Salesforce Inbox Makes Life Easier

Also published on Medium.

About the Author: Gary Galvin

September 8, 2017

Salesforce Inbox, formerly called Salesforce IQ, is an email client that is built in with a mobile first framework and integrates seamlessly with GMail and Office365. It brings emails and Salesforce together into one application so there is no need to switch between Salesforce and email to keep records updated. As a result, Salesforce users are able to update their pipeline, log sales activity, create and manage accounts, create next steps and more.

I’ve been using Salesforce Inbox since Salesforce purchased RelateIQ in 2014 and I haven’t looked back. Personally, I am on my iPhone a lot and with all the traveling I do, I have to keep up with daily activities tied to pipeline and client management. In the past, I used the iPhone native email app and the Salesforce1 app, but I had to keep going back and forth between the two to keep data updated. With the combination of Salesforce Inbox and Salesforce1, it is like using one app on my phone because the two of them interact brilliantly.

Why Does Salesforce Inbox Make Life Easier?

My main source of important customer data is Salesforce. Email is a major communication medium throughout the day. Having both of them combined keeps things simple. Here’s how I use Salesforce Inbox all day long:

Send and receive emails.
Log emails from an email message to a Salesforce record.
Create a new Salesforce lead, contact, opportunity, case or task directly from my inbox and into Salesforce.
Access my calendar to view and add meetings and events directly.
Manage my daily to-do list that is in Salesforce tasks.
Set a follow up task if there is no reply.
Engage with Salesforce contacts.
Send files from Salesforce, Google Drive or Dropbox without leaving my inbox.

How Does Salesforce Inbox Help Close More Deals?

People in business have to be organized and efficient with their time and technology solutions like Salesforce provide us with a leading platform to achieve this. While an all-in-one inbox is a nice perk, Salesforce Inbox goes beyond that — it helps close me deals faster. Here’s how:

Updating an opportunity status from my inbox triggers various Salesforce workflows to assign appropriate tasks for our production team.
I send calendar availability directly from my inbox and no longer flip between my calendar and inbox to find ideal meeting times.
Alerts notify me when an important email has been read or engaged with, thus allowing me to strike with the iron is hot.
The Send Later feature allows me to schedule an email to be sent in the future. I can write those late night emails to be sent at 8:05am when I assume my contact will be in front of their computer and ready to read it. In addition, I am able to even send a follow-up email several days in advance.
Insert pre-written Salesforce templates into an email. Those emails that I seem to write over and over can now be saved as a template and easily selected when I need them.

But My Favorite Feature Is…..

Setting time zones. We work with companies all over the country. This means we are dealing with various time zones when trying to schedule a meeting. If I want to insert my availability, I can just set it to a contacts time zone. No longer do I have to do the math of the times I proposed and fit it into their time zone. Nor do I make the dreaded mistake of having to reschedule and start all over because one of us misunderstood the time zone. This is a simple feature but it has been tremendous in setting schedules.

Salesforce Inbox for Your Computer Too

Throughout this blog post, I’ve been describing Salesforce Inbox for my iPhone. Now, take these same features and it is replicated into your GMail or Office 365 email. So when you are at your laptop and using email, the Salesforce Inbox interface sits nicely to the right, providing you important information from Salesforce. You don’t have to leave your desktop email client and update Salesforce. With Salesforce Inbox, you can take all the features that I described and replicate it on your desktop.

So, It’s True

Just like you, I have a lot to do every day. Salesforce Inbox has given me the platform I need to handle my emails and Salesforce much more efficiently and effectively. It does make life easier.

Also published on Medium.