What you need to know about free shared inbox tools

The search for efficient, user-friendly digital tools has a lot of importance in the workplace. One of these tools is a shared inbox. This is why many team leaders search for the ideal free shared inbox tool to implement in their routines. After all, when your team has a digital suite with compatible features, work gets done faster and better. But it's hard to pick the one that fits your needs better. And sometimes it's even harder to define these needs, making sure you know what you're looking for in a new software. Not to mention, you have to adapt it to tailor your company and industry's needs, fit it to the team's workflow, and be able to personalize it just enough. So, there's a bit of trial and error during this process. That said, the time spent researching different free shared inbox software and learning how to use it can take too long, impacting overall productivity. This is why we rounded up some of the best shared inbox tools with free options, including their most valuable features. In this article, we'll also explore why a free shared inbox resource might not be enough for your team. Keep reading to find out more!

Popular Free Shared Inbox Tools

Some popular free tools you may have heard of are:

1. Google Collaborative Inbox:

• Pros: Integrated with Google Workspace; includes admin roles.
• Cons: Limited customization; duplicates emails across inboxes.

2. Hubspot Conversations:

• Pros: Multichannel inbox for email, chatbots, and social media; CRM integration.
• Cons: Limited to one shared inbox for up to five users in the free plan.

3. Freshdesk:

• Pros: Ticketing system with a knowledge base; integrates with Office 365 and Google Workspace.
• Cons: Free version supports only two users; lacks advanced features like ‘Undo Send.’

When Free Options Fall Short

• Teams requiring advanced automation, multiple shared inboxes, or broader customization may need to invest in paid solutions like DragApp.

What is a shared inbox and why should you have one?

A shared inbox is a real-time, flexible, and true collaborative mailbox. Basically, it allows everyone in your team to access incoming messages, reply to them, add to their tasks, and even export to other software. Usually, teams deal with two different options. The first is sharing login and password information for the same account, then forwarding the mail to themselves if they want to keep working on it afterward. The other option is to have separate accounts and manually update each other by CC and BCC'ing them whenever needed. Both scenarios have a couple of issues. If everyone uses the same login information, there's a security concern around the account. For example, a sales team might have to access the same inbox to chat with their clients. But if people try to log in at once from different IPs, Gmail might flag them as suspicious activity and lock them out. Besides, more people having access to multiple devices means more security breaches. With sensitive data, such as company procedures and employees' personal information, this can be a liability.

Collaboration and miscommunication

Another concern is the lack of accountability. Say IT members are all able to see incoming messages at support@companyname. When an agent logs in, they forward the support message to themselves, but no one else will be able to see it or monitor the progress. And if they need help from another agent, they will have to email them separately for context. All in all, this solution creates a lot of miscommunication, which leads to missed tasks and deadlines, halting productivity. And a shared inbox is the ideal solution. All team members can see the same mailbox, but instead of logging into it, they log into their own accounts. That way, everyone sees the changes in real-time and can stay updated, assign tasks to others and set reminders and notes to projects. Since they're logged into their accounts, you can see who has gone through which emails and started what tasks. Read more: Which free task management software is the best

What to look for in a free shared inbox software?

Since shared inboxes can be useful in many different companies, there are tools developed to create this digital environment. But to pick the one that would help you the most, you need to know what your main concerns are. Here are some common questions to ask when browsing:

Does it fit my team?

Some of the free shared inbox software have a limit to how many inboxes you can set up and how many people are allowed into your team. For companies on the smaller side, this isn't usually a concern, but it's important to research when you have a few more employees.

How does it integrate with other tools?

The idea of a shared inbox is to make your workflow easier and smoother. You should be able to gather the information you need to complete your tasks. For example, if you receive an email asking for your prices and quotes, you should be able to add files to your replies with ease, if your inbox is compatible with your file sharing system. The same goes for asking your collaborator's relevant questions in a chat or setting up meetings with clients in your calendar. Everything, ideally, works together.

Can you customize the free shared inbox?

How to set up a free shared inbox: a guide

Now that you've seen the benefits of implementing free shared inbox software for your team, it's time to find the right tool to do it.

Google Collaborative Inbox

If you're already using Google Workspace as your main digital office suite, a free shared inbox tool you can try is the Groups collaborative inbox. Google Groups, a communication system developed for collective communication, might help. Instead of manually sending it to each person, you can create a group with everyone in your department and message them accordingly. There are roles that have different permissions, so you could have a group for updates that only a few people can write into. Creating a collaborative inbox is free, but you need to be the administrator of a Google Workspace for your company. The plans include many other Google features and they start at $6/month/user. Pros:

• It's part of Google Workspace, so it includes all other office suite apps.
• Includes admin roles for managers at no extra cost.

Cons:

• Only suitable for Google Workspace users.
• Cannot customize Google Groups' profile picture (eg. company logo).
• It duplicates emails across users' individual inboxes, posing data security concerns.

Capterra review: Not available.

Using free shared inbox tools

Alternatively, you can pick a dedicated free shared inbox platform that you can sync to your Gmail account. Some are standalone apps, others are part of digital workspace ecosystems, but work on their own for free. That means, if you decide to invest in different resources, you can tie them together easily. The two most common options are Hubspot and Freshdesk:

Hubspot

Hubspot is a CRM tool with shared inbox that has become ubiquitous for Marketing teams across the world. It includes a variety of different tools, such as a task manager app and a sales hub. However, one of the most important is the shared inbox, called "Conversations". This shared inbox accounts for email, chatbots, social media messages and much more. Instead of browsing through multiple digital spaces, team members can focus on solutions to their customers' questions, making it an effective multichannel shared inbox. It's a great tool for sales and marketing, integrating with e-commerce and social media promotions. The free version is limited to one shared inbox for up to five users. Pros:

• Part of a bigger CRM environment with Hubspot suite packages.
• The free version includes basic Facebook Messenger integration.

