Shared Inbox for Teams: The Ultimate Guide

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  • Multi Channel Support

    Connect multiple communication channels such as email, social media, messaging channels, and live chat in one place, making it easier for teams to collaborate and respond to customers faster.

  • Unify Internal and External Communication

    Have a single thread for every conversation by centralizing all internal and external communication in one place, resulting in a more organized and streamlined process.

  • Single Customer View

    Get a single view of all communication related to a customer, making it easier for teams to have context and respond with relevant information leading to better customer experiences.

  • Internal Notes & Mentions

    Keep team members informed with important notes related to customer’s concerns and help them collaborate seamlessly, without the need for separate channels.

  • Real Time Collision Detection

    Allow teams to avoid double replies that can create confusion and ensure no task or message slips through the cracks, saving time and frustration.

  • Automated Assignment and Rules

    Streamline workflows, increase accountability and ensure everyone is on the same page with their tasks and priorities.

When a business is newly started, it’s easy to get by with a couple of Gmail or Outlook email addresses. But, as a company grows, the volume of requests can become unmanageable for one person, making it necessary to deploy a shared inbox software.

A shared inbox tool is an innovative solution that encourages great teamwork and enables excellent cross-functional communication. Let’s explore these platforms that combine various collaboration features in a unified interface, allowing team members to complete multiple tasks with ease, without having to switch between software or email accounts.

What is a Shared Inbox?

Shared inbox refers to a business tool that helps teams work collaboratively on incoming messages, without needing to share an inbox account. From their accounts, team members can access and work on incoming messages, including assigning, replying or changing status. Most shared inbox software offers other collaborative features such as internal notes or shared drafts.

The shared inbox tool is perfectly designed for teams and is ideal for effective collaboration. Your company can create a shared inbox for specific email addresses, invite relevant team members and allow them to manage together.

A sales@yourcompany email address for your sales team; support@yourcompany for your support team. One for info@, jobs@, billing@ — or whatever your company’s workflow requires – shared inbox helps with it.

8 Important Features of Shared Inbox

A shared inbox simplifies coordination, improves response times and promotes an organized workflow for handling email consistency. Some key features of a shared inbox include:

Key Features of Shared Inbox

1. Access Control

A shared inbox has different levels of access, so that certain team members can have control over the inbox. It allows efficient delegation of tasks and ensures that only authorized team members can access sensitive information.

2. Collaboration

The team members can work together on responding to emails in real-time, without the need for constant forwarding or copying. It saves time and ensures that all team members are on the same page.

3. Task Management

Shared inbox software has built-in task management features, which allow team members to assign tasks, set deadlines and track progress. It also helps the team to organize tasks properly irrespective of their workload.

4. Email Templates

The shared inbox tool comes with pre-written email templates, which saves time when responding to FAQs. It can also help ensure that the team members are using a consistent tone and messaging.

5. Reporting and Analytics

The in-built reporting and analytics features allow managers to track team performance and identify areas for improvement. It also helps in making data-driven decisions and ensures that the team is meeting all goals.

6. Integrations

Shared inbox can be integrated with other apps such as CRM, helpdesk, calendar and project management tools. It can help teams to work more efficiently and provide better customer service.

7. Mobile Apps

The mobile app integration helps team members to access and manage the shared inbox from their smartphones or tablets. It empowers the teams that are frequently on the go to access the inbox anytime anywhere.

8. Advanced Security

Shared inbox offers high-level security features such as two-factor authentication and encryption to ensure that all sensitive information is protected and accessible by authorized team members.

Top Shared Team Inbox Tools for Your Business

Manage overwhelming incoming emails with shared inbox tools that provide multi-member collaboration from a single platform.Let us discuss some of the best team inbox tools for your business.

1. Omni24

Omni Inbox

Best Shared Inbox Platform for Workflow Automation

Omni24 is a powerful omnichannel CX platform that offers help desk solutions for businesses. The system combines live chat, email & social media communication channels into a single, unified platform. Omni24’s intuitive design, coupled with powerful features, makes it a great choice for brands looking to enhance their help desk capabilities and deliver exceptional customer service.

