Shared mailboxes in Outlook streamline communication for teams and departments. They allow multiple users to access, manage, and respond to emails under a single address. However, this shared nature can make it difficult to track individual contributions and measure overall mailbox effectiveness. 

Here's where email tracking software steps in, providing the transparency and insights needed to optimize your shared mailbox workflow. In this blog post, we'll discuss if and how you can successfully perform Outlook shared mailbox tracking.

What is Outlook Shared Mailbox Tracking?

Unlike personal inboxes, shared mailboxes are accessible by multiple users, making it challenging to see who's doing what. Tracking aims to address this by gathering information about email activity within the shared mailbox.

Now the question is: is it possible to track a shared mailbox on Outlook? The answer is yes and no.

Yes, tracking activity in a shared mailbox on Outlook is possible, but no, Outlook itself doesn't offer built-in tracking functionalities. Outlook lacks features for detailed tracking within shared mailboxes.

• You can't see which individual user sent or received specific emails.
• You can't track actions like replies, forwards, or deletes by individual users.
• You can't analyze response times or identify communication trends within the shared mailbox.

To manage this, you can do the manual workaround. This involves adding the shared mailbox as a separate account within each user's Outlook application. This will then allow individual users to track their own activity within the shared mailbox.

However, there are many challenges with this approach. Adding the shared mailbox as a separate account for each user only provides visibility into individual activity. It doesn't offer insights into overall mailbox activity or collaboration patterns between users. And it can lead to information overload and clutter individual inboxes.

Your next best bet? Using an email tracking software for Outlook.

Best Tools to Track a Shared Mailbox on Outlook

1. Email Meter

Email Meter stands out as a powerful email tracking software for Outlook, offering comprehensive features specifically designed to track activities within shared mailboxes. Here's why it excels:

• Detailed User-Level Tracking: Goes beyond basic open rates and clicks. It tracks who sent and received emails, open times, and response times.
• Actionable Insights and Recommendations: Analyzes data to provide actionable recommendations for improving communication workflows within your team using the shared mailbox. This can help identify bottlenecks, optimize response times, and streamline collaboration.
• Focus on Internal Communication: Recognizes the importance of internal communication patterns. It tracks internal email activity within the shared mailbox, revealing collaboration trends, communication gaps between team members, and potential areas for knowledge sharing improvement.
• Secure Data Access and User Privacy: Leverages secure Microsoft Graph API access protocols to ensure the privacy and security of your team's email data within the shared mailbox.

2. Streak CRM

Streak CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) software that integrates with Outlook and offers basic email tracking functionalities, including user-level tracking and open rates and CTRs.

However, while Streak offers some tracking capabilities, it's primarily a CRM tool and might not offer the same level of detailed analysis and focus on internal communication as dedicated email tracking software like Email Meter.

3. Salesflare CRM

Similar to Streak CRM, Salesflare CRM is a CRM software with integrated email tracking functionalities. It can track who sent and received emails within the shared mailbox, as well as offers basic engagement insights.

Salesflare, however, prioritizes sales pipeline management functionalities, and its email tracking features might not be as comprehensive as dedicated email tracking software.

4. Boomerang for Outlook

Boomerang primarily focuses on features like scheduling emails and sending reminders. It offers basic tracking capabilities for individual users, including insights into basic email engagement metrics.

However, while Boomerang offers some benefits, it's not specifically designed for comprehensive shared mailbox tracking.

Email Meter is the Best Outlook Shared Mailbox Tracking Tool

Email Meter offers a detailed, user-friendly solution that goes far beyond basic tracking. With Email Meter, you'll see:

• Who sent and received emails: Gain granular user-level insights, identifying individual contributions and potential communication gaps between team members.
• Action tracking: Understand your team's communication workflows by tracking replies, forwards, and deletions. Identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
• Response time analysis: Measure how long it takes individual users to respond to emails. This helps ensure efficient communication and adherence to SLAs (service level agreements) for customer inquiries.
• Collaboration trends: Track reply chains and identify key collaborators within your team. Foster knowledge sharing and optimize workflows.
• Workload distribution analysis: See if the workload is evenly distributed among users assigned to the shared mailbox. This allows for better resource allocation and prevents burnout.
• Data-driven decision-making: With concrete data, you can make informed choices about workload allocation, resource allocation, and overall shared mailbox management strategies.

Excited to see all these in your operations? Request a demo to find the best tier for your team's needs.