The Best Follow-Up Reminders
For many of us, it is hard to keep track of all the emails being sent from our inbox. Often, we forget or people never respond — things just fall through the cracks. One of the best hacks for this challenge is to stop waiting on responses, and instead systematize using reminders. Services to help you do this include Yesware and its reminder feature, which alerts you to follow up and focus on emails that haven't been responded to; Boomerang for Gmail, an extension that removes messages from your inbox until you need them; and SaneBox's SaneReminders, which notifies you when an email you sent was not responded to by a certain time. It's also a great way to send a reminder to your future self rather than creating a calendar event that has little context.
How to Get Control of Your Email Inbox
Email has been likened to zombies: The more you delete (or kill), the more come to get you. Just about every professional today struggles to stay on top of email. According to a McKinsey study, U.S. employees spend 28 percent of their workweek on email, and research from the University of California, Irvine indicates that email overload can elevate stress levels and reduce focus. Add in the chaos of the modern inbox and important messages can easily get lost in the shuffle -- only 6 to 7 percent of emails actually receive a response.
Email is an integral part of working, but for far too many workers, it hurts rather than helps their productivity. They spend so much time communicating that it is difficult to get into a flow and get actual work done. Keeping email overload at bay and optimizing your inbox requires honing specific skills and developing a strategy so you control your email, rather than letting it control you.
In the following slideshow, SaneBox has identified six tips for overcoming email overload, achieving inbox zero, and boosting your productivity.
