Norsemaison occupies a unique niche in the home design world. They create custom, high-end covers and components for IKEA sofas and armchairs. Their business allows customers to take affordable furniture and elevate it into something bespoke and luxurious. Business was booming, but the backend operations were struggling to keep pace with the order volume.
Steven Olsthoorn and his team faced a logistical bottleneck. They wanted to provide the same high-quality experience in their support inbox as they did with their fabrics. However, disorganized communication and fragmented workflows were stopping them from reaching their potential.
The Problem
The core issue for Norsemaison was not a lack of demand. It was a lack of clarity. As the company grew, the volume of incoming inquiries skyrocketed. Customers had questions about fabric textures, shipping timelines to the UK or EU, and fit specifications.
These emails landed in general inboxes. Without a proper system, the team struggled to track who was handling which ticket.
When a customer asked a complex question, a team member often needed input from a colleague. This usually required forwarding the email, moving the conversation to a separate chat app, or shouting across the office.
This fragmentation caused several root problems:
- Lack of visibility: It was impossible to know if a colleague had already replied to an email. This led to the risk of double replies or, worse, no reply at all.
- Context switching: Employees had to toggle between Gmail and other internal communication tools to resolve a single issue.
- Missed emails: In the flood of daily messages, critical customer requests would sometimes slip past the team.
The result was a decline in efficiency. The team worked harder but accomplished less. The friction in their workflow began to threaten the quality of the customer experience. They needed a way to collaborate directly inside their inbox.
The Answer
Norsemaison found their solution in Gmelius. The platform transformed their existing Gmail interface into a collaborative workspace. It allowed them to manage their workflows without leaving the environment they were already comfortable using.
Olsthoorn and his team implemented four core features to dismantle their communication silos.
Shared inboxes
The first step was unifying the flow of information. Gmelius allowed the team to manage group emails like support@ and invoices@ directly from their own inboxes.
This eliminated the need to share passwords or log in and out of different accounts. Everyone on the team could see the same queue of incoming messages. It created a single source of truth for the department.
If a team member picked up an email, the rest of the team could see it was being handled in real time.
Notes and @mentions
This feature directly addressed their biggest challenge regarding team communication. Previously, discussing a specific email meant leaving the inbox.
With Gmelius, the team began adding internal notes right next to the email thread.
They used @mentions to ping specific colleagues for help. For example, a support agent could tag a manager to approve a refund or ask a warehouse coordinator about stock levels. This happened in the background. The customer never saw the internal chatter, but they benefited from the speed and accuracy of the response.
Shared Gmail labels
Organization was the next priority. The team implemented shared Gmail labels to categorize their workflow.
They could now instantly tag emails by status or topic. Labels such as "Urgent," "Pending Shipment," or "Fabric Question" helped sort the chaotic pile of messages into manageable buckets. Since these labels synced across the entire team, everyone stayed on the same page. It turned a standard inbox into a functioning help desk.
Email templates
Speed matters in retail. The team realized they were typing the same responses repeatedly.
They utilized Gmelius email templates to standardize and accelerate their communication. Common questions about assembly instructions or delivery windows could now be answered with a few clicks.
This ensured consistency in their brand voice and saved hours of manual typing.
The Results
The implementation of Gmelius changed the trajectory of Norsemaison’s customer service operations. The chaos of the shared inbox vanished. It was replaced by a structured, efficient workflow that supported the company's growth. As Olsthoorn put it,
“Without a tool like Gmelius, we simply can’t solve customer tickets as fast.”
The team experienced immediate, tangible improvements:
- Zero missed emails: The cracked system that allowed messages to slip through the cracks was repaired. Every inquiry is now tracked, tagged, and answered.
- 4 hours saved per person: Efficiency gains were massive. Steven estimates that each team member reclaimed approximately four hours of work time every week – that’s 10% of a typical workweek saved.
- In-context collaboration: No more app switching. All discussions happen right next to the customer ticket.
- Instant sorting: Shared labels allow the team to prioritize their day effectively.
- Happier employees: Removing the friction of "who is doing what" lowered stress levels and improved team morale.
- Better customer experiences: Faster, more accurate replies led to higher customer satisfaction.
The impact on the business was profound. As Steven Olsthoorn notes, the software became essential to their daily success. Simply put, it is:
“Solid and does what it needs to do.”
The ability to discuss issues internally without leaving the email thread was the game changer. It bridged the gap between a question and an answer.
Achieve Similar Outcomes for Your Team
Gmelius transforms Gmail into a powerful collaboration platform for teams of all sizes. It offers the robust features of a help desk or project management tool without forcing your staff to learn new software. It is secure, compliant, and designed for enterprise needs.
Whether you need to automate workflows, manage shared inboxes, or gain analytics on team performance, Gmelius integrates seamlessly into your existing Google Workspace.
