More efficient internet communication tools have come and gone but the email, it seems, is here to stay. In fact, instead of going the way of Yahoo Messenger that got killed off just last year, the number of emails being sent and received is still climbing 6% per year. To put that in context, there were already 188 billion emails sent daily in 2013.
This is mostly because it has a low barrier to use. Even the elderly, most of whom are notoriously tech illiterate, have email addresses.
However, it’s something that not a lot of users have the time or the motivation to master. The end result is an avalanche of emails, both urgent and unimportant, left unread and unsent. The average user’s inbox has become an indistinguishable mix of spam, personal, and professional messages that might take years to read through.
So, we thought that it’s about time that we try to finally take back control and enhance our mastery of it. Here are some easy steps so you never have to miss an important email again:
Have Multiple Email Accounts for Specific Uses
Have you experienced missing an important email because it came jumbled in with other inconsequential ones? It’s a real problem with some people even missing lucrative job offers because of this disorder.
One way to introduce order to mess of an email account is to use specific emails for specific tasks. The one you use for logging on to apps and websites, for example, should be different from where you receive emails from your professional contacts. Segmentation is the name of the game here and it could help you make sure that you don’t miss another important email.
You should also use a different email for logging in to various websites and apps. These tend to come with an email list subscription that could potentially lead to a pile-up of spam and promotional emails that you didn’t ask for.
Unsubscribe to Websites You Don’t Really Want to Follow
Hidden in the fine print after the end of each spam mail is an unsubscribe button that can do wonders for your inbox and your sanity. It’s something that’s always been there but we just don’t notice. This is because we’re so quick to hit the delete button on spam and, of course, they’re usually written in a small font and can be located only after you’ve scrolled through the entire email.
Sure, the delete button is easy enough to click on every time you receive spam, but do you know what’s easier? – not needing to click on it again for the next round of spam mail from that website. Keep only the promotional materials from the subscriptions that you truly care about.
Turn Off Notifications
It’s not a good feeling when you miss an important email but it’s an even worse endeavour to work through an annoyingly steady amount of email notifications you get throughout the day. For this reason, it may be wise to turn it off.
Emails have become productivity tools more than anything. But, how can you be productive with notifications going off on you every other minute?
It is recommended that you check email only when you have time to respond. This way, you don’t have to craft emails in your head while you’re doing something else. Furthermore, you'll be able to give your response the emails the focus and attention it deserves. At the beginning of the workday and at the end of it before going home would be the best times. This way, you’ll be able to work on the most urgent emails in the morning and on the less urgent ones at night.
Use the Draft and Schedule Functions
For those ultra-important emails like a job application cover letter, you’ll want to take some precious time to craft the absolute version of it. You are selling yourself, after all, and you don’t want to short-change or oversell. A balance must be struck and that takes time, effort, and focus.
However, in the effort to make it as perfect as it can be, you can get way too focused that you forget to click the send button. In these cases, it might be best to schedule your response. It’s a new feature that I think should have always been there.
Another use case where scheduled emails might be applicable is when you’ve crafted an email on a Saturday. If you send it on that day, you’d end up looking like a workaholic. Recipients will then be pressured to reply or act on your email accordingly. This is frowned upon especially in a society where a work-life balance has become a prevailing ideology.
Delete Email Exchanges That You No Longer Need
One thing that has an immediate effect on your inbox is to delete your messages altogether. This immediately diminishes the visual clutter.
However, did you know doing so can also give you some extra space on your cloud drive? This is because deleting messages deletes attachments as well. This means that photos, videos, documents, and other media get deleted from your drives as well. While they may be small, accumulation of these can amount to a lot, especially on your expensive cloud storage services like Google Drive or OneDrive.
Email services like Google and Hotmail have recently made it easier for users to delete in bulk by letting you select all the messages in a certain category. Combined with the relatively well-categorized management system, you can accomplish this task quite easily. The promotions category is the usual victim of this method.
Don’t Use Email for Extremely Urgent Situations
You don’t email for a 911-worthy situation.
Not everyone is invested in email at the same level. Millennials and younger generations, for example, tend to use instant messaging applications readily available on smartphones such as Slack and even Facebook Messenger more than emails.
