Organising your inbox is one of the most highly requested services for a virtual assistant. That’s because when emails are not kept in check, you can soon find you have a hectic inbox that leaves you feeling overwhelmed. So, if you need some inbox management tips to organise your emails… you’re in the right place.
It may seem like a simple task on the surface, but it’s the cause of daily stress for many business owners and employees. People often spend unnecessary hours in their day worrying about emails and dipping in and out of the inbox when they should be concentrating on other tasks.
When asked for important information from a client, or to review an attachment, have you ever found yourself with sweaty palms unable to find the email? If you’ve been in this situation, when you know you’ve received an email, but you don’t know where it’s gone, then you need to act now. Avoid panic-mode by having a better inbox management process.
Why is inbox management important?
Emails are an effective communication tool when used well. But many people over-use them and struggle to keep on top of the endless messages. How many emails do you get in an average day? Are you in a position that you can end your working day knowing everything has been answered?
It’s safe to say that your inbox is the central hub of your business. It’s often where your enquiries, sales, finance, and customer communication happen. With all these important notifications passing through your inbox, it’s vital to have an effective inbox management system. Without it, you could damage your reputation and brand by missing key information. You could even lose out on new business be not realising initial enquiries are coming in.
To significantly reduce stress and overwhelm, I recommend you follow these five top inbox management tips. They are simple and effective ways to help stop you drowning in emails.
- Create folders in your inbox
By creating folders in your inbox, you can categorise emails and retrieve them more easily. Ideally, you want to make the headers mirror your internal filing systems (whether hard copy or digital). The most important thing to remember is to make it simple, consistent, and easy to follow.
You can also set up rules or automations to automatically save emails to certain files and save attachments. If you have different clients, you can add their contact information and set up an automatic rule to go into their folder.
2. Create a virtual in-tray for emails
A traditional physical in-tray system has been used in offices for hundreds of years. Recreate this organisation tool in your inbox to help you to sort through emails. You could label different folders, such as read, action, pending... you would obviously use labels depending on your personal preference and business functions.
Another method could be to have a waiting folder, where you are waiting information from someone else before you can complete the action.
Then you can move email messages into the different categories once you’ve completed the actions. This way, you can easily keep track of any emails you’ve missed or still need to reply to.
3. Create categorised email tags
Email tags are a great inbox management tool. You can segment your messages efficiently with different tags for different purposes, each assigned with their own colour code. It’s a simple and effective way to manage your emails. Access information within seconds with successful tagging systems.
4. Unsubscribe to unwanted emails
Think again about just how many emails you receive daily… One of the fastest inbox management tips to action is to unsubscribe from newsletters and marketing emails you don’t need (or find boring).
We are all guilty of signing up to newsletters and forgetting to unsubscribe. Admit it, you’re not reading most of them… My advice is to assess which newsletters bring value to you, including which ones you enjoy reading, and unsubscribe to any that don’t fit the bill. It’s a cathartic experience unsubscribing to unwanted emails!
And if you’ve used your work email address when making an online purchase, I am sure you receive marketing emails from the outlets very regularly. Unless it’s a store you want to keep a close eye on, unsubscribe – you’ll be amazed how your inbox goes down.
5. Delete and archive email messages
When you get sent emails which are of no interest or value to you, or you have no further use for, delete them from your inbox. Ensuring you do this along with the unsubscribe tip will guarantee a clutter-free inbox. Be careful to not delete important emails though in your email purge! (Don’t ever worry if you do – they’ll be sat in your ‘Trash’ folder for 30 days, so you have time to retrieve them when you realise.
Archiving can be used for emails you want to keep on file but don’t want to bin. A great tip is to archive emails for finished client projects, clearing them from your main inbox but ensuring they’re still accessible should you need them.
Apply these inbox management tips for a calmer workday
Organisation doesn’t come easily for some people, so I hope these inbox management tips can help you to find calm if you currently experience email chaos. The best advice is to treat your email inbox as you would any other business system, defining a process that you can stick to.
Much like having effective filing systems, I realise it’s not the most exciting topic, but inbox management is vital to your business. With my many years as a project manager and virtual business manager and assistant, I’ve become an expert at keeping a clear, clutter-free inbox. I can guarantee you won’t regret spending some time to set up the simple inbox management tips mentioned above.
Different email providers will have their own features presented differently, and you will find that some inbox management tips suit you more than others. If you need help working out the most efficient way to manage your emails, get in touch for support from an experienced virtual project manager.