The average worker spends 13 hours on email per week, so you need an app to bring some order to the chaos. There are some email extension apps that are good and some that are not so good. We’ve all had our fair share of duds in the past. There’s nothing worse than picking up a bad app and having it ruin your email inbox. But when you come across the diamonds in the coal field there’s nothing better.
Sadly, skilled successful entrepreneurs know that this is usually a matter of trial and error. We’re going to show off some of the best email extension apps we’ve come across and some of the worst ones.
Best – NutshellMail
NutshellMail is something that will allow you to increase productivity through the medium of email. It’s sort of like interpretative dance, except this is actually useful.
Every day, you will get lots of emails from lots of sources. The chances are you’re getting a daily digest from every social media network your company is on. NutshellMail will take the content of every personalized email you get and compile them. For example, you can get roundups of everything that’s happened on social media.
Now you can take care of your business in one, rather than having to go through every single email.
Worst – WriteThat.Name
WriteThat.Name is a tool that has good intentions but in practice is quite useless. The theory is that it will automatically change the contact details of your address book with updated details, so you don’t have to do it yourself. The problem is that it assumes that everyone is using an email signature, which isn’t always the case.
WriteThat.Name is a victim of falling behind the competition. There are a range of other add-ons that can do this, and more. Instead of relying on the email signature, they can scan things like the person’s social media accounts. There’s nothing wrong with the idea, but there are hundreds of better options.
Best – Canned Responses
Canned Responses is a Gmail add-on that does everything you’d expect it to. Look at your average email and the chances are you say the same thing time and time again. Imagine if your email account could read your mind and write out exactly what you wanted to say without much prompting on your part.
This can be done and it can be done through automatic scripts like this. These automatic scripts allow you to type a simple command and the entire sentence or paragraph will appear. Imagine how much time you could save, especially if you’re talking to multiple people about the same things.
Worst – Xobni
Xobni aims to be an email productivity app. This email productivity app tries to combine the tools that come with Rapportive. Rapportive will remove Gmail’s sidebar full of ads. This outlook version tries to do the same thing, but the contact information it collects isn’t as comprehensive.
The only other feature Xobni offers is that it comes with a BlackBerry app. The problem is that BlackBerry has long lost its popularity to the likes of Snapchat and Whatsapp.
Best – Hybrid Connect
Hybrid Connect is a plugin that works alongside your email platform to help you create pre-designed templates. The live editor can be used to customize practically everything. It supports mobile responsive forms, works on every mailing list provider, and allows people to signup directly from email without being taken to any other page.
It’s compatible with your blog, so you can combine your emails with your blog. And it even supports signups through social media. This is one of the best email extensions for linking all your platforms that are part of your digital marketing strategy.
Worst – Better Gmail 2
Better Gmail 2 is the extension that claims to be better than the original but actually isn’t. It started off as a great option for incorporating features into Gmail that didn’t exist before. But Gmail has immensely improved and now it doesn’t really offer anything of value.
It’s a relic of an age that doesn’t exist anymore. The changes you can make are for extremely advanced Gmail users, and are therefore not relevant to the average person. We’d avoid this extension that’s in serious need of a rebrand.
The Right Email Extension for You
The best email extension for you is the one that makes you more productive. There’s always a risk that when you’re downloading lots of email extensions you’re only going to become unproductive because you’re becoming paralyzed by all the features you have access to.
Limit the number of add-ons you use to stay productive.
Which add-ons will you pick up today?
