The average person spends more than five hours a day checking email. Email has become one of our main forms of communication.
We’re checking our email constantly–at night right before we sleep or in the morning when we wake up.
There is a way to become more efficient and productive with email at work–through shared inboxes. With shared inboxes, your team can manage a shared account which makes it easier to respond to customer support inquiries.
Want to avoid email embarrassment with a shared inbox? Here are common shared inbox issues and how to avoid them.
Difference Between Shared Inbox and Shared Email Account
Wondering what is the difference between a shared inbox and a shared email account? A shared email account is when your work team uses the same email account. For instance, this can be a contact work email.
With a shared email, multiple users log into the same account with the same password. However, there are many inefficiencies with this process. For example, there is no way to delegate emails to a user.
However, a shared inbox is a platform that allows team members to collaborate on an account. Each user has separate login credentials. There are tools for collaboration such as assigning emails or adding notes.
Common Shared Inbox Problems
Want to learn about the best shared inbox practices so that your team can work productively? Here are common shared inbox problems and tips to avoid them.
More Than One Person Responds to an Email
When customers reach out for support, you want to respond in a professional, courteous manner. You also want to be able to resolve any issues they have.
Imagine the email embarrassment of having more than one employee respond to a customer’s support email. What’s more, what if each employee has a different response? This type of email mistake can leave the customer feeling confused or dissatisfied.
However, with the Helpwise shared mailbox, there is built-in collision detection. This feature can help stop duplicate replies.
You can also see from your team which users are reading the email thread. There is also a feature that allows you to see in real-time if another team member is responding to an email.
Too Many Emails
Email can be overwhelming–especially if you receive customer support emails. If you own a business, you want to be able to respond to each email and offer the support that a customer needs.
With a shared mailbox, you can easily assign or tag emails to team members. This way, each user knows their workload and which emails to respond to.
A Support Email Gets Lost in the Shuffle
A customer sends an email to ask a question or for an issue. Somehow, the support email gets lost in the inbox.
The customer may end up sending another email and expressing their dissatisfaction with the company. Or, they may end up losing interest in the company.
However, with a shared inbox, you can assign emails to make sure a team member sends a response.
The Dreaded Back and Forth Email Chain
Sometimes, a team member might need additional information when responding to an email. Maybe they might need to ask their coworker or their manager.
They might send an email to a team member to ask a question. That other person responds with another question. Thus begins the dreaded back and forth email chain.
This can be cumbersome and many details can get lost in the email chain.
With a shared inbox platform, instead of sending a separate email to ask a question, you can chat within the platform. This way, you can share information through the chat instead of back and forth through email.
Responding to the Wrong Person
Have you ever felt the embarrassment of responding to the wrong person in an email? Maybe you meant to forward the email of an unhappy customer. However, instead of hitting the forward button, you hit reply!
This can happen when you have a shared account and need help from another team member. However, by setting up a shared inbox platform, there is no need to forward emails. Every member on the team can see the emails and the email threads.
You Send a Time-Sensitive Email Too Late
Sometimes, a customer may send an email that is time-sensitive. Maybe they just placed an order and want to quickly modify or cancel the order before it is shipped out.
Or, maybe a customer is ready to make a purchase, but they have questions about a specific product first. They send you an email, and they wait for a response. Then they wait some more.
Eventually, they might give up and go find the product elsewhere. Research shows that companies that responded to a customer’s query within one hour were seven times more effective in qualifying a lead than if they had responded an hour after.
What’s more, the company was 60 times more effective in qualifying a lead if they responded within an hour than if they waited 24 hours or more to respond.
With a shared inbox, you can avoid losing any leads or customers by making sure you respond to an email on time. You can make sure to tag or assign the email to the right team member.
Also, Helpwise is available through a web app and mobile app so that you’ll always access your work emails on the go.
Increase Team Productivity With a Free Trial of Helpwise
Avoid the above email embarrassment situations by setting up a shared inbox for your team. With a shared inbox, you can easily assign emails to team members. Your whole team will be able to see all the emails and corresponding threads.
Ready to join Helpwise and improve workplace collaboration? Signup for a free seven day trial of Helpwise today.
