Email is, as a matter of fact, the official means of business communication, widely used across organizations. Being less intrusive than phone calls, emails have taken the centre stage in our professional lives. The importance of emails is highlighted by the fact that they are intended to facilitate communication, but problems arise with the sheer volume of emails that we receive throughout the day.
The majority of us experience email overload. Despite being a fantastic tool for communication, people frequently abuse it. Your productivity might considerably increase when you master email handling. Email handling requires you to actively take control of your inbox with a systematic approach to maximize the efficiency of emails and minimize the negative effects on productivity and job satisfaction.
What is meant by email handling?
Email handling or email management means managing, sorting, organizing, and also deleting emails. It involves systematic control of the quality and quantity of emails that are sent from within and received by an organization.
Why is handling an email so important?
In a workplace, an employee spends a considerable amount of time reading emails, sending emails and managing them. Ineffective email handling can waste a lot of time and harm other employees and the organization as a whole. The number of emails that we receive daily is enough to make us feel overwhelmed and less productive at work.
With proper structuring, you can manage emails effectively, making your life easier and work less hectic. Start by checking your inbox and email account only at specific times of the day to regain control over your inbox. If the delayed answer worries you, let people know that you don’t always check your email. With distractions aside, you can greatly improve your productivity as you can focus on things better.
The benefits of effective email management include (but are not limited to):
- Greater profitability with improved email handling
- The increased output demonstrates the significance of email management
- Improved work-life balance
- More focused work
Tips on How to Handle Your Email Inbox Better
The importance of email in our professional lives makes handling it a time-consuming yet vital activity. Email management means managing, sorting, organizing, and also deleting emails. It involves systematic control of the quality and quantity of emails that are sent from within and received by, an organization.
While there are many email management software in the market, there are tips and tricks you can use yourself to make email more manageable.
1. Use the “Five D’s” (do, delegate, delete, defer, and designate) to handle emails
Do the emails that can be immediately addressed. If an email would take just 2-3 minutes to respond or take action, do it instantly.
Delegate what is not of utmost importance. Delegating can be hard at first but if someone else can do it better, just give it to them. At most, ask for your email address to be in the CC.
Delete what is finished, unimportant, or just does not need your attention. Ask yourself if you will ever need to see this email again and if the answer is “no,” just delete it and move on.
Defer if an email would require more than 5 minutes, some research, or someone else’s input. Transfer the mail to your to-do list and turn it into a formal action to refer to later.
Designate a different category/label for the emails that you would need for future reference. The emails that are not that important to constantly keep in your view but important enough to save can be moved under a new label to search for later.
Once you have opened an email, follow one of the abovementioned D’s to avoid going back to the mail to take action and save both time and mental bandwidth.
2. Utilize canned responses and templates
Source- Litmus: Email Marketing Platform
If you receive emails that require similar responses or responses that don’t vary much, it is advisable to use templates and draft a default canned response that can be modified. It saves a lot of time and effort compared to writing every reply from scratch. Just make sure to make changes accordingly every time.
Source- MailKitchen: Send your Email Campaigns and Newsletters for Free …
While surfing the web, chances are you used your email address to subscribe to newsletters that you don’t even remember. If you didn’t read the past few editions of a newsletter, chances are you’re not getting any value or it’s not worth it anymore. Consider unsubscribing from chains that no longer serve your purpose. This 10-second effort can make your inbox cleaner than ever.
4. Utilize categories, folders, and labels to organize your inbox
Source- https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/gmail-tips-that-will-help-you-conquer-email
Segregate your emails by setting up categories, applying labels, and separating them into folders and sub-folders. Keep your mailbox clutter free by using folders like “Action,” “Waiting,” and “Archives” to categorize mail.
The number of categories, folders, sub-folders and labels to use depends on the person, the emails they receive, and how they want to organize. The key is to prioritize, group, and sort emails into categories so that it becomes very easy to locate specific emails easily.
5. Allocate blocks of time for emails
Source- https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/time-blocking
Leaving your email program open all day long and responding to every email all the time will cause distraction and make you unfocused. Instead, schedule specific blocks of time throughout the day (probably 15-minute blocks) only for checking your email. The number of blocks may vary from person to person as per convenience. This minimizes interruptions that hamper your productivity on tasks and ensures that you are setting aside adequate time for them.
Ensure that your clients or co-workers get notified of the new schedule by setting up an automatic response or adding your email response times in your signature. This way, people won’t be surprised or offended if it takes longer for you to respond. If urgent, ask them to call you directly so that nothing important is missed out.
6. Get rid of spam messages
Source- https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/email101/avoiding-spam-and-phishing/1/
No matter how many emails you receive, you’ll probably never run out of space. You will always have enough space to hold countless emails and their attachments. However, it’s a good idea to delete messages you don’t want to make it easier to find the ones you need.
Clearing your spam folder regularly is an important task and while most junk mails end up in the spam folder, there are still a few of them that will end up in your inbox. It is crucial to identify such sources and report them as spam to make sure they don’t end up in your inbox ever again.
7. The best time to send emails
Managing the emails to send is as important as the ones to receive. But when it comes to sending them, it mostly depends on the nature of your work.
If your work involves taking regular updates or follow-ups from your clients, make sure your emails are crisp and clear. Segregating conversations that you want to have over emails and/or phone calls would greatly reduce the number of emails that you send and thus the number you receive.
