The Best Alternative to Google Groups

When Google purchased Deja News in 2001 it was because of its powerful search engine. The news archive happened to be a great place for groups to have discussions – hence the name change to “Groups.” And at this time they were not so many alternatives to Google Groups

Since the groups were great at sharing information, working teams thought it would be a good way to distribute messages, and this mistakenly evolved into sharing emails.

Unfortunately, many organizations are still using Google Groups to manage their team emails, something for which it was not designed.

This post clarifies why Google Groups will fail your team and why Gmelius is the best Google Groups alternative.

Why Google Groups was not made for teams?

As you well know, team communication and collaboration is not a one-way stream. Replies, comments, and various forms of collaborative input are multi-directional.

Without a system to organize your interactions by subject, and sync them in real-time across your team, things will get unorganized really quickly. This leads to mistakes, and when it comes to business communication, mistakes will cost you time, money, and frustration.

The first issue is that Google Groups is not accessible from your Gmail or G Suite. This means your team will have to manage two inboxes, each on separate platforms.

Moreover, the user interface is different from what you are used to. You would think Google Groups and Google’s Gmail would have the same system, but that’s not the case.

Features, or the lack of them, are another reason why Google Groups will fail your team. Taking a look at Gmelius, its design, interface, and feature set, will prove to you why it’s the best alternative to Google Groups.

Why Gmelius is the best alternative to Google Groups?

If your team is using Gmail or Google Workspace then you’ll feel right at home with Gmelius. All features are accessed within your inbox and compose window. No need to learn another platform or waste time bouncing around.

Gmelius was designed from the very beginning for team communication and collaboration within Gmail.

Here are a few, feature-based reasons to consider Gmelius as your Alternative to Google Group and switch your team to Gmelius.

Create and manage Shared Inboxes in Gmail

Gmelius allows your team to create a shared inbox directly from Gmail. But more important, a shared inbox that’s designed for true collaboration and team productivity.

Google Groups does give everyone access to the same emails, but it does a poor job of managing the collaboration. For example, if one of your team members responds to an email - you won’t know about it.

Not knowing the current status of a file leads to missed opportunities and embarrassing errors. In most cases team members either double-respond to an email or even worse, it gets ignored altogether.

With Gmelius, every member of your team always knows the status. Everyone is always on the same page.

If you and another team member are viewing an email at the same time you will see their avatar profile in the top right corner of the conversation. If they are in the process of responding you’ll see a typing icon next to their avatar.

For teams already working with Google Groups - no worries. You can transform your Google Group into a Gmelius shared inbox with just a few steps.

Turn your Gmail into a shared inbox within a few clicks from your Gmelius dashboard.

Turn your Gmail Shared Inbox into a helpdesk

Gmelius makes it easy to manage group emails like sales@ and info@, or any other group alias, for customer support and pipeline management. In true helpdesk ticket style, you can assign status levels like Open, Pending, or Closed.  

In the past, companies were required to use special software to manage their clients. Even today, most helpdesk solutions are expensive, difficult to use, and bloated with features your team will never use.

Delegate emails to your team

Accountability is crucial for successful team communication; Gmelius makes it clear with email delegation.

With Gmelius you can assign emails to team members and all progress is synced in real-time, across all team members, and all your devices. You can choose to assign specific emails or your inbox as a whole.

No more colliding emails or missed opportunities.

Delegation ensures accountability and by adding email notes you can provide context and clear direction.

Create and share email notes

Many people look for an alternative to Google Groups, as sharing email notes is not a build-in feature in the Google tool.

That's why Gmelius users really appreciate the shareable email notes that run in a chat-style thread on the side of each email. Email notes eliminate the need for your team to forward emails, or CC each other. Imagine the reduction of incoming emails when your inbox is reserved for external communications.

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Email notes are great for productivity. They save time and increase efficiency. You can @mention specific colleagues and get straight to the matter by adding context, giving direction, and settling issues on the fly.

Points are easily clarified in this collaborative space for private messaging. This distraction free zone is only viewable to yourself and those you share it with - never to the original sender.

Best of all, your email notes are organized where they matter, alongside each email, and searchable with your regular Gmail search function.

Manage your client and project pipelines with kanban boards

With Gmelius, your teams will have the ability to turn emails into task cards and add them to shareable Kanban project boards. With just a few clicks, an email that could have disappeared into the abyss of your inbox is now a visual project brought to life.

Kanban boards are known to be the best visual tool to manage client and project pipelines. The objectives are made clear as your team works to move each phase through to completion - satisfied clients, and closed deals.

What's more, Gmelius offers a 2-way Gmail to Trello integration. You can import Trello boards into Gmail, or import your Gmelius kanban boards within Trello, while your updates will reflect both ways, in real time.

Measure and report your team’s email activity

Google Groups does not allow you to track your team's activity.

The saying is true:

What can’t be measured - can’t be improved.

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This is a key feature within Gmelius. The ability to measure. Emails sent, open rates, time to open, and more. Along with our robust, real-time, notification system  you’ll have a clear picture of your team’s activities.

Install Gmelius for Gmail and Google Workspace

As you can see, Gmelius features go far beyond the ability of Google Groups. And thousands worldwide of teams consider Gmelius as the best Google Group alternative.

Gmelius transforms your inbox into the central work-hub of your team's operations. You and your team can organize emails with shared inboxes or shared labels, add context with email notes, clearly delegate them to team members, and even turn them into projects by adding them to your shareable kanban board.

Once you install Gmelius and invite your team members, everyone will have instant access to the tools. Every feature is integrated into their Gmail inbox - easy to access, easy to use.

The advantages of working with Gmelius instead of Google Groups are immediately felt by your team. Time saved, productivity increased, a happier team, and satisfied customers.