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I think this is a real YMMV subject - using a single email address can be a little dangerous if your startup has a chance of "going big" (and don't they all??).

by jen_h 15y ago

I think this is a real YMMV subject - using a single email address can be a little dangerous if your startup has a chance of "going big" (and don't they all??). Even 50 extra messages a day can be overwhelming and you may find yourself skipping over important messages as you struggle to move them off your plate quickly. Even worse if it all lands in your primary inbox folder, distracting you from focused work (this is especially important if you're "two guys/gals in a garage" where productivity & focus really, really matters). I actually set up multiple email addresses for support in this way on purpose, based on platform. I find I'm far more efficient if platform 1 goes into folder 1 and platform 2 goes into folder 2. No need to make giant cognitive leaps in jumping from one message to another, and you can sit down and respond to everything all at once, not interrupting your flow...you're more productive, less overwhelmed, and contacts get their answers faster (and their emails don't get buried in your overwhelmed primary inbox). If you are a consumer Internet startup and have a single downtime, you will completely understand where I'm coming from here...

StavrosK 15y ago
I don't know, if that's too big of a load just use a CRM with email integration and have people pick new emails according to their position, or have an assistant/secretary route the emails to the appropriate address. That sounds much more reasonable, not to mention that you won't use your email address as the single contact, rather you will set up a different one that will act as a dispatch.
- jen_h 15y ago
  I actually find Groups within Google Apps mail to be pretty easy to set up and effective for our needs--setting up private groups is a really cheap & easy way to sort mail for free. I have groups like: - productA-support (which is really just "support@") - productb-support - info/hosting/privacy/twitter/etc (not all aliases are publicized, but tend to match what people would make up when attempting to send email to us) The support aliases forward to me and to a dedicated support account. I always use the "Send As" feature so that nothing has my name on it unless you're nosy & look at the headers. The info and other aliases go to both myself and to my partner. We both want to catch biz dev inquiries and any special snowflake requests, but I handle all support to ensure morale stays high. If we add staff, we can add them to the groups pretty easily. Though at some point thereafter, we'd likely need some solution for determining what's been handled. It's a little hokey, maybe, but cost-to-benefit works well right now.
  - StavrosK 15y ago
    Ah, good idea, I forgot about that function. However, I would be a bit worried about who handled what, since (as you already mentioned) there's no good way to say "I've got this one".

by jen_h 15y ago

StavrosK 15y ago

I don't know, if that's too big of a load just use a CRM with email integration and have people pick new emails according to their position, or have an assistant/secretary route the emails to the appropriate address. That sounds much more reasonable, not to mention that you won't use your email address as the single contact, rather you will set up a different one that will act as a dispatch.

jen_h 15y ago
I actually find Groups within Google Apps mail to be pretty easy to set up and effective for our needs--setting up private groups is a really cheap & easy way to sort mail for free. I have groups like: - productA-support (which is really just "support@") - productb-support - info/hosting/privacy/twitter/etc (not all aliases are publicized, but tend to match what people would make up when attempting to send email to us) The support aliases forward to me and to a dedicated support account. I always use the "Send As" feature so that nothing has my name on it unless you're nosy & look at the headers. The info and other aliases go to both myself and to my partner. We both want to catch biz dev inquiries and any special snowflake requests, but I handle all support to ensure morale stays high. If we add staff, we can add them to the groups pretty easily. Though at some point thereafter, we'd likely need some solution for determining what's been handled. It's a little hokey, maybe, but cost-to-benefit works well right now.
- StavrosK 15y ago
  Ah, good idea, I forgot about that function. However, I would be a bit worried about who handled what, since (as you already mentioned) there's no good way to say "I've got this one".