Shared inbox vs email forwarding
Three ways to share support@ with a team, and why forwarding breaks down first.
Updated · 5 min read
Sooner or later, more than one person needs to read support@ or hello@. There are three common ways to do it, and they behave very differently once the team grows past two.
Option 1: Forward to everyone
Forwarding copies each message into every teammate's personal inbox. It is quick to set up, but replies come from personal addresses, nobody can tell whether a customer has already been answered, and forwarded mail can fail authentication checks and land in spam.
Option 2: Share one login
Everyone signs in to the same account. Replies now come from support@, but a shared password is hard to rotate, you can't tell who did what, and when one person archives a message it disappears for all of you.
Option 3: A shared inbox
A shared inbox gives each person their own login with access to the address. In Chebu, the mail and its sorting are shared, while read, starred, and archived state stays personal.
- Replies come from support@, not a personal address.
- No shared passwords to rotate when someone leaves.
- Archiving a message tidies your view without hiding it from the team.
- Support mail sits next to your own mail in one inbox.
Which should you choose?
Forwarding is fine for a solo founder who wants a copy of hello@ in one place. Once two or more people answer the same address, a shared inbox saves time and avoids double replies.