Email has become the main form of communication for many people especially those in the business world. If you try phoning someone you will often find that you get their voice mail and that they won’t return your phone calls. Email them and you might get a better chance of hearing back from them. We get in excess of 100 emails per day to our office and therefore managing email without it interfering in our day becomes a really important task.
Here are 8 email tips that you can use to take control of your email and get work done efficiently.
Don’t open an email unless you are prepared to deal with it. Once you have opened the email do one of two things to it. Respond to it and delete it if it requires no further action OR Respond to it and file it in a folder if it needs to be saved or requires further action. Do not leave it in your inbox. A crowded inbox will mean emails that get neglected or ignored and ultimately someone will not get responded to in a timely manner. If you want to find an email at a later date look for it in the folder you saved it to or in your trash. There is no bigger time waster with emails than opening the same email over and over again.
Treat email like your regular mail. Would you let weeks and weeks of unopened mail sit in your house waiting to be checked? We hope not. Deal with your email and then get rid of it. Most people save way too many emails that they won’t ever need again – it’s like that clutter sitting in your garage that you never use.
Make the most of your subject lines. Make your subject lines very relevant to your email so recipients know what to expect and can treat it with the priority that it requires. Form habits you can keep. If you email people outside of your regular work hours then they will expect you to do so regularly. Decide what is best for you and stick to it.
Clear your inbox daily. You cannot attend to emails efficiently and properly when you have hundreds of them sitting in your inbox. Make it your goal to clear your inbox by the end of the day. That’s right – Zero emails in your inbox at the end of the day. We practice this and it works. You know that everything has been dealt with and then when you start work the next day you only have the new emails that have come in since you left work the previous day.
Get back in a timely manner. Decide on your standard in getting back to people and stick to it. We suggest that for most people in business the standard should be a maximum of 24 hours if not much shorter. As email is a prime source of communication for many people it is imperative that you treat it with importance. People are relying on you in order to move forward with decisions. If you are in business, your email response time is one major indication of your level of customer service and your customers/fellow business associates will gauge their experience with you based on this.
Check your junk mail/spam daily. Email filters are becoming more and more sensitive. Make sure to check your junk/spam daily to ensure that any emails that made it in there accidentally are responded to.
Give yourself white space during the day. Book off short periods of time to specifically check emails especially if you have a busy day planned.
We hope you find these tips helpful in today’s email filled world. Check out our best mortgage rates available below and let us know if you have any questions.
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