Try these tips to reduce email overload inside your organization
Use informative headings*
Use an informative text message for the subject line. Your reader doesn’t even have to spend time opening the email. They can read and delete. They get the message and they save time.
Use headings in the body of your email too. Think about reading a newspaper. How often do you just scan the headlines? The same applies to your email. Structure your email logically, and provide a heading for each paragraph. Your reader will be able to find key information quickly by either scanning or searching.
Differentiate between urgent and non-urgent emails
Is your message critical, urgent, or just nice-to-know? Assist staff by flagging emails. Don’t forget that your reader may have a very different idea of what is urgent. Mentally put yourself in their shoes. Decide how important the email is to them. You can then indicate the level of urgency in the subject line or by using standard email symbols.
To ensure that staff have received important messages and then track who has read them, you could use Desktop Alert tool. Alternatively a screen allows the administrator(s) to turn employee screen savers into a series of dynamic sequencing billboards. This format is ideal for messages that may not be urgent but are important from an employee ‘awareness’ perspective.
Employees who are suffering from email overload are unlikely to notice these types of messages when they are sent as emails. Screens savers however, can act as a subtle but very powerful way to raise awareness and communicate key themes.
Consider utilizing an internal IM (Instant Messaging) system to communicate
Many emails can be avoided by utilizing an internal IM system to communicate with each other quickly and effectively without emailing at all. If your message is important and you need documentation then email is the best tool – If it’s not, try Instant Messaging instead.
Group your internal communications and send them through at the same time each day
It is often more efficient and more productive to deal with emails at set times each day. You can assist, by sending through internal communications at the same time each day.
An email aggregation tool enables internal email aggregation into a company newsletter. So, rather than IT sending an email update about an outage, marketing sending product information updates and HR sending their staffing updates out via email, all of these messages can be consolidated into the same magazine quickly and easily.
Manage group email lists and don’t deal in internal spam.
How often do you or your staff open an email and then spend several minutes deciding if you need to read it or not? What a waste of time and email storage space! Try appointing an email gatekeeper: someone who knows each email group, what information is relevant to each group, and what each group needs to know. The gatekeeper ensures each group receives only relevant emails. The Gatekeeper could also assist with developing clear email policies and procedures, so staff knows which emails to delete, which to keep on file.
Target your audience and make emails relevant to them.
So when you are writing an email, think about the people who will read it. Then write to them in language they will understand. Make the message relevant to them and their role. Tell them why you are writing to them and what you want them to know, think or do. Whether you are sending informative emails or publishing an internal magazine, you need to know your audience.
Use Communications tools that allow you to target communications to specific employee groups. Ensure they have reporting options that allow you to see exactly what people are reading and what is being ignored.
Keep the content brief.
Use simple language and make use of informative headings. Busy staff don’t want to spend time getting to the message, or working out what the message means. Emails in particular need to be brief and clear. Think about your reader and what you want your reader to think, know or do. In other words, what do you want your message to achieve? Decide on a logical order for your message. Then, keeping your reader in mind, write your message using Plain English.
If you don’t have a clear idea of what you want your message to achieve, or if you don’t have a clear understanding of your audience, then stop writing.
Manage your emails and archive them effectively
If your organization does not have clear guidelines for managing emails, you may find that more and more staff members have in-boxes that are groaning under the weight of hundreds of emails. This puts pressure on IT capacity, but there is a more sinister problem. Have you or your staff ever failed to fully digest an important update or new information because your in-box is just too full? It may be time to look at your email management policy.
You could start with agreeing a folder structure, so that employees know where to save email and just as importantly, where to find them. Agree on clear rules around which emails should be kept, how long they should be kept, when and if they should be archived and which emails should be deleted once they have been read.
Once you have developed clear email polices you could use staff quizzes, posters and screen savers to reinforce and test your staff’s knowledge and understanding of your organization’s email policies.
Before you email, ask yourself ‘Is email the best way to communicate this message?’
Email is used at times to convey sensitive or even unpleasant messages, but this is simply NOT good practice. Examine and promote alternative ways of conveying the message. Why not use a staff meeting to think about all the different communications channels? You can involve staff by asking them to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each option.
*Sarah Perry is a Director of Snap Comms, a company which provides specialist Internal Communications Solutions
