If you’re like most professionals in the C-Suite, you receive a high volume of emails every day, which makes it challenging to stay organized. No one wants to filter out dozens of messages every time they need to find an important email. These tips will help you clean up your inbox and improve email management going forward.
Set a Goal and Stick to It
To have an organized email account, it’s important to be selective. In many cases, if an email isn’t urgent enough for you to respond immediately, it isn’t important enough to keep. Setting a goal can make it easier to prioritize the emails you receive. For example, a goal could be to have fewer than 30 emails in your inbox at any point in time. Keeping your inbox mostly empty makes it much more difficult to overlook high-priority messages.
Take Advantage of Filters
Depending on the email provider you use, the service may have rules or filters you can set to automate an organizational system. Some filters allow you to categorize emails received by sender, priority, and topic. You can also use filters to color code your messages to improve the visual organization of your email account. Filters are a great way to reduce clutter with minimal effort.
Make Use of Folders
Of course, you can’t just delete all your email messages. Folders and subfolders allow you to save emails without overwhelming your primary inbox. One folder that can be helpful is a waiting folder where you store emails you need to respond to at a later time. Subfolders are a great way to organize emails that contain important information and reference materials as long as you label the folders clearly and accurately. You can also use subfolders to keep track of email chains.
Keep Templates for Emails
While personalized messages are necessary at times, you likely also send many messages/responses that are repetitive and tedious. Creating templates can make your life much easier. You just have to tweak a few names and key words and click send. There are also a few plugins you can use to create stock email responses. Whether you create your own templates or use a plugin, the amount of time you’ll save on a daily basis is worth it.
If you’re in C-level support, you receive tons of emails each week. It’s doesn’t take long for your inbox to become cluttered and difficult to manage. Setting limits on your inbox, using folders and subfolders, color-coding and prioritizing messages, setting filters, and using templates can save you time and improve email management in your account.
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