In the digital age, fostering team collaboration and communication is of paramount importance. Shared inboxes serve as a catalyst in this regard, enabling multiple team members to engage in seamless, secure email communication. The benefits multiply when integrated with a robust project management tool like Trello.

This article guides you through using Trello as a dynamic shared inbox. We will delve into the advantages of shared inboxes, explore top-notch shared inbox tools, and uncover best practices for their utilization within Trello. Specifically, we will spotlight how the Hipporello Service Desk Power-up metamorphoses Trello into a shared inbox, significantly elevating its project management competencies.

What is a shared inbox?

A shared inbox app allows multiple team members to manage one or more email addresses. It is ideal for collective email addresses, such as support@, info@, or help@. A shared inbox centralizes messages, regulates user access, and offers essential work management tools.

Certain shared inbox tools have been meticulously designed to sync with specific email clients, like Gmail or Outlook. Some shared inbox tools offer versatility, extending their functionality to a wide array of email clients and platforms like Facebook Messenger, SMS, and chat apps. Thus, they contribute to a comprehensive communication ecosystem.

Benefits of managing email with a shared inbox

Emailing can become insecure, disorganized, and poorly managed if multiple people are signing into and using a single inbox.

A shared inbox is purpose-built for group-based communication. It gives team leaders and members what they need for seamless collaboration, management, and coordination.

Security and Access Management

Sharing passwords compromises organizational security. It increases risk and threat exposure while making it difficult to manage or restrict access.

A shared team inbox allows multiple people to work with the same email address without sharing credentials or user identities. Team managers can set user permissions and restrictions, plus revoke access when required.

You might not want everyone on the team to have full emailing capabilities. Some users might read and forward messages. Others might verify work or send follow-ups.

Collaboration and Project Management

Shared inboxes bring essential collaboration features to team-based emailing. That includes work assignments, seeing who’s working on what, and tracking progress.

While most shared team inbox apps include some task management tools – including ones for managing email work shared by a group, shared inboxes integrated into Trello enhance teamwork, facilitate task assignments, and provide visibility into team members' progress.

Collision prevention detects when a team member has read a message and is responding to it or working on a solution. This prevents multiple people from working on the same task. And it prevents embarrassing customer-facing mistakes like having more than one person follow up on a resolved issue or having different team members send contradictory information.

A team inbox app with more robust management features will let you automate email-related tasks and workflows.

Centralized Communication

Another benefit is that most team inboxes can work with other communication channels – to give a better view of the customer.

It creates a single point of reference where everything is visible. Messages and requests are less likely to fall through the cracks. And productivity and performance shoot up.

Visibility and Accountability

Shared inboxes provide insight into who is interacting with emails, ensuring accountability. 

A team inbox recognizes and shows its different users. You can see exactly who read, drafted, or sent an email.

Analytics

Shared inboxes offer analytical insights, enabling teams to track performance and improve customer response times. That’s critical for customer-facing teams. 

The 4 best-shared inbox tools

When it comes to enhancing collaborative email management, five shared inbox tools stand out for their unique features and functionalities: Hipporello, Dragapp, Missive, and Hubspot.

Hipporello Service Desk Power- Up turns Trello into a shared inbox and service desk. It centralizes team emailing into Trello and then boosts productivity with embedded forms, ticket management, user access, email-to-Trello cards, and other unique features. Unlike other inbox apps, Hipporello Service Desk lets you leverage the advanced project management capabilities of Trello.