A shared inbox is a support email address, such as support@ or help@, that several people in a team read and answer together. Shared inbox software turns that address into an organised ticket queue inside the email tool the team already uses, such as Gmail. It is a light kind of help desk software, with no new tool for the team to learn.
Many small teams begin with a plain shared address. Everyone can see every email, and that causes problems. Two people answer the same customer, with different answers. Or each person assumes that someone else has replied, and nobody does. Nobody can tell which emails are still waiting, or how long a customer has waited.
Shared inbox software adds the main features of a help desk to the inbox. Each email can be assigned to one person, who becomes its owner. Each email gets a status, such as open, pending or closed. Team members can write internal notes on an email, which the customer does not see. The software warns when two people start replying to the same email at once. This is called collision detection. It can also add templates for common replies, and reports on how quickly the team answers.
Here is a typical case. A chain of co-working spaces in Bengaluru has a support team of five people. All members' questions arrive at one support address. A member writes: "The Wi-Fi on the third floor keeps disconnecting." A rule assigns emails with the word "Wi-Fi" to Arjun, who handles facilities. The email is marked open, and Arjun sees it in his Gmail with his name on it. He adds a note for the team: "Router on 3F restarted, waiting for confirmation." He replies to the member and sets the email to pending. When the member confirms that the Wi-Fi works, Arjun closes it. His colleagues can see all of this, so none of them replies a second time. At the end of the week, the team lead sees that the team took 47 minutes on average to send a first reply.
Because the software works inside the mailbox, it must be careful with email risks. Support addresses receive many emails from strangers, including phishing emails, which are fake messages that try to steal passwords. Companies often protect the mailbox with integrated cloud email security (ICES). Teams often keep their standard answers in a knowledge base.
A shared inbox suits a small team that answers mainly by email. As the team grows and adds chat, WhatsApp and phone, it usually moves to a full help desk, or to contact centre software for calls. The main products are listed under help desk and customer success.