What is a shared inbox?

Short answer

A shared inbox is one place where a team reads and answers customer messages together, so everyone sees the same conversations and the same history, and it is clear who is handling what.

Also called: team inbox, shared support inbox, collaborative inbox.

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How a shared inbox works

  • Messages from different places arrive in one list, instead of in personal mailboxes and phones.
  • Each conversation shows its full history, so whoever opens it has the context.
  • Someone claims a conversation, so two people don't answer the same customer.
  • Filters by status and channel show what is open, waiting or done.

Shared inboxes and seat pricing

Many help desk tools price per seat: every person who logs in to the inbox adds a monthly licence. That makes sense when each person works the inbox all day. It adds up when people only step in now and then, like the colleague who knows the products or the manager who checks escalations, because each of them costs another licence.

With an AI agent answering the routine questions first, the inbox mostly holds the conversations that really need a person, so the team can keep up as volume grows.

The inbox in SimplyBoost

  • Conversations from your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram come together in one inbox in the dashboard, with handed-over conversations listed first.
  • Your first reply claims a handover, so two people never answer at once, and the reply reaches the customer on the channel they started on.
  • Prefer Slack? A handover can open as a Slack thread, and your team replies from there.
  • The account owner plus up to 2 teammates are included on every plan at no extra cost, and their replies don't count toward your AI replies.

Questions people ask

Is a shared inbox the same as a help desk?

A shared inbox is the core of a help desk. Full help desks add ticket numbers, service levels and reporting on top, while many teams only need the shared inbox.

How many people can use the SimplyBoost inbox?

The account owner plus up to 2 teammates, on every plan, Starter included. There is no fee per seat.

Can my team answer WhatsApp and Instagram from the same inbox?

Yes. In SimplyBoost, website, WhatsApp and Instagram conversations are in one inbox, and your reply is delivered on the channel the customer used.

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