Do you ever feel overwhelmed by e-mail? Have you ever spent more of your day wading through your e-mail than managing your work? Are you looking for ways to spend less time creating, managing and answering messages? Discover how to overcome e-mail overload and be more productive by writing more effective e-mail messages and reducing the volume of e-mail.
Write Effective E-Mail Messages
Start improving your e-mail effectiveness by creating and formatting easy to follow content, and by using pre-written responses.
Create Clear Content
Consider these strategies to upgrade your communications with understandable, e-mail messages:
? Help others prioritize how to act on your e-mail by including a clear, specific subject line and repeating important subject information in the body of the message.
? Define your expectations in the body of the message. Do you want your recipients to act, respond, read, or is the e-mail FYI only?
? Include only one topic per message. If that isn't possible, then describe and number multiple topics as in 5 items to add to the Wednesday meeting agenda.
? When you type the addresses for your message, check who is getting your e-mail. Many programs attempt to auto-fill an e-mail address which may not be your intended recipient.
? Be careful with your tone and language. As with any other communication, match the message to your audience. Unless the reader understands your dry sense of humor, for instance, they may be confused or offended rather than amused.
? It may be tempting to use acronyms in the world of the Blackberry and IM (instant messaging), but only use extremely common abbreviations, such as FYI or ASAP, unless you are absolutely certain that the individual receiving your e-mail knows what they mean.
? Clearly identify yourself to strangers within your message and in the message signature.
Format Readable E-Mail Messages
Simplify the e-mail messages you send with clean, easy-to-read formatting:
? Get to the point. Shorten paragraphs to no more than five or six lines to reduce reading.
? Limit e-mail text to a single printed page. If you have more text, reduce the message or consider attaching a Word document. Delete previous responses that are no longer relevant to the current exchange.
? Use fonts between 10 and 12 points in size except for headlines and choose a font style that is easy to read. Apply colors sparingly.
? Add blank lines and white space to separate paragraphs and areas of detail.
? Run the spelling checker and re-read messages one last time for clarity and grammar before clicking Send.
Use Prewritten Responses
If you send a few basic messages over and over again, such as a reply to a request for product information, consider saving those responses as signatures that can be inserted into e-mail so that you don't have to retype them. For a majority of messages, create a default signature that includes your full name, position or title, phone, website, and other contact information.
Reduce the Volume of E-Mail
Some of the top ways to cut the amount of e-mail you receive is to manage the number of messages that you send, reduce unnecessary follow-up replies, and determine when person-to-person communication is a better choice. Decrease the Number of Messages You Send Before you write your next e-mail, seek to actively reduce how much e-mail you send:
? Read all replies on a topic before responding to the original message. Resist getting involved with e-mail threads that don't impact your objectives.
? Don't send, and discourage your staff from sending, "chime-in" messages that are simply unimportant responses such as "Thank you" and "You're welcome." Don't respond to junk mail.
? Avoid Reply to All unless all recipients need to see your response. Otherwise you are contributing to their e-mail litter.
? Use the Cc (carbon copy) line only when the topic impacts the recipient's work. Although it may seem easier to send a message to everyone in a department or your organization, first ask yourself, "Who needs to know? Why?" Most people who get a carbon copy assume there is something they are supposed to do.
? Use Bcc (blind carbon copy) to hide large distribution lists or to disguise the names of select recipients. All recipients can respond to a message but replies will not be received by anyone in the Bcc list which reduces the amount of e-mail they get.
Eliminate the Clutter in Your E-Mail
In addition to initiating fewer e-mail messages, look at other ways to reduce the messages in your Inbox:
? Publish frequently requested information on your company website and make sure that the website is quickly updated when changes occur.
? When you are sending out informational messages that do not require feedback, discourage unnecessary responses by using formal language and begin and end messages with No Reply Needed or FYI Only.
? Unsubscribe to electronic newsletters that you don't read and move others out of your Inbox to folders for reading during travel or other down times. Don't unsubscribe to mailings that you never initiated or you may further open the flow of junk mail.
? If it's an available option, setup an out of office message that responds to incoming messages when you are not available to answer your e-mail. Clearly state your response time, when you will return, and who can be contacted during your absence.
Choose Voice Instead of E-Mail
There are often times when phone or face-to-face conversations are a superior choice to e-mail. Pick up the phone or arrange a meeting when:
? Building rapport is critical.
? The topic is emotionally charged.
