In the next instalment of Ask CyberGuru, Barry asks, “How can I manage the amount of email I receive? I can’t keep on top of my work along with all of the newsletters, group buying offers and other promotional material I receive. I would like to see some of these, but not interfere with my work.”
Barry isn’t alone with receiving lots of email on a daily basis. Like most modern day businesses, email is relied upon as both a source of work but also frustration with a large number of emails sent and received each day.
Remove yourself from mailing lists that you have no interest in
You can remove yourself from mailing lists using the “unsubscribe” link which generally found at the bottom of most emails sent by reputable organisations. It is a requirement under the Privacy Act to include this. These links usually will take you to a page to provide your reason for unsubscribing, and once you have provided this, you’ll be taken off their mailing list. If you are not able to unsubscribe, you may choose to block emails entirely by blocking their messages.
Mark unsolicited email messages as blocked or spam
For those email messages who do not have unsubscribe facility, that don’t respond to unsubscribe requests, or unsolicited, you can block the sender, or mark them as spam. For the first, they are included in your own “black list” on your email application however for spam they are reported using the email application’s reporting. This doesn’t stop them from coming in initially but over time you may see the reduction in the amount of emails.
Set up a rule to move emails from specific organisations into folders
Outlook and other email applications provide you with the ability to send messages of particular criteria, such as Sender, Subject to be automatically moved into a different folder. This can help organise your messages to view them at a separately time.
Set up a secondary email address where your newsletters are sent to
You may choose to set up an Outlook.com, Gmail or alternative email address to separate your main email address from. If you have available email addresses on your website, you could configure one of these specifically for newsletters and mailing lists. By doing so, when you are asked for your email address you could provide this instead of your primary email address.
These ways will help you to manage and hopefully alleviate the number of emails you are receiving. It is good practice to regularly review your email habits and hopefully get on top of these to help improve your productivity. If we can be any assistance in any way, please contact us to discuss further.