There are many more ways to improve your email efficiency! On average, people spend 30% of their day scanning through their email inbox. This is a huge productivity waste! Using our tips will increase productivity dramatically!

1. Keep your inbox empty by "touching" emails just once!

When you open an email, that should be the only time you ever open that email. If you have to open it a second time, you are reading information you have read once before, right? When receiving an email, take one of these actions once you have read it:

• Reply or forward, and then delete it.

• Create an action item based on it, and delete it

• Act on it now, and delete it.

If you are not comfortable deleting emails, because you want to look at it again sometime in the future, simply never delete your "deleted" items. But ensure to auto-archive it! You can also create an archive folder where you can move your emails to instead of deleting. In Outlook you can create a custom button you can click which moves these emails into that folder automatically!

2. Use rules effectively.

Using automated "email rules" can really simplify your life! For example, you could create a separate inbox folder for CC emails. The rule can move emails where you are in the CC automatically to this folder. Now it makes it that much easier prioritizing your emails! You may choose to look at your inbox 4 times per day, but to look at your CC inbox just once per day!

3. Convert emails to tasks.

If your email client such as Outlook has a task feature, I recommend you use it! You can easily turn emails into tasks, and schedule the task for a later date! And you can do this with just the click of a button!

4. Plan your day, and start with the plan.

Set your email client to open on your calendar, not your inbox! This will help plan your day when you start in the morning. You will see the appointments you have for that day, and maybe tasks you need to complete. Modify what needs modifying, then proceed to your email inbox!

If you abide by these email guidelines, you will work more effectively and appear more professional. Do you have another important guideline that we missed? Email us, and we will consider it for addition to this website!

Find out more on how to send email properly.