Contents

• Introduction
• Shared Mailboxes
  • The Problem with current Shared Mailbox solutions
  • Why Hiver?
• Hiver Use Cases
• Getting Started with Hiver
  • Creating a Shared Mailbox
  • Adding your Shared Mailbox to Gmail

Introduction

This is a complete guide to the Google Workspace 3rd Party Shared Mailbox solution - Hiver. Shared mailboxes are email inboxes that can be accessed by multiple users. This means that various people can send, receive and read emails in the shared mailbox. Shared Inboxes are particularly beneficial for large organisations where multiple users might be responsible for reading and responding to emails sent to a singular mailbox.

Email is the legacy workplace communication tool, however, as new communication methods such as chat have emerged, traditional emailing platforms have failed to evolve alongside its counterparts. Hiver stands to change this. By allowing numerous users  access to a shared mailbox, Hiver induces collaboration and productivity across teams. 

Shared Mailboxes

The Problem with current shared Mailbox solutions

Information sharing or collaboration through traditional email platforms can be extremely messy. The reliance on email Forwarding and CC’ing inevitably results in lengthy email threads which oftentimes leads to emails being missed, confusion and wasted time! This is particularly problematic and can lead to inconsistencies or a not-so-good corporate reputation if clients fail to receive an adequate response. It can also result in duplication of work if multiple users reply to the same email with possibly conflicting responses. 

Google Workspace also attempts to offer a shared inbox solution through Google Groups, however it has significant limitations. The Google Groups tool started out as a forum to discuss particular topics, and it’s great for sharing ideas and distributing information through threads.

Google has taken Google Groups and ported it over to Google Workspace in an attempt to aid organisations that are looking for a space to share email related information. However, as teams started using this feature, its shortcomings became apparent. There is no way to:

• Check for collisions, such as two team members responding the the same email,
• Communicate and share notes on a specific email chain, or,
• Set a status for an email such as 'responded', 'awaiting response' etc.

Why Hiver?

Hiver eradicates the problems with conventional shared mailbox solutions by giving email “collaborative superpowers” which results in time saved, increased productivity and improved colleague and client relationships. Hiver have a whole host of features that make it so great, to read about them all click here, we’ve listed some of our favourites too: 

Email delegation

By assigning responsibility to team members, email delegation is a great tool which eliminates the possibility of response duplication. Turning emails into actionable tasks ensures that all emails receive the attention they need and will maintain strong customer relationships. Additionally, real-time notifications and complete visibility on delegated and non-delegated emails means it's impossible to miss them.

Email Templates

The email template features enables frequently sent replies to be converted into a template. Thus, quickening turn around time. This means that not only will your clients receive prompt replies, but your team will save precious time too.

Notes

Finally, email notes allow you to collaborate and communicate with your team effectively without hassle of using forward or CC functions. You can communicate with one another within the email thread (which is only seen by the Hiver users), meaning there is no need to leave the platform. This will result in increased efficiencies and productivity, as well as ensuring your clients are receiving the highest quality replies.

Overall, Hiver is an excellent shared mailbox solution that allows teams of any type to work together effortlessly through use of Hivers unparalleled features. 

Hiver Use Cases

All sound good so far? You might be wondering where this wonderful tool fits in within your organisation. As mentioned previously, Hiver is great for teams that share access to and responsibility of a singular mailbox. In our experience, the biggest use cases are help or support desks (often with addresses such as info@... or support@...). These are mailboxes which are likely to receive a large number of emails with varying topics or issues.

By using Hiver as your shared mailbox solution, you can easily disperse responsibility for these inboxes across your team without compromising security through password sharing. Additionally, all of Hivers great features facilitate increased productivity whilst giving you the tools to provide exceptional customer service.

Still need some convincing? The following section will demonstrate the simplicity of getting started with your new shared mailbox.

Getting Started with Hiver

Creating a shared Mailbox

It is possible to create a shared mailbox in as little as three easy steps! Simply navigate to the Hiver Admin Console, select ‘Create Shared Mailbox’, give it an email address and name then add the email addresses of users you would like to have access.

Adding your Shared Mailbox to Gmail

It’s super easy to add Hiver to your Gmail account. Firstly, visit the Chrome Web Store, navigate to the Hiver extension and click ‘Add to Chrome’. Next, your Gmail will reload and it will enable you to access the shared mailbox. 

The tool will add two sections to your gmail account - Drop down options below those of Gmail on the left hand side of the platform; and a notification icon at the top right corner. The Drop down options allow you to view all emails within the shared mailbox and their status - unassigned, assigned to you or assigned to another team member.

When you open an email within the shared inbox, there will be a pop up on the right hand side in which you can perform multiple tasks. For example, you can assign the email to yourself or other team members, add tags and add notes to the email as well as see all previous activity related to the email. This makes collaboration quick and easy as you never have to leave the email to communicate with your team. 

Conclusion

In sum, Hiver is an exceptional shared mailbox solution which can be quickly and easily added to your gmail account. Using the tool will promote communication and collaboration across your teams that share responsibility to mailboxes, whilst simultaneously increasing productivity. More importantly, the tools features will ensure that you maintain positive customer relations and avoid room for errors, such as email response duplication or failure to reply. Get in touch to find out more about how we can support your use of Hiver.