10 Best Shared Inbox Tools to Help Manage Team Emails (2024)

At intelfindr, we handle a variety of buyer and staff emails throughout totally different initiatives and web sites. Alongside the best way, we’ve tried many shared inbox instruments to discover the very best ones for ourselves and small companies normally.

Retaining monitor of your staff’s communication is usually a actual headache. With so many shared inbox instruments on the market, choosing the proper one can really feel overwhelming.

That’s why we’ve taken the time to take a look at all the favored shared inbox instruments and paid consideration to elements like pricing, ease of use, and key options.

On this article, we are going to present you the highest shared inbox instruments for managing your staff and buyer emails simply.

Best Shared Inbox Tools: Our High Picks

🥇First Place

Help Scout

Pricing: $22/consumer/mo to $65/consumer/mo

Best for: All-around staff communication

Key options: Multi-channel communication, automation for workflows and assignments, inner notes

Read more

🥈Second Place

Heroic Inbox

Pricing: $199.50/yr to $499.50/yr

Best for: Buyer help in WordPress websites

Key options: WordPress integration, limitless tickets and customers, viewable buyer ticket historical past

Read more

🥉 Third Place

HubSpot

Pricing: $15/consumer/mo to $4,000/mo

Best for: Buyer relationship administration

Key options: 5,000 canned snippets and e-mail templates, e-mail analytics, customized inbox views

Read more

How We Examined and Reviewed Shared Inbox Software program

Feeling overwhelmed by a mountain of staff emails? Shared inbox software program could be your answer. It’s like a central location the place your staff can work collectively to handle all of your incoming emails effectively.

To search out the very best shared inbox options for you, we targeted on what issues most to enterprise homeowners. We seemed past fancy extras and targeted on the important thing options you want.

For instance, automation is a game-changer. AI knowledgeable Rohit Gupta, CEO of Auditoria.AI, explains:

With automated workflows, emails are routed to the suitable staff members or departments primarily based on predefined guidelines and standards. This innovation streamlines the method and reduces the probabilities of messages getting misplaced or neglected in shared inboxes.

Rohit Gupta, CEO of Auditoria.AI

We additionally use a few of these instruments ourselves for various initiatives, so we all know they work properly. Others are standard choices that we totally examined to guarantee they ship. We wouldn’t advocate a device we wouldn’t use ourselves.

Lastly, we combed by consumer opinions and testimonials to perceive how efficient, dependable, and user-friendly these shared inbox options are in real-world situations.

1. Help Scout

For small companies wanting to use a collaborative inbox, Help Scout stands out as the very best shared inbox software program. It’s straightforward to arrange, user-friendly, and gives glorious worth on your cash.

Working collectively on emails is straightforward with Help Scout. You possibly can assign conversations to particular staff members, depart personal notes on your staff to see, and even test if another person is already engaged on the ticket to keep away from duplicate work.

Considered one of Help Scout’s strengths is the flexibility to arrange conversations into folders and groups. We’ve used this function to create separate mailboxes for various capabilities in our initiatives, like advertising and marketing and buyer help.

Help Scout additionally enables you to usher in customers from different departments, equivalent to billing or gross sales, as ‘light users.’ You possibly can add them to conversations in order that they’re conscious of related points and clients can get assist from the precise folks.

When you've got a information base, then you may simply look it up proper in your inbox to ship useful content material to your clients. This fashion, you gained’t have to swap tabs.

Execs of Help Scout:

• Improved workflow: Use the Snooze function to quickly put aside conversations and convey them again to the highest of your inbox at a delegated date and time.
• Collision detection: Stop teammates from replying to the identical e-mail concurrently.
• Inside notes: Permit staff members to talk about buyer interactions privately inside emails.
• Buyer context: See all of your buyer’s previous interactions and data in a helpful sidebar. You possibly can even replace this info as wanted.
• In-depth reporting and analytics: Gives invaluable insights in your staff’s efficiency, together with first e-mail response occasions and common decision occasions.
• Multi-channel communication: Help Scout goes past e-mail, providing integrations for dwell chat, social media, and SMS communication (by third-party integrations).

