Chances are e-mails take up a good part of your day. First, sorting through the important ones to the irrelevant ones, and then responding to them in a timely manner. In order to keep up with this fast paced growing communication process in an efficient and productive way there are guidelines and tips so e-mailing doesn’t become too time consuming or distracting.
The reason e-mailing has become such a distraction according to a Radicati study, a technology research group the average typical user receives 74 emails and sends 36 emails. Of those 74 emails received 18% are spam or Graymail (annoying newsletters, and alerts) leaving 61 legitimate emails. Now, for me to send 36 well-structured emails a day I would need more than 24 hours in a day.
I took a college course on business writing which helped my career tremendously but also drove me to working overtime weekly because of the extensive writing requirements that I tried to follow throughout my job. Maintaining the integrity of proper grammar, spelling, and eliminating acronyms are just a few of the basics. Since then an altered guideline was formed in combination of the work and college environment in efforts to create a leaner work day.
- More Clear, Concise and to the Point – If it takes one sentence or one-two words, “do it”.
- Create Templates – To deal with multiple emails involving similar objectives such as follow-ups, thank you, proposals, etc... Have a generic template where you can change just the recipient’s or business name to save time typing.
- Use the “Phone” – Avoid clarifying and elaborating which could lead to even more questions instead pick up the phone.
- Actions – If actions are required in an email Highlight them.
- Stay Focus – When the email alert pops up, maintain focus on the task at hand. Set aside specific times for checking and responding to emails.
Keep in mind there are times where it is necessary to maintain email etiquette depending on the recipient, for instance when responding to the CEO of the company you may want a more formal response. These basic points have increased my productivity and I am confident they will increase yours.