Why Using Gmail Add-Ons is a good idea

Working on a computer can be nerve-wrecking sometimes, especially when you have to reply to a dozen emails, manage deadlines, make lists, and monitor your teammates and their progress. Dozens of tasks as simple as these drain your time and energy, disrupting your  productivity. Well, Gmail add-ons are exactly made to tackle this hair-pulling job and you free you to focus on what matters, strategy.

If you want to skip straight to our curated list of Gmail add-ons, see below:

1. Drag
2. MailerCloud
3. Dropbox
4. Hubspot Sales
5. MixMax

 

Why you should consider using Gmail add-ons

Gmail add-ons are tools that you can integrate or “Add on” to your Gmail. Yeah, simple as that. These tools provide various features that lets you get the job done on Gmail itself, without having to jump between tabs and platforms to copy pasting requests and information.

With add-ons, you can consolidate your workspace within Gmail, leveraging new automation, management, organization and collaboration features to streamline your routine . 

In addition to this, Gmail is a widely used platform, familiar and recognizable to almost everyone. Gmail add-ons piggyback from Google’s interface lowering the learning curve. This facilitates the onboarding process and makes it much more likely that your team will actually adopt the new tool.

You might be asking specifically what can be done with Gmail add-ons? Well, you can: delay the moment an email is sent; automate email sequences to be sent to clients; track when sent messages are opened or clicked; get digital signatures on documents and much more.

How do Gmail add-ons Work?

Gmail add-ons are apps available online for desktop and mobile devices. They make your work experience smoother extending the functionality of Gmail. All you have to do is install the app or software, register yourself and, if necessary, select your favorite and suitable payment plan.

Most apps give you the choice of monthly or annual payment and have multiple plans to choose from, according to your requirements.

The Difference Between Chrome Extension For Gmail And Google Workspace Apps

There are two types of Gmail add-ons: Chrome extensions and Google Workspace add-ons. Each type can be found in a specific marketplace, but for those that use the Google Apps from the Chrome browser, you can pretty much consider them the same.

Here are the few differences that you should know between Chrome extension for Gmail and Google Workspace add-ons:

Chrome extensions

Chrome extensions are available at the Chrome Store, a marketplace for applications. In it, you can find add-ons that do pretty much anything to your Chrome browser, Gmail and every other Google app. Among these add-ons, of course, there are several tools designed to help businesses and freelancers get more productive.

Google Workspace add-ons

The Google Workspace add-ons are available on the Google Workspace Marketplace. There, you will find apps specifically designed for businesses. It can be accessed directly from the Google Apps and most tools available here have your productivity in mind.

What are the best Gmail add-ons?

Drag

G2 rating: 4.5
Capterra rating: 4.4

Pricing: $8 per user / month

Drag turns your Gmail into an all-in-one collaborative workspace to manage emails and email-driven tasks. It is a Chrome extension available on the Chrome Store.

With Drag your team can collaborate sharing inboxes, email boards, drafts, labels, deadlines, task assignments and much more. With Drag you can open chats with your teammates within the context of an email thread, keeping the conversation focused.

Drag also has several task management features such as Kanban board views for Gmail. You can customize the columns according to your process and drag and drop the email threads as they move through the workflow. And your team doesn’t even have to bother with all that busy work, Drag brings several automation features to Gmail, like email sequences, task assignment, automatic responses and templates. 

Finally, Drag has tracking and reporting capabilities. You can check relevant board metrics such as activity and volume of received messages. On top of that Drag tracks when your sent email are opened, this can help you optimize your follow up workflow.

Key Features:

• Gmail shared inboxes
• Kanban boards
• Shared labels, drafts and templates
• Workflow automations
• Email sequences
• Analytics
• Calendar integration
• Mobile app

MailerCloud

G2 rating: 4.8
Capterra rating: 5 

Pricing:  $10 per user / month

Mailer Cloud is a famous email marketing platform. Its prime focus lies in creating deep business relationships and increasing sales by providing productivity-enhancing features. It provides the feature of autoresponder which responds automatically to relevant emails depending upon the subscriber’s actions.

All you have to do is schedule these emails and MailerCloud will send these on your specified date and time. It also provides automated follow-ups so that you never miss emailing a dear customer. It provides a unique feature of experimenting with your emails such as making variations in your headlines, subject lines, headers, footers, CTAs, added images, etc.

This helps you learn what attracts your audience and how to keep them engaged.  

Key Features: 

• AB testing
• Email management campaigns
• Mailing list management
• Spam blocker
• Auto respond to emails

Dropbox

G2 rating: 4.4
Capterra rating: 4.5

Pricing: $9.90 per user / month

Dropbox is one of the most used Gmail add-ons. The key function of Dropbox is to conserve and save all big or small files which might include photos, presentation slides docs, etc.

It’s a very treasured function as the user wants his personal and most important files to be saved and, above all, protected. Trello provides the user with the Work Without Limits feature which lets the user save all files to Dropbox without the worry of running out of space.

Without downloading a file, the user can easily get a preview of it using the Dropbox add-on. Thus, using Dropbox the user can save his downloading time as well upload the same file at the same time. Some important key features are as follows:

Key Features:

• Previewing Files 
• Use On Web and Mobile
• Easily Get Up and Running
• Stay Organized and In Sync 

Hubspot Sales

Rating At G2: 4.4
Rating At Capterra: 4.5

Pricing:  $45 per user / month

Hubspot is one of the leading applications which converts your inbox into a more productive marketing tool. It further helps you stay connected with leads. It provides the user with a feature that allows the user to track and log the emails that you send from your Gmail account.

You can also initiate calls with contacts given in your inbox. Some important features of Hubspot are as follows:

Key Features:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
• Shared Email Templates
• Meeting Scheduler
• Availability On Devices

MixMax

G2 rating: 4.5
Capterra rating: 4.6

Pricing:  $12 per user / month

Mixmax is at the top of the sales engagement platform for Gmail and provides its users with multiple and various features. One of the features provided by Mixmax is analyzing the impact of the user’s email messages and tracking your email and knowing exactly who opens your email.

It also provides a scheduler and eliminates unnecessary messages as well schedule meetings with just one click

Key Features

• Unlimited Email Tracking
• Automated Email Campaigns 
• Analytics
• Salesforce Integration
• Advanced Automation and Reminders

Are Gmail Add Ons Safe?

The fact that Gmail add-ons are cheap, convenient, and easy to use makes its users think “where’s the catch?”. Well, it’s definitely not on security, as Google not only vets the developers, but audits the application’s code. This ensures that your data isn’t copied anywhere else and only you have access to it. 

Conclusion

Smooth workflow leads to boosted productivity and that is what Gmail add-ons are meant for. They are a crucial tool to minimize disturbances while simultaneously providing many additional features to ensure a streamlined workflow with zero hurdles.

They are widely used by many businesses, no matter how large or small their setup is, as it directly influences their workers’ efficiency and work rate. After having read the above article, you must be well aware of the top-notch google add-ons.

So, what are you waiting for? Go get your favorite add-on and get working smoothly!