FROM THE BLOG

Email has become our primary form of communication in business. Expanding on Moore’s Law, we see the volume of emails doubling year-over-year. Finding ways to more efficiently manage email to ensure important emails are seen and acted on while combing through the noise of solicitation, mass marketing, and spam emails is at times a crippling challenge faced by all. Couple this with the ever-growing fears around email cybersecurity and it can feel as though managing email is your full-time job. As follows are some best practices for inbox management and safety:

Efficient Inbox Management

1. Practice Regular Inbox Maintenance: Dedicate time each day to review and process emails in your inbox. Aim to respond to urgent messages promptly and archive or delete irrelevant ones to maintain a clutter-free inbox.

2. Use Folders: Create folders to categorize emails based on projects, clients, or urgency levels. This makes locating and prioritizing messages easier, reducing clutter in your main inbox.

3. Implement Filters and Rules: Set up filters or rules to automatically sort incoming emails into relevant folders. For example, you can filter emails from specific senders or with certain keywords to be directly routed to designated folders, streamlining your inbox management process.

4. Block or Mark as Junk Unwanted Messages: Instead of just deleting messages from unwanted senders, do the extra click and “BLOCK” the sender. This will reduce inbox clutter and ensure that you only receive the emails you want. Blocking is better than “Unsubscribing,” as increasingly, the unsubscribe link is being exploited by spammers.

5. Flagging for Follow-up: Use Outlook’s “Flag” feature to highlight emails requiring action. Specific deadlines for follow-up can be set to help set priorities.

Safe Inbox Management

1. Exercise Caution with Unkown Emails: Avoid opening emails from unfamiliar senders. If an email appears suspicious or seems out of place, it’s likely best to mark it as spam.

2. Exercise Caution with Email Attachments: Be wary of opening attachments from unknown sources or those that haven’t been scanned for viruses. Move suspicious emails containing attachments to your spam folder to mitigate risks.

3. Don’t Engage with Spam Messages: Avoid replying to or clicking on links within spam emails. Doing so can signal to the sender that your email address is active, potentially leading to more spam.

BONUS TIP: It is increasingly common to have a secondary email account. The secondary account can be used for any subscriptions or other more public use cases that may expose it to marketing and spam content. This keeps the primary mailbox more focused on direct email communication.

Stay email sane,

Marco Galvan
Director of IT

Posted by Prospera Financial