Hiver

A Help Desk That Lives Inside Gmail

Hiver took a bet in 2011 that not everyone wants to leave their inbox to manage support. That bet paid off. Instead of making you switch to a separate platform, Hiver adds help desk functionality as a Gmail extension. Your agents never leave the Gmail interface they already know.

How the Shared Inbox Works

When an email hits your shared address (support@, info@, etc.), it appears in every team member's Gmail with Hiver's sidebar showing assignment status, tags, and notes. One click assigns the email to a specific person. Internal notes live right next to the email thread — your customer never sees them. Collision detection prevents two agents from replying to the same email simultaneously. It's surprisingly elegant for something bolted onto Gmail.

Automation and SLA Tracking

Round-robin assignment distributes incoming emails evenly across your team. You can build rules that auto-tag, auto-assign, or escalate based on subject line, sender domain, or time elapsed. SLA policies trigger alerts when response or resolution times approach their limits. For a Gmail plugin, the automation depth is impressive — it covers 80% of what standalone tools like Freshdesk offer.

Analytics and Live Chat

The analytics dashboard tracks first response time, resolution time, agent workload, and customer satisfaction (via CSAT surveys embedded in email closings). Hiver also added live chat in 2022 — a widget on your website that feeds conversations into the same Gmail-based workflow. It's not as feature-rich as Intercom's chat, but it keeps everything in one place.

The Gmail Dependency

The obvious limitation is Gmail lock-in. If you use Outlook, Yahoo, or any other email client, Hiver won't work. Period. The $22M in funding has gone toward deepening the Gmail integration rather than building a standalone product. For Gmail shops, that's a feature. For everyone else, it's a dealbreaker.