Lower Response Times

Lowering your response times is a great way to improve your customer service and retain more customers. 

A shared inbox helps lower response times in various ways. For one thing, emails won’t get lost or forgotten in an employee’s inbox. 

Tagging allows the appropriate person to respond immediately. 

More Transparency in Your Team

With traditional email systems, there’s no real way to track who responded to each message, especially if the email was forwarded to multiple people.

Did they follow up like they were supposed to? Who knows? This old-school method also made it easy for teammates to step on each others’ toes.

With shared inboxes, everyone knows who is working on what. Your team can see which types of questions get priority and who is best equipped to handle certain things.

Team transparency will improve because everyone will know where to turn when they need information.

Shared Group Inbox Fosters Team Collaboration

Internal communication can be seamless with a shared inbox. When you make the switch, you will see how much better your team is at problem-solving and working together. 

The right tools play a huge roll in making collaboration simple and possible.

Onboarding Becomes Easier

Giving new recruits a great onboarding experience is worth the effort. Studies show that 69% of new employees are more likely to stick with you for three years when they experience great onboarding.

On the other hand, it can take new teammates months and months to get the hang of their role.

Instead of forwarding threads to new employees, a shared inbox gives the new member access to all everything. They won’t be bombarded with information overload. They can simply search and find the conversation or project they need as it comes up.

Your new employee will feel more confident about their new role. And you will be able to shorten the onboarding process so that new workers can be productive ASAP.

Final Word

Now you know all the benefits of a shared group inbox. 

Do you still have questions about the Helpwise shared inbox? Check out these FAQs.