E-mail, a wonderful communication tool is also the greatest challenge to manage. Hundreds of mails pouring in from friends, forums, business associates, customers and subscribed newsletters and spam mail with enticing subject headers.
Just imagine reading even 50 mails a day. It would take two and half hours even if you just spend 3 minutes on an average per mail. Replying to five to six important mails a day would take another hour at 10 minutes a mail.
Spending up to 4 hours a day on mails may leave you with little time to do more important work. So how do you manage the clutter of mails?
Creating mail folders
The first thing on setting up a new mail account is to create folders for storing important mails. You can create folders such as personal mails, business mails, priority response, newsletters etc. This will help you sort the important, urgent and casual mails and prioritize your email activities.
Spam and bulk mails
Most mail programs have very strong spam filters and they are improving by the day. This automatically filters your mail to bulk folders based on key words and whether the mail address is in your address book among various other criteria. As a rule never read any bulk mail however enticing the subject heading may be. Just scan the headings to check whether any recognizable mail has been sent to the bulk mail folder and delete the rest ruthlessly. If you get into even opening a few mails your mail time management takes a toss for the worst.
Set up temporary mail boxes
Many users have temporary needs for receiving huge amount of mails. This could be due to inviting applications for a position, submitting to search engines and running a promo, ad campaign or site submissions to search engines etc. Set up a temporary mail address and delete the mailbox once the purpose is achieved. Most mail services now offer this service as regular feature.
Passwords
Forgetting the login and passwords are a major time waster for all mail users. Keep a separate folder for passwords and site sign ups so that you need not request the passwords every time you need to login to a site.
Email Access
Don't open your emails too frequently or use it as a time filler. There is phenomenon called entrainment, which to explain in simple terms is a feeling of speed and fast paced action provided by emails and net surfing and is a major source of addiction. This also gives you a feeling of having done a lot of work. Have a predefined time schedule for checking and replying to mails.
Unsubscribe
When you feel a service or newsletter is no longer required simply unsubscribe. You may subscribe again when the need is felt.
Finally, email is a very valuable tool. Not managed well you could have thousands of mails sitting in your mail box creating huge confusion and loss of valuable time. How well you manage it will decide how effective you will be in your communication and productivity.
R.G. Srinivasan is is a certified trainer and a management consultant. Check out his webpages at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
|
![]() |
The key to the success of e-commerce is in the... Read More
Why you need new website content.Finding or creating good content... Read More
Let me ask you a question, "What is the most... Read More
It's hard to get your email through to clients, friends... Read More
An opt-in e-newsletter is one of the most effective marketing... Read More
"I want to sell my company's products on the Web,... Read More
So, why would you want to send your campaigns out... Read More
Do you give web site visitors the opportunity to download... Read More
Let's recap what you've learned so far...In the first lesson,... Read More
You've done the hardest part; you've captured your prospect's email... Read More
If you are serious about adding email to your marketing... Read More
My first email address was with compuserve.com back when you... Read More
So, autoresponders allow you to automate the process of instantly... Read More
Suppose you have a website with 500 visitors a day,... Read More
You may remember a time before there was email?a time... Read More
5 unorthodox email subject tricks -500% more responses! (c) Copyright... Read More
Autoresponders are, without a shadow of a doubt, one of... Read More
To be successful with a newsletter, you have to specialize... Read More
I've been sending out email camapigns for clients for over... Read More
Imagine going to bed and waking up in the morning... Read More
Do you have a list of e-mail addresses of your... Read More
Over 40% of all emails within your marketing campaign are... Read More
This holiday season 15 percent of consumers in the US... Read More
Have you ever wondered how some websites get so many... Read More
Things just got a lot hotter in the hyper-competitive world... Read More
I had great feedback from my last article, and was... Read More
If you have auto response system set up for following... Read More
Email is a wonderful thing. It costs next to nothing... Read More
Whenever we talk to a new or a "we hope... Read More
Whether you've got 100 or 100,000 people on your email... Read More
Hi you may or may not know that your Autoresponder... Read More
For the sake of your long term survival and your... Read More
This is a little "beauty" of an idea if you... Read More
A strange thing has been happening to newsletters online. They... Read More
Before you start an e-mail marketing campaign it is important... Read More
The goal of all marketing is to attract interest in,... Read More
You hear it all the time... email signature, sig file,... Read More
If you are a REALTOR focused on residential sales who... Read More
The word "blog" seems to be everywhere, and what an... Read More
I've been sending out email camapigns for clients for over... Read More
We know that email marketing is a cheap method to... Read More
A powerful reason for making the switch from using the... Read More
An autoresponder course is a group of articles or information... Read More
Firstly, back-end sales is eMail Marketing at its best, so... Read More
If you've written numerous articles, you can use them to... Read More
The neurophysiological dynamics of understanding each email message are very... Read More
When it comes to your business e-mail communications, you need... Read More
Email Marketing 2005?Do's & Don'ts1. Make sure all your email... Read More
You've probably read 1000 times that "the money's in the... Read More
Sending messages and information to people who have given you... Read More
This holiday season 15 percent of consumers in the US... Read More
Even though many people have been writing e-mails for a... Read More
What is an Autoresponder?An Autoresponder is a program or service... Read More
Out of all the possible approaches to affiliate marketing, lead... Read More
1. Most people want to win over others. Tell your... Read More
A term that confuses just about everyone is "autoresponder". When... Read More
Email newsletters are an excellent means of promoting the products... Read More
There are more than 100 million e-mail users in the... Read More
Have you ever accidentally lost an important file on your... Read More
When it comes to gaining and keeping customers, every website... Read More
Publishing your own ezine is critical to establishing a long... Read More
Organisations such as the BPA have been providing auditing services... Read More
In this article I'm going to talk strictly from a... Read More
Why you need new website content.Finding or creating good content... Read More
Did you know one of the most important tools in... Read More
Most email marketers know that it is important spam-check email... Read More
Email Marketing |