G Suite Shared Mailbox: you are (probably) doing it wrong!

If you’re reading this, chances are you know what G Suite is and what it is suitable for. Offered by Google, it provides a broad range of productivity tools, widely used by 5 million companies around the world. You are probably one of them and might be doing your own G Suite Shared Mailbox wrong. 

G Suite can be slightly tricky with its users, and that’s why people usually start their G Suite journey on the wrong foot. When first using G Suite in their companies, users aren’t generally thinking about how to set up a Shared Mailbox. In their minds, it’s just setting up G Suite for their organization, period.

Then they start using Gmail, trying to figure out how to share their business’ emails in the most effective way possible. And they come up with some solutions that can bring a bunch of problems.

Here you have some of the most common mistakes companies make with their shared mailboxes in Gmail. You will also learn how to turn them into solutions for your company promptly and without using additional and complicated software.

Understanding the basics of  Google Workspace (former G Suite)

Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, works like any other SaaS tool, pretty straightforward. 

However, many of these companies still have no idea of how to handle the tools offered by Google Workspace properly. It also happens when companies don’t know how to set up a G Suite Shared Mailbox properly.

What is a G Suite Shared Mailbox?

Shared Mailboxes are still unknown territory for some people. For a long time, people were used to handling their email as a personal tool. Shared Inboxes have changed this perspective, and these companies are still not entirely familiar with the full potential of a G Suite shared mailbox. 

So what is a Shared Mailbox after all? It is simply when you have multiple people logging into the same email address. According to Google, this can lead to you to “reach a Gmail threshold and have account temporarily locked down” due to the high number of requests made by multiple people.

“Each Gmail account is intended and designed for use by an individual user. If you have multiple users frequently accessing the same account from various locations, you may reach a Gmail threshold, and your account will be temporarily locked down.”

Still, according to Google, the best way to manage a “Shared Mailbox” in your G Suite is creating a Google Group, which is an improvised solution for collaboration in your inbox. We know Google Groups simply doesn’t work as a Shared Mailbox.

Why you’re doing it wrong

History hasn’t been fair with Shared Inboxes. In the past, a common thing to do was to set up a regular email account – for support or sales – and share the password with the entire team, exactly what Google tells us not to do.

Now, the problem here goes way beyond the evident and total lack of security and protection this practice entails, especially when handling sensitive information in those hundreds of emails.

Soon enough, it becomes a pandemonium, and no one knows who’s doing what. All you see is an endless email thread—miscommunication and chaos reign all over the office. Then, one day, a major disaster happens – you lose a big client for not addressing an issue on time – and you end up reading articles like this one.

Let’s linger there for a little bit: if you need many people to access the same emails, but you can’t share messages with multiple emails, what can you do?

Well, if you haven’t tried it yet, please follow our advice and do not create an email address for everyone to access sharing email username and password.

Consequences of not addressing your Shared Inbox needs

In the beginning, it might sound practical, but besides the lack of security we mentioned before when you start deeply thinking about it, you’ll see how it could go wrong. Sure, there are ways to fix these issues, but they all will consume valuable time and extra resources. Here are a few examples:

1. Miscommunication among team members

Anyone can reply to a complaint or requirement. Those employees more prone to laziness could simply say: “Someone else will handle these requests” Imagine what happens if everyone thinks that “someone” else will take over the task? There’s no way to keep track of who’s doing what, so besides miscommunication, you’re facing a potential lack of productivity spree in your team.

2. Increasing time for an answer

“I think someone else started this conversation so I won’t interfere”. This increases the response time and the dissatisfaction of your customers proportionally

A high-performance team keeps up with due dates, and maintains a considerable average response time, by having more control over task delegation.

 3. Lack of transparency

When your team doesn’t communicate well, the processes will break down, such as who’s working on what, or if someone should finish a task started by someone else.