? There are many intertwined issues to resolve or there is a need for lengthy interactive discussions.
Implementing these strategies for overcoming e-mail overload can help you become more productive and free you from your Inbox.
© 2005 by Dawn Bjork Buzbee
Dawn Bjork Buzbee is The Software Pro? and a certified Microsoft Office Expert and Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor. Dawn shares smart and easy ways to effectively use software and technology through her work as a speaker, trainer, and consultant. Visit http://www.SoftwarePro.com for great Microsoft Office software tips and tricks or to contact Dawn.
Although this performance discussion is an opportunity for you to... Read More
Here are 10 subjects that academia should be teaching their... Read More
E-mail, voicemail, "got a minute?" interruptions, multiple projects... Read More
IntroductionWhen Alex Osborn invented the creativity technique called brainstorming, I... Read More
Can you imagine playing hockey without a goal? Basketball without... Read More
Trained employees are more productive employees; thereā??s no doubt about... Read More
OBSTRUCTIONS: 1. Staff deficiencies. Lack of confidence in employees quite... Read More
IMPROVING COMMUNICATION DURING THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: If the employee has... Read More
When asked his secret to success, the author Graham Green... Read More
In my organisational career, I had budgets from the age... Read More
An operations manual can act as a tool for training... Read More
A maverick is an independent person who will not go... Read More
Q: I am an executive at a large company and... Read More
The industrial age is over. Organizations still stuck in the... Read More
Tommy Sherman daily monitors a helpdesk-provisioning queue for a large... Read More
Merely assigning a task with detailed instructions is not effective... Read More
This is a bottom-line environment.Decreasing the downtime of revenue producing... Read More
I recently received a most interesting phone call.When I answered... Read More
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More
The need for constant reinvention is a given in today's... Read More
Many HR managers believe that by sending their workers to... Read More
This article relates to the Human Resource Functions competency, commonly... Read More
Various studies ? and common sense ? indicate that involving... Read More
Employees are the often-neglected stakeholders in the success or failure... Read More
You're at a networking function and you've made that all-important... Read More
"It is not the strongest species that survives, nor the... Read More
It seems incongruous that good idea generation can be a... Read More
The permissive and participatory conduct which most employees take for... Read More
A few weeks ago I asked my readers what the... Read More
Communication is the basis of who you are as a... Read More
Teamwork is a process that can be experienced outdoors and... Read More
Remember Papa John's commercial on TV with the slogan "Better... Read More
How do you convert outsourcing leads into clients? You may... Read More
Define the Problem First. It seems obvious, but how many... Read More
I have a short story to share with you about... Read More
Bad meetings are a cultural malady that senior executives pass... Read More
Re-organizing, re-engineering, re-training, down-sizing, outsourcing, changing-changing-changing. Organizations today think they... Read More
Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO... Read More
For Call Center managers, it is not a pipe dream... Read More
As a manager our role is to:1. Establish the vision,... Read More
A man drives down the highway each day on his... Read More
I heard this back a few years ago. The boss... Read More
Surveys of executives reveal that many companies fall short of... Read More
Starting your own business is a great undertaking but running... Read More
Creativity Starts Here!The ability of an organisation to create new... Read More
People buy from you, offer help, and grant rewards based... Read More
Conflict is a fact of life for all of us,... Read More
Q: I started my small business about a year ago... Read More
Not long ago, weeding through DBA applicants with a tech... Read More
Being a good trainer requires experience and skill. Experience comes... Read More
Many organisations use the term "lessons learned" to describe the... Read More
INTRODUCTIONThe typical approach executive teams use to cascade, or roll... Read More
Nearly every office, be it commercial or home-based, may have... Read More
Marriages and corporate mergers in America have at least one... Read More
The second you quit being the 'best deal' for your... Read More
Maybe it's the season or just a more buoyant job... Read More
Escalating gas prices...tensions and turmoil in the Middle East...a struggling... Read More
Picture yourself standing on the bank of a river watching... Read More
One of the greatest obstacles to progress can often be... Read More
1. Eliminate wasteEliminate reports, habits, products, duplicate input, and processes... Read More
This article relates to the Compensation and Benefits competency, commonly... Read More
We all know people who are like human dynamos. They... Read More
As a result of consolidation of operations and significantly increased... Read More
When you think of all the things companies have, you... Read More
As an HR professional, you have responsibilities in several broad... Read More
A good consultant provides specialist abilities and experience, innovative ideas,... Read More
Business Management |