Email— it’s become a fundamental and fast way to communicate. A new report shows that the average employee receives close to 180 emails every day and 40 percent of them are not even opened. For emails that are opened, the reply rate is just 16 percent. The widespread misuse of email has led to unwanted inbox clutter.
How many emails do you get in a day?
And how many of those are annoying junk emails?
It may be time to clean up your inbox. Studies have found that digital clutter like e-vites, calendar reminders, group emails, and spam can hinder your productivity in the exact same way a messy office does.
To avoid overwhelming your email, apply filters. In gmail hit the “show search options” icon in the search bar at the top. A filter menu will open immediately that allows to you create a filter with any of these parameters.
Also, delete or archive emails you can’t take action on anymore. A great way to begin changing your relationship with your email is by confronting all those old messages you never replied to but promised you would. Take a deep breath and start from the bottom to the top of your unread emails.
And, for incoming emails, turn them into tasks. One of the most important habits in maintaining a tidy inbox is to turn emails into actions on your to-do list.
The biggest contributor to email overload is group emails sent to shared inboxes or distribution lists. According to state of email report, 51 percent of emails people receive are group emails.
