Tactics to help you manage emails

Do you have so many unanswered emails in your inbox that you have no hope of ever getting on top of them.  The first step is to delete or archive everything in your inbox. Then send out an email to all your correspondents / colleagues explaining that you’re behind on email and if they had emailed you about something extremely important, they should email you again.  On average, less than 10 per cent will come back with another email!

Now here’s some tips to help you manage your emails once you’ve cleared the decks.

Receiving emails

When you receive emails, there are four steps to follow:

·         Do it – if you can deal with it within 2 minutes then DO IT!

If it’s going to take more than 2 minutes, then:

·         Delegate it – if you can delegate to a member of your team, then delegate it. 

·         Diarise it – set aside a time in your calendar to to action the email if you cannot take action immediately.

And finally make sure that you -

·         Delete it – don’t keep emails in your inbox.  Once you’ve dealt with them, then delete the email or file it for reference immediately or once actioned.​

Sending emails

When sending emails, ask yourself –

Why am I emailing?

Is the subject line clear?   Make sure you state what the email is about, what you want the recipient to do and what the timeframe is in the email heading!

What am I emailing?

Your emails should be short concise, and action focused.  Wherever possible and appropriate avoid sending email attachments.  And think about what the email says about you.

And finally, Who am I emailing to?

Consider who you are sending an email to.

• To – people who are required to take action,

• CC – people who are copied in for information - Don’t cc everyone – only use the cc function if you really need to. 

• BCC – should not be used without good reason.

Finally -

Use rules to manage your inbox!  If the email is from your boss or the CEO – for people in authority above you - set up a rule that puts their emails into a separate folder that you can access immediately.

If you are cc-ed into an email set up a rule where the person receives an auto message explaining that you won’t read their email immediately as you assume it was just for information. If, however, they need you to actually DO something, then they need to re-send the email and put you in the ‘To’ list, not the ‘CC’ list.

Want to know more? I run a webinar on this topic. Contact me to find out more!