How to Manage Customer Emails
Did you know that each day, around 347 billion emails are sent and received worldwide and that, on average, office workers receive more than 100 emails on a daily basis?
Spending time reading emails that are not a priority, is not productive at all and it can destroy your creative energy.
There are many ways to manage emails without destroying productivity: the goal is to be more efficient, so you can concentrate on the activities that benefit your or your company the most.
In this article, weβll help you become more productive when it comes to emailing and how to make sure you provide the most value in your customer interactions.
What is email management?
TechTarget states that:
"Email management is a systematic approach to maximizing the efficiency of email practices and minimizing the negative effects that email management can have on an individual's productivity and job satisfaction."
Part of email management involves sorting, filtering, and prioritizing emails, in order to dedicate more time to the most profitable business activities.
What is the best way to manage emails?
There are several ways to organize your email inbox. Here are some of the best tips we have found to help you do this:
- Set a specific time to read and respond to emails
- Put your phone on focus or silent mode
- Respond first to the emails you consider most urgent, and those you can resolve quickly
- Organize emails by classifying, prioritizing, sorting, grouping, and filtering them in your email program: did you know most have functionality that already does this for you? Make sure itβs set-up properly.
- Create main folders and label them, based on the key areas of your business
- Use the rules and filtering functions of your email to schedule incoming emails into a specific folder.
- According to Entrepreneur Magazine, when you archive an email, make sure the subject is suitable for searching.
The 4D's
Now that you are familiar with some specific aspects of daily email management, here are some best practices to make things even simpler:
- Develop the habit of not replying to everybody, unless necessary: this reduces emails in everyone's inbox
- Keep your email communications brief and targeted: this reduces the time spent on reading and responding
- Ditch internal emails and go ahead with tools like Slack, Google Chat etc.
- Use the 4D (Do, Delete, Defer, Delegate) to help you; please read the following to have a better understanding of what this is:
π Do β Act immediately on the email, if you know it will only take you a couple of minutes to resolve it. Postponing can bring you to forget to do it, that can leave your clients frustrated
π Delete β Immediately delete what you know to be spam. No one has time for this
π Defer β Not sure what the right answer is? Put these emails in a folder with a reminder for coming back and responding
π Delegate β Assign the email to a colleague who can efficiently handle it
Making email tools work for you
Some people donβt mind having a crowded inbox. Others prefer to have a βzero inbox,β a phrase coined by the American writer Merlin Mann, which means having zero emails at the end of the day, every day. It sounds relaxing, but it can be very tiring to reach the zero.
Finding a balance between managing emails and other important tasks depends on the nature of your work. You can achieve a middle ground by following the best practices mentioned above, and you might consider investing in tools that further your productivity.
For Instance, Merel.ai can maximize revenue efficiency, predictability, and overall growth by gaining unmatched insights into customer interactions. Merel.ai allows you to:
- Stay ahead with instant email drafts the moment you receive a message. Swift, real-time responses ensure you never miss an opportunity.
- Craft personalised follow-up emails with precision timing. Tailor your communication strategy, ensuring every follow-up resonates effectively and contributes to sustained relationship building.
- Elevate your email communication using your company's best practices. Optimize messages for impact, consistency, and effectiveness, aligning every email with your brand's unique tone and style.
Want to know more? Read about it on our email page.
Wrapping up:
Email can be overwhelming, but this can be managed with the right management practices. The sooner you start, the sooner all members of your organization can benefit.
We talked about the fact that there are many tools on the market, like Merel.ai, that can provide innovative solutions to email management challenges. Whether you need help sorting emails, creating engaging copy, scheduling optimal sending times, or personalizing content, there's a tool ready to assist you and meet your needs.
Now you can stop worrying about this, and start adopting these tools to transform your inbox from a source of stress to a productivity machine.
About Merel.ai:
Merel.ai helps and empowers forward-thinking SME businesses with AI solutions, tackling workforce constraints, fueling consistent growth, outperforming competitors, managing costs, exceeding customer demands, and navigating scalable success.