Managing Email

1
Managing Email
Lisa J. Downs

• American Society for Training Development

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Email Productivity Tips

• Minimize the distraction of a pop-up box by
  shutting it off or setting it to check every
  hour.
• Take action on each email Delete it, file it, or
  reply/act.
• Use templates and autoresponders for standard
  messages.

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Email Productivity Tips (Contd.)

• Turn emails into calendar appointments or tasks
  avoid using your Inbox as a to-do list.
• Write less text keep messages short and to the
  point.
• Focus on easy emails with quick replies first.

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Email Productivity Tips (Contd.)

• Use rules to automatically send certain messages
  into designated folders.
• Designate blocks of time in your schedule to
  check email start with 34 times a day and
  gradually reduce it to 23 times.

5
Effective Email Formatting

• Proofread your emails before sending.
• Use copy and paste commands as you would in word
  processing to save time.
• Write descriptive subject lines with calls to
  action to catch attention and for ease of filing.

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Effective Email Formatting (Contd.)

• If forwarding a message, put your comments at the
  top for clarity.
• Use bcc for bulk emails and be careful to reply
  to only the person you intend.
• Avoid unnecessary punctuation and acronyms.

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Keep in Mind

• The more you follow good email formatting and
  etiquette, the more likely you will receive it in
  return this increases efficiency.
• Setting expectations is important get others in
  the habit of knowing when you will be processing
  your email.

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Additional Time Savers

• Use a tray on your desk for paper items
  associated with email you want to send label
  this accordingly.
• Sort incoming messages by subject or author to
  process related email together.

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Additional Time Savers (Contd.)

• Unsubscribe or remove your email address from
  unwanted or unread mailings.
• Keep an address book to save email addresses.
• Delete messages with attachments after you save
  them to your hard drive they take up a lot of
  server space and this will prevent future
  problems.

10
Points to Remember

• You control your email when you process it, how
  you use it, and setting these expectations with
  others.
• By checking email only at certain times of the
  day, you may find that many issues will be
  resolved on their own.