Email is undisputedly the most important element of modern business communications, as evidenced by the omni presence of the cell phone since the dawn of the Blackberry. It can also consume a large amount of time, which may inhibit your work schedule and affect productivity. Understanding how to use email efficiently will give you a chance to make more productive use of your workday. Here are several ways to utilize email in the most efficient manner.
Reinforce Your Security
Email accounts are constantly susceptible to security breaches; this is why keeping your account secure is a priority. If someone does manage to obtain your account information, it can lead to the compromise of other important data such as bank account information, social security numbers, personal identity, and more. Maintain a good practice of selecting a strong and long password. (here’s a quick video on choosing nearly unhackable passwords) In addition, watch for any suspicious behavior such as alerts when your account is accessed without your knowledge. By securing your account early, you can safely invest more of your time in using your email for business matters.
Back Up Your Emails
Deleting or misplacing an important email message can be one of the most detrimental and frustrating parts of your work life. In addition, losing access to these types of messages can hurt productivity and set your schedule back. The content of these emails can contain vital data that is important for major projects or contracts. Fortunately, while cloud email is generally kept fail safe by keeping your email on two servers simultaneously, in case one goes down, backing up your email is easy and very affordable. For less than five dollars a month you can add a third-party cloud back up to your email protecting it from human error and technical outage alike.
Use a Professional Email Signature
A great email signature can be more impressive and effective than you think. Your signature can even influence the impression a potential customer or client has of you. With a great email presentation, you can make both your messages and delivery more attractive. In addition to your name and contact information, consider adding graphics, slogans, and social media links to your email signature. These elements can create a more attractive email that leads to an overall more effective message to customers and clients.
Incorporate Folders and Rules
Efficient email users presort their incoming email so that they can laser focus on the emails that are most important to them as they come in. Email come in to the inbox and by default all live in one, very large, folder that only grows more crowded with time. By creating folders for those emails that are either not important, but you would like to peruse them on your spare time, like industry newsletters, or very important and time critical, like client emails, and rules to presort them as they come in, will speed up your email consumption considerably. With more emails sent throughout the day, you can get business done faster.
Set up an Auto-Reply Message
If you work in customer service and frequently engage with clients, then setting up an auto-reply message is essential. This can allow you to continue managing customer support requests without having physical access to your email. Your message can direct customers to other personnel who can assist them in your absence. With this tool, you can be away from the desk to conduct other business matters.
In 2019, while social media plays an important role in how we communicate with the world, email is still king of communicating with the contacts that matter most. Understanding efficient techniques of email use can help you maximize your productivity. Review these tips and start incorporating them into your daily routine. The more you apply these principles into practice, the more efficient you will become.
