Modern Etiquette: How to cope with email overload??

Outlook and other email software lets you set up filters that show you only the messages that meet your selected criteria. I have one filter called ‘Top Contacts’ that shows me only messages from my boss, my direct reports and other email addresses that I’ve told Outlook to look out for. These usually warrant the quickest response. Another called ‘Only to Me’shows me emails where my address is the only one on the ‘to’ line.

These emails are likely to deserve a faster reply too, if only because nobody else is going to answer them for me. You can likewise set up filters for criteria such as ‘Family,’ ‘Bank,’ ‘People who are suing me’ or whatever else helps you find the messages that matter most.

Have a PA to look through them.

The etiquette demands emails received for business inquiries must be dealt carefully and cautiously. 

I get about 70 to 100 emails every day. Very few of them are spam. I have been following some basic steps for some years now.

1. read the email.

2. If it is important, respond immediately to the writer telling him/her approximately when you will get back to them with full info.

When you have the info requested, respond again but in a manner that the second response closes the entire transaction. If you give half baked replies, they only generate another set of queries in return.

3. Before you click on REPLY ALL think a thousand times if it is realy, realy necessary to do it.

4. As far as junk mails are concerned, use a good filter....i use NORTON. Nothing is really 100% effective but they do help. Delete the contents of the junk mail box once day.

5. keep adding spam mail ids/domains to your junk mail filter. If you have web access to your inbox, get on the web access and pump these spam mail ids in to the filter there. This way these mails will bounce before they reach your inbox. I do this once in 3 months.

Simple steps.....but these do help in the long run.

Good luck!