Gmail is our favourite email service here at MakeUseOf, but admittedly, it has a few shortcomings. For one, the inability to schedule emails to send them later is quite frustrating. Plus, it would be nice to be able to know when someone has checked your message, and maybe even get reminded to follow-up with those who haven't.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiWi8Lw9QWg
How To Send Self-Destructing Messages From Gmail
Ever since Snapchat came around, the idea of self-destructing content has really caught on. On the text front, there have been apps like Burn Note available, but they don't offer the convenience of just sending a quick message from your Gmail to a contact. This extension changes that.
It couldn't be simpler to send a self-destructing message from Gmail now. Just compose one like you normally would, adding a recipient and a subject line (mxHero can't work without those two inputs). Next to the "Send" button, you'll see mxHero's yellow icon. Click it for a pop-up screen and choose 'Self-Destruct' in that. Hit "Send" and you're done.
mxHero will take your message and convert it into an image file. Once the recipient opens your email, he is asked to choose to display images, where he can see your message. Since it's a web image and not text, it's not stored in his inbox. The message lasts for 5 minutes from the time of opening and then disappears. Do note that it's not the email itself that disappears from your recipient's inbox; it's the contents of that email.
Send It Later: Schedule Gmail Messages
Boomerang does a fantastic job of letting you schedule email messages inside Gmail, but mxHero is no slouch either. It mimics Boomerang's functionality, letting you choose a date (today, tomorrow or a handy calendar widget) and time quickly. Set it up and forget about it, mxHero will send it when you need to. Unfortunately, unlike Boomerang, you can't reschedule emails from within Gmail's interface. The only option is to cancel sending a mail and redraft it.
Track Email Opening & Clicks
When you send an email, you want to know if the recipient has actually checked it out or if it's just lying in his or her inbox. With Total Track, you can be notified when someone opens the email you sent, as well as if they click a link or download an image attachment. Much like Right Inbox, this is dependent on the recipient having his inbox set to "Always Display Images" as the extension inserts a little invisible image for tracking if the mail has been opened. The links and image attachments are hosted by mxHero as a go-between, making it easier to track those without images being displayed. These attachments are stored for 30 days on mxHero's server.
Set Reminders To Follow Up On Emails
So what do you do if a person does not open your email? Obviously you can't remember to follow up on every single person, but it can help to set reminders for the important ones when you are sending a mail with mxHero Toolbox. In fact, you can do the same for received emails in your inbox. For sent items, when an email goes unanswered for a period of time that you set, you'll get a reminder. Similarly, you can choose to be reminded of received mails after a period, along with the ability to discard that reminder if someone replies in that email chain. Again, Boomerang and Right Inbox do this as well, but it's nice to have it as a part of mxHero Toolbox too.
Send Emails Individually To All Recipients In Gmail
Sometimes, you want your recipient to feel special about getting that email from you, even if you are actually sending it to many people at the same time. mxHero Toolbar makes that process easy by letting you add as many contacts to the "To" field as you want, and then sends that email individually to each of them. The recipient will not be able to see anyone else, and think you sent that mail exclusively to them. Cool!
Is It Really Free?
Extensions like Boomerang and Right Inbox only give you a limited number of "send-it-later" messages per month and you have to pay after that. But mxHero Toolbox's limitations are much better. You can send up to 50 mails per 30 minutes using the app on Gmail, while Google Apps users can up that to 200 mails per 60 minutes.
If it works as well as its competitors, offers a few extra features, and is available for free where the others are paid, that's a no-brainer decision!
Will you still stick with Boomerang or Right Inbox over mxHero Toolbox? Why? As someone who isn't a regular Boomerang user, I'm curious what would make you choose that, so please drop a line in the comments!
Image Credit: Cairo