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There have been a number of lists published on email types. Here is
an interesting one. My book, referenced below suggests a considerably
diverse one. However you may find value in this one!
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The Seven
Types Of Emails And How To Deal With Them
lifehacker.com.au
George Kao 28 November 2014 2:30 PM
We all deal
with inbox overload every day, whether it’s messages from work or suspicious
salutations about a surprising inheritance. But you can categorise all the
emails you receive into seven basic categories to more easily process them
without taking all day.
There are of
course a lot of tactics you can use to deal with emails, but let’s start by taking a look at what these seven
categories are and how to utilise them.
The Seven Categories of Email
File away. Examples include tax receipts, examples of great emails,
and info needed when you next work on a project. It can be helpful to create
folders for these, but don’t get crazy with categorisation; if you find
yourself creating many folders, you need to simplify your work or life.
And when you actually need to find an email, practice using the search
function.
Optional
response. No need to
respond, but it would be more courteous if you did.
Spare time
reading. It would be
nice to read, but not required. Practise putting as many emails as possible
into this category (and the previous one!) This is key to improving your
email productivity.
Required to
respond today — Go ahead and respond either in the moment, if
important and urgent, or at the end of your workday when you are clearing out
your inbox.
Required to
respond (e.g. emails
from a boss, partner, or client) but not today. Distance creates
perspective. If an email doesn’t require a response today, put it in a folder
named the day you would like to respond (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) then on that
day, go into that folder. For example you might want to follow a “morning
checklist” that includes “Open today’s email folder”. There are a few tools you
can use to automate this: RightInbox for Gmail (I use this) and FollowUpThen.com or FollowUp.cc.
Undecided. Rather than indulge in analysis of paralysis, just put
it into one of the above categories. It’s probably #1 or #2.10.
Consider
creating email folders for #2-5. #2 could be multiple folders depending on
projects. #3 and #4 can just be one folder each.
#5 could be
multiple folders too — a different folder for each weekday, and another set of
folders for each month, or you can use the automated tools suggested above.
Make Your Email Processing More Efficient
·
Have a specific
time to process your email. I spend 30 minutes at the end of each workday
clearing my email inbox to zero. This is more efficient than trying to clear
your inbox to zero throughout the day. Why? Because of the “batching”
principle. The less often you switch activities, the more flow
and efficiency you tend to experience.
·
·
What if you get
urgent emails? This is why I do check my email throughout the day (about
once an hour) to see if there’s anything urgent and important. If it
requires a response immediately, I do that. If not, I save the response for end
of day. Remember this: distance creates perspective. The longer you can
wait to respond to an email, the more perspective you have about the issue.
Sometimes by the end of day, the issue resolves itself. When people figure
things out for themselves, they become more empowered in the process.
·
·
Anytime you’re
not checking email, close your email software. Or at least make it so
you don’t see the number of new emails climbing up. This way, you’re not
draining your subconscious energy, continuing to wonder if you’re getting
messages. And definitely turn off any email notifications — audio and
visual — for new messages. You don’t work in a nuclear power plant. (And even
if you did, the truly urgent stuff wouldn’t come via email.)
·
·
When you
process your inbox that one time a day (which I recommend to do at the
end of workday, so your motivation to finish your day will naturally speed up
your email processing) — set an intention to process your email quickly, like a
game. (You can even try the
“email game” tool.) Say to
yourself “Next, Next, Next,” as you delete or archive most emails, rather
than spend energy with each and every email.
·
·
Write shorter
emails. What is the
one main thing you want to communicate? Say it concisely. The shorter your
emails, the shorter their email response tends to be. It saves everyone time.
·
However: be
positive & friendly. Emails can build, or erode, relationships quickly.
I always try to come across as encouraging and kind, and start or end my emails
with something appreciative about the recipient or the situation. For example,
“Thanks for your thoughtful message!” or “Hope the rest of your week goes
well!” Think of the primary purpose of most emails to be relational
(improving trust in that relationship)and secondarily transactional
(asking/answering questions, proposing ideas, etc.)
·
·
When doing your
once-a-day inbox clearing, process your email from top down. If you skip
around, it’s usually inefficient. To get to zero you need to clear all
inbox emails anyway, so start at the top (the most recent) message. And when
you have a clear inbox most days (or at least once a week), you will palpably
feel lighter and happier. Try it.
·
·
Only open a few
emails, while
archiving/deleting the rest. Most of us subscribe to too many newsletters and
every couple of months you’ll find that you’ve again subscribed to more than
you read. Simply resolve to open and respond to the personal and private
emails. The rest? Categorise according to the aforementioned seven types. And
learn how to quickly archive/delete emails in your email client of choice; for
example, in Gmail, it’s clicking the checkbox at the top of a page to select
all, then click “archive” to get it all out of the inbox. I do this after
I’ve responded to the emails I need to respond to. Then, I quickly archive the
remainder.
·
Consider
creating email templates. Whenever you find yourself replying with the
same content, it may be time to copy and paste that content to a document
called Email Templates. Whenever you are processing email, open that document.
·
·
If you have any
time remaining to your email
processing time, after you do the above, or in your spare time, you can go into
your Optional Response & Optional Reading email folders and chip away at
them. Remember: they are optional, so just do whatever you have a bit of
time for. Balance in your life is more important than clearing your
optional folders!
·
Of course,
these are just some suggested guidelines and your line of work can often
require you to deal with emails in specific ways. Try these rules as starting
point to organise your emails and create your own process to deal with inbox
overload.
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·
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·
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·
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·
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·
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·
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·
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·
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·
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Enjoy
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In addition to this blog, Netiquette IQ has a website with great
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