Fundamental features in a proper G Suite Shared Mailbox

Ok, now you know how not to start a Shared Inbox initiative using just a regular email account. To make the most of a G Suite Shared Mailbox in your team, you need an alternative that is both practical and cost-effective. But, above all, you need a tool that helps you bring the most out of your inbox.

Drag put an end to those days with lots of people sharing the same login and password. It will give each of your team members access to the same space. It not only adds security but provides a more transparent workflow. You’ll be able to know who’s accessing what information and who’s assigned to each task or email.

The best part is that mastering your shared inbox – no learning curve needed because it’s all inside your Gmail inbox – it’s only the beginning. The power of this business tool will reflect on every single aspect of your business.

Other advantages of a well structured G Suite Shared Mailbox

A fabulous shared inbox has many other features that you count on to manage your business. Just managing email isn’t enough these days, where lots of os software can be real trouble for companies. That’s why there are tools that unite everything you need in just one place.

Notes in email

It is as simple as it sounds. With a team well aligned in the same inbox, the need for internal emails will drop dramatically. You will also stop emailing yourself. Let’s say you work with Helpdesk: instead of forwarding a message to a peer and waiting for an answer, you simply write a note on the email with any feedback you want to provide. For internal communication, email becomes pointless. In a shared inbox, all you have to do is write notes and comments in the email, so people get it quickly.

Fewer emails, fewer tools, one inbox, and one interface. A Shared Inbox will indeed minimize your workflow, making your team more aligned and on top of their game. Here are some numbers from the McKinsey Global Institute in terms of how beneficial it is for your team to have excellent communication.

CRM

By sharing your inbox, email becomes something much bigger. Many additional features will come along. For instance, how about having your own CRM tool in Gmail? Let’s think about it a little bit. Drag offers you the possibility of turning your inbox into a CRM tool. A simple and effective way to close your sales and manage your pipelines without leaving your inbox.

Delegation

A good tip, if you want to make the most of your team inbox, is to make sure everyone knows what their role is every day. To keep this system working, it’s very recommended to assign members to their specific tasks. You can add one or more peers to the same job, depending on its complexity. Since you have many team members helping each other out, it also becomes easier to understand in what aspects they can help each other out.

How you can effectively make a Shared Mailbox right

Drag instantly turns Gmail into a shared inbox, providing the right environment so your Gmail inbox can power up its skills. Benefits don’t stop there: It also turns Gmail into a Kanban board, the best way to organize Gmail.

To turn Gmail into a proper G Suite Shared Mailbox, do the following:

• (Optional) Book a demo with our team.
• Download and install Drag Chrome Extension.
• Pick the kanban view (like below) or standard Gmail view for your inbox (you can turn kanban view on using the toggle button on the top right).
• Add new boards. You can add empty boards and add tasks or drag specific emails to it, like a folder. You can also add Shared Inboxes, which are real-time boards for teams who use email addresses such as support@ or sales@. Besides, all the emails will load straight into those boards.

• Invite your teammates to boards.

And all done! (yes, that’s just it!). Now you can start collaborating in Gmail with your team. Also, your emails get many other functionalities, such as:

• Drag ‘n’ drop cards between columns and even boards. Also, drag and drop entire columns inside and outside a board.
• Due dates to help you organize and optimize your team’s time.
• Private chat, so you can collaborate in real-time with your teammates while acting inside the shared inbox.
• Checklists to improve your productivity and task organization.
• Multiple boards to help you manage your entire business.
• All of the above features, but shared with your team.

Conclusion

G Suite has many advantages, and chances are you’re only using some of them. Turn your inbox into the powerful tool it’s supposed to be.

It doesn’t matter if you’ll use it just like an email or turn it into a CRM, Help Desk, or any other workflow management tool. Your Shared Inbox can increase productivity and boost your team’s work.

If you turn your Gmail into a Shared Inbox tool for your company, you’ll change essential aspects of the way you deal with your corporate email chores. A friendly tool to help you to improve and enhance your processes.