Emails are for important yet not too urgent tasks that don’t require a reply or some other action on the spot.
This is mostly because it has a low barrier to use. Even the elderly, most of whom are notoriously tech illiterate, have email addresses.
However, it’s something that not a lot of users have the time or the motivation to master. The end result is an avalanche of emails, both urgent and unimportant, left unread and unsent. The average user’s inbox has become an indistinguishable mix of spam, personal, and professional messages that might take years to read through.
So, we thought that it’s about time that we try to finally take back control and enhance our mastery of it. Here are some easy steps so you never have to miss an important email again:
Have Multiple Email Accounts for Specific Uses
Have you experienced missing an important email because it came jumbled in with other inconsequential ones? It’s a real problem with some people even missing lucrative job offers because of this disorder.
One way to introduce order to mess of an email account is to use specific emails for specific tasks. The one you use for logging on to apps and websites, for example, should be different from where you receive emails from your professional contacts. Segmentation is the name of the game here and it could help you make sure that you don’t miss another important email.
You should also use a different email for logging in to various websites and apps. These tend to come with an email list subscription that could potentially lead to a pile-up of spam and promotional emails that you didn’t ask for.
Unsubscribe to Websites You Don’t Really Want to Follow
Hidden in the fine print after the end of each spam mail is an unsubscribe button that can do wonders for your inbox and your sanity. It’s something that’s always been there but we just don’t notice. This is because we’re so quick to hit the delete button on spam and, of course, they’re usually written in a small font and can be located only after you’ve scrolled through the entire email.
Sure, the delete button is easy enough to click on every time you receive spam, but do you know what’s easier? – not needing to click on it again for the next round of spam mail from that website. Keep only the promotional materials from the subscriptions that you truly care about.
Turn Off Notifications
It’s not a good feeling when you miss an important email but it’s an even worse endeavour to work through an annoyingly steady amount of email notifications you get throughout the day. For this reason, it may be wise to turn it off.
Emails have become productivity tools more than anything. But, how can you be productive with notifications going off on you every other minute?
It is recommended that you check email only when you have time to respond. This way, you don’t have to craft emails in your head while you’re doing something else. Furthermore, you'll be able to give your response the emails the focus and attention it deserves. At the beginning of the workday and at the end of it before going home would be the best times. This way, you’ll be able to work on the most urgent emails in the morning and on the less urgent ones at night.
Use the Draft and Schedule Functions
For those ultra-important emails like a job application cover letter, you’ll want to take some precious time to craft the absolute version of it. You are selling yourself, after all, and you don’t want to short-change or oversell. A balance must be struck and that takes time, effort, and focus.
However, in the effort to make it as perfect as it can be, you can get way too focused that you forget to click the send button. In these cases, it might be best to schedule your response. It’s a new feature that I think should have always been there.
Another use case where scheduled emails might be applicable is when you’ve crafted an email on a Saturday. If you send it on that day, you’d end up looking like a workaholic. Recipients will then be pressured to reply or act on your email accordingly. This is frowned upon especially in a society where a work-life balance has become a prevailing ideology.
Delete Email Exchanges That You No Longer Need
One thing that has an immediate effect on your inbox is to delete your messages altogether. This immediately diminishes the visual clutter.
However, did you know doing so can also give you some extra space on your cloud drive? This is because deleting messages deletes attachments as well. This means that photos, videos, documents, and other media get deleted from your drives as well. While they may be small, accumulation of these can amount to a lot, especially on your expensive cloud storage services like Google Drive or OneDrive.
Email services like Google and Hotmail have recently made it easier for users to delete in bulk by letting you select all the messages in a certain category. Combined with the relatively well-categorized management system, you can accomplish this task quite easily. The promotions category is the usual victim of this method.
Don’t Use Email for Extremely Urgent Situations
You don’t email for a 911-worthy situation.
Not everyone is invested in email at the same level. Millennials and younger generations, for example, tend to use instant messaging applications readily available on smartphones such as Slack and even Facebook Messenger more than emails.
Emails are for important yet not too urgent tasks that don’t require a reply or some other action on the spot.