Clutter-free Inbox is possible. Seriously!

I’m always astounded by the amount of emails people leave on their Inbox every day. It seems like a very basic requirement to have a clean, manageable Inbox. Start with a little discipline, add a dash of good organization, a lot of consistency and then sticking with it.

Here are my few tips on reducing your email congestion and increasing your workday efficiency:

1) Take action when you receive an email

  • Always apply FAT rule >> File, Act or Trash. Whenever you open an email, resolve to take one of the following four actions:

1) Reply: If you can respond to the email in less than two minutes, do it so you can delete or archive/file the email.

2) Forward: If there’s a more appropriate person to respond to the email, forward it.

3) Delete: If the email requires no action, then either delete it or archive it for later reference. Keep mail for about 3-4 weeks in “Deleted” folder; anything older than that, delete every week.

4)  Archive/File: See “Organize your inbox”

5) Set a Reminder/Add to Calendar: If the email requires action at a later date, set a reminder-or if the action has to occur at a specific time on a certain day, add the event to your calendar.

Result: Clutter-free Inbox. After applying FAT rule, your inbox should only have emails that you need to go back and take action on.

  • Use mobile email to handle deletions and quick replies and forwards when you’re away from your computer.
  • If you’re returning to your inbox after a few days away, try sorting your inbox by sender to identify chains of emails from the same people and to respond to the most current email in each chain.

2) Manage your conversation

  • Make it easy for recipients to act on your emails by using subject lines that are descriptive and specific. Consider beginning your subject lines with words like “FYI:”, “Reminder:”, “Urgent:” and “Action Needed:” to help recipients quickly understand if action is needed and if so, how quickly.
  • Divide and conquer: Create topic-specific thread when you receive an email with multiple topics that requires different actions. Forward the email to yourself but split it accordingly with a clear Subject line.

Example:

Client A sent an email regarding their active projects (Subject line: “Social Media / Sweeps”). Forward to yourself each topic separately (Subject line: “Social Media” and Subject line: “Sweeps”) and CC only those relevant to the specific project.

This helps you keep track of each project’s progress, take specific action and only leave unresolved project in your inbox instead of both.

3) Organize your inbox

  • Reserve your inbox for incoming messages and messages that you will act on in the near-term. At the end of the day, your inbox should only have messages that you need to act on the next day.
  • Set up multiple folders to help sort and archive the emails you want to keep:

1) Set up one folder for each client

2) Client with multiple projects: Set up sub-folders for each project. If a project is similar in nature such as “banners” or “print,” set up a general sub-folder with an easily recognizable name

3) Set up “Closed Projects” folder and put all your inactive clients. You can still move your emails there when you receive any communications from there but it does not clutter your Inbox folder view so you only look at your active clients

  • Set up rules in Outlook so that emails that you get regularly from a particular sender (such as newsletters and alerts) are automatically routed to a particular folder and kept separate from your normal flow of emails.

4) Respect other people’s inboxes

  • Don’t CC people unnecessarily.
  • Reply Etiquette:

1) Don’t “Reply to All” if the reply is only relevant to one or two of the people on the email.

2) If you are CC’ed on an email that is sent to many others, only “Reply” to the sender. “Reply to All” only when necessary – if you see a critical issue with the conversation and need to let everyone knows before an erroneous response is sent to the client.

3) When you received an email with a large attachment, don’t forward it to your coworkers. Instead, save the attachment in the Client Materials folder on the network and forward the location in the email.

4) Large files: Instead of sending via email, use online storage account like Box.Net or send via YouSendIt.

5) When invited to an event in Outlook, you can accept without sending a response. This only sends an “Accepted” email to the organizer, which will clutter his/her inbox. Once you accepted, you are added as an attendee and the organizer can review invite status without getting your response.

6) Unless confirmation of receipt is needed, avoid sending gratuitous “Thanks” replies.

Additional Tips:

5) Actively manage your email newsletter subscription

  • Ensure that your newsletters are delivered to you by adding the “from” address to your address book or safe sender list.
  • Update your preferences to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your email subscriptions. Many marketers offer preference or subscription centers that allow you to manage your subscriptions, select topic preferences and even control how frequently you receive emails from them.

6) Moderate your inbox exposure

  • Set your email program to check for new messages once every half-hour (or whatever time interval works for you). Email can be interruptive, so give yourself time to focus on other tasks.
  • Turn your email off sometimes to give yourself uninterrupted time to work on projects. It is the number 1 productivity and Focus killer around!
  • Try to process your email at allocated times during the day (e.g., morning: 9 – 10 am, lunch: 12.30 – 1pm, before leaving work).
  • Check your RSS feeds once a day or even once a week, depending on how crucial they are to your job.

The list may seem daunting but it’s actually very simple. I have personally organized my inbox this way since having my first email client in school (yes, I was using telnet. 🙂 ) Try it and it may change your life!

The tips above are compiled from various sources but mainly The Email Experience Council.