Cons of Help Scout:

• Restricted AI options: Superior AI functionalities are solely accessible in higher-tier plans.
• Scalability points: Based mostly on our expertise, huge companies could expertise some bugs and limits with Help Scout.

Pricing: Help Scout’s pricing begins from $22/consumer monthly (with a restrict of 25 customers) and scales up to $65/consumer monthly. A free trial is offered with no bank card required, so you may strive it out earlier than committing. Larger plans provide extra shared inbox accounts, HIPAA compliance, and a devoted account supervisor.

Why we selected Help Scout: Help Scout’s affordability, ease of use, and highly effective collaboration options make it an ideal match for small companies wanting to enhance their buyer communication, streamline staff workflows, and, finally, increase buyer satisfaction.

2. Heroic Inbox

Operating a WordPress web site? Then Heroic Inbox is the very best shared inbox answer for you. This assist desk plugin seamlessly connects your WordPress web site together with your e-mail account. This fashion, you may handle your buyer help inbox immediately out of your WordPress admin space.

It integrates seamlessly with standard e-mail purchasers like Gmail (Google Workspace) and Outlook.

Admittedly, establishing Heroic Inbox won't be as straightforward as another choices. Nevertheless, not many plugins provide this degree of WordPress integration, making it a handy alternative for web site homeowners preferring a centralized platform.

To learn the way to arrange Gmail with Heroic Inbox, you may learn our article on how to arrange a shared Gmail inbox in WordPress.

One other profit is the WooCommerce integration. When interacting with clients, you may view their previous purchases inside the Heroic Inbox interface. This supplies invaluable context for resolving inquiries and providing personalised help.

Plus, Heroic Inbox is translation-ready, making it a fantastic choice for companies catering to worldwide clients.

Execs of Heroic Inbox:

• Limitless tickets and customers: Manage any variety of buyer inquiries and help staff members with out restrictions.
• Ticket historical past: Overview every buyer’s previous message historical past to perceive their wants and monitor recurring points. This will also be useful for follow-up communication.
• E mail tags for group: Create customized tags to categorize and arrange your help tickets for environment friendly administration.
• Draft replies: Enhance teamwork by creating draft replies for overview and approval earlier than sending them to clients.
• File attachments: Permit clients to connect information to their help tickets for clear communication and obtain attachments immediately inside WordPress.

Cons of Heroic Inbox:

• Restricted options within the entry plan: Heroic Inbox’s primary plan lacks options generally present in entry plans of different options (like collision detection, inner discussions, and saved e-mail templates).

Pricing: Heroic Inbox begins at $199.50 per 12 months and scales up to $499.50 per 12 months. Not like some opponents, it gives a flat price with no per-user pricing, which could be cost-effective. Larger plans include premium help choices.

For the very best worth, we advise getting the Heroic Bundle, which incorporates Heroic Inbox and Heroic KB, a robust information base plugin. The value ranges between $299.50 per 12 months and $849.50 per 12 months.

Why we selected Heroic Inbox: The plugin’s seamless integration with WordPress, limitless tickets and customers, and WooCommerce compatibility make it a compelling choice for WordPress-run companies.

If you'd like to be taught extra, you may take a look at our HeroThemes overview.

3. HubSpot

Do you handle buyer interactions throughout totally different phases, from attracting potential clients to nurturing present ones and offering ongoing help? If that's the case, HubSpot is likely to be the right shared inbox answer for you.

HubSpot is a well known buyer relationship administration (CRM) device. The staff e-mail function is offered throughout their Advertising, Gross sales, and Service Hub platforms.

In addition to a shared inbox, you’ll additionally get options like e-mail reply monitoring, stories on e-mail efficiency, and customizable inbox views. These instruments assist you acquire invaluable insights into your e-mail communication and optimize your staff’s workflow.

