Skip to content
Front
Hidden Gem

Curated by Surfaced Editorial·Communication·3 min read
Share:

Front is a customer operations platform developed by Front, Inc. that unifies all customer communication channels (email, chat, social media) into a single, collaborative inbox. Its core feature is the shared inbox, which allows teams to manage emails, assign conversations, collaborate internally with comments, and automate workflows, all from one central interface. This tool is primarily built for customer support teams, sales teams, and any department that handles a high volume of shared email addresses (e.g., support@, sales@) and needs to collaborate efficiently. Teams adopt Front to eliminate internal forwarding, reduce response times, and provide a consistent customer experience. It integrates with over 50 popular apps like Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, and Zoom, and is available via web, desktop (macOS, Windows), and mobile (iOS, Android).

Why It’s Useful

Front offers a dramatically more efficient and transparent way to manage team email and customer communications compared to generic shared inboxes in Outlook or Gmail, which lack robust collaboration features. For the customer support team, Front allows agents to see who's working on what, prevent duplicate replies, and escalate issues seamlessly, leading to faster and more satisfying customer resolutions. For the sales team, it centralizes all prospect communication, enabling reps to collaborate on outreach strategies and ensure consistent follow-up across shared inboxes. Front offers a free trial, with various paid subscription plans tailored for different team sizes and feature requirements. A powerful, less-known feature is its "Rules Engine," which allows for highly customizable automation of tasks like assigning messages, tagging conversations, or sending auto-replies based on keywords. It's not more popular outside of its target market because it's a premium team-focused solution, and smaller teams or individuals might initially perceive it as overkill compared to free shared inbox options. Front is a well-funded company with frequent updates, a large integration ecosystem, and a strong community of users.

Enjoyed this? Get five picks like this every morning.

Free daily newsletter — zero spam, unsubscribe anytime.