Omni24 also offers real-time collaboration through comments and internal notes, allowing teams to work together seamlessly. It offers a range of features including live chat, email marketing and knowledge management to help businesses create personalized as well as effective customer experiences.

Key features:

  • Omnichannel inbox: Allows to engage with customers across their preferred digital channels (live chat, social media, messaging apps) and deliver excellent digital customer service experience.
  • Knowledge base: Offers a comprehensive knowledge base consisting of solutions for the common queries customers might face.
  • AI chatbots: Provide real time digital customer care, 24×7 even when your support team is not available. Connecting with customers and addressing their queries instantly delivers a better experience.
  • Feedback surveys: Conducting feedback surveys helps in understanding customer expectations and the gaps in customer service strategy so that you can improve the areas significantly.
  • SLA management: Empower your customer support agents to plan effectively toward meeting their goals and digital client service standards.
  • Advanced analytics: The platform provides in-depth analytics & reporting capabilities, offering insights into customer interactions, agent performance, overall support trends, etc. This data-driven approach enables strategy optimization.

Pricing: Omni24’s pricing starts from $29/user/month and goes up to $149/user/month based on the features and add-ons. All plans come with a 14 days free trial.

2. Veemo Support

Veemo_Inbox

Top Customer Support Software for Team Collaboration

Veemo Support is an omnichannel help desk software to streamline support operations into a centralized interface. The software is a part of Veemo’s customer engagement suite of products designed to streamline and enhance various aspects of business operations.

Veemo Support offers a range of tools to automate workflows, manage tickets efficiently and provide self-service options to customers. The well-designed shared inbox software provides robust reporting and analytics that help you identify bottlenecks, track performance & improve your customer service. Veemo helps businesses keep track of their customer journey in a single, easy-to-use platform.

Key features:

  • Omnichannel help desk & ticketing: Engage your customers across their preferred channels in real time and resolve their issues. It delivers a great digital customer service experience.
  • Unified Inbox: The platform consolidates all customer communication channels into one unified inbox, making it easy for agents to manage messages from multiple channels in one place.
  • Survey and Feedback: The software includes survey and feedback features to collect customer insights as well as measure satisfaction levels. It enables businesses to improve their services continuously.
  • Knowledge base: Knowledge Base serves as a centralized repository for support articles, FAQs and best practices. It empowers customers with self-service options as well as helps agents quickly access information to resolve issues.
  • Advanced routing & workflows: Helps in directing customer requests to the right team/agent to deliver relevant responses with minimum wait time.

Pricing: Veemo’s pricing plans start from $29/user/month and go up to 129/user/month based on the features and add-ons. The software pricing is also customizable as per business requirements.

3. Front

Front Shared inbox dashboard

Great Shared Inbox Tool for Customer Service at Scale

Front is an incredibly user-friendly customer communication platform that allows businesses to operate all their communications in one place. This tool helps your team to work smarter and more efficiently by reducing the time spent on managing multiple channels such as email, social media, chat, and more.

Front software provides excellent customer service by assigning conversations to the right team member, automating responses and collaborating with colleagues in real time.

Pricing: The basic pricing of the customer communication software starts from $59 per seat/month.

How to Setup a Shared Inbox?

Setting up a shared inbox is a useful way to manage and collaborate on email communication within a team or organization. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up a shared inbox:

How to Setup a Shared Inbox_

Step 1: Choose an email service provider: Select a provider that offers shared inbox functionality. Some options include Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Microsoft 365 and various hosted email solutions.

Step 2: Create a dedicated email account: The new email account created specifically should have a generic name that reflects its purpose, such as support@company.com or sales@company.com.

Step 3: Add team members: Once the shared email account is created, add the team members who need access to the shared inbox. Depending on the email service provider, you can either grant full access or set different permission levels for each team member.

Step 4: Configure email settings: Customize the shared inbox settings according to your team’s needs. It includes setting up email forwarding, creating filters and labels as well as configuring notifications for new messages.

Step 5: Establish communication protocols: Develop clear guidelines for how the shared inbox should be used. It includes assigning specific team members to handle certain types of inquiries, defining response time expectations and establishing procedures for handling email conversations.