One factor we had been impressed by was HubSpot’s beneficiant variety of e-mail templates and canned snippets, that are up to 5,000 every. This enables you to save time by reusing pre-written content material for widespread messages.

Execs of HubSpot:

• Highly effective CRM: Manage buyer help, gross sales outreach, and advertising and marketing campaigns all inside one platform.
• Scalable e-mail templating: Create up to 5,000 canned snippets and e-mail templates for environment friendly communication.
• E mail efficiency insights: Achieve invaluable knowledge on e-mail well being to determine areas for enchancment.
• Automated workflows: In addition to routinely routing conversations, you too can arrange triggers for automated e-mail responses for advertising and marketing or gross sales.
• Linked inbox automation: When related to HubSpot, the platform will use AI to routinely seize your contacts, handle them, and counsel actions primarily based on the e-mail content material.

Cons of HubSpot:

• Restricted SLA administration: Comparable to different options, SLA (service degree settlement) administration is just accessible in higher-tier plans. Nevertheless, with HubSpot, you'll need to improve from the $15/consumer monthly plan to the considerably dearer $1,080 monthly plan.

Pricing: HubSpot gives a free plan with restricted options. Paid Buyer Platform plans vary from $15/consumer monthly to $4,000 monthly. These plans embody entry to Advertising, Gross sales, Service, Content material, Operations, and Commerce Hubs.

When you can technically construct a customized plan to embody solely the Advertising, Gross sales, and Service Hubs for the staff inbox performance, we discovered the worth to be greater than the pre-packaged plans.

Why we selected HubSpot: Its CRM instruments, intensive e-mail functionalities, automation capabilities, and AI-powered options make it a robust contender for companies wanting to handle all their buyer interactions in a single centralized platform.

You'll find out extra about it in our full HubSpot overview.

4. HelpDesk

HelpDesk is a customer support platform with a robust system for dealing with all of your help emails in a single place.

Right here’s the way it works: each e-mail from a buyer turns into a ticket. You possibly can then simply mark these tickets as vital or not so pressing, add tags to preserve issues organized, and assign them to particular staff members or followers who must be within the loop on the dialog.

To avoid wasting you time replying to widespread questions, HelpDesk enables you to create your personal customizable e-mail templates. There’s even a visible builder to make creating these canned responses a breeze.

If you'd like to tailor HelpDesk to your corporation wants, then you may add customized fields to your tickets. For example, you possibly can create a discipline for ‘Order Number’ so your staff can simply discover related buyer buy particulars with out having to search by emails.

Execs of HelpDesk:

• Excellent for buyer help groups: Options like marking priorities, buyer dialog tagging, assigning teammates, and including followers to tickets make it straightforward on your staff to work collectively.
• Teamwork options: Add personal notes or mentions to usher in different staff members who may give you the option to assist, guaranteeing everybody has the data they want.
• Automation for repetitive duties: Arrange automated task routing and workflows to velocity up the way you deal with tickets.
• Efficiency analytics: Get real-time stories that present you metrics like what occasions of day you get probably the most emails, how lengthy it takes to clear up issues, and the way rapidly your staff responds to clients.
• Team reply e-mail addresses: Create professional-looking enterprise e-mail aliases for outgoing messages like gross [email protected] or advertising and [email protected].

Cons of HelpDesk:

• One-size-fits-all pricing: HelpDesk solely has one customary plan. In the event you want extra customers than what’s included, you then’ll want to get a customized quote, which could be costly for small companies.

Pricing: HelpDesk begins at $29/consumer monthly. It’s additionally managed by the identical firm as LiveChat and ChatBot, so you may add dwell chat and chatbots to broaden past e-mail communication.

Why we selected HelpDesk: We selected HelpDesk for its user-friendly ticketing system and options designed particularly for customer support groups. With its concentrate on teamwork, automation, and useful stories, HelpDesk might help you increase the shopper expertise.

