Should I use (or still use) a distribution list or a shared mailbox? We get asked this question a lot, and although some say that it depends on your business needs, I say most businesses should opt for a shared mailbox over a distribution list. Let me explain.

Let’s start with understanding what they are and how they differ.

What is a Distribution List?

A distribution list is a method using a single email address to send emails to multiple people at the same time. Using a maintained list of email addresses, you can send emails to all recipients without having to use CC or BCC to manually enter all the addresses.

Companies have been using distribution lists mostly as a visibility hack and workaround. They want a group of people to see emails sent to a particular email address, for example, a support team getting emails from a shared mailbox (support@company.com).

The original email is replicated and sent to all the members of the list. The lists can be managed easily to add or remove recipients.

It's great for sending out information, but not for collaborating, coordinating a discussion, or even staying on top of the actual email thread.

Distribution lists were created in the early 1980s as a way to share news about certain subjects such as wine tasting. Like an email blast from your favorite blog, distribution lists were not meant for two-way communication aka. when you respond to emails and the visibility stops. 

What Are the Disadvantages of Distribution Lists?

Distribution lists sounds like a great solution, but what about replies? This is where the email management all goes south. You have no way of knowing who has answered which incoming emails, what they said, or what they responded to. 

This leads to duplicate responses, sending clients conflicting information, or simply not answering some messages at all.

This is where the second layer of hacking comes along. Businesses start developing intricate labeling systems on top of their distribution lists to keep track of who's working on what.

I've heard about these labeling chaos situations countless times. Those systems work at first, but you cannot scale much with them.

When Diane joined in 2014, we created a distribution list that went to both of us. It worked fine because we were small, but as we kept growing, the system became inefficient. - Canex Global

I've heard about these labeling chaos situations countless times. Those systems work at first, but you cannot scale beyond a couple people when you're relying on distribution lists and labels to stay in sync.

Simply put, distribution lists were not designed to be used for collaborative email management or in team setting. 

Distribution lists are great for sending information or content to a lot of people at once, like a newsletter or internal communication for example, that don't require anyone to respond to emails or have open communication. They can be set up in Gmail (Collaborative Inbox) or Microsoft Outlook (Shared Mailbox), or into a marketing tool that will enable you to take advantage of segmentation.

What is a Shared Mailbox?

A shared mailbox is a mailbox that multiple team members can access simultaneously. Each member maintains a personal email account, but they all can "send as" and read messages from a particular email address.

Shared inboxes are a step up from a distribution list as they enable communication and collaboration around emails.

For example, Amy (amy@acme.com) and Lucy (lucy@acme.com) can receive and send messages from the shared mailbox address help@acme.com. They can reply using their personal accounts or use the shared address.

Users with access to the shared email inbox will be able to see and manage the mailbox from their personal account under their personal inbox. When an email is deleted from a shared inbox by a user, it will automatically be removed from the shared mailbox of all other users.

Contrary to distribution lists, most shared mailboxes offer collaborative features. For example:

• Ability to know who sent which email from a shared address
• Ability to assign messages to specific team members
• Ability to send canned responses or templates
• Ability to send from different email aliases with different signatures

A shared mailbox solves all the pain points presented by distribution lists.

• You promote accountability in the team
• You stop sending conflicting information to customers
• You add a notch of professionalism to your business belt by not responding twice or, even worse, not responding at all

How to Set Up a Shared Mailbox?

Setting up a shared mailbox isn't complicated. Most email clients offer some sort of shared inbox functionalities, however, as we'll see later the tools to manage share mailboxes don't offer all the same functionalities.

To create a shared mailbox in Google Workspace, you can either delegate an account to team members or use a Collaborative Inbox within Google Groups. Both enable team members to have access to shared email aliases and reply to messages, however, Collaborative Inbox enables teammates to collaborate around emails.

If you're using Outlook, you can create a shared mailbox to give permission to team members to view, edit and send emails using share email aliases such as support@company.com. You should note that shared mailbox in Outlook aren't available on mobile device.

Missive Team inboxes are shared mailboxes made for collaboration and assignment between team members. It is useful for teams who want a "triage" step that will clean up messages for all coworkers at once and for teams who want the ability to see read/unread status at an individual level instead of an email level. 

Allowing you to answer the question: Is David working on that email? Without ever having to ask David.

You can set it up easily by creating a team and giving it access to the email address or email account that you want to share.

Distribution Lists vs. Shared Mailboxes: Which One Should You Use?

If your goal is to collaborate on incoming emails in a team setting, 10 out of 10 times go for the shared mailbox option. On the other hand, if your only goal is to broadcast information and you're not expecting replies, go for the distribution list.

Businesses with customer support, sales, or any other customer-facing teams will benefit the most from centralized emails coming into shared mailboxes, as it will enable better collaboration and make sure every team member are synchronized.

You can find very affordable ways to create distribution lists, whereas shared mailbox solutions tend to be a little more expensive. There's a reason for this; one was made with collaboration in mind, and the other is mostly a message forwarder.

What are some Disadvantages of Shared Mailboxes? 

Mostly the added cost. Email wasn't mean to be a team activity but modern day business is a team sport so your out-of-the-box inboxes won't have very good shared mailbox functionality. Which means, if your business runs off of email inquiries and requests, you'll want software that is purpose built for collaborative teams and shared mailboxes. 

Shared mailboxes are also the wrong tool for one-way communication, that's where distribution lists shine. 

Which Shared Mailbox Tool Should I Use?

If you are looking for the best shared inbox software for your team emails, I suggest having a look at our guide.

As always, there are plenty of collaboration tool solutions out there. If you are looking for the barebones, most people start with Gmail's Collaborative Inbox or Outlook's Shared Mailbox but if you're working with a lot of volume, you might need a purpose-built collaborative inbox and they are not all created equally.

Depending on your needs, some features and functionalities might be more important than others, but being able to collaborate around shared emails is the most crucial aspect of a shared inbox tool.

Basic tools like Outlook or Gmail don't compete with a powerful tool like Missive. Sure they offer basic collaboration functionalities like labels and assignments, but with them, you won't be able to chat with coworkers inside an email conversation or compose an email collaboratively.

Considering a shared inbox tool with more advanced features can help your business offer better customer service, especially to those who process high volumes of emails every day.

No matter what tool you decide to use in the end, following shared inbox best practices will help your team collaborate smoothly and boost productivity.

A Better Solution to Distribution Lists

Missive is much more than a simple shared inbox medium; it's a collaborative inbox tool that empowers teams to collaborate around email and other channels of communication like SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, and live chat.

It can be used in various scenarios in all areas of a business.

In addition to the shared inbox experience, you will also get access to these great features:

• Internal chat
• Live drafting
• Tasks and assignments
• Shared calendars
• Rules and automation (including AI)
• Canned responses

Bringing a distribution list or shared address into Missive is a guided setup: shared addresses have a dedicated section under Settings > Accounts that walks you through connecting the address step by step.

Book a demo to see how Missive can help your business.