Step 6: Integrate with project management tools: Combine the shared inbox with project management tools or CRM system. It helps streamline workflows and ensure tracking of email conversations associated with specific projects or customers.

Step 7: Train team members: Conduct training sessions on using the shared inbox effectively. You can include topics such as inbox organization, email etiquette and best practices for handling customer inquiries or internal communications.

Shared Team Inbox Use Cases

A shared inbox allows multiple users to manage emails from a single account and enhances collaboration. Here are some use cases that can make your team’s workflow more efficient.

Shared Inbox Use Cases
  • Customer Service

Shared inbox software helps the customer service teams manage customer inquiries/complaints via email. It grants access to multiple team members to respond to client emails, ensuring they are addressed promptly. It can be integrated with CRM systems to provide consumer information and deliver personalized customer service.

  • Sales & Business Development

Sales teams can use the software to respond to leads and sales-related queries via email. It allows multiple team members to access and respond/follow-up to customer emails faster. Shared inbox can be integrated with sales automation tools, allowing sales teams to automate follow-up tasks and manage the sales pipeline.

  • Marketing

Shared inbox helps the marketing teams to manage customer inquiries and send feedback via email. Multiple team members can respond to customer emails, ensuring that all feedback is addressed at a time. The tool can be integrated with marketing automation tools, allowing marketing teams to automate marketing campaigns and track customer engagement.

  • IT Support

IT support teams can use shared inbox software to manage technical support inquiries through email. It allows access to the team members to respond to customer emails, ensuring that all inquiries are addressed promptly. The shared inbox tool can also be integrated with IT ticketing systems, allowing IT teams to track and manage technical issues more effectively.

  • Customer Success

Customer success teams use the software to handle customer queries and pain points via email. Access is provided to the selective team for responding to client feedback and emails faster. It can be easily integrated with customer success tools, allowing the team to manage customer accounts and track engagement.

  • Human Resources

HR teams can use shared inbox to handle employee inquiries and complaints through email. Multiple team members can respond to employee emails and address issues on time. Shared inbox software can be integrated with HR management systems, allowing HR teams to manage employee information and track employee engagement.

  • Project Management

Project management teams benefit from a shared inbox tool to handle all project-related queries effectively by providing access to multiple team members so that they can address project-related emails promptly. It can be integrated with project management tools to manage tasks and track project progress.

Best Practices to Manage Team Inbox for Shared Emails

Effectively utilizing a shared inbox can significantly enhance team communication. Make the most of this tool by following best practices and improve overall productivity.

1. Clearly define roles and responsibilities for team members: Assign specific team members to handle different types of emails and ensure that everyone knows who to contact for specific issues.

2. Establish a consistent email format and tone: Ensure that all team members use the same format and tone when responding to emails to maintain consistency and professionalism.

3. Use automatic filters and labels: Use filters and labels to automatically sort and categorize emails, making it easier for team members to find and respond to specific types of messages.

4. Set up email templates: Create and share email templates for common types of responses, such as customer support or sales inquiries, to save time and ensure consistency.

5. Use a shared task management system: Assign and track email-related tasks to ensure that all team members are aware of who is responsible for what.

6. Use an email tracking system: Monitor email status such as whether they have been read or responded to. Ensure that all messages are being handled promptly.

Why is Shared Inbox Software Important?

Shared inbox software has the ability to streamline the communication processes between customers and various internal departments. Let’s explore its few key benefits.

Shared Inbox Software Benefits
  • Unified Customer Conversation & Internal Communication
    Leveraging a shared inbox ensures that all customer conversations are consolidated in one place. All the team members have access to the same information and they can see the entire email chain or conversation history.
  • Streamlined Customer Support Operations
    Shared inbox tools help in customer support operations are more streamlined ensuring that queries are resolved timely and efficiently. It helps businesses to meet customer expectations, provide better service and build a positive brand image.
  • Lower Response Resolution Times
    Businesses can significantly reduce response and resolution times for customer queries with the help of shared inbox. It allows team members to access the same inbox and handle queries efficiently that leads to improved customer satisfaction.
  • Clear Accountability of Every Conversation
    The shared inbox empowers all the team members to view every conversation and respond to queries more efficiently. It ensures better clarity and transparency in every interaction, leading to better customer relationships.
  • Measure Team Performance
    Implementing shared inbox software empowers managers to track team performance effectively. Metrics like response times and resolution times are readily available to assist managers to identify areas for improvement and offer training and support accordingly.

