The problem of conquering the never-ending flood of emails in your inbox is real and the bad news is, it’s likely to only get worse. However, there is a glimmer of hope, and it starts with you. You can conquer your inbox and start a trend of responsible emailing to others. Here’s how you can conquer your inbox and start a trend of responsible emailing to others.
Billions of Emails Sent Daily
No, that’s not a typo. As of 2015, 205 billion emails were sent daily. In 2019, that number is expected to grow to 246 billion. The struggle is real and you aren’t the only one who feels that they must don their battle armor before wading into their work inbox.
In fact, in the beginning of this year, France passed a “right to disconnect law” as their way to help employees. This law requires businesses with more than 50 employees to create guidelines defining an employee’s right to unplug from their work inbox at specific times.
Sometimes You Want to Give Up
Ashley Kruempel, CEO of SoPac, Inc., felt the battle was hopeless and has conceded the field. According to Ashley, “The mass influx of emails is so unbelievably overwhelming and quite frankly, I hardly even bother anymore.” She uses tools like Spark email that helps identify “cold” emails coming from inside her network.
Rachel Mickelson, Creative Director at Polymath Creative Services, LLC, unsubscribes from most emails because they lack value. She has multiple Gmail accounts that she needs to check frequently. She uses Kiwi for Gmail and a Google Calendar app to help her transition between them. Rachel also doesn’t like to converse via email often.
Send Emails Responsibly
One way to help curb the number of worthless emails is to be considerate when you create emails. Because emails are so easy to send, people often send emails indiscriminately. So, email others how you wish to be emailed. Some ways you can send emails responsibly include:
- Use the subject line to summarize the message to help people know at a glance how to categorize your email (and prevent it from going to the trash).
- Use the inverted pyramid method in the body of the email. Explain the who, what, where, when and why in the first sentence to help receivers understand quickly how your email applies to them.
- Copy people sparingly. Don’t blindly “cc” everyone and their “Uncle Mike”. If you do need to copy someone, explain how the email applies to everyone.
Not Everything Should Be Emailed
Not all topics of discussion are suitable for an email format. Rachel prefers saving email conversations for when she already has established a relationship with someone because some topics are too complex to convey properly in an email.
Be Conscious of How People Like to Communicate
Ashley doesn’t like to respond to cold emails. Instead, she prefers to connect with those who reach out to her on social platforms, such as Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram. Everyone has a preferred method of communication, and you need to learn what that is before you blindly hit send.
Learning to be a responsible sender is one way to achieve email freedom. To learn other strategies to conquer your email inbox, download The Free Email Blueprint Today.
Chris Rudolph is a husband, father of 3, and a Freedom Business Coach for Digital Marketers. He specializes in working with those who are underpaid, hustling around the clock or missing out on valuable family time build their own Freedom Agency. He helps them grow their income, scale with a team and enjoy more time with their family.
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