7 Tips to Manage Your Inbox Like a Pro

I had a chance to sit down and share a meal with a few of my wonderful friends this week. As we went around the table talking about our week I heard a reoccurring pattern. Stress at work and a lot of it! The ironic part is the stress wasn't about doing their job or about project deadlines. It was due to the massive number of emails they received each day. They felt overwhelmed and unproductive during the day because they spent so much time dealing with their inboxes. The remainder of our evening was me giving them a quick rundown of how to help manage their inbox stress.

I think this is a common problem that many people are facing at work, especially in companies that use email as their main internal communication source. A lot of stress can be avoided by setting up a simple system for processing your email. So straight from girls night here are my quick 7 tips to manage your inbox like a pro!

1. Handle your email with Gmail

I recommend the use of Gmail, not as a die-hard Gmail fan, but as someone who has tried out various email clients over the years and found universally that most people I work with including myself find it user friendly. It has some amazing features including filters and keyboard shortcuts and if you use a desktop client like Outlook or Thunderbird, then Gmail also provides for IMPA access, which makes life easier.

It’s actually possible to send and receive emails via your me@mydomain.com address through Gmail, and the process for doing so is quite simple.

1. Create a Gmail account for your site.

2. Head to your current client and forward all your incoming email to the Gmail account.

3. In your Gmail account, go to Settings –> Accounts. Under ‘send mail as’, click ‘Add another email address’. Enter the details for your me@mydomain.com account.

4. Complete the verification process.

5. Make your me@mydomain.com address you default for ‘send mail as’.

6. And you’re done.

NOTE: If you work for a company, always check with your IT department before you link any accounts. They can tell you about any possible company policies against it and in many cases can set it up for you on both your computer and phone. This is a huge help for those of us who might be a bit less technologically savvy.

2. Create useful labels and folders

Let's be honest, not every email is as urgent as the next, though it can be difficult to keep track of those you need to answer quickly. Develop a labeling system that will help you get things done. I recommend setting up three folders under your inbox: Daily To Do, End of Week and FYI.

Then I only leave my most important emails that I tag with ‘Reply ASAP’, or an equivalent in my actual email inbox window. That way less urgent tasks aren't taking up room on my email screen and leading to that anxiety that long lists of unanswered emails can create.

On the same note I think it's really important to archive as many emails as you can. If you’re using Gmail, you don't have to worry about storage space and it’s worth it in case you need to retrieve details or contact someone again in future. I'm horribly guilty of having to do this when I forget to put someone in my contacts.

3. Process emails in batches

A simple way to increase your productivity is to turn off auto notifies. Not everyone can do this especially if you work in a fast paced company that uses email, as it's main form of communication. I do believe it’s simply not necessary to check email constantly throughout the day, and doing so will regularly interrupt more important tasks.  But, if you must keep the auto notifies on then at least try to process your inbox in batches. Set a schedule for checking and responding to email unless that notification screams respond ASAP. This will allow you to plow through the rest of your productive tasks without constant interruption.

4. Read it, answer it

I find a lot of people seem to read all their emails before actually replying to them. Sometimes they might even wait a couple of hours before getting back to these previously read emails.

Please don't do this. (said with big puppy dog eyes and hands clasped in supplication.) First of all you might forget about some emails altogether. Once they are marked as “read” on your inbox, they will get mixed with all the others that you have already replied to.

Secondly, this process will also consume more time, since you will probably need to read each email a second time before remembering what you will need to say in the reply.

What would be a better approach? Simple, whenever you read an email, answer to it right away.

5. Use a template email

I’d like to meet one person who hasn’t spent time composing a thoughtful or time sensitive email, only to have it completely and utterly ignored. In most cases, the receiver has a good excuse, but that doesn’t change how frustrating it is not to get a response.

A quick and simply solution to ensure people never feel this way about you is to use a bridging email for lower priority emails. Set up a few template emails that you can quickly send in response. I recommend a sentence saying you’ve received and read their email, but don’t have the time to answer at the moment. If you know when you might be able to answer, provide a broad timeframe; a few days or the end of the week. I use this for all of my companies update emails or industry reports that my boss forwards me. That way I'm acknowledging that I understand he would like me to read them and I give him a general idea of when I have time to accomplish the task. Then I file the email in my sub folders to work on as I have time.

Taking a few seconds to acknowledge these email can mean the difference between leaving a positive or a negative impression and it will also save you a follow-up email asking if you got the original email.

6. Keep it short & Sweet

This benefits you and the person on the receiving end of your email, particularly if that person is busy like you.

•    Greet the correspondent by name.

•    Cut out unnecessary words and sentences.

•    Address the essential: not everything warrants a response.

•    Use paragraphs liberally. It’s easier to read, and makes your email more approachable.

•    Sign-off with your name. It can change the tone of your email, and only takes a second or two.

7. Re-read once

Go back and edit typos. It’s important that your meaning and expression is clear, especially when making pitches or networking with other people.

Also, remember that spell checking is not enough. For example, typos and mistakes that form other valid words and will not be corrected by the spell checker. Proofreading is key to looking polished and on top of it!

How do you manage your email stress? Feel free to share your tips and tricks!

Best,

Erin