I manage email exceptionally well.
My inbox is always close to empty (and often empty), yet I do not spend my life enslaved to my inbox.
I’ve also been told by many clients that I am excellent with email communication — so much so that some clients have asked me to include email strategy in my workshops and keynotes.
I have lots to say about managing email effectively, but here are 11 basic rules that will have a huge impact on your email communication and inbox.
Matthew Dicks Rules for Successful Email Communication
1. Email is often a means of informal communication. As such, you can dramatically decrease the time spent on email by using short, efficient replies like “Thanks,” “Understood,” and “Agreed.”
Dispense with formalities whenever possible and increase efficiency.
2. Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) is often the tool of the passive-aggressive coward. Before including an email address in this field, always ask yourself why you are using it. If you’re trying to hurt, embarrass, or conceal something, knock it off, jerk face.
3. Never send an email written to express your anger or disappointment with someone. Those emotions are better conveyed over the phone or in person, where unnecessary aggression and excessive vitriol cannot be shielded by email’s passive-aggressive nature.
In other words, don’t be a coward. If you’re upset, pick up the phone or ask for a face-to-face meeting.
4. “I sent that angry email because I express myself better in written form and was too angry to speak to you in person” is never an excuse for violating rule #3.
If you’re too angry to speak to the person, you need to calm down, collect yourself, and process your feelings before addressing the source of your discontent.
5. If you receive an angry email, pick up the phone and respond immediately.
The faster, the better.
The best way to handle a passive-aggressive person is to be aggressively direct. Angry email senders tend to be people who do not handle conflict well and, therefore, hide behind technology. Pulling back the technological curtain will be uncomfortable for them and will often knock them off their position.
6. Inbox zero should be your goal, if only for productivity and efficiency purposes. Leaving an email in your inbox forces you to check it every time you access your email application, which takes time and energy.
It also forced you to stare at the same damn email, which doesn’t help your mood or soul.
It’s akin to sifting through the same growing pile of mail every day to find a specific letter or bill. Inbox zero will eliminate the time required to take action on incoming emails by not adding them to an already enormous pile.
7. Control your inbox by scheduling and rescheduling a time when you want an email to hit your inbox (often known as “snoozing on most email platforms). Turn email into something you receive when you want to, rather than operating on others’ timelines. I often reschedule incoming email for a designated time during the day when I plan to read and respond, thereby keeping my inbox empty and enjoying the benefits of rule #6.
There are many strategies behind snoozing an email:
If I receive an email pertaining to taxes, I reschedule it to hit my inbox on February 1, when all of my other tax documents have been received.
If I order tickets to a Broadway show and receive them via email, I schedule them to arrive at the moment we should be entering the theater. Charlie was recently astounded by how the email arrived less than a minute before I needed it.
If I receive an email from a client with hotel or flight information for a future event, I schedule it to arrive on the event date.
It takes about ten seconds to schedule an email for a future time when it’s needed, and it significantly declutters your inbox.
8. Respond to emails that require action as quickly as possible, and always within 24 hours. Failing to respond to an email – even if your response is “I’ll get back to you tomorrow” – projects the image of a person who is overwhelmed, disorganized, and inefficient.
9. Choose subjects for your emails that will allow your readers to identify the general purpose of the email without actually opening it, and help you search for that email in the future.
10. If an email thread is becoming exceedingly long, and the first email and current email in the thread have nothing to do with each other, break that thread and write a brand new email with a new, more meaningful subject line.
Reading an email in a thread of 22 other irrelevant emails is silly and daunting.
11. Email need not be text. I respond to about half of my emails with a video. Rather than typing away, absent any inflection and nuance, I place a Loom over the email and begin speaking with the simple click of a button. Those receiving my video emails get to hear my voice, listen to me expand on my ideas, and occasionally see my family and cats in the background.
More importantly, they get to hear how I really think and feel without technology creating a filter between us. It also eliminates the possibility that I responded using AI, which is a lousy and callous way to reply to anyone.
Loom also provides a summary and transcript, so if they need text, it’s available, too.
These emails have been received exceedingly well. I highly recommend it.
One client told me she can’t use this method because she doesn’t like being on camera without looking her best, which includes her hair, makeup, and wardrobe. If this is your concern, I’ll tell you the same thing I told her:
- High school ended a long time ago.
- The Spotlight Effect, which demonstrates that people aren’t looking at you or remembering your appearance nearly as much as you think, is real. Scientifically proven. Only you think you need to be camera-ready. No one else cares or even notices.
- Confidence is sexier than any amount of hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Just be confident. People will remember that far better than your physical appearance.
Loom offers a free plan, but the paid plan costs $15 per month and includes features you’ll want if adopting this strategy.
Well worth the investment.
