Despite a growing proliferation of collaboration & messaging apps, many consumers use Gmail as their primary communication tool. Gmail boasts of over 1.5 billion active monthly users, so it’s fairly intuitive to imagine that any app that adds collaboration options while using Gmail would prove popular.
But did you know that there are some apps out there that turn Gmail into a collaborative tool? We feature some of them here.
Missive
An easy to install & use, browser-based collaboration tool, Missive adds loads of functionality. Missive works with any email option, so it’s not specifically built for Gmail, but it’s a really great option for Gmail, which lacks collaboration tools of its own.
Missive works on any device & allows teams to share Inboxes & collaboration around emails. Also, attachments such as images & files can be shared, while users can chat directly from their Inbox. The app gives users the option to label & organize conversation around projects or any other convenient categorization.
Features include:
- Canned Responses – Create reusable templates to save time on repetitive emails.
- Collaborative Writing – Compose emails together & get reviewed in real time.
- Read Receipts – Know exactly if & when recipients read an email.
- Snooze – Set reminders on emails & chats to clean up your Inbox.
- Send Later – Draft an email & schedule it to be sent at the right time.
- Pinned Conversations – Drag important conversations to the sidebar for quick access.
- Rules – Apply filters to automatically archive or assign conversations to anyone in an organization.
Other tools include automatic CC(Carbon Copy) & BCC(Blind Carbon Copy), push notifications & much more.
Hiver
Hiver offers a Chrome extension that allows teams to share Inboxes, label & to categorize emails — by functionality or any other criteria. If teams are divided by function, such as Support or Accounting, Hiver offers an easy method of grouping mail by department, & gives team members real time access & edit capabilities when composing or replying to mail.
Features include :
- Collision Alerts – Get alerted when someone is responding to an email. Avoid duplicate & conflicting responses.
- Email tags for shared inboxes help you organize your emails by categories.
- Automatically assign emails to your team in a Round-Robin manner for faster responses.
- Save canned responses as templates. Share them with your team.
- Set the right expectation for your team. Never drop the ball on customer queries.
- Track all your key metrics. Identify areas of improvement & fix them.
- Measure customer satisfaction by sending a short survey at the end of emails.
Additionally, Hiver is not an email storage facility, all emails are kept in Gmail, but the organizational capabilities change the normal Inbox experience into a sophisticated collaboration environment worthy of much more expensive & separate tools.
So, if you’re using Gmail for business, give these tools a glance & see if they improve & add value.
