Last year there was a study conducted by Babble to mark Google’s 20th anniversary and it found that one in one hundred Brits have more than 100,000 emails in their inbox and that 63% of those who responded said that the volumes of emails increased their stress levels, just typing that number of emails increases my bloody pressure, so I cant imagine what that must do for the person trying to manage that build up.
I think the worst inbox we have inherited was around 20,000 emails, and a backlog is not unusual with busy business owners or senior executives. Many larger companies have removed the services of PAs and executive assistants, with managers becoming more self-sufficient, although maybe not coping as well.
Organising a business owner’s inbox is just the beginning of the process. When we take over a new inbox, particularly with a sizable backlog, it’s imperative to gain an understanding of what’s urgent and what’s important for that client.
We generally recommend that we archive anything older than 3 months and then systematically work through each email and create a system with auto-rules and sub-folders for the client so we can start to easily access and gain some order.
We then classify personal and professional emails as these often are the same, especially with a busy business owner who is often trying to manage both his personal and business life from the same inbox, initially, that’s to keep things simple, but it often ends up meaning there is twice the volume of emails.
An average worker receives around 121 emails a day, and that can very easily get out of control and become overwhelming. Emails remain an essential part of running a business, communicating with customers, email marketing, sending invoices, following up on sales enquiries, let alone all of the emails that come when you book a restaurant, holiday, eye test, car MOT, renew your insurance, the list is endless.
If you are struggling with the management of your inbox and need a team who loves inbox management, but knows you well enough to understand your priorities and challenges, get in touch today for an initial free consultation and let’s take a look at your current inbox management style and see how we can help.
