Cutting Back on Email Etiquette

[pcooley]

Periodically, I try to stop using email. The truly important information seems to arrive by regular post or by telephone. Email as a communication means -- for me at least -- has become increasingly frustrating. Much of it is my fault. I hand out my email address to the PTA, to sports coaches, to bicycle advocacy groups, and on and on. Then the banks have my email and want to send me special offers. Places I buy things online have my email and want to send me special offers. I check my email every three or four days, and the clutter there just angers me. Time is too precious to spend it emptying my inbox.

My solution has been to set up my I.S.P. spam filter to block all messages by adding the common extensions - .gov, .com, .net, .info - and so on to my "enemies" list. I've added a few family members and organizations to my "friends" list. Now I only receive one or two emails a week, and that seems about right. (I have become more of a letter correspondant, both writing and receiving, since email showed up than I ever was before).

My question is whether I should have a vacation responder saying that I don't check my email. In some ways, it seems like good etiquette. In other ways, it seems like a snotty little message to send out, and it's going out willy nilly, not only to some long lost high school chum who thinks they can contact me by email, but also to all the banks, business, and list-serv junkies that hit "reply all" to every message from the PTA.

If you have an email address, but don't use it -- or, in my case, send all incoming messages through the spam filter and only allow a select few through -- what is the etiquette in terms of the vacation responder?

[catherine]

Here's a compromise: Use Tim Ferriss's (The 4-Hour Workweek) system (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/03/22/how-to-check-e-mail-twice-a-day-or-once-every-10-days/): establish a regular schedule for checking your email and then, as you said, use an auto-responder to clue people in.

Here's his sample:


“Hi all…

In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal email policy. I’ve recently realized I spend more time shuffling through my inbox and less time focused on the task at hand. It has become an unnecessary distraction that ultimately creates longer lead times on my ever-growing ‘to do’ list.

Going forward I will only be checking/responding to email at 11a and 4p on weekdays. I will try and respond to email in a timely manner without neglecting the needs of our clients and brand identity.

If you need an immediate time-sensitive response… please don’t hesitate to call me. Phones are more fun anyways.

Hopefully this new approach to email management will result in shorter lead times with more focused & creative work on my part. Cheers & here’s to life outside of my inbox! “

[SteveinMN]

What you're doing right now is the "gill-net" approach to managing email. It catches a lot of stuff that maybe it shouldn't.

Every legitimate organization you deal with that asks for your email address has a mechanism for stopping it. Usually it's a Web link at the bottom of the email marked Unsubscribe (or words to that effect). Click it, maybe re-enter your email address, and you're done. No need to filter further for that organization -- or the organizations to which they pass on your email address (it's in the Privacy Policy that they -- umm -- email to you periodically). I would guess a few days of doing this would clear up a lot of the problem without killing off the email you do want to see (if there is any).

Another idea: stop the email at its source. Just because there's a field for an email address on the form doesn't mean you always need to provide one. If you would rather not be contacted that way, don't enable it. If you must provide an email address, then get yourself a second address (Yahoo, gmail, and Microsoft offer them for free; your ISP might also) and give that email address to the folks you don't want to hear from again. Only give your "real" email address to those you really want to have it. Actually, at this stage of the game, you might be better off abandoning your old email address and getting a new address which you pass on only to those from whom you want email. Keep the old account for the marketing junk.

I understand having to stanch the flow of too much email. It is estimated that somewhere between 75% and 95% of the email being sent around the world is marketing communications and spam. But it should serve you. This could be another way to get the reins back on the horse.

[SteveinMN]

What you're doing right now is the "gill-net" approach to managing email. It catches a lot of stuff that maybe it shouldn't.

Every legitimate organization you deal with that asks for your email address has a mechanism for stopping it. Usually it's a Web link at the bottom of the email marked Unsubscribe (or words to that effect). Click it, maybe re-enter your email address, and you're done. No need to filter further for that organization -- or the organizations to which they pass on your email address (it's in the Privacy Policy that they -- umm -- email to you periodically). I would guess a few days of doing this would clear up a lot of the problem without killing off the email you do want to see (if there is any).

Another idea: stop the email at its source. Just because there's a field for an email address on the form doesn't mean you always need to provide one. If you would rather not be contacted that way, don't enable it. If you must provide an email address, then get yourself a second address (Yahoo, gmail, and Microsoft offer them for free; your ISP might also) and give that email address to the folks you don't want to hear from again. Only give your "real" email address to those you really want to have it. Actually, at this stage of the game, you might be better off abandoning your old email address and getting a new address which you pass on only to those from whom you want email. Keep the old account for the marketing junk.

I understand having to stanch the flow of too much email. It is estimated that somewhere between 75% and 95% of the email being sent around the world is marketing communications and spam. But it should serve you. This could be another way to get the reins back on the horse.

And if you feel you must put an auto-responder (vacation message) on your email, then you might want to consider one that tells people email is the slowest way to reach you but that you will review your email once a week/month/fortnight/whatever works for you.

[fidgiegirl]

You could also keep this e-mail addy as a "junk" address, and open a second one for the people who are truly important to you. Then you have the "junk" address for when you need it, but never want to hear from that organization, or whatever, again, and you can focus on checking the nice one.

Frankly, I'd be annoyed if I were that PTA person that needed to get a message out and had to deal with everyone's auto-responses coming back. I HATE it when I send out to a listserv or something and then I get them from random people.