5. Gmelius

Gmelius is a Gmail-specific shared inbox answer. Throughout setup, you may select your focus: ‘Inbox Focus’ for streamlining incoming emails with automation or ‘Outreach Focus’ for enhancing your outbound e-mail efforts.

You possibly can join Gmelius to your present Gmail account, convert a Google Group e-mail right into a collaborative inbox, and even join an e-mail alias. The interface itself carefully resembles Gmail, making it excellent for folks aware of Google’s e-mail platform.

The true energy of Gmelius lies in its customization choices. You possibly can create customized views primarily based on assigned staff members, e-mail tags, or different standards.

Moreover, automation guidelines and templates assist you optimize your workflow. For instance, you may arrange automated replies, assign emails primarily based on content material, and even obtain notifications for breached SLAs to streamline your staff’s e-mail administration.

Execs of Gmelius:

• Acquainted interface: Gmelius appears like an extension of Gmail, making it straightforward to be taught and use for present Gmail customers.
• Highly effective inbox options: Automate numerous inbox duties like e-mail task, shifting emails primarily based on standing, tagging primarily based on key phrases, establishing auto-replies, and receiving SLA breach warnings.
• Complete template library: Entry an unlimited library of pre-built e-mail templates categorized by division (like accounts payable and customer support) to save time and create constant messaging.
• Google Meet and Zoom integration: This may be helpful for conditions like scheduling follow-up video calls immediately from e-mail threads with purchasers or staff members.

Cons of Gmelius:

• Restricted integrations: In contrast to different choices on this checklist, Gmelius gives a smaller vary of third-party integrations.

Pricing: Gmelius begins at $24/consumer monthly and scales up to $36/consumer monthly. A free 7-day trial is offered. Upgrading to the next plan unlocks advantages like a 12-month reporting window, limitless duties and contacts, and setting enterprise hours.

Why we selected Gmelius: The acquainted Gmail-like interface makes Gmelius straightforward to use. Plus, the intensive automation capabilities and collaboration instruments might help handle your workload additional.

6. Freshdesk

Identical to HelpDesk, Freshdesk turns messages from e-mail, telephone web site chat, and extra into tickets on your staff to handle.

As quickly as a brand new ticket arrives, Freshdesk’s Ticket Dispatch can routinely ship it to probably the most acceptable staff member primarily based in your guidelines. This ensures your clients get assist from the precise individual rapidly.

In the event you get a higher-tier plan, then you should utilize the Freddy AI assistant to help your staff additional. It could summarize buyer messages, counsel how to rephrase issues to sound higher, and even assist you analyze tendencies in your conversations.

Execs of Freshdesk:

• Consumer-friendly stats dashboard: See all of your ongoing conversations at a look, together with these ready for buyer replies, on maintain on your staff, and already resolved.
• Organized inbox: Create customized fields, statuses, and views to preserve your tickets tidy and simple to discover on your staff.
• Automated escalations: Arrange guidelines to routinely bump up a ticket’s precedence. For instance, if a buyer hasn’t responded concerning a cost problem, you may escalate the ticket to one other individual extra able to dealing with the scenario.
• Day passes: Freshdesk enables you to rapidly add new short-term brokers with full entry, however just for that day, excellent for events like gross sales occasions.

Cons of Freshdesk:

• Efficiency points: Based mostly on our expertise and consumer opinions, Freshdesk can sometimes be a bit gradual.

Pricing: Freshdesk gives a free plan for up to 10 brokers. Paid plans begin at $15/consumer monthly and go up to $79/consumer monthly. Upgrading will get you entry to a market of 1000+ apps, extra reporting choices, and extra automation options.

Why we selected Freshdesk: Freshdesk makes it easy on your staff to collaborate and resolve buyer inquiries rapidly. The free plan and inexpensive paid tiers additionally make it a fantastic choice for companies of all sizes, even when it isn’t the quickest answer.