Shared Inbox vs.Traditional Email

Shared Inbox and traditional email serve as communication tools, but they have some key differences in their functionality. Below are the significant differences between the two.

Shared Inbox vs. Traditional Email

Centralized Access

  • Shared inbox provides a centralized platform where multiple team members can access emails from a single shared email inbox.
  • Traditional email is primarily designed for individual use, making it challenging to collaborate on incoming messages.

Collaborative Features

  • Shared inbox offers collaborative features such as internal notes, assignment capabilities and collision detection, which prevent multiple team members from responding to the same email simultaneously.
  • Traditional email lacks these collaboration-focused features, making it more prone to miscommunication and duplication of efforts.

Workflow Automation

  • Many shared inbox solutions offer workflow automation features, allowing businesses to set up rules and processes for efficient email handling. This includes features like automatic assignment, prioritization.
  • Traditional email misses out on automation capabilities, leading to manual processes and potential inefficiencies.

Reporting and Analytics

  • Shared inbox typically provides robust reporting and analytics tools, allowing teams to track metrics such as response times, team performance. The data can be invaluable for improving customer service.
  • Traditional emails do not have these comprehensive reporting capabilities.

Scalability and Integrations

  • Shared inbox solutions are often cloud-based and designed to scale with growing team sizes as well as workloads. They also offer integrations with other business tools like CRM systems, project management software.
  • Traditional email may not provide the same level of scalability and integration capabilities.

How to Measure Shared Inbox Performance (Metrics & KPIs)?

Tracking shared inbox performance is important because it helps businesses understand how efficiently their team is handling shared emails. Here is the list of KPIs you should consider.

Measuring Shared Inbox Performance

1. Response Time

The email response time metric measures the time taken by a team member to respond to an email. A faster response time indicates an efficient team and a higher level of customer satisfaction. It is useful for customer support as it shows how quickly customers are getting a response to their inquiries.

2. Resolution Time

The email resolution time metric calculates the time to resolve an email inquiry or issue. A faster resolution time generally indicates a more effective team and a higher level of customer satisfaction. The metric is also useful for customer support, as it shows how quickly customers are getting their issues resolved.

3. Email Volume

Given metric tracks the number of emails received and sent by the team and can provide insight into the team’s productivity. A higher email volume indicates a higher workload and lower productivity and vice-versa. The metric is useful as it helps to identify when a team is overwhelmed and may need additional resources.

4. Open Rate

Open rate helps in identifying the emails that are opened by recipients to evaluate customer engagement. A higher open rate indicates a more effective team and increased customer engagement. The metric is useful for sales and marketing as it measures the effectiveness of email campaigns and identifies the types of emails that are most likely to be opened.

5. Conversion Rate

The email conversion rate metric emails leads to conversions such as a sale, a lead, or a registration. A higher conversion rate indicates a more effective team and a higher level of efficiency. It is useful for sales and marketing as it measures the effectiveness of email campaigns.

6. Satisfaction Rate

The email satisfaction metric helps to know the satisfaction rate of the emails sent to the customers. A higher satisfaction rate indicates a more effective team and a higher level of customer satisfaction. This metric is useful for all use cases, as it measures the effectiveness of the customer service team and identifies areas for improvement.

How to Select the Right Shared Inbox Software?

Choosing the right shared inbox tool depends upon your business needs but there are several important factors to consider too. Let’s walk through the selection criteria.

