Did you know that for each five emails send you will receive three in return and that this increases with the number people on the distribution list? This means that you are not the victim of your email inbox but largely influencing the incoming email volume.
Before sending an email ask yourself the following questions:
- Does this email trigger an action?
- Is the information important to the receiver (especially for FYI mails)?
- Does it add any value (e.g. thank you mails)?
- Are you comfortable knowing that this mail might be archived forever or forwarded to your boss?
- Do all people listed in the distribution list really need this mail (especially those on cc)?
To better understand your current email behavior and the reduction potential go into your “sent” folder and screen your emails based on the above questions. Then think about the time it took you to write the mails and the receivers to read these mails and the possible chain of other actions behind, costing your company a lot of time and money.
Related articles:
- Restrict your email time
- Manage incoming cc emails
- Tips about writing emails
- Write and insist on clear email subject lines
- When did you last review your distribution lists?
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[...] Excerpt from: Reduce the number of outgoing emails [...]
Replying an email is sometime so exciting. I personally could not resist to send my email out to my targeted people. One thing I realized, sending an email without going through the profound planning and objective resulted of waste - time, money, opportunity etc.
Do not worry to write as many email as you want if you could get expected result. If not, give yourself a deep thought before sending them out..Good luck
Hi Nicholas,
It’s a great idea to think about your outgoing emails. Simply sending out fewer emails or addressing fewer people on the list can help to reduce the number of emails you have to deal with.
I find emails useful for passing on information, which strictly means that no reply is necessary. Anything that requires discussion is best done by phone or in person - it saves time, increases understanding, and improves the result. Plus you can save dozens of emails.
Very useful tips on your blog!
Great tips. I also find it’s often far more effective to just phone a person regarding an email instead of sending it out or replying. A 2 minute conversation can answer a lot more than 5 emails back and forth that take 15 minutes to read/write and distract you.