Gmail cost me leads, Notion Mail helps me close them

My Notion Mail inbox.

Last year, I started to notice Gmail just wasn’t working for me anymore.

Its Updates and Promotions tabs were a giant mess and impossible for me to skim and find things quickly.

Tags, filters, folders, did what they needed to do but just barely. I felt like everything was getting lost in Gmail.

I was missing important updates from clients and potential clients (I missed an invite on Upwork about a potential project with UC Berkeley. Because Gmail essentially buried it.)

It was super frustrating.

Gmail felt like I had to bend to it’s workflows not mine. I couldn’t shape it around how I actually worked.

I started looking around for better email clients…and then I got early access to Notion Mail. And immediately I was like: Oh. Ok, this might be what I’m looking for!

I’ve been using it since September of last year, and while it’s still in its early stages, I am loving it.

I spoke with the Notion team about how I’ve created workflows that match how I actually work in IRL with Notion Mail. You can read the use-case here, but I figured since Notion Mail launched this week I’d share also with you how I’m using it and my top tips.

I built a custom inbox around my workflow, not someone else’s defaults.

Notion Mail offers views - think Gmails Folders but way more customizable! This feature is what initially sold me on Notion Mail.

I’m legitimately obsessed with onboarding and client experience. Email is almost always where that relation begins and evolves. So it’s important to get it right.

When onboarding a new client, there is almost always some kind of friction - they’re handing over a lot of money, they don’t trust or know you yet, and they’re about to enter into unknown territory with you. This is STRESSFUL for clients.

I’m driven to reduce as much friction as possible when clients hire me.

When client’s experience a smooth onboarding it quietly assures them you not only know what you’re doing but they’ve made a good choice. My hot take is that you can have the best marketing and social media, but if you’re client onboarding sucks - it’s going to erode your business.

Notion Mail has allowed me to turn what had become a mess in Gmail to a streamlined client HQ that mirrors how I work. No more losing things, now I see real time updates immediately.

Here are the views I use:

How I have my Notion Mail set up with specific views to match my workflow.

1. Inbox - I use a template from Notion Mail for my inbox. TBH, I’ve always used my inbox as a to-do list. this now allows me to organize my emails into actions. Now I can visually see what’s what.

2. Upwork - I get a significant amount of leads (and amazing clients!) from Upwork. After losing that opportunity I referred to above, I can now see when any alerts come in and answer them immediately vs. sifting through wherever Gmail has decided to send them.

3. Payments - All of my notifications for payments come into this view: Stripe, PayPal, Upwork, etc. Who doesn’t love to see that virtual cash register go cha-ching!

4. TidyCal - I use TidyCal for discovery calls, and in the past I’ve missed seeing new bookings or cancellations/reschedules because again Gmail has become a total cluster. Now I can see when new bookings come in at a glance. (Obviously they get sent to my calendar, but I want to know immediately when a new lead has come in!)

5. Newsletters - This is where the newsletters go that I look forward to and actually read.

6. Loom - All Loom notifications come in here, so if a client has commented on a video, I can review and respond

7. Nice Things - This view allows me to save emails I’ve received from clients that say positive things about working with me, my templates, etc. Any testimonial emails I’ve received also go here.

8. Notion Status - This isn’t super crucial, but I like to be able to see if there’s an issue with Notion at a glance so I can alert clients (and myself).

9. Notion - All Notion notifications go here from client workspaces and automations.

10. Gmail’s garbage - lol. I still keep these filters because I can’t really do with out them.

Other ways Notion Mail redefines your inbox

Beyond Notion Mail’s views, its core features make being in my inbox way more enjoyable.

A few features I love:

• Snippets go beyond Gmail templates: Snippets are keyboard shortcuts to insert text or whole email templates (with subject lines, CC, BCC!!). Perfect for weekly client updates, onboarding, follow-ups, invoices.

• Rich formatting, fast: Gmail’s formatting editor suuuuucks, making me have to click multiple times to format. Notion Mail works just like Notion! Letting me use slash commands to add bullets, headers, and more.

• Group emails by status, not just sender: My main inbox has statuses so I can organize emails by action needed. I just change statuses as things move forward. Total game-changer for keeping up to date on where convos are.

• Inbox noise = reduced: With email you have multiple tabs and folders, it felt like I had to search for everything. With Notion Mail I have my customized views, that’s it. I’ve filtered out the stuff I don’t need to act on immediately (like testimonial forms and payments). They still come in, I just don’t have to look at them every day.

If your inbox is a disaster, or even just mildly annoying, give it a look:

👉 Read the guide + see how I use Notion Mail