Selecting Right Shared Inbox Software
  • Simple to set up: It is important to take into account how complicated it might be to move your current systems over to the new tool and how much time you will need to spend to set it up for yourself and your team.
  • Simplicity of use: Examine the usability of the software whether it is intuitive or not and easy to use on a day-to-day basis. Are you able to move over and improve your daily workflows without a hitch?
  • Email provider compatibility: Some shared inbox tools are only built for Gmail users, and others don’t support IMAP email servers. Make sure to consider your current email provider, as well as the possibility of moving your systems in the future, to ensure that the tool can fit your current and future needs.
  • Price: Shared inbox solutions are typically priced per user, so it’s important to consider the cost for your current team and whether the tool becomes prohibitively expensive as you scale.
  • All-in-one solution: Evaluate if the tool can handle both personal and shared email addresses. Also, check if it offers personal productivity features to make your team’s day-to-day more efficient.
  • Access to insights and automation: Thoroughly check if the tool is able to provide visibility to managers and if it can help to automate parts of your workflows to make your teams focus on serving their customers.
  • Shared inbox specific features: If you are going to invest time and resources into upgrading to a shared inbox tool, it’s useful to consider which features might be crucial for your team.

Shared Inbox: Catalysts for Business Growth

A shared inbox is crucial for teams looking to enhance collaboration and streamline communication. Centralizing email management allows multiple team members to access and respond to messages, ensuring that no inquiries fall through the cracks.

Implementing a shared inbox improves efficiency and builds accountability. Team members can assign tasks, track responses, and monitor ongoing conversations, leading to quicker resolutions and improved service quality. This level of organization enhances workflow and minimizes confusion within the team.

Adopting a shared inbox ultimately strengthens customer relationships. Timely and consistent responses lead to higher satisfaction levels, driving loyalty and long-term success for the organization.

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FAQs about Shared Inbox

A shared inbox eliminates the need for forwarding or copying emails between team members, reducing the chances of miscommunication or redundancy. It enables seamless collaboration, as team members can see the status of emails, avoid duplicating efforts, and easily delegate tasks. This eliminates the need for constant back-and-forth communication and saves valuable time, ultimately improving overall productivity.

Yes, shared inbox can be customized to fit the needs of different teams or departments within an organization. The setup and permissions can be tailored to ensure that only relevant team members have access to specific emails or folders. This allows for better organization and ensures that each team can efficiently manage its own set of emails without interference from other departments.

When using a shared inbox, it is crucial to choose a reliable and secure platform or software. Ensure that the shared inbox solution provides appropriate security measures, such as two-factor authentication, encryption, and access controls. It is also essential to educate team members about best practices for email security, including password management and recognizing phishing attempts.

Shared inbox is ideal for managing customer inquiries or support tickets. Emails received by the shared inbox can be assigned to specific team members responsible for addressing customer queries. Shared access helps team members collaborate on responses, ensuring consistency and providing efficient customer support. The software is backed with features that allow tagging, categorizing, or prioritizing emails, simplifying the monitoring and management of customer inquiries.

Shared inbox solutions offer integrations with popular project management tools, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, or other software commonly used by businesses. These integrations allow for seamless workflow and data syncing between different tools, reducing manual data entry and improving overall efficiency. It is essential to choose a shared inbox solution that offers integration options that align with your team’s existing workflow and tools.

A shared inbox is a type of email account that multiple users can access and manage collectively. It is different from traditional email accounts, where each user has their own inbox and email address. With a shared inbox, multiple team members can view and respond to emails sent to a single email address, making it easier to coordinate and collaborate on incoming messages.

Shared inbox can help reduce email overload by allowing teams to work together to manage and respond to emails more efficiently. Instead of each team member individually sifting through their emails, multiple team members can work together to prioritize, categorize and respond to messages promptly. This can help streamline communication and ensure that important messages are not overlooked or lost in the inbox.

Yes, shared mailboxes can receive external email just like traditional email accounts. External parties can send messages to a shared email address, and all team members with access to the shared inbox can view and respond to these messages as needed. This can be particularly useful for customer support teams, sales teams, or any other team that needs to coordinate communication with external parties.

Shared inbox are specifically designed for teams to collectively manage incoming emails, whereas other tools like project management software or communication platforms may offer additional features beyond email management. These are ideal for teams that primarily communicate through email and need a centralized system for managing and responding to messages. Other tools may offer more comprehensive solutions for team collaboration, file sharing, task management and other functions beyond email communication.