Dealing with and Clearing Email Clutter

Here are two different approaches to handling the bulk of email that office workers receive each day.

Sue gets an average of forty-five emails each morning, as does Bob.   During the course of the day, both will receive thirty or more emails. 

Sue skims through the morning’s emails, looks for the interesting ones, and says she’ll get to the others later.

Bob works his way systematically down the list, just as if he was opening snail mail, and deals with each one.

At the end of the day, Sue will have dealt with most of her mail - albeit in a somewhat haphazard fashion.   Sometimes she misses an important email, sometimes she loses track of one, because it’s no longer visible on the screen.

Because she chooses which ones to attend to, she looks for the ones that are easiest to deal with first.  Difficult ones get left until later, and often don’t get the attention they deserve.   Her Inbox becomes full of clutter – and she seldom knows where important emails are.

Bob, who wouldn’t necessarily call himself the most disciplined person in the world, still aims to use a four choice system that he brought over from his days of working with paper. 

1. act on it
2. pass it on
3. file it
4. discard it

Act on it.   Obviously not every email can be acted on there and then.   Some may need the involvement of co-workers, or considerable activity to bring it to fruition.   Whatever the case, unless Bob can deal quickly with an email, he prints it out, and puts the hard copy in a marked folder on his desk.   If it’s urgent, it goes in the Today folder, if it requires further input, it’s put in a separate folder, and so on. 

The original email is also placed in an appropriate email folder, creating one if necessary.

Pass it on.   If the email needs to be passed onto someone else, Bob either forwards it electronically, with a note saying he’s seen it, or prints it out and ensures that the worker gets the copy straight away.

File it.  If the email is information that is needed for future reference, he parks it in an appropriate drawer on his computer.   If it’s information that only needs a quick perusal and can be discarded, he trashes it.  If it’s information that will require further consideration and thought, he prints it out and makes sure it’s filed immediately in the appropriate file.  One of his aims each day is to read through such information.   For this he sets aside a quarter to half an hour at around about the same time each day.

Discard it.   Bob discards all items that are of an ephemeral nature, or unimportant, such as advertising unrelated to his business, humour (after getting the joke) and so on.   Spam is automatically filtered out, but Bob checks new spam at least once a day, in case something has gotten in there by mistake. 

Bob always replies to emails from section one and two, even if it’s just to confirm that he’s received the information, or to let the person know he’s working on it.   Apart from the courtesy aspect, this means the sender knows his email hasn’t gone missing in cyberspace, and that it’s receiving attention.

Sue, however, only replies when she has to give an answer, which often leaves her email senders in the dark as to what she’s doing, or whether she’s received the information.   Certainly in the past, with snail mail, recipients didn’t always confirm that the mail had been received.   However, with the ease of reply in the email system, it’s bad business practice not to reply. 

Bob always checks the email drawers once a week to see what can be trashed.   Because he only keeps what’s essential, this isn’t a long job.   Sue tends to keep all emails on her computer, some in drawers and some not, ‘just in case.’   Consequently when she’s looking for some information, her Find facility will turn up all manner of irrelevant emails, wasting further time.   Back ups of her computer often take far longer than necessary because of all the out-of-date material sitting on her system.

Bob knows his approach may seem pedantic to Sue, but he also knows he loses track of very little in the course of a day.  Sue knows she has some trouble finding emails quickly, but blames it on the system rather than on her lack of discipline. 

Being disciplined with emails seems hard.   Because they don’t pile up on your desk like paper, because they vanish up the screen, often quite quickly, there’s a tendency to think that they’ve been dealt with.    Worse, they’re easily forgotten.

It’s essential to form a plan of attack with emails because of their very emphemerality.

Some suggestions:

Don’t check for more emails until the ones that arrived earlier have been dealt with according to your particular ‘system.’

Don’t say you’re trying to save paper by not printing out important information. 

Emails that are easy to handle, and interesting, shouldn’t take priority over ones that are actually more productive for your business.

If, on the way home from work, or in the middle of the night, you suddenly remember you didn’t deal with an email during the day, then your system isn’t working.    This seldom happens to Bob, but it happens to Sue far too often.

E-mail Do’s and Don’t’s

E-mail is an integral part of most people’s lives these days. There are few people who don’t have it. It’s how friends and families communicate, not too mention many jobs. No matter who you are or what you do here are 4 do’s and don’ts that you should consider the next time you e-mail anyone:

1. Do: Be Concise
There is nothing worse than having to read an e-mail that is a jumble of this and that. The next time you reply to someone’s e-mail make sure you answer the questions that they may have posed to you. If you have a bit of news, share it. And lastly, ask a question of the other person. This is what keeps conversations going. An e-mail doesn’t have to be more than a few lines. It’s not like the olden days where letters were sent via snail mail and had to contain a lot of information about the last few months. E-mail is weekly and oftentimes daily. No need to jam everything into one e-mail.