If you’re simply informing a customer about an update, email would work. But if you want to check in with a customer and take feedback, do that over a call. Otherwise, this could result in a lot of back and forth over email.
8. Automatically apply filters to certain senders
Source- https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/filter-emails-in-outlook-with-rules–cms-31273
Consider filters as your personal assistant that does some pre-organizing for you. Filters are tools that help you sort your incoming emails automatically as they arrive.
Filters work on two basic things – a term to look out for and an action to apply if the term is matched. You can use filters to sort, label or mark your emails according to projects or clients or based on specific keywords and attachments.
Moreover, keep your personal emails out of your work email; not doing so will only distract you during work hours.
9. Every day, read and respond to emails at the same time
Source- https://todoist.com/productivity-methods/time-blocking#underestimating-your-time
Constantly checking your inbox would only lead to inefficiency and loss of time. You may think that checking your inbox every 15-20 minutes would avoid piling up emails but it only leaves you unfocused and anxious.
Scheduling a fixed time every day to manage your emails leads to efficient email management. This also enables you to set up slots and manage your emails and time effectively.
10. Within 24 to 48 hours, reply to business emails
It is common knowledge to not let important emails sit in your inbox for days and business-related emails should be replied to on the same business day. Taking more than 48 hours to respond to an email may lead to a loss of potential customers.
Reply to the sender as soon as you’ve read the message. If you’re unable to respond immediately, communicate to the sender that you received the message or at the very least, set up autoresponders to let your recipient know that you will be in touch shortly. Set a deadline and follow up.
11. Mark essential communications that you can’t immediately respond to
Source- https://www.dragapp.com/blog/how-to-organize-gmail/
Mark essential conversations that you cannot immediately reply to due to any reason. Label them accordingly or place them in certain folders where you can access them easily later on.
You can also mark the emails as unread if you accidentally opened them so that they don’t get ignored.
12. Respond to critical emails within 3-5 business days
It is important to prioritize emails that you have to respond to. Any delay of more than 3-5 business days could cost you a potential client and a lot of mental agonies later on.
You can delegate the task by simply dropping a quick internal email note to your colleague who would communicate further. Create automated rules to automatically share certain emails with a specific colleague with notes which would provide more clarity and context to your message.
How do you handle an email?
You can handle effectively your emails using the following tips and tricks:
1. Using the “Five D’s” (do, delegate, delete, defer, and designate) to handle emails
2. Utilizing canned responses and templates
3. Unsubscribing and stop receiving most newsletters
4. Utilizing categories, folders, and labels to organize your inbox
5. Allocating blocks of time for emails
6. Getting rid of spam messages
7. Knowing the best time to send emails
8. Applying filters to automatically sort emails
9. Reading and responding to emails at the same time
10. Replying to business emails within 24 to 48 hours
11. Marking essential communications that you can’t immediately respond to
12. Responding to critical emails within 3-5 business days
How do companies manage emails?
1. Don’t leave your email app open all day. Instead, set aside time every day to read and respond to emails.
2. Take action immediately.
3. Organize your inbox with labels, folders, and categories.
4. Unsubscribe from promotional emails to reduce the time you spend reading.
What are the 4 basic parts of email?
The 4 Essential Parts of an Email
1. The subject line – Arguably the most important component of the email, the subject line is the factor that decides whether your message will be read or deleted.
2. The salutation – The start of the email sets the tone for the main body.
3. The body of the email – It contains the information that you want to convey.
4. The ending.
How do I master email management?
Try these twelve effective email management strategies for getting things done:
1. Use the “Five D’s” (do, delegate, delete, defer, and designate) to handle emails
2. Utilize canned responses and templates
3. Unsubscribe and stop receiving most newsletters
4. Utilize categories, folders, and labels to organize your inbox
5. Allocate blocks of time for emails
6. Get rid of spam messages
7. Know the best time to send emails
8. Apply filters to automatically sort emails
9. Read and respond to emails at the same time
10. Reply to business emails within 24 to 48 hours
11. Mark essential communications that you can’t immediately respond to
12. Respond to critical emails within 3-5 business days
How do you handle too many emails?
To handle too many emails keep these things in mind:
1. Close your email when you are done.
2. Unsubscribe from marketing emails and app notifications.
3. Use rules/filters, labels, and folders.
4. Get a spam filter (or enable it)
5. No file attachments, please.
6. Purge everything you don’t need.
7. Don’t CC when you don’t need to.
What are email and its types?
Here are the five most common types of emails:
1. Newsletter emails.
2. Lead nurturing emails.
3. Promotional emails.
4. Milestone emails.
5. Survey emails.
What is the use of email?
Electronic mail (e-mail) is a computer-based application for the exchange of messages between users. Email is now, as a matter of fact, the official means for business communication, widely used across organizations.
What are the features of an email?
Features of an email
1. Automatic reply to messages.
2. Auto-forward and redirection of messages.
3. Facility to send copies of a message to many people.
4. Automatic filing and retrieval of messages.
5. Addresses can be stored in an address book and retrieved instantly.
6. Notification if a message cannot be delivered.
Wrap-Up – see what works for you
There are no fixed guidelines or rules attached to email management. The ‘One right way’ to manage emails does not exist. What works for someone might not work for you. It mainly depends on the nature of your work or the frequency at which you use emails, hence you would need to customise everything and find what works best for you.
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