Francesco D'Alessio
March 22, 2018
3 min read
Email is ever-evolving and the workplace is always a great testing ground to truly experiment with email in context, with all of it’s stresses and practical scenarios.
Our attention turned this week to an article from Andrew Blackman, of the Wall Street Journal, who so elegantly put together a host of “smart ways to use email in the workplace”. This piece pulled together a range of research and methodologies to combatting and controlling email at work.
Unlike the aggressive pushes towards something like Inbox Zero, Andrew approaches the topic in a very practical approach which many of our readers would apprieciate.
Our article today, addressing a few of the workflow issues that many people face in email. We’ve got a host of Newton features that can help you address these common issues and challenges as you across your work day.
1. Don’t answer too quickly — or after hours
When’s best to reply!? Seconds after, or 4hrs after, or even post-6PM?!
In the article, research from Emma Russell, of Kingston University in the UK, overviews how being too responsive when an email lands can damage your productivity and being too slow, responding in out of work hours pressures the recipient to respond in a timely manner.
THE SOLUTION
Snooze might be your saviour here. Snoozing an email might help you to regain control of your inbox and respond in the time that suits you. A simple tactic that will save you bundles of time aiming to get back ASAP.
2. The Best Times to Send an Email
Saving an email until Monday AM to send. Then forget?! Don’t rely on this!
According to the article’s insights, extensive research points to people focusing on the most important items in their inbox when they face overwhelm from the inbox, so the importance of timing is becoming greater. Landing an email at the right time will help both parties continue the dialogue and progress with a conversation.
THE SOLUTION
Schedule is perfect for optimising emails for other’s inbox. With an email arriving in the inbox at the ideal respond times, your chances of action are potentially doubled.
3. Maintaining Email Tone and Messaging
An important topic to discuss and WSJ’s article puts some valuable insights across about how we can effectively follow non-verbal cues.
Research Monica Riordan, a psychology professor at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, shared her insights into how messaging in plain text and emojis can be powerful methods of communication via email.
THE SOLUTION
Emoijis. Emojis are a great way to join together a conversation with some emotion in text format. The addition of these non-verbal cues will help to avoid any misinterpretation.
4. The Ending of Your Email
Rounding off an email can be tricky! What to say, how to end a long message, there’s a lot to think about?! Non-verbal cues come into play here.
So it’s important to pay attention to the small things. Researcher Dr. Darics mentioned within the article, “I always say our main aim shouldn’t be to become better communicators, it should be to become better analysts.”
Our messages need to be short and sweet and to the point avoiding any awkward jerks or methods, that includes the ending of your message.
THE SOLUTION
A rich email signature can be a perfect way to round-off an email. Personalised and matched to your personality, it helps to reinforce your image and theme across all emails, even if you lack the time to respond with a vast array of vocabulary.
The Wall Street Journal piece was extremely insightful and we recommend you go enjoy the article, documented below.
Want to master email?! Try Newton.
Newton is one of the leading email apps on iOS, Mac, Android & Windows, providing powerful features like Read Receipts, Undo Send and even Tidy Inbox to reduce clutter, you’ll be at Inbox Zero in no time.
