Pro's Picks: Boomerang

Jessica Webber

Co-Owner, Webber Development & Construction

Athens, Ga.

I work unconventional hours, like most business owners. That’s why I use Boomerang. 

It’s nothing flashy. It’s a free add-on application for Gmail. 

Primarily, I use it to schedule emails. If I write an email to my client at 9:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, that’s not necessarily the time I want it to show up in their inbox. I don’t want to set that as the standard for our communications, or inadvertently encourage late-night emails and phone calls. 

Because Boomerang is an addition to Gmail, once you download it, it’ll automatically be integrated into your regular Gmail interface, which makes it more intuitive to use. If I send an email, right below my standard “send” button is another button that reads “send later,” which, if pressed, activates a prompt with a variety of preset scheduling options, as well as a custom send-time option. 

But that’s not all it does. 

I can also have Boomerang remind me of important emails that have been sent, but not responded to. All I have to do is check the appropriate box next to the “send later” button and select how long before I want to be reminded. 

Finally, Boomerang’s newest feature is an “AI” component. If activated, it will evaluate an email’s readability by subject length, word count and reading level––admittedly, not a foolproof system, but it is a helpful gauge. For a price, users can also have an email’s “positivity,” “politeness” and “subjectivity” evaluated.