Shared inbox for small teams
A shared inbox works when every teammate has their own identity, anyone can see open threads, and only one person replies after a claim. Sharing one password for support@ fails all three tests.
The usual failure modes
- Two people answer the same customer.
- Nobody knows who owns the thread.
- A teammate leaves and still knows the shared password.
- Personal Gmail “delegate” access hides the real audit trail.
What good looks like
Use a shared queue for the public address. Teammates sign in with their own accounts, open the queue, claim a thread, and reply from the queue address. You can see who claimed and who sent.
Shared inbox vs help desk
Stay on a shared inbox when volume is moderate and email is the channel. Move to a full ticketing product when you need SLAs, multi-channel macros, and a support org chart. Unbox Shared Queues target the first case for startups and OPCs.
Common questions
- Can customers see internal handoffs?
- Customers see the reply from the shared address. Keep internal coordination inside the product, not in the customer-facing thread body.
Related guides
Run support@ as a proper queue
Add your first domain free and create a shared queue when DNS is ready.
Add your first domain free