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E-mail Tips

Tip #1

E-mail has flattened most corporate organizational structures because anyone can e-mail another on staff regardless of position. Thus some complain about the sheer volume of e-mails they get and must respond to. Some e-mail software has the ability to sort your incoming e-mail into various folders based on sender, subject, or key words in the text. This can help greatly when time is short and you need to focus only on high-priority e-mails.

Tip #2

E-mail, by its very nature, has the built-in expectation of a quick response. However, most of us don’t want to constantly respond to e-mail throughout the day. When you need to build more time into senders’ response expectations, consider having your e-mail software give an automatic response to new messages similar to the following:

"Thank you for your e-mail. I have directed our system to send you this automatic response to let you know it may be a day or two before I can respond. I’m working on a project that is taking all of my focus. If your message was urgent, please call me at (222) 555-1111. Thank you."

A similar automatic response can be used to alert e-mail senders that you are away on vacation or at a conference. This is a great way to let them know your response delay is merely a result of your being unavailable.

Tip #3

Spam is the term applied to unwanted mass marketing e-mails making various offers and solicitations. Many are harmless, but some contain viruses, and some are scams.

When I open my e-mail mailbox, the first thing I do is delete all spam. I don’t even open them. The e-mails I consider to be spam are from other countries where I don’t know anyone, offers to enlarge body parts or reduce mortgage rates, or whose sender or subject looks unusual, unwelcome, or suspicious (like "I Love You").

—Nick B. Nicholaou, Huntington, California