Who it is for
This is for a small office where two to ten people share one address like info@, sales@, or office@. Everyone can see the mail, so everyone assumes someone else answered it. A quote request sits for three days, or two people reply to the same customer with different answers. You do not need new software for this. You need about an hour, admin access to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace (or someone who has it), and agreement from the team on a few simple habits.
What you need
- Admin access to your email system, or the person who manages it.
- The list of people who should work the shared inbox.
- Agreement on who covers the inbox when someone is out.
- A test email account outside the business (a personal Gmail or Outlook works).
The idea in one sentence
Every message that might be a customer gets one owner and one status, and someone checks once a day that nothing is sitting unclaimed.
Steps
1. Make it a real shared inbox, not a shared password
If everyone signs into info@ with the same password, you cannot tell who did what, and you cannot remove one person’s access without changing it for everyone.
- Microsoft 365: convert or create the address as a shared mailbox and give each person access with their own login (create a shared mailbox). It then shows up in each person’s Outlook next to their own mail (open and use a shared mailbox).
- Google Workspace: use a Google Group set up as a Collaborative Inbox, then add each team member to the group (Collaborative Inbox, add people to a group).
Before switching, make sure anything that sends to that address (your website form, Google Business Profile, booking tool) keeps working. Send a test from each one after the change.
2. Pick four statuses and stick to them
Keep it short. More labels means nobody uses them.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| New | Nobody has looked at it yet. |
| Claimed: Name | One person owns the reply. |
| Waiting on customer | We replied and need something back. |
| Done | Answered, booked, or not a lead. |
- Outlook: create these as categories in the shared mailbox (use categories). A category per person (for example “Claimed: Dana”) is the simplest way to show ownership.
- Google Collaborative Inbox: use the built-in assign and mark as complete options instead of making your own labels where you can.
3. Agree on the claim rule
This is the habit that actually fixes the problem:
- When you open a message that needs a reply, claim it before you start writing.
- If it is already claimed by someone else, leave it alone unless they ask for help.
- If you claim it and cannot finish today, say so in the team chat or hand it off by changing the owner.
- When the conversation is over, mark it Done.
Write these four lines down and pin them where the team will see them.
4. Add a rule that flags likely leads
Rules sort mail automatically as it arrives. You want quote requests and form submissions to stand out from newsletters and invoices.
- Look at the last month of mail and note what real leads have in common: your website form’s subject line, the words “quote” or “estimate”, or a booking tool’s sender address.
- Create a rule on the shared mailbox that marks those messages as important or applies a “Lead” category or label (Outlook rules).
- Create a second rule that moves obvious noise (newsletters, automated receipts) into a separate folder so the main view stays short.
- Send yourself a test that looks like a real lead from your outside account and confirm the rule caught it.
Start with one or two rules. Add more only when you see the same kind of message slipping through again.
5. Do a two-minute check every day
Pick one person (and a backup) to check the inbox at a set time, for example 10 AM.
- Sort or filter by New or by no category.
- Anything older than a few hours with no owner gets assigned to someone, in person or in the team chat.
- Glance at Waiting on customer. If something has been waiting more than a few days, the owner sends a short follow-up.
That is the whole check. It should take two minutes once the habit is in place.
6. Make your website form easy to spot
If your website has a contact or quote form:
- Give it a consistent subject line, such as “Website quote request”, so your rule can catch it.
- Set the form’s reply-to as the customer’s email address, so hitting Reply goes to them and not back to the form service.
- Submit a test once a month. Forms break quietly when a website or email setting changes.
7. Plan for days off
- Decide who covers the inbox when the usual person is out, and write it down.
- If someone leaves the company, remove their access to the shared inbox the same day. With a real shared mailbox or group, that is one change, not a password reset for everyone.
Optional: where automation helps
Once the basics work, small automations can save time: a reminder in your team chat when a lead has been unclaimed for a few hours, or a polite auto-reply that tells customers when to expect an answer. Add these only after the team is using owners and statuses; automation on top of a messy inbox just makes a faster mess.
Caution
- Do not share one login for the shared address. It makes access impossible to manage and hides who sent what.
- Do not create a long list of labels. Four statuses plus a “Lead” flag is enough for most small teams.
- Be careful with rules that delete or forward mail outside the company. A wrong rule can silently lose a customer’s message.
- Test your website form and any booking tool after changing how the inbox works. These are the messages you can least afford to miss.
- If you handle sensitive customer information, check who really needs access before adding the whole team.