How to Set Up a Collaboration Inbox to Streamline Project Communication

Successful communication can mean the difference between effective project management and chasing after tasks that have fallen through the cracks. As more companies operate remotely, finding opportunities to collaborate becomes difficult. Since email is an integral part of project coordination, companies must find better ways to foster collaboration within such a vital channel of digital communication. 

Originally intended for one-on-one messages, email has come a long way since its start. Yet some email platforms still lack advanced collaboration features necessary for modern teams. A collaboration inbox creates more opportunities for teams to work together and organize tasks efficiently wherever team members reside. 

Teams can assign emails as tasks, delegate assignments, hold team members accountable, and automate workflow to save time and improve productivity. When researching how to set up a collaboration inbox, this article will help you get started. 

What Is a Collaboration Inbox? 

A collaboration inbox centralizes team email communications through one inbox. Using one unified location gives teams the ability to reply, send, and organize emails together, as well as to manage shared company email addresses like support@[companyname.com] or sales@[companyname.com].

When researching how to set up a collaboration inbox, familiar terms such as “shared inbox” may come up. A shared inbox and other solutions, like a Google Group or Office 365 Group, allow teams to collaborate within an email inbox to streamline communication and project workflows. However, each platform varies according to its available features. For example, a Google Group acts more like a distribution email list for teams, whereas a shared inbox offers more capabilities for collaboration. When paired with collaboration features such as visual project management tools and integration options, a standard shared inbox offers your teams the most opportunities for success. 

Why Your Team Needs a Collaboration Email Inbox 

Productive teamwork relies on effective team communication. Team members and managers who remain connected throughout a project are most likely to produce positive results. 

Due to the rising popularity of remote work, many companies seek solutions beyond email to boost collaboration and improve communication amongst staff. As a result, teams often manage notifications from supplemental applications in addition to regular emails. 

Switching back and forth between these applications, however, diverts time and attention away from critical work assignments. The all-in-one platform of a collaboration inbox permits teams to manage project communications effectively while also saving time otherwise spent logging into various applications.

Collaboration inboxes can help your teams spend less time managing and more time working by expediting internal and external communications, adding context, streamlining tasks, and ultimately improving workflow.

Turn Gmail Into Your Team’s Project Management Workspace

As an all-inclusive communication and collaboration tool, Gmelius helps team members control emails, improve communication, and distribute workloads effectively—all within the Gmail ecosystem. 

When Gmelius recognized the need for increased team collaboration, they envisioned a shared inbox as a powerful solution, using Gmail as a collaboration tool. This means instead of using separate or unfamiliar platforms, Gmelius connects your team to collaborative functions within their own Gmail accounts.

Gmelius helps your teams collaborate via shared inboxes and collaboration email features, so your company can streamline project workflows and enhance team success. 

How to Set Up a Collaboration Inbox

After installing Gmelius, every team member has the capability to communicate and collaborate with each incoming email. Whether your team operates remotely or in-office, coordinating projects is a challenge. Gmelius facilitates better communication through unique tools designed to streamline workflow. The collaborative tools Gmelius offers can help teams: 

Ensure Accountability 

The first step in creating a collaboration inbox is to grant permissions to team members. This process creates a clear delegation of email assignments. A standard shared inbox can make it difficult to see who is working on what, but Gmelius created a truly collaborative inbox solution that allows teams to assign and delegate emails to give everyone a clear understanding of individual responsibilities. In addition to clear assignments, your team can hold each other accountable by using tags to indicate a message’s priority or level of urgency. Priority tags ensure team members address high-priority emails first, and the visible statuses help team members keep moving forward until they reach a resolution. 

Working with large teams may present difficulties for companies striving to establish systems of accountability. These challenges appear when emails go unread or tasks go unfinished. The same can be said for small companies in which a single employee is juggling multiple roles. A collaborative inbox holds a single person accountable for a task while also offering clear lines of communication. 

Add Context to Tasks

What better way to improve communication than by having the ability to hold a literal sidebar conversation to the side of an email? Gmelius eliminates the need to send a separate email or coordinate messaging on another platform to ask a question. Instead, team members can add context or address concerns right within Gmail and receive instant feedback with email notes in Gmail.  

Team members can add collaborators to any customer email to keep everyone in the loop for project coordination. Collaborators can view the entire thread while being invisible to external recipients. 

Additionally, Gmelius integrates with Gmail and Slack. There is no need to switch back and forth between communication platforms. Gmelius delivers replies directly through Slack to save time and streamline response times.

Organize Workflow 

If your team uses Gmail, then Gmail labels are a familiar concept. What sets Gmelius apart from similar Gmail platforms is the ability to share Gmail labels with other team members and collaborate on them. Build a structured workflow by organizing emails into correlating labels then sharing them with appropriate team members. 

Visualize Projects 

Visual project representations are crucial for teams operating in a digital world. Turning projects into Kanban boards transforms them into a visual pipeline with transparent efforts toward a common goal. Recognizing that every project begins with an email, Gmelius created a lightweight project management tool in the form of a Kanban board. Gmail Kanban boards transform a Gmail inbox into a visual workspace. Teams can create a task from an email, assign it, and track it throughout the process. A crowded inbox can turn into an organized and trackable project in just a few clicks of this management tool.

Teams can utilize Gmail labels to organize project coordination by transforming a Gmail label into a Gmail Kanban board. This clear line of communication and the visual capability to move a task from one column to another support successful project management.

Streamline Communication Efforts 

Automating the “grunt work,” or the tasks teams dread, is the best way to optimize coordination time. Automation works by allowing team members to choose triggers and set conditions to streamline tasks without interrupting the workday. 

Automation is particularly beneficial when your team uses a Kanban board. Assignments, sub-tasks, and priority levels can all be automated to facilitate faster project management. 

The Only Project Management Solution Your Team Needs

As Gmelius streamlines your company’s email process, it will also simplify your company inbox, empower your team, and can easily scale as your organization grows. Project coordination can be difficult, but our collaborative inbox for teams helps bridge the gap between projects and emails. 

When you install Gmelius for your browser, you transform your Gmail inbox into a smart and powerful collaboration platform to streamline project communications and manage projects collectively. These unified efforts guarantee the best communication possible so your projects are completed on time. 

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When researching how to set up a collaboration inbox, Gmelius provides a simplified solution. Check out our features and integrations and learn how Gmelius is built to improve team communication and collaboration. Ready to get started? Sign up today!

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