Google Groups Collaborative Inbox: There's a Better Way
Think twice before using Google Groups as a Collaborative Inbox in Gmail.
Google Groups are a great addition to Gmail and Google Workspace, but they are not designed to be used as a collaborative inbox. Read on to find out why many of our customers use Keeping as a replacement for an inbox that is being shared with Google Groups.
What is a collaborative inbox in Google Groups?
A Google Groups collaborative inbox is a way to share a mailbox in Gmail. Group members can take and assign emails in their shared mailbox. The assignee can also mark a conversation as complete, duplicate, or no action needed.
What are the benefits of a Google collaborative inbox?
The main benefit to using a collaborative inbox in Google Groups is that it's included for free in most paid Google Workspace (aka G Suite) organizations. But as the saying goes, "you get what you pay for."
Google Groups was originally designed as a mailing list for forum discussions. In fact, Google Group's roots go back to 1995 and the "old days" when discussions happened on Usenet on mailing lists!
Google Groups Email List vs Keeping in Gmail
The #1 reason our customers decide to switch to Keeping from Google Groups is to make sure everyone has access to every message exchanged.
With Google Groups, email sent to your group email address gets dispatched to everyone on your team. But when a team member replies, their response will not get shared with the rest of the team.
Multiple people can end up replying to the same message and it becomes a mess to track who responded, especially if you use groups as a ticketing solution . This can create chaos and confusion for your team and more importantly, your customers.
Groups are sufficient to broadcast emails (i.e if you use Groups as an old school distribution list), but using the Google Groups collaborative inbox is not ideal if you need people to collaborate on customer support efforts.
How Keeping is Different From Other Alternatives to Google Groups
Some alternatives to Google Groups are built for large enterprises with huge customer support teams. These tools are designed with dozens of features that overcomplicate things and make it harder for your team to get their work done.
Keeping, on the other hand, is designed for teams that provide more than customer support. Keeping is built with all of the features you need to successfully manage your customer support efforts, and none of the features you don’t.
Keeping: More Efficient
Than A Google Groups Shared Mailbox
A Google Groups shared mailbox is not designed with the features you need to efficiently manage your customer support requests.
Keeping was designed from the ground up for teams that need to quickly and easily read, respond to, collaborate on, and resolve customer support requests.
Task Assignment
Keeping converts every email in your Gmail inbox into an assignable help desk ticket. This allows you to share the workload by assigning customer support requests to different members of your team. Use permissions to decide who has access to what.
Shared Notes
Communication is the key to successfully managing customer support requests. That’s why Keeping is designed with a notes feature, which your team can use to communicate what needs to be done, follow up on a task, or provide background information about a specific request.
Task Statuses
Keep track of the status of each customer support request by marking them as Open, Closed or Pending. This will prevent customer support requests from falling through the cracks and ensure resolved requests don’t clog your shared inbox.
Collision Detection
Keeping’s collision detection feature will tell you when someone else on your team has already responded or is in the process of responding to a customer support request. This way, you won’t waste your time working on a request that has already been handled by someone else.
Shared Templates
Is your team tired of responding to the same questions over and over? If so, create templates that include the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. Then, share them with your team so they can insert them into their email responses with one click of the mouse.
Reporting
Keeping gives you access to the data you need to measure how well your team is performing. You can see an overview of important metrics such as the volume of incoming requests and the first response time.
Automation
Stop wasting time performing manual tasks. Use Keeping's Workflows and simple if/then logic to automate certain tasks, including task assignment, task prioritization, and the removal of spam and promotional emails from your shared inbox.
How to Switch From A Google Groups Shared Inbox to Keeping
Are you using a Google Groups shared inbox to manage your customer support requests? If so, it's easy to make the switch to Keeping.
Simply add your unique Keeping email address to the Google Group, or switch your group to an alias and you are set!
Why Our Customers Choose Keeping Over Other Shared Mailbox Alternatives
There are a number of shared mailbox alaternatives available, so why are so many companies choosing Keeping? Here are some of the many reasons:
1.
Your customers will have no idea that you’re using Keeping to manage your customer support efforts. Unlike traditional help desks, we stay invisible to your customers. All your customers will see is a friendly email that does not include confusing help desk jargon like “case ids” or “reply above this line.” When one of your team members responds to a request, the email will come from your shared email address, not their individual work email address.
2.
Your team doesn’t have time to learn how to use another tool. Fortunately, they won’t have to if you use Keeping to manage your customer support requests. Keeping works directly inside Gmail, which your team already knows how to use. Plus, you won’t have to switch back and forth between programs to manage your customer support requests. Because Keeping comes to you, customers get responses faster, and you have one less inbox to keep up with.
3.
Some traditional help desks hold your data hostage by not letting you have access to past emails if you stop using their service. But Keeping is not like other help desks. We understand that your emails are YOURS, not ours. Your emails will always remain in your email accounts even if you decide to stop using our service.
Try Our Google Groups Alternative for Free
Want to see why Keeping is the best Google groups alternative? Start your free trial today. No credit card is required to sign up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Google Group email address?
How do I use inbox in Google Groups?
How does Keeping work?
Does Keeping work with Gmail on my mobile phone?
Does Keeping store my Gmail password?
What is Google Groups good for?
What is better than Google Groups?
Is Keeping secure?
Is Keeping GDPR compliant?
