Seven tips to streamline the handling of your e-mail
By Marsha Egan
350 words
Here
are seven great tips for you to streamline your email
handling:
Schedule times to receive e-mail
By selecting an option whereby you receive
your e-mail every 90 minutes, or even every two hours, you
will be able to consolidate your work. Very little is truly
urgent; those urgent items are usually handled by telephone
or personal visit.
View e-mail as a tool for keeping touch,
rather than an urgent communication tool
E-mail should not be an urgent communication
tool. It is excellent at helping people stay informed.
Anything you need in less than 90 minutes should be done by
phone or in person.
Manage your e-mail with rules
Many e-mail programs have
rules that you can apply to receive e-mail. In other words,
you can set up a rule to place an item automatically into
one of your e-mail folders, without its going into or
through your inbox.This
is a great option for newsletters.
Use preview pane
You can set
up most e-mail programs to be able to review in "preview
pane" view. This allows you to see the content of the
e-mail without having to double-click on the e-mail to open
it. Every second helps!
Put the main point or request
in the first 2 sentences of the email
This practice helps your
readers clearly know the point of the email. Too many
people "bury" the main point further down in the email.
Only one subject per e-mail
We have all received the
e-mails that address multiple subjects in the same e-mail,
sometimes impacting different audiences. It is better to
write two separate e-mails on the different subjects, rather
than to combine them into one.
Make the Subject line specific.
By putting detailed
information in the subject line, you will enable others to
properly sort their work. Many of us have a tendency to use
a general subject, such as "Tuesday Meeting." Instead, your
subject may be more effective if it states "Please bring the
attached handout to the Tuesday meeting."
Marsha Egan, CPCU, PCC, is CEO of the Egan Group, Inc.,
Reading PA. An ICF Certified Professional Coach, she is a
leading authority on email productivity. She works with
forward thinking organizations who want a profit-rich email
culture. Her recently released ebooks, Help! I've Fallen
into My Inbox and Can't Climb Out! Five Email Self
management Strategies that Will Add Hours to Your Week
and Reclaim Your Workplace Email Productivity: Add BIG
BUCKS to Your Bottom Line
