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What is meant by email management? -

Email management is the practice of organizing, prioritizing, and handling emails in a way that boosts effective productivity. It involves ways to manage incoming emails, respond promptly, and organize email archives for easier retrieval.

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How do I manage my email? -

Email management can be a huge help in the quality of both your professional and personal lives. The following slides will give you practical tips and tricks on how to implement email management.

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Allocate a specific time for your emails every day -

The average worker is thought to check their email 74 times a day! This constant worrying and interrupting the flow of your day is sure to have negative effects. Try to schedule specific times to check your emails. This focused approach will help you conquer more within and outside your emails. 

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Hit the delete button -

By a certain point, old emails are no longer worth keeping. Be honest with yourself: which emails are no longer needed? While deleting the old and unnecessary emails, ensure you report any unfamiliar or suspicious messages as spam.

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Labels, folders, categories, and tags -

Your inbox should be unique to you and your needs. Creating an organized inbox will not only help you to better respond to emails as you'll have more time, but it will be easier to locate specific emails when you need them.

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Convert your group email accounts into shared inboxes -

Group emails are often sent to everyone, even if the information is not pertinent to certain individuals at that moment. However, tools are available to help group emails flow more smoothly. For example, creating a shared inbox for sales or support allows specific individuals to be tagged without forwarding the email and cluttering others' inboxes.

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Flag emails that need more attention -

Sometimes, you'll read an email and don't have the time to draft and perfect a well-thought-out response. Consider flagging the email so you know to come back to it later and it doesn't slip through the cracks.

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Unsubscribe or mass unsubscribe -

So often, when we buy something, it automatically signs us up for promotional newsletter-style emails that clog up our email inboxes. If your inbox is already filled with this type of spam, consider a bulk unsubscription tool, which will unsubscribe from whatever you don't want.

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Set up default replies -

If you're someone who finds yourself typing out a similar or the same response over and over, consider creating an email template for these responses. Then, when you need them, you can pop open the template, amend it as needed, and fire off the email quicker than you might otherwise.

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Set up filters to send emails where they belong -

By setting up filters, you're saving yourself time in the long run. After the filters are set up, incoming email will automatically go into an appropriate folder. Then, you can prioritize which folder to check and when.

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Multiple inboxes to the rescue -

Alongside the primary inbox, you can create mini inboxes within it and separate sections according to email type, clients, or even topics. You also can select a maximum number of emails that can appear in any inbox at a given time, which is a great organization hack.

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Apply the 80/20 Rule -

As with other parts of life, using the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule, is necessary to maximize output. The principle says to focus on 20% of the inputs that lead to 80% of the results. In other words, shift your focus to the 20% of your inbox that you derive the highest value from.

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Schedule emails -

Feeling overwhelmed at the number of emails you currently have? Fortunately, there are tools available that have the ability to write and schedule emails.

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Touch it once -

Going in with the mindset that you'll only handle or touch an email once will help you in your decision-making process. If you follow this "rule," it's likely you will improve your productivity and prevent old emails from piling up. Do it once and get it over with.

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Disable social media email notifications -

To save yourself from receiving the 'ding' of every social media post or comment, be sure to disable email notifications from social media. This alone will help rid your inbox of a lot of clutter.

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Deal with group emails right away -

If you're in a group email, such as employee birthday blasts, having them automatically go into a non-urgent folder will keep them out of sight and out of mind. You can check them if you have time at the end of the week, but they are likely not pressing.

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Schedule a time to clean your inbox -

While the aforementioned tools, tricks, and tips will help your inbox stay clean, it's still important to set a few minutes aside each day to tidy up your emails. With busier days, things will sometimes end up messier than you anticipated. To avoid a true end-of-week headache with your email, clean a little every day.

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Invest in tools -

There are many tools out there designed specifically to help manage your inbox. Do a quick online search and see how they might help you.

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Use keyboard shortcuts -

To improve productivity, it can be helpful to use keyboard shortcuts when managing email. Shortcuts can streamline tasks, allowing you to do things like open a new compose window or star an email with the stroke of a key.

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Read top down, write bottom up -

A great hack is to consume email threads in reverse chronological order and respond to them in chronological order. 

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Use more than one email account -

Creating a secondary email account for things like credit card receipts and reminders or newsletters will help keep your work or school email clutter-free. When an inbox is clean, it's easier to spot important emails sooner and reply to them promptly.

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Turn off notifications -

As with social media notifications, it's important to turn off all email notifications. In fact, according to a University of California study, it can take about 23 minutes to get back to a task after a notification forces us to change direction.

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Follow the one-minute rule -

When you check your emails, if it will only take one minute to reply, then go ahead and do so. It will actually take more time and effort to leave an email unattended than to simply respond and mark it off your to-do list.

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Psychological tips for email management: set goals -

Establishing goals for your email will likely help you achieve more. Consider goals such as having an empty inbox by the end of each day or reducing response times. By tracking the changes, you can see progress and assess what's working (and what's not).

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Reward yourself -

As you monitor changes in your emailing or within your inbox, it's important to celebrate the small wins. A more efficiently run inbox can help free up time for more important, time-sensitive tasks.

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Take breaks -

Be sure to prioritize taking the occasional break to avoid burnout or feeling overwhelmed with your emails and inbox. Take time away from screens in general to practice mindfulness and to stay healthy.

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Delegate when possible -

If it's possible for some emails to be delegated to someone else, like an assistant or otherwise, try to do so. Even if the assistant does a preliminary check about which emails demand your attention and marks those as urgent for you, every little bit helps.

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What are the four D's of email management? -

The 4 D’s of email management are: Delete: Get rid of unimportant emails immediately. Delegate: be sure to assign emails that can be handled by another person to them. Do: respond to emails that require immediate action. Defer: postpone dealing with emails that require more time or consideration until a later date.
Sources: (Hiver) (ContentManagementCourse.com)
See also: Email etiquette rules you should be following

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