January 21, 2018
Do you or your company use Gmail? We are seeing more and more companies and individuals moving to Gmail as their preferred email platform. And there’s a good reason for that. It’s free. Not only is Gmail easy to use, but whether you realize it or not, it keeps evolving and has developed into more than just a simple communications tool.
Through the use of plug-ins, Gmail offers optional, user-installed extensions that add new or upgrade current features within the email platform.
Below are some of the best Gmail extensions available today.
Each of these plug-ins are designed to give you the information, tools and ability to improve your productivity and make your life easier. Because many of these extensions are free or offer a free trial period, what have you got to lose by experimenting?
If you’re going to spend half your day managing, sending and reading emails, you might as well make the most of it.
Here are 10 Gmail extensions designed to streamline your experience and help you spend more time on the tasks that make better use of your skills so you can increase your productivity:
ActiveInbox
ActiveInbox is an app that lets you turn all your messages into tasks, which you can then sort, organize, prioritize, and track to make sure you’re getting things done. You can group tasks into projects, and measure your effectiveness — not to mention making sure you don’t leave anything incomplete or neglected.
Boomerang
Boomerang enables you to set a “boomerang” on sent emails, which reminds you if they aren’t replied to after a certain amount of time. It’s the perfect tool for preventing conversations — such as those with employees, colleagues, vendors, clients, and sales leads – from falling through the cracks.
Followup.cc
Followup.cc is an extension that allows you to draft emails to schedule and send at any time in the future. You can also send yourself reminders to follow-up with your main contacts, and see if and when your emails are read.
Ginger
Have you ever sent an email with an embarrassing typo? Ginger will make sure that never happens again; the extension will check for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and overall sentence structure. It even offers limited translating abilities for 40 different languages.
Gmail Metrics
How much time do you really spend on email? Chances are, it’s more than you think. With Gmail Metrics, you can learn valuable information about your email habits, including how much time you spend writing and reading, and how many emails you send and receive each day — as well as from whom. It’s the first step in mastering email productivity, and is even more valuable when used to monitor team email productivity.
HelloSign
If you’re tired of signing documents by printing, signing, and scanning, or dealing with document managers, HelloSign is ideal for you. It allows users to sign documents right from Gmail—no extra steps required.
KeyRocket
If you like saving time with shortcuts, check out KeyRocket. KeyRocket observes all your actions within Gmail, and when you take an action that could be done faster with a keyboard shortcut, it alerts you. It’s a fast way to learn all the shortcuts that Gmail has to offer.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Formerly known as Rapportive, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an email extension for salespeople, or anyone who wants to learn more about who they’re emailing. It draws in information on all your email contacts, linking automatically to social media sites to pull in details that may be relevant to your job. If you’re especially forgetful, or if you just need more details to do your job well, it’s a beneficial addition.
Streak
An extension geared toward sales teams, Streak allows you to turn Gmail into an interactive CRM. It may take some time to get used to the new layout of your inbox, but it allows you to organize your sales funnel, track and manage your leads, set reminders for follow-ups and appointments, and collaborate on various tasks.
Todoist
Todoist is an extension designed to turn your email inbox into a complete task management system. You can convert all your emails into individual tasks, which you can then aggregate and check off, one by one, until you reach your goals for the day or week. If you struggle to keep your inbox free from clutter, or if you often miss responses, this is the extension for you.
If you would like to know more about how Gmail plug-ins can help you and yor company, please contact LMC for a free consultation.