How to manage your email and save your sanity

It’s an unavoidable part of any business operating today. Most correspondence, especially unsolicited questions or concerns, originate in the inbox and end in the outbox.

Effective time management is the key to handling the influx of emails that any business will receive, while ignoring the problem will only make it harder to deal with when the time comes. Here are four ways to keep the emails under control so they are easier to manage on a daily basis.

Archive Completed Correspondence In Appropriate Folders

A full inbox appears overwhelming when it’s time to sit down and sort through the unread and saved emails clogging up an account. Many of those emails may be red herrings that have been successfully managed but stuck around the inbox anyway.

After every email conversation ends it should be archived or sorted into an appropriate folder where it can be easily found, but it should never stay in the inbox if it doesn’t require an action.

Avoid Ending With Open-Ended Questions

Many people feel compelled to email back when they don’t need to if the email they receive is not definitive and feels open-ended. By being firm and not asking unnecessary questions at the end of emails it will cut back significantly on the amount of unneeded emails that take up valuable time and space in the inbox.

Start From The Bottom Up

Customers and clients do not like to be left waiting, but if their email came at the end of a long day there’s a good chance it will find itself at the bottom of the pile. Many people start at the top when responding to overdue messages, but another approach is to start from the bottom instead to make sure everybody receives a timely response.

Schedule A Dedicated Email Response Time

A pre-planned hour in the day that is dedicated to nothing but responding to unread emails and cleaning out the business inbox is one way to guarantee that time will be spent on the email problem. Having this time put aside also allows business owners to use their other time more efficiently, knowing that no other tasks can be completed during the ’email hour.’

Some companies have a dedicated employee to handle the company email, but that isn’t a reasonable expectation for new or small businesses. By using these tips on a daily basis any company can turn around their email issues and find themselves with a clean inbox at the end of every day.