I also get frustrated when I'm trying to arrange a social outing with several people and one doesn't check e-mail, and then we forget to call with a change in plans or something, and it's a big ol' deal . . . so I like to at least know that though my friends aren't that into it, they do at least periodically check it. And if I don't hear back, I know to pick up the phone.

I don't get responses to 90% of the e-mails I send, either! I'm not mad at any of those people, just think, "oh, they are too busy" or "must not have been as awesome an idea as I thought it was." No biggie.

My DH gets stressed out by what you are saying - you are not alone.

I don't read 90% of what comes through. If it's not personal or something I need to deal with, it gets deleted.

[Wildflower]

It is a headache. Currently I check email about every 3 days, then scan quickly and delete what is not of importance. Most junk email has already been filtered to my spam folder so that's not a problem. I just try to stay up on it and really it takes me about 5 minutes every few days to check on what is important and what isn't. I've come to consider it just another one of life's chores, just like going through the daily snail mail. I sometimes would love to dump all of the technology in my life, when I ponder on days gone by when it wasn't a part of life... There is just no easy solution to any of it.

[ToomuchStuff]

I am trying to figure out how many email addresses I have total. Three regular ones (one work, one personal, and one for all the "sign up/discount" junk), one for a couple how to type groups, I rarely look at any more (maybe twice a year as I unsubscribed and kept old interesting posts), and one that has been just a backup/CL type of email. Only my work one gets spam and I can trace that to our printer. It takes me longer to get logged in, then to check my emails, most of the time and I only look at the deals one, when I am looking for something for someone (sometimes work has me watch for things).

[Greg44]

My new position at work means I will be managing a LOT more emails -- which is really going to be a point of frustration for me. The person I am replacing showed me his email file and I was overwhelmed. Right now I maybe have 5 or 6 emails in any given folder. He must have had hundreds.

My new boss (I now report directly to the owner) will be leaving for Palm Springs for the winter. He still monitors every
(yes, every) sales invoice and will email me with questions about this and that. I am not looking forward to this at all.

Maybe I am old school. But I like to use punctuation, capitalize the first word of a sentance, address who I am sending the email to by name, signing off with my name or initials, use spell check, etc. - especially at work. I feel it is very unprofessional to send an email like a text message.

[Tradd]

Gregg, email filters are your friend. ;-) Seriously. If you have a number of emails consistently coming in on the same topic (for example, specific repeat customers) or certain people (company owner), get your subfolders set up (by customer name or whatever method works for you), and then set up your filters so emails go directly into those folders.

I will read articles online which advise people to only check their email every couple of hours at work or whatever the time frame is. I consider jobs like that to be some mythical animal like the unicorn which no one has ever seen. I always wonder what those people do that they're able to only check their email several times a day. Many of you will remember I'm in international transportation/customs brokerage. There are a good number of emails on "Where is my shipment?" People want an answer fairly quickly. Most of my shipments are coming from Asia, so I'll have a number of emails from my offices there when I check my email in the morning. I sort into appropriate customer folders. Usually it's about 20, since I'm handling only two customers these days (and one other that's transitioning to someone else) since my promotion. I used to handle a customer that resulted in 100+ emails a day from Asia! During the day I get a bunch more. Filters have come in handy. Most of the department wasn't using them, and I've since showed them how to set them up. Filters are especially handy for messages like the emails my system sends every time Customs' system talks to mine on any given shipment I did.

I've found customers who expect an almost instantaneous response to be a major headache. We had one account that demanded every single email of theirs be responded to within 10 minutes. So two of us got put on the account. At first they even wanted responses during the lunch hour (we all go from 12-noon), until management told them no way. If they didn't get an answer within 10 minutes, they'd call the manager. Not us who were actually handling their account, but the manager. Most of the emails weren't that urgent either. You'd have to drop everything else you were doing and get them an answer. I was very glad when they stopped shipping with us. They simply weren't worth the trouble. In our industry much is done via writing in email, because you have to CYA.

But I think my favorite was the customer who sent an email later in the afternoon, maybe 4 or so, asking for a piece of information and saying "get with me tomorrow morning on this." He complained to my manager when I actually did get back with him the next morning. He made himself look like a fool, though, when I had the email where he told me to get back with him the next morning on it and showed it to my manager.

Gregg, I'm with you on the proper punctuation, spelling, etc.

[SteveinMN]

When I was working at the large multinational corporation, I got tons of email that had only a limited relationship to me and my work. All of that went into a folder called "Maybe" and messages in it aged out after three months. If no one got back to me about it before then, whatever was there was old news and the topic would be revisited with the new details if necessary. Worked like a charm. And kept it out of my in-box. Tradd, I'm with you -- jobs in which email can be checked only a couple of times a day can be performed by unicorns....

[SimplyL]

I would also stop the email at it's source.
*Check email filter and notification settings on web sites that you are able to log into
*Emails that you receive from services or communication that you no longer need, go ahead and follow through on the link at the bottom to stop communication
*When customer service folks ask for your email to 'send special offers' just say, 'No, thank you'. It's usually a prompt on their screen, so they ask. I've never had anyone get mad at me, as a result
*Check with PTA, coaches, and see if they have any type of set up with their email to only send you special notices. I have received a lot before, some that were specific to every little thing they were doing, which included extra volunteer boards that I wasn't even on. After emailing, they realized they had me on the wrong 'list'.. that they had a general list for everyone, and a more specific list for active volunteers.