I can’t be the only person out there who sighs at the size of her inbox every morning!
Being efficient on email is tricky for me because I get such a large volume of email email day, and I spend a large chunk of most days in meetings. It’s especially tricky if I’ve had a day off.
Here’s some tricks of the trade I’ve employed over the years to help reduce my email stress, and improve my customer service.
As soon as you’ve replied to an email, forwarded it to a colleague for action or talked about the contents in a phone call, move it out of your inbox. Either file it, or put it in a quick To Be Filed folder for processing later.
As soon as you check your email, check for the ones which require you to do something which will take time, and put these on your task list.
If you’re still on Outlook 2003, upgrade as soon as possible. Outlook 2007 has outstanding and superior search capability which is far quicker than it’s predecessors. This means if you need to find an email pronto, you can, no hassles. I’ve run Outlook 2007 since June 2007 and am very happy with it.
If you know you want to follow up an email you sent, BCC yourself a copy as you send it. Leave this in your inbox until you receive a reply, and then file the reply and the BCC when you’re done.
We all inevitably get phone calls and follow up emails if we don’t get back to people quickly. I aim for a 24h turnaround with all emails to avoid the time wasting follow ups and embarrassing apologies. I am in the technology business after all, if anyone can reply to an email quickly, you’d hope it’s be me!
In the world of case sensitivity, it’s always refreshing when I tell people their domains and email address are not case sensitive. The major benefit of this is course, is that you can use capital letters at the beginning of words in multi-word domain names and alleviates the temptation to buy a domain with a hyphen.
So here’s some examples, see how the capitalisation makes them easier to read:
getwebservices.com.au > GetWebServices.com.au
evolveenergy.com.au > EvolveEnergy.com.au
tourstogo.com > ToursToGo.com
goodsexporter.com > GoodsExporter.com
Did you get caught on the last one? *shakes finger at you* You have naturally naughty thoughts!
The examples show how much easier it is to read a business name in the domain or separate the words with a capital letter. Have you seen any domains that have tricked you up when all written in lowercase?
I am eternally frustrated with the number of ISP email addresses like businessname@bigpond.com I see in advertising. In newspapers, magazines, Yellow Pages and even on business cards it seems many small businesses are unaware this is so naughty. Using an email address at your own domain is very important for these reasons.
What happens when you change of ISP?
Inevitably, you will also need to change your email address. Having your primary business email address at your ISP means if you find a great deal on internet access there is a large cost associated with changing the email address over across all sources of advertising.
Owning a domain name and operating email addresses on your domain means your email is independent of your ISP, and you’re free to move as you please.
Brand Awareness
Strengthen your brand at every opportunity. This includes your email address. By having your own email address shows you’re operating a serious business.
Which is better in your mind?
nickycitycairns@bigpond.com or nicky@cityofcairns.com?
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