14 Crucial Principles for Better Email Strategy and Focus
Leaders have a love/hate relationship with email. We can’t live with it, we can’t live without it. How can we manage our inbox so we can get on to more important things, like actually leading? Creating and implementing an effective email strategy isn’t a quick fix, but there are things you can do today to reverse the trend on unhealthy email habits and tendencies.
Our team at Kairos Partnerships knows the importance of high-quality communication from an internal and external standpoint. Part of high-quality communication is recognizing when we’re actually doing a poor job at it—therefore, sometimes it’s important to take a step back and assess what email strategy is working and what needs to change.
As a team, we consistently reference any of these 14 practical email principles on a weekly basis. This is where the importance of a Chief Repeating Officer (CRO) comes in handy on any team. And you don’t have to be the Founder to assume the role of CRO! Any team member who can hold one another accountable to quality communication is doing their job effectively. You don’t have to be annoying about it, but simply encourage others in the [process. With that being said, here are those 14 principles and a brief word about each.
Email Strategy in the Weeds
It’d be nice to implement the following principles all at once, but we all know developing habits and rhythms—in work and life—takes time and persistence. There are a few elements you can implement right away. Email strategy “in the weeds” is that nitty gritty work of opening your inbox to a cluttered mess, but taking steps to declutter for the sake of productivity and peace of mind.
1. Don't live in your inbox. Batch reading/respond to emails 2-3 times per day.
2. Unless writing to a group of people who need specific instructions, emails should be 5 sentences or less. If it requires more than 5 sentences, pick up the phone and call.
3. Use cc and bcc functions appropriately.
4. Don't use ‘reply all’ unless specifically instructed to do so by the sender.
5. Eliminate as many grammatical errors and typos as possible. (And don't put a disclaimer at the bottom blaming a smartphone for your typos.)
6. Refrain from ending emails with “let me know how I can help.” Be more clear on what you're asking.
7. Remember: just five sentences or less.
Quality Communication from a High Level
After you identify some of those “quick wins” for daily email usage, you can then zoom out and look at your communication practices as a whole. The remaining seven principles are geared toward “high level” email strategy and usage—these principles, when done correctly, can have benefits in many other areas of life outside the screen.
8. Be clear. Be clear. Be clear.
9. Don't have email on your phone (and if you can't do that, at least turn off all notifications from your phone).
10. Email is for information transfer, not emotional engagement.
11. Effective leaders always add value to people’s lives. Therefore, add value to others in your emails.
12. Don’t read your email each morning until you’ve eaten three frogs. Accomplish a few stretch tasks before you open up your inbox.
13. Shoot for Operation Inbox Five: I've found Inbox Zero to be an impossible and stressful task. Instead, work to have no more than 5 emails in your inbox at any given time.
14. Unsubscribe from all email subscriptions lists that are not absolutely essential to your life and work.
And there you have it. Fourteen ways to better your email inbox today and beyond. Which one or two REALLY stuck out to you? How can you implement those ideas into your daily communication?
One thing is for sure: nobody is perfect at email strategy, but we can all take steps to get there. If you have a friend or are a part of a team that could benefit from these 14 principles, assume the role of CRO and encourage them with one or two of these principles today.