2. Don’t: Expect Prompt Responses
E-mail is quick. You type out a message and hit send. Almost right away your e-mail will appear in your intended’s inbox. That all being said, it doesn’t mean that the recipient will get to it soon. Not everyone checks their e-mail daily. It’s not fair to expect them to either. So, don’t get ticked off if you don’t hear back for a while. Not everyone who has e-mail is completely attached to it.

3. Do: Mind Your Manners
Always be polite in your e-mails. Open and close with a greeting, especially if you’re not close with the person. With friends you might be more likely to be casual, but always be polite. If you ever write business e-mails, it’s especially important to be formal. E-mail doesn’t take the formality of communication. Don’t treat a boss, teacher, lawyer, doctor or co-worker as you would a friend.

4. Don’t: Send forwards and chain letters
There is absolutely nothing worse. They are simply as bad as spam. Don’t send them unless you find happen to find something you think a friend will absolutely enjoy. If you do this, clean up the e-mail: change the subject line from the annoying “FWD:fwd:fwd: You’ll love this” to something more personal to the person you’re sending it to such as “A joke you’ll enjoy.” In general, don’t send them. People don’t appreciate them. They don’t have the time to read them and people who send them often don’t hide the e-mail addresses of the recipients, which can in turn lead to more spam and forwards and other junk. Also remember, most of these jokes and other chain letters have been circulating for years. There’s nothing new out there.

You can still use Email to get leads - Ensuring CANSPAM Compliance

The internet has offered a new range of methods for getting those unwanted, inappropriate, unsolicited, and annoying advertising into our lives. This advertising has become so common place that a new word was created specifically for this bothersome method of advertising – SPAM.

Creating lead generations takes finesse not evident or available when using spam. In addition, most countries have an anti-spam policy in place or in the works. These policies define spam, and create legal consequences for individuals and/or companies practicing spam. Understand the legality is beneficial because it allows you to stay legal as well as offering consumers additional benefits.

Spam is usually caused by sending mass e-mails to a list of addresses leased or purchased from a company specializing in e-mail lists. Then, those e-mail addresses are bombarded by messages of all types and styles regardless of the interest of the viewer. Spamming for lead generations will not only be ineffective, it will cause you to lose business.

When you participate in a spam campaign, you are not marketing to a target audience. Marketing a target audience will reduce costs of advertising and bring in more potential clients. With the multitude of spam filters available, most of that advertising is sent  to the recycle bin without ever even seeing the message, but with a target audience, your audience actually cares about what you have to say.

How do you get the lead generations desired without spamming the message? Simple. You find a list of e-mails containing your target audience; you never misrepresent your intent or the contents of your e-mail.

Another method required by law is always offering a way for consumers to be taken off your “list”. Once removed, they will no longer receive e-mail messages concerning your product or service. This is offering potential clients to politely say, “No, thank you”. Additionally, the visitors you do get are much more likely to be that perfect lead generation you desire.

Always insure your marketing is reaching a target audience. Remember, lack of a target audience results in lack of potential lead generations which then results in a lack of revenue. While a target audience e-mail list may be more expensive to obtain, the end results are what is most important.

Taking the time to advertise to an audience that wants what you have to offer is going to increase your earning potential. Advertising to an unsolicited audience is going to cause your website or Blog to gain a negative reputation with potential consumers. Possible consumers do not want to purchase a product or service from a business with a negative reputation, and on the internet, word spreads like wildfire

There are many software programs that claim to assist in lead generations, but in reality, these programs are going to cost you a lot of money while getting you in a legal situation that may cost even more to get out of. Not all lead generation software break the law. In fact, many of the lead generation software programs on the market today deserve a closer investigation. Investigate the software program before you purchase.

If using a website or Blog, offering visitors a newsletter option or opt-in option will allow you to reach the perfect audience. However, this is usually an option for those websites and Blogs with a positive reputation. Visitors will find it beneficial to get your e-mail, and will find it easy to leave whenever they desire. Be advised, that selling your list to another company will lose you the lead generations you are looking for.

Legally speaking, spam can cause you to be fined or to earn prison time. Responsible businesspeople recognize the benefits of reaching the target audience. Lead generations are a necessity for many businesspeople, and staying legal will not only give you a better reputation, but will allow you to stay in touch with your ideal target audience.

CAN-SPAM Act of the United States came into effect on January 1, 2004.

It legislates against email spamming and any other malpractice related to electronic marketing. Since 2004, so many high profile cases have been drawn and arrests made in connection with the Act. The very recent one carried a penalty of $2.6 million, the highest ever in the world of spam legislation. If your company does email marketing to target new audience, then you should examine the Act and its effects in your marketing. Moreover, if you have a partner company that does the email-marketing job for you, then

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