How to Set a Proper and Functional Joint Email Account

Also known as a shared mailbox, a joint email account is a good and valuable option for companies that struggle with poor email management. There are several ways to make your teamwork proficiently without pulling themselves to the limit. So, when talking about joint email accounts, we are talking about efficient work routine and productivity.

As we all know, emails consume a lot of every company’s work time, but they often end up being underused because many people still don’t know how to take advantage of it in the best way and use all of its features. And this is what we’re going to talk about today: how a joint account really should be working and how can it help you achieve your goals.

How people join Gmail accounts and why it is wrong

Have you ever worked in a company where many people have access to the same email account? Where everyone has the “[email protected]” logged on its own computer? We’ve been there. And it’s a mess.

This is very common. Many companies have several people answering for the same account. Even if you never been through this experience, you possibly have already interacted with a joint Gmail account and noticed that lots of people access it.

So, as far as we know, this is a pretty common thing in companies. They share a spreadsheet with the entire team with all the accounts and passwords of every software/email that they possess. This way, anyone can use the same login and password on their computer to access an account. Does this sound problematic to you? It’s because this is unsafe.

Sharing the same accounts and passwords is not the safest way to do it, because your account is vulnerable to being hacked. A spreadsheet, for example, can accidentally be shared with people from outside of the company. And you certainly don’t want that to happen.

Another big issue is the lack of tracking. Imagine that you and three other co-workers respond to the email address “[email protected]”. Now think of the work that is to know which email has already been answered, which message was sent, which demand is your colleague dealing with, and so on. Isn’t it difficult to keep track?

But wait: emails have been designed to be used individually, so it’s no surprise that people don’t know how to share it properly.

How to do it properly

Now, how can a joint email account work? It’s simple: with a shared inbox tool. Basically, through a shared inbox, you can share emails that matter, turn them into tasks to be done, and assign people to take care of it. In fact, do you know that according to an article published on Harvard Business Review, assigning tasks and delegating can increase companies’ earnings?

A shared inbox is more than that. Here some of its benefits:

Shared inboxes are safer: every team member has its own email account and password, it is hard to be hacked;

Allows transparency: by sharing certain communication onto team boards, you’ll be promoting transparency and providing context to why things are getting done;

Are collaboration-friendly: you can share tasks or even comment on someone’s else work while not creating a thread. This creates a sense of participation that engages teams and makes work much more efficient;

Allows delegation: you can assign tasks and it helps team members to know who’s responsible for answering some emails;

Have better visualization: it doesn’t mix personal emails with team emails, so only you decide what you share with the others.

Do you see it? Shared inboxes are the way joint email accounts should go. It’s collaboration at its finest, and it truly means that you’ll be working side by side with your team. Forget working individually!

Drag App

Drag App is a Gmail extension and the perfect email management solution for your company. It makes everything possible when it comes to track, organize, record, and truly manage your mailbox. A great option for small and medium businesses, Drag allows you to have a kanban board, just like Trello, in your Gmail inbox.

Everything works seamlessly together so you can have a clear understanding of the process. CRM, Helpdesk, shared inbox, folder system, and email management: everything straight from your Gmail collaborative inbox!

Conclusion

Collaboration among teams = productivity.

This simple formula makes everything possible when it comes to organization, keeping everyone informed and optimized processes. We must use tools to help us and to create a better workflow. You can find tools with tons of functionalities that can be valid for your company. All you gotta do is know what are your companies’ gaps and how a tool can help you.

A shared email account must be simple, organized, and intuitive. Email collaboration itself is not the answer to all your problems, of course. But, like every process, you need to keep track, to organize, to teach your coworkers, to be transparent to make everything easier, faster, and efficient.

We hope this article has enlightened you on your search. 

Drag turns Gmail into your Team’s Workspace – One single place to support customers, manage tasks and close deals, from the place teams love: Gmail. We are a Techstars-backed Company, trusted by 30,000 users around the World.