Guide
Shared inbox best practices: a team procedure and checklist
A shared address such as contact@ works when every email has one owner and a next step. This procedure works in Gmail, Outlook or a shared inbox tool.
Updated October 23, 2026
Two CSV files for Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice. The names and request types are a fictional example: replace them with your own.
The procedure in five steps
- 1
Sort at fixed times
Decide who opens the inbox and when, for example at 9am, 1pm and 4pm. Each new email gets a request type from the matrix, or is closed straight away if it needs nothing.
- 2
Give each email one owner
The owner is the person named for that type in the matrix. Write the name where the whole team can see it. One name, never “the team”.
- 3
Reply or set the next step
The owner replies within the target for that type. If the request needs more work, they write the next action and its date, and tell the customer when they will hear back.
- 4
Hand over before you are away
Before leave or a full day elsewhere, the owner passes open emails to the backup, with one line of context each. The backup confirms they have them.
- 5
Close, then check every week
An email is closed when the customer has their answer or the next step is done. Once a week, review what is still open: no owner, past its date, waiting on the customer.
Ownership matrix
One row per kind of request: who owns it, who covers, how fast the first reply goes out and when someone looks again.
| Request type | Owner | Backup | First reply within | Next check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quote or new project | Daniel | Claire | 1 working day | 3 days after the quote |
| Booking change | Claire | Sam | 4 working hours | The day before the visit |
| Invoice or payment | Sam | Daniel | 2 working days | The payment due date |
| Complaint | Claire | Daniel | Same working day | The next working day |
| Anything else | Person sorting the inbox | Claire | 2 working days | Weekly review |
Scroll horizontally to see every column.
Fictional example for a small service business.
Checklist
Set up once
- Name who sorts the inbox each day, and who covers when they are away.
- Fill in the matrix with one owner and one backup per request type.
- Agree where the owner’s name is written: a label, a category, an assignment or a tracker row.
- Set reply targets the team can meet on a busy day.
Every sorting session
- Every new email has a type and an owner, or is closed.
- Nobody replies to an email someone else owns without telling them.
- Every email with a next step has a date.
Every week
- Find open emails without an owner.
- Find emails past their date.
- Follow up emails that have waited on the customer for more than a week.
- Add a row to the matrix when a new request type keeps coming back.
Where to write the owner
It depends on the setup: a distribution list, a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox, a Google Groups collaborative inbox or a shared inbox tool each show ownership differently, and some not at all. If emails need to become follow-up work, one row per request in a tracker keeps the owner and the date together.
When the procedure is not enough
If the owner keeps getting lost between email, calls and chat, a shared inbox tool keeps the conversation, the owner and the next step in one place.
Free resources: Customer request tracker, Voicemail greeting generator