Email Hacks for Increased Productivity and Better Communication‍

We are living in a digital world, and the most prominently used mode of communication is email. Email communication has become a part of our daily lives for personal and professional use. Because with just one click, you can send information or updates to multiple people in just a few seconds. However, like every coin has two sides, similar along with the advantages, email communication is also stressful for a few people. 

The primary concern that causes stress is email overload. This is like, so many emails flood your inboxes; it can become irritating sometimes. Therefore, there are some hacks, filters, or tricks you can call for managing your inbox to reduce email overload and increase productivity. 

Email Hacks for Reducing Email Overload

Email overload has become a usual concern for many people, professionals especially. Because with so many emails landing in inboxes, it becomes difficult to sort out the important ones and becomes so overwhelmed. Therefore, below are some of the hacks to be followed to streamline the email flow in your inbox and improve communication with everyone. 

Streamlining Your Email Workflow

The first and foremost step in managing email overload is streamlining your email workflow. Simply put, this is the process of amending how you should work your emails to increase your efficiency in reading and reverting them. Below mentioned are some steps you can follow to begin with this streamlining:

• Initially, you need to set up some goals to manage your email tasks and the respective tools to do that.
• You need to set up specific timings to check your inboxes because reading and reverting the emails at one particular time improves your productivity. 
• It would be best to create separate folders to manage several emails coming in separately to avoid confusion.
• You can use some filters and labels to organize your inbox correctly.
• It would be best to unsubscribe from the email senders irrelevant to your knowledge.
• Make use of customized email response templates for frequent conversations. This helps in saving a lot of your time and makes you efficient.
• For the emails you have responded to, as per their requirement for the future, either archive them or delete them
• You can flag or star the essential emails. 
• You can use automated emailing tools to manage the inbox effectively and efficiently.

Write Effective Emails

Writing effective emails is the most significant part of email communication because emails are the only thing that attracts the reader toward you and your information. So it must be written to grab the attention of the eyes. So you can follow the below strategies while writing your effective and efficient emails:

Clear Subject Lines

Creating clear and concise subject lines is essential for any email because it is proven that 47% of the recipients open any email only if they find the subject lines exciting and worth reading.

Using relevant content and keywords in the subject lines is essential.

Undertaking the Audience

While crafting your emails, if you keep the needs and requirements of your audience in mind, that helps you in getting more of their attention. So when you know your audience, tailoring your emails to showcase what you offer them is beneficial for them.

Structure of Your Emails

The structure of your email body leaves a maximum impact on the reader, so it should be logically structured. You can use short paragraphs and bullet points to enhance the importance of your information. Bullet points are the most beneficial because they make the content easily readable. 

Your Tone in the Email Communication

Your tone in your emails is crucial because that is the only thing that affects the reader's interest in your email. So it would be best to always use a professional and respectful tone in your emails. 

Avoiding Common Emailing Mistakes

There are several mistakes people often make while crafting their emails; it is requested to always proofread your emails before clicking on “send” to avoid such errors. Some of the common emailing mistakes are:

• Typing mistakes
• Spelling mistakes
• Grammatical errors
• Using generic information
• Too much use of emojis, images, or videos.
• Inappropriate greetings, etc. 

Manage your Email Responses

Managing how you respond to your emails is another trick for reducing email overload. So you can follow the below steps to perform this action:

Automatic Replies

When you are away or out-of-office, you can set up automatic replies on your emails to let people know that you will receive a response from your end soon.

Appropriate Email Response

It is always recommended to respond to your emails promptly and let the email be professional or personal; if you respond to an email aptly, it looks like you are respectful and attentive towards the email.

Managing the Email Chains

We all know that email chains could be more transparent and easier to manage. So the best way to handle it is to stay concise and focused on only One topic in one email.

Use Email Tracking Tools to Improve the Response Rate

Email tracking tools are the best way to check and review how effective your email communication is going and, in case of issues, how to improve your email response rate. 

Know When to Move to Another Mode of Communication.

When it comes to email, your words always make the recipient understand what you are trying to tell them. However, there are situations when email communication becomes a bit confusing and stressful; you should know and understand this is the time to move to another mode of communication, is a phone, video call, or a personal meeting, to understand each other's point of views in a much better way.

Collaboration and Communication

Using email communication for collaborating with your team members to share relevant information, documents, and other things is a good step. You can do this with the help of below steps:

Using Email for Sharing Important Files and Documents

Email is a perfect mode of communication for sharing updates or information about anything. You can also share important files and documents with your team member through emails or Google Drive or drop boxes. 

Using Email for Scheduling Meetings

While working in a professional environment, there could be situations that you would have people working in different time zones, so it is always recommended to schedule meetings with them over email. While scheduling such meetings, you can offer the recipient several time and date options for their availability.

Using Email for Sensitive Information

As email communication is one of the trusted modes of communication these days, you can also use it to share confidential and sensitive information with your peers.

Email Security and Management

The security of your emails can be a significant concern for hundreds of people because there have been a lot of cases of email hacking these days. So below are the techniques for working towards your email security and management:

• Always try to protect your emails from cyber threats by using strong passwords and a two-factor authentication facility to protect your data and emails.
• Avoid email overload to avoid hassle while replying to your emails and getting confused between original and hacking emails. So take a specific time from your schedule to do this with all your mind and attention.
• Permanently archive your important emails for future reference.
• There could be several irrelevant and unnecessary emails in your inbox; either unsubscribe from them or clean your inbox to organize your inbox. 

Conclusion

After going through the email hacks, you can make the most of this email communication. Email communication helps in being organized and always connected with our peers, so it must be done perfectly. These best practices can help improve the email flow in your inbox and improve your efficiency in reading and responding to them.