Cons:

• The free version only offers one shared inbox.
• Big price jump when you reach the free version limit and need to upgrade to a paid plan.

Capterra review: 4.6 stars

Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a free shared inbox app that was developed with a customer service helpdesk in mind. It works with a ticketing system, which agents can take on and solve as they come. There are some interesting features, such as auto reply and live chat. For IT teams, it can also include a knowledge base, where you can build a history of solved concerns and step-by-step solutions. The issue with this tool is the cost: only two users can access the shared inbox for free. To access as a bigger team, you have to sign up for a premium plan and those start at $15/user/month. Pros:

• Free plan includes a knowledge base, particularly useful for customer support teams.
• Integrates with Office 365 or Google Workspace.

Cons:

• The free version only offers one shared inbox.
• Free plan doesn't include basic features such as 'Undo Send' and personal email templates.

Capterra review: 4.5 stars

When a free shared inbox isn't enough

When the free options don't come with all the features you need, it's time to invest in a more robust shared inbox software. You may need more team members to have full access to your workspace, multiple inboxes through the same admin or better automation tools. Regardless, having the right platform can make a big difference in your productivity. Our solution, DragApp, was developed to give small and medium sized businesses all the task management and collaboration tools to change the workflow.

Drag

Drag is a Gmail extension that transforms your regular inbox into an easy-to-use Gmail shared inbox. Instead of having to forward relevant messages to your collaborators about projects and progress, everyone can track tasks and assign specific concerns in the same digital space. Since it's integrated with Gmail, you can also use it with other Google Workspace tools, like Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google Calendar. It also includes Zapier integration, so you can create pipelines that connect your inbox to other workspace tools. With email assignments, team chat and other collaboration features, you can discuss tasks with your team while solving them together. It also offers different views for shared workflows, including Kanban boards, lists, or preview views. Drag includes a few automation tools that help create an efficient workflow among your team. Such as:

Workspace routing

A key advantage of DragApp is that it includes unlimited workspaces for its users. That means you can create a shared board for each part of your operations, such as customer support, sales, or accounts payable. But if everything is sent to the company's main email, how do you allocate tasks among boards? With workspace routing, each new card that enters your digital workspace is automatically sorted into the correct board and column based on rules you've set up, such as subject line or sender's address. So, for example, you can automatically filter any email with the keyword "Error" to the customer service board.

Shared contacts

One of the main concerns when working together as an organization is making sure the whole team has access to relevant contacts. There are multiple methods to sharing contacts, but they all requitre extra steps and platforms. With DragApp, you can share your contact list with collaborators through the collaborative inbox itself. No more forwarding context information when you're working on a sale or solving a logistics issue. Instead, give your team the whole context on each contact. This function includes not only the basic contact information, but custom fields, which allow you to add relevant data to each contact based on their relationship with the company. Context such as job title, type of contract, location, areas of interest and many other details can be used to enhance customer relationships and set up more efficient lead journeys.

WhatsApp integration

While email remains the most popular professional communication tool, the changes to the digital ecosystem mean companies have to adapt their pipelines to include new resources. WhatsApp's popularity (it has almost three billion active users worldwide) leads customers to look for the company's channel there as well. The best game plan for customer-facing team is making sure you can check incoming messages and deal with WhatsApp-based tasks in the same collaborative space as you do email. Free options like Hubspot and Freshdesk have some limitations, requiring paid plans to access another platform. So they might not be enough if it's part of your daily schedule. With Drag, you can easily integrate WhatsApp and Gmail, so that tasks can include both platforms and your team can move seamlessly across them according to the workflow, without needing to switch platforms and tabs.

Analytics reports

Whether you're providing customer service, closing deals or creating marketing campaigns, data is a huge part of how business decisions are made. That means your shared inbox software should include reliable data reports. Free shared inbox options don't include real time analytics reports, nor the ability to create custom datasets. With Drag, on the other hand, you're able to filter your inbox analytics to understand what's working (and what isn't) on your pipeline. So, for instance, you can use response time reports to monitor how your workflow can affect your customer service ratings, which can help you redistribute tasks and allocate resources in the future. These are some of the features that set Drag apart from other shared inbox tools, especially the free ones. If your company requires more customization, multiple shared inboxes, and reliable automation, it's worth looking into paid options like Drag. The Starter plan costs $10/user/month and includes unlimited workspaces and shared conversations to help your team fulfill their email-based tasks in a collaborative effort. Capterra review: 4.4 stars

Conclusion

Having a shared inbox can make your digital workspace much more productive and cleaner. Picking a free shared inbox tool requires understanding the main types of tasks you do, the size of your team, your main forms of communication, and the need for customization. For more flexible pipelines and bigger teams, you can invest in a paid option, like Drag, that includes automation, unlimited shared workspaces and a visualization of current tasks and projects.

Free shared inbox: the basics

• Do I need to have a shared inbox tool for my team?

Yes, a shared inbox software helps your team with organization and productivity, including internal chats to fulfill ongoing tasks.

• What is a good free shared inbox tool like?

Your shared inbox tool should include integration with other software that's key to your operations, such as datasheets and file storage.

• Is it complicated to set up a shared inbox?

No, you can either use Google's collaborative inbox or use a dedicated shared inbox tool.

• What's the difference between a free shared inbox and a paid shared inbox tool?