Stop running support
out of your inbox.
Move beyond the chaos of color categories and 'reply-all'. HelpSpot gives your team the structure, accountability, and reporting that Outlook can't provide.
Why teams switch from Outlook
The same frustrations we hear from every shared mailbox switcher
Scattered Conversations
Critical context lives in personal inboxes, side chats, and forwarded threads. When someone is out, that knowledge disappears with them.
One Source of Truth
Every conversation, internal note, and customer interaction lives in one place. Nothing gets lost in personal email or back-channel chats. Your team's complete history is always accessible.
Zero Visibility
How many requests did you get last week? Is your team overworked? Outlook has no reporting to answer these questions.
Actionable Analytics
Built-in reports track volume, response speed, and resolution times automatically. Know exactly how your team is performing.
The Collision Nightmare
Two agents reply to the same customer at the same time. One says 'Yes', the other says 'No'. You look unprofessional and the customer is confused.
Single Assignment
Every request in HelpSpot is assigned to exactly one agent. There's never any question about who's responsible. Combined with real-time collision detection, duplicate replies become impossible.
Outlook vs HelpSpot
Why growing teams graduate from shared mailboxes
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Manual assignment only
To assign an email, you have to drag it to a folder or tag it with a category. It's manual, error-prone, and doesn't prevent other people from working on it.
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Performance caps
Microsoft limits shared mailboxes to ~25 concurrent users. Beyond that, search breaks, sync fails, and the inbox slows to a crawl.
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No audit trail
Sent items often end up in the individual agent's personal 'Sent' folder, not the shared box. You lose the complete conversation history and context.
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AI costs extra
Want to summarize long threads or draft replies with AI? You'll need to purchase a Microsoft 365 Copilot license for every single user.
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Automated workflow
Automatically route tickets, assign them to the right agents, and escalate issues that haven't been answered on time.
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Unlimited Scale
Whether you have 5 agents or 500, HelpSpot grows with your team. No user caps, no storage limits, no performance degradation as you scale.
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Centralized History
Every interaction is logged centrally. You always see the full conversation, internal notes, and customer history in one view.
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AI included for free
We don't charge a 'tax' on technology. Smart features like summarization, translation, and intelligent triage are included for every user at no extra cost.
Ready to simplify your support?
Feature-by-feature comparison
Comparing Outlook Shared Mailbox vs HelpSpot
HelpSpot
|
Outlook
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Feature | All Inclusive | Shared Mailbox |
|
Core Ticketing
|
||
| Centralized shared inbox | ||
| Single assignment | ||
| Collision detection (who is viewing) | ||
| Status tracking (Open/Pending/Closed) | Manual Folders | |
| Internal private notes | ||
| Unified customer history | ||
|
Portal & Knowledge Base
|
||
| Customer self-service portal | ||
| Public knowledge base | ||
| Contact forms with custom fields | ||
| Multi-brand support | Complicated | |
|
Automation & AI
|
||
| Real-time trigger actions | ||
| SLA (Service Level Agreements) | ||
| Time-based automation triggers | ||
| AI Ticket Summarization | Included | Copilot ($30/user/mo) |
| AI Response Generation | Included | Copilot ($30/user/mo) |
| Round-robin assignment | ||
|
Reporting & Analytics
|
||
| Response time tracking | ||
| Ticket volume trends | ||
| Agent performance metrics | ||
| Custom report builder | ||
| Scheduled report exports | ||
|
Technical & Limits
|
||
| Storage Limit | Unlimited | 50 GB (Free tier) |
| Recommended Max Users | Unlimited | ~25 Users |
| Search capability | Full text, instant | Slow / Unreliable |
| API Access | Full REST API | Graph API (Complex) |
| Self-hosted option | ||
"Free" is the most
expensive option
The sticker price is $0. The actual cost? It's hiding in every inefficient workflow, every lost customer, and every decision you can't make because you don't have the data.
Wasted Agent Hours
Searching for context, duplicate replies, manual sorting. Minutes per email add up to hours per week, per agent.
Lost Customers
Slow responses and dropped requests drive customers away. One lost customer costs more than a year of proper tooling.
Reputation Damage
Duplicate replies, conflicting answers, and missed follow-ups make your team look unprofessional. Trust is hard to rebuild.
Flying Blind
No response time data. No volume trends. No agent metrics. You can't improve what you can't measure.
Migration made easy
We'll help you every step of the way
Connect Your Inbox
Connect your existing support email to HelpSpot. Your customers won't notice any change.
Organize & Assign
Our team helps you set up categories, automation rules, and assign your team members.
Track & Improve
Start seeing real data on response times, volume, and team performance immediately.
Built for teams who live in email
Most help desk software tries to replace email with something entirely different. Enterprise tools are built for organizations with dedicated implementation teams and months of training.
HelpSpot takes a different approach. Our workspace mirrors the email experience your team already understands: a clean inbox view, threaded conversations, and a rich text editor that works exactly like Outlook or Gmail.
"It was so hard to have transparency: we'd have an inbox full of messages, but it was difficult to figure out what was being dealt with and who was working on what."
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about switching from Outlook
Outlook is free, but inefficiency is expensive. HelpSpot pays for itself by preventing lost customers, stopping duplicate replies, and providing the data you need to staff correctly. If you have more than 3 people sharing an inbox, you are likely losing money on 'free' Outlook.
Yes! You simply forward your existing address (like support@company.com) into HelpSpot. Customers won't know the difference—except that your replies will be faster and more consistent.
Not at all. HelpSpot's interface is designed to feel familiar to email users. You still have a shared inbox, but now you have status options, assignment tools, and internal notes right alongside the email.
Yes. We support Modern Authentication (OAuth) for Microsoft 365, ensuring a secure and reliable connection to your mail servers. Learn more about our integration options.
Trusted by teams who made the switch
Trusted by industry leaders
Ready to switch?
We'll help you move.
Start your free trial and our team will help migrate your data, train your agents, and get you up and running. No risk, no commitment.