7. Missive

Once we tried Missive, our first impression was that the interface was minimalistic. In addition to the principle space the place you learn and reply to emails, there's a sidebar that shows your inbox folders, together with the choice to create new ones for organized e-mail administration.

This shared inbox device additionally gives customized guidelines for each incoming and outgoing emails. For incoming emails, you may outline guidelines primarily based on sender, recipient, or topic line. These guidelines can set off actions like including notes, snoozing notifications, merging conversations, and extra.

Outgoing e-mail guidelines permit you to set follow-up reminders, routinely sending emails if no reply is obtained inside a specified timeframe.

Apart from that, Missive has a staff chat function that permits you and your staff to brainstorm concepts earlier than responding to emails.

Execs of Missive:

• Automated workflows: Create highly effective guidelines for each incoming and outgoing emails, streamlining communication and follow-ups.
• Team chat: Construct staff collaboration with built-in chat performance.
• Enterprise hour help in all plans: Manage notifications primarily based on pre-defined enterprise hours. In lots of different opponents, this function is commonly solely accessible in higher-tier plans.
• Canned responses: Save time and guarantee constant communication by creating pre-written messages for each particular person and staff use.

Cons of Missive:

• Could also be too easy for some: Whereas clear, the interface’s gray colour scheme could make it difficult to visually differentiate parts.
• Restricted Starter plan: Whereas inexpensive at $14/consumer monthly in contrast to Help Scout, the Starter plan restricts you to a most of 5 customers.

Why we selected Missive: Total, Missive is nice for groups in search of a easy but efficient approach to handle their emails. Out of the field, it additionally gives options which might be typically solely accessible in higher-tier plans, like enterprise hour help and built-in staff chat.

8. Hiver

Hiver is a device that provides shared inbox options immediately to your Gmail account. All you want to do is set up the Hiver Chrome extension and it'll work inside your present Gmail. You’ll then see new options like lists of assigned duties, buyer contact particulars, and useful analytics.

Hiver helps your staff keep organized. To trace progress simply, you may mark emails as open, pending, or closed. You can even assign emails to particular staff members, add labels for higher sorting, and use the exercise log to see your complete e-mail historical past.

There are some distinctive staff collaboration instruments, too. For instance, you may share emails securely with particular permalinks. Or, arrange approval workflows for when clients make particular requests that want another person’s approval first earlier than you may transfer ahead.

Execs of Hiver:

• Works inside Gmail: Manage your shared inbox proper inside your present Gmail, holding issues acquainted and arranged.
• Omnichannel help: Hiver gives options past primary e-mail, together with chatbots, a information base, and even dwell chat.
• Load balancing: Stop staff members from getting overloaded with work by setting task limits.
• Distinctive AI options: Hiver can counsel e-mail templates to use primarily based on the shopper e-mail or detect thanks messages to routinely shut conversations.

Cons of Hiver:

• Fewer integrations: Hiver doesn’t join with as many different instruments as some opponents.

Pricing: Hiver gives a free 7-day trial. Paid plans begin at $15/consumer monthly for 10 customers and a pair of mailboxes and go up to $79/consumer monthly. Upgrading will get you further shared inboxes.

Why we selected Hiver: Comparable to Gmelius, Hiver is designed to improve Gmail. Nevertheless, in contrast to Gmelius, which mimics the Gmail interface, Hiver integrates immediately inside Gmail itself and is extra inexpensive. This enables you to handle your emails with out leaving the Gmail setting.

9. Google Groups

Are you on a decent finances and in want of a fast approach to arrange a shared Gmail inbox? You would strive Google Groups. This free service from Google Workspace enables you to create a central e-mail deal with that your complete staff can use.

It’s vital to be aware that solely customers with Google Workspace admin privileges can create Teams. In the event you’re uncertain about your account permissions, merely test together with your admin staff.

