So your new year’s resolution was to hit inbox zero? Or perhaps you have a lofty goal set in mind for your professional career. Consider upgrading your digital networking game with some awesome tools. Herein we will list some services and product that will help you save time and increase your chances of closing your next deal and scoring that bonus.

15 Best Email Tools for Professionals [2017]

1. Pro Automation tools: If you haven’t heard of IFTTT or Zapier by now, boy you are in for a treat. What was once the domain of programmers has been opened to all savvy marketers for a couple of years now. You always had the option to create filters and rules, but now you can get Gmail to work with hundreds of other services automatically. Want your emails to open cards in Trello? Done. Want them to populate a spreadsheet row by row? Done. MailChimp, Slack, Dropbox you name it. There are more trigger and action scripts for more and more services added all the time.
2. Charlie App: This is a free Web and iOS app that was launched in 2016. It quickly summarizes info from multiple sources on individuals before you meet them, and serves up a one-page report. This app can save you time researching on potential leads by surfacing critical insights on the individual and company. Make sure you have the correct emails in your calendar events so Charlie can do its thing. You should know that Charlie is limited to your iOS calendar or your Google calendar. Pro tip: connect your twitter and facebook accounts to allow Charlie to surface more info using social networks.
3. Gmail Meter: Data visualization can tell you a story and validate (or crush) that gut feeling you have. This little extension allows for automated reports of statistics on your Gmail or Google Apps email account (sent on a weekly basis). Great visual graph histograms and best of all – track your average response times. Challenge yourself to lower that response time and increase the email counts.
4. Folocard (Google Play & iOS): One shameless self-promotion coming up. It’s 2017, you use a business card scanner app by now right? But, why silo your contacts in different apps? or wait a few days to finally follow up after that meeting or conference? If you are handed a business card then simply follow up right on the spot. Folocard works by quickly finding the email field using OCR from a business card and composing a template into your favorite mobile email client. A must-have tool for professional networkers who want to accelerate new relationships. During a recent gaming conference, I was able to re-engage new contacts on the same day and meet later for cocktails. Remember it’s not the Rolodex, it’s the relationship.
5. Free Email Signature Template Generator by HubSpot: Add your details, pick a design and copy paste into your email provider for a professional looking signature. Another alternative is WiseStamp which has many more features.
   
6. Canned Emails: Ready-made templates for most common scenarios. Saves time on those important emails you simply do NOT wish to compose for the nth time.
7. Rapportive: This is the Linkedin info and connector that lives inside Gmail. I have been using it personally for years. This browser extension is a fantastic social tool, as it grabs the Linkedin profile pic of any email, always great to put a face on a name. Then it also provides other Linkedin info such as role and company and work history. But the critical part is the ‘connect’ button you get to bounce off a quick friend request right from your inbox to the largest professional social network.
8. Hunter: If you are a heavy Linkedin user, hunter.io does a great job unlocking that hard to find email field, even on persons of interest you are NOT connected too. Yup, you read that right. The services perform a domain search, so you get all the emails from that domain, as well as validates them.
9. ClearBit Connect: If you liked Rapportive, you will love this one. A true pro tool with 50 Free searches a month that enriches your contact info with on-demand content from multiple sources. You can surface info on individuals from just a domain or email address. This is a godsend for researching and qualifying leads.
10. Boomerang for Gmail: Ever wanted a true Gmail power tool? Well, here it is. You can ‘Send Later’ with time zone adjustments to send in recipient’s local time. Send that email on Monday morning at 11 am for maximum impact. You can set reminders ‘if no reply’ for follow-ups. But the killer feature is the new Responsible meter. Get machine learning powered scoring on your emails. The tool grades your message to facilitate a better conversation going forward. https://giphy.com/gifs/producthunt-boomerang-respondable-3oz8xGYGUuH7hB576E 
11. Shift: Using multiple Gmail accounts as well as Google Drive and Google Calendar? Finally, recently this interesting app was launched which puts the multiple-browser-tab-account nightmare to rest. Simple and elegant and outside of Chrome.
12. Inbox Pause:  This service allows you to set your inbox on pause. No more notifications until you are ready. Remember, Focus is not what you are doing, it is what you are not doing. Go Pomodoro go!
13. Sortd: Turns your Gmail into a Trello Board. You can switch to Kanban style from your default to-do-list of emails into actionable lists that are more organized which help keep you focused and prioritized.
14. Mailparser: If you receive structured emails or attachments and find yourself copy-pasting them repeatedly into spreadsheets for example, then no more. This service parses the emails and extracts all the data for you.
15. Ugly Mail: the last tip, keep an eye on who is tracking you. Today many CRM suites and E-mail marketing services such as MailChimp allow you to embed trackers in your emails, this way you can get a notification on when someone has read your proposal for example. However, this can also be used in other ways you may not appreciate as the recipient. This fresh new extension allows you to know if a tracker is being used. It is not 100% accurate but some indication is better than none at all if you care about your professional privacy.

More Email Pro Tools to Come, Stay Tuned!

1. Time is on your side if you make use of it. I hope the recommendations herein prove themselves valuable to you. If you think there are more marketing tools out there please let me know in the comments are find us on twitter @folocard.