5 More Tips for Effective Email Management
I’ve recently written about the groundwork of organising oneself for receiving multiple emails from multiple sources. What follows looks more at actually running the system.
For simplicity’s sake, I’ll continue the numbering where I left off.
6. Check email 2-3 times/day only:
Our natural tendency is to check email first thing on arriving in the office. Usually, we start checking emails from top to bottom. This means we may miss important emails hidden below where our screen ends. I find it’s better to settle in, plan my day, and then check email (following the suggestions in tip #3 in my previous article). This may be up to 30 minutes after I arrive. I then check before lunch and in the late afternoon. This way, I can still catch anything urgent that requires a response before the day ends as well as scheduling other emails for response in the early part of the next day at work. Include (if you can get away with it) the time(s) at which you check your email as part of your signature and also in an automatic response to all emails received.
7. Use Unroll Me:
This is a great product that I came across which I use on the email account for online purchasing (every vendor wants an email address). Sadly, it can only be linked to one email account, but it allows you to decide whether you want new emails to continue coming into your inbox, to be “rolled up” or to “unsubscribe”. As at this point in time, I’ve got:
- 32 addresses which I allow to come into the inbox
- 177 email addresses “rolled up”; I get a daily report on who on that list emailed me with a “thumbnail” of the email. If it looks interesting, I can open it.
- 363 “unsubscribed” email addresses.
8. Use “Junk”, unsubscribe and delete - be brutal:
A lot of our email may be “newsletters” that we haven't subscribed to, or are sent because we purchased something online six months earlier. Whatever happens, unsubscribe immediately. I also get a lot of emails from people offering SEO optimisation services which I just move to “Junk”. Apple Mail gets to recognise these addresses and automatically moves them to “Junk”, giving me the option to delete all junk when I want. Delete messages that don't look important – they should still appear in your “Trash” or “Deleted Box” and you can generally set the time period for which deleted messages are stored so you can still retrieve them.
9. Avoid using “Reply All”:
We’ve all experienced the person who hits “Reply All” when it really isn’t necessary. If you’re in this position, establish a rule in your organisation that no one uses “Reply All” unless the sender of the email specifically requests it.
10. Send emails received when on leave to a “Vacation” inbox:
Although this doesn't stop emails coming in, you can often get your email client to direct all email received between certain dates into a designated “vacation” or “leave” inbox. This means that when you get back to work, you can start with the emails that came in after your vacation. Also, use “Out of Office” to redirect emails that need urgent responses (you have the right to “disconnect”).
If you're a heavy user of Googlemail, check out this articlefor more tips
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
posted by William Martin @ 09:49
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home