As soon as your Group is created, the proprietor or supervisor can activate the Collaborative Inbox options. This lets staff members handle conversations by assigning emails to particular staff members, marking conversations as resolved, and utilizing labels for higher group.

Execs of Google Teams:

• Free and simple to use: There’s no price concerned, and setup is easy.
• Collaborative options: You possibly can assign emails, resolve conversations, and use tags to arrange your messages.
• Roles and permissions: Outline clear roles and entry permissions to safe your shared inbox. You possibly can determine who can view conversations, take part in them, approve messages, and so forth.

Cons of Google Teams:

• Restricted performance: Whereas Google Teams gives collaborative options, they’re not on the identical degree as different shared inbox platforms.

Pricing: Creating and utilizing Google Teams is fully free for all Google Workspace customers, so long as you may have the mandatory permissions to create Teams. Workspace plans vary from $6/consumer monthly to $18/consumer monthly, with greater tiers providing elevated storage per consumer.

Why we selected Google Teams: Google Teams is a good beginning alternative for groups in search of a free and simple answer to create a shared Gmail inbox. Nevertheless, we don’t advocate it for long-term use because it’s not as scalable as different choices on the checklist.

10. Outlook Shared Mailbox

Do you and your staff already use Microsoft 365 and Outlook to keep related? Is your staff small and on the lookout for a easy approach to work collectively on emails? Then strive Outlook’s Shared Mailbox function.

Setting up a Shared Mailbox is simple should you’re the admin of your Microsoft 365 account. All you want to do is create a brand new e-mail deal with particularly on your staff and add the members. In case you are not the admin, then you may ask them to create one for you.

As soon as it’s up and working, the Shared Mailbox exhibits up as a brand new folder in your Outlook. Your staff can obtain emails at this shared deal with, and any messages you ship from this e-mail deal with will seem to come from the staff, not from anybody individual.

Execs of Outlook Shared Mailbox:

• Easy setup: Shared Mailboxes are straightforward to arrange and use as they match proper into your present Outlook.
• Team calendars: The calendar related to the Shared Mailbox routinely seems on everybody’s calendar checklist, so everyone seems to be on the identical web page about conferences and deadlines.
• Inbox guidelines: Identical to with your personal inbox, you may arrange guidelines to routinely type and handle emails that come into the Shared Mailbox.

Cons of Outlook Shared Mailbox:

• Not for large groups: Shared Mailboxes work greatest for smaller groups. In case your staff is larger or wants extra collaboration options, you then may want a special device.

Pricing: The Shared Mailbox function comes with all Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans, which begin at $6 per consumer monthly and go up to $22 per consumer monthly. Microsoft 365 additionally gives a free one-month trial.

Why we selected Outlook Shared Mailbox: For small groups already utilizing Microsoft 365, Shared Mailbox is usually a nice choice. Nevertheless, in case your staff wants extra superior options, you may want to discover different options.

What Is the Best Shared Inbox Tools for Team Emails?

For small companies, Help Scout is the very best shared inbox device to handle your staff emails. It’s straightforward to use, inexpensive, and filled with options that assist your staff work collectively successfully. This implies happier clients and a smoother workflow on your staff.

If your corporation runs on WordPress and also you cope with a variety of buyer inquiries, then Heroic Inbox is a robust contender. It plugs proper into your WordPress dashboard, so you may handle help tickets with out ever leaving your acquainted setting.

Lastly, for companies that need to handle all their buyer interactions in a single place, then look no additional than HubSpot. This platform goes past primary shared inboxes with its highly effective CRM system.

Shared E mail Inboxes: Often Requested Questions

Now that we’ve seen the very best shared inbox instruments in the marketplace, let’s reply some ceaselessly requested questions.

Uncover Extra Tools for Team Collaboration

We hope this text helped you uncover the very best shared inbox instruments for you to handle staff emails. You might also need to take a look at our checklist of the very best e-mail advertising and marketing companies and our knowledgeable insights into what makes a high-converting touchdown web page.

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