Help Email Help You: My Top-Ten Tips to Avoid Mailbox Overwhelm

With all the buzz surrounding social media, RSS, video and every other online outlet… one standby that gets taken for granted is good ol’ email. We all use it (and some of us love it), but it also can be a source of enormous frustration that can eat up a lot of the workday. Much of inbox-related angst is easily avoided with a few simple changes in what you use for email and how you process it.  In no particular order, here’s my “Top-Ten” tips for helping email help you…

1. Use a proper email service. Seriously, making a change here can make all the difference in how useful email is to you. Best part is that the best email services are either free or low-cost. Are you using free MSN or (God forbid) AOL?  Stop!! They are awful and they stick ads in your outbound messages. Who needs that, when you can use GMail or Google Apps for free (and is a million times better).  Other excellent email choices: FastMail.fm, Rackspace mail or runbox.com.

2. Discover IMAP. Most standard emailboxes you get from your web host or ISP are POP3 (Post Office Protocol) mailboxes, which allows you to download your messages to one place at a time, and doesn’t synchronize across your devices.  IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol – basically means that all your email folders are synched on the server so what you have on your computer matches your other computer and your smartphone. Best IMAP?  GMail & Google Apps, also Fastmail.fm.

3. Take your time! Everyone is usually rushed when they write emails… but it still counts as writing, and it’s worth a few extra minutes to be sure you are being understood clearly. Better to spend a few extra minutes now than endure a 3-day volley of misunderstandings and clarifications.

4. If you get an important message… acknowledge it. If you don’t have the time to write a full response, just take a second and let the sender know you will get back to them later.  Saves them from wondering if you ever got the message.

5. Use a email signature. This seems like an obvious basic, but many people still (even in a business setting)  don’t do this. Include a marketing message if you want, but definitely include contact info… it makes responding or adding your details to an address book more convenient.

6. Use your mail service’s spam-fighting system. Again, GMail. Google Apps and Fastmail.fm do this wonderfully. No need to depend on anti-spam applications when your mail system does it all for you on the server.  I have several domains that funnel mail to my main mailbox, which means I get a LOT of spam (about 10 to 15 K messages per week) – and  almost every one is caught by Google Apps – you can’t beat it.

7. Consider using other mailboxes you have for non-critical messages. I get a lot (oh, a LOT) of email newsletters and blog updates… and all of them go to an address I set up expressly for that purpose.  I do read them daily, but they don’t get in the way of important client and project-related mail.

8. Check out alternatives to Outlook. Many web-based email systems are great, and you can get to them no matter where you are. Another option is Mozilla Thunderbird. It’s free, lean, mean and has everything you need without clogging your system memory. Lots of plugins available for added features, too.

9.  Check email only 2 – 3 times per day, and not first thing in the morning. To be honest, I couldn’t work this way, but many do and swear by it. If you find that managing your email is disrupting your productivity… this is an option.

10. Use emoticons. Yes, they can be annoying and a bit juvenile, but they are very helpful in conveying the correct emotional tone in an email. A simple smiley-face can mean the difference between your message being perceived as sarcastic or sincere. 

What’s your favorite email management tricks?