Inbox Weighing You Down? - Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Broker

Inbox Weighing You Down?

Take control of your cluttered email inbox with these great tips and, at the same time, control the interruptions on your phone.

Welcome to a cleaner inbox, states the Unroll.me website. "Unsubscribe from unwanted email subscriptions, discover new ones and organize them all in one place."

While having a smartphone is a great way to keep in touch with the office and get your leads so you can respond quickly. Think about how many other emails you are getting that interrupt your day?

Unsubscribe to Junk Mail: "My morning used to consist of deleting about 50 emails in a row until I discovered Unroll.me. This service, still in beta, makes mass unsubscribing from marketing emails a breeze." says Chris Smith on Inman Next.

"Of the 50-plus subscriptions I was getting... I kept four." he says. "Toys R Us? Sorry - if I need a coupon I can find one online. Target? Love it to death, but I really did not need that weekly ad buzzing my phone while in meetings."

Program your phone to accept only your work emails. "If I need to check my personal email during the day, I simply go to Gmail.com in the Safari browser when I have time." he says.

If your personal inbox is cluttered with ads and solicitations, as well, use the same techniques for unsubscribing. But next time, "consider using a secondary account for online registrations." suggests Carrie Gable, also a writer for Inman Next. "You might want those Facebook updates and Groupon deals, but should they really be mixed with emails from your clients and peers?"

Organize your inbox using folders and automate your email using rules. Here are her suggestions:

Email threads: Have these sent directly to a specific folder. Just be sure to check the folder if you want to see everyone's response.
Newsletters, office memos etc. can be sent directly to folders. Anything that doesn't need your immediate attention. (Again, the key here is that you have to check the folders!)
Use auto-replies in tandem with lead generators. "Replies should be friendly and robust with additional links and information." Says Gable. "You can still follow up with a personal reply if you wish. An automated reply beats no reply at all!"
Say no to spam! When you identify a message as spam, your email account should automatically catch similar messages from that sender and keep future spam away. "Instead of just deleting unwanted messages, use your spam filter to keep them from coming back." says Gable. "Spam may be easy to ignore but it's the No. 1 cause of inbox overload!"

Here's how to organize your inbox in Microsoft Outlook (most email services have similar functions and features). It should only take a few minutes to do this:

To set up folders:

1. Right-click on "Inbox."

2. Click on "New Folder."

3. Assign a name to the new folder.

4. Select where you want to file this folder, such as under "Inbox."

To set up rules:

1. Go to the task bar at the top of the page.

2. Click "Tools."

3. Click "Message Rules."

4. Click "Mail."

5. Select "New Rule."

6. Select "Conditions" and "Actions" for your rule.

7. Select "Apply Now."

Gable's last piece of advice is... close your email when you are working on other tasks! "You'll get through other tasks faster without the distraction. With fewer interruptions from email, you will be in better control of your day!"

Read more at Inman Next.

Posted on April 11, 2012 13:16:29 by Blog Author