Gmail: An Agent’s Secret Weapon
August 22nd, 2008 by Jeb Foster
Do you use a free email account? Is it Gmail? Tell me it’s Gmail. If it’s not, don’t worry: There’s plenty of time to get on the bandwagon. Simply continue reading to learn the virtues of this amazing (and free) email application.
With the exception of their actual search engine, Gmail is the perhaps the most beloved of Google’s offerings. Here’s why:
Gmail is free.
Gmail is huge. I don’t know how many megabytes of storage they offer (it’s constantly increasing) but it’s way more than you could ever use. Google encourages Gmail users to never delete another message–because you simply don’t have to.
Gmail is as simple or complex as you want to make it. Use it to send and receive messages. Or use it as an online base camp. There is a veritable cottage industry for finding new, cool ways to parlay the app into the ultimate productivity tool.
Gmail eats spam for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert (and for brunch, elevenses, afternoon tea and supper). And while other free email providers occasionally let errant spam messages through, Gmail never fails to stop salted meat in its tracks.
Gmail integrates with other nifty Google applications, including Calendar, Reader and Chat.
Gmail is such a popular program, with such passionate users (I’m exhibit A), developers in Mountain View, Ca., are constantly cooking up cool new features in their ‘Gmail Lab.’
Gmail handily groups emails into conversations, so your back-and-fourth about last night’s game won’t take up your entire inbox. It’s also easy to set up filters that can automatically label, archive, forward, spam, or delete your emails. For example, you could set a filter that could apply a red “follow up” label to your InsureMe leads.
P.S. I know what you’re thinking: You like the idea of Gmail, the features the benefits, but you don’t want to set up a new account and bother everyone with a mass email about your address change. Don’t worry! No one has to know you’ve switched to Gmail. Let me explain: Simply have your current mail forwarded to your new Gmail account. Then take advantage of the Gmail feature that allows you to send email from another “from” address. (For example, if you currently use Yahoo Mail, you can have your outgoing Gmail messages look as if they were sent from your Yahoo address.)
