Now that you’ve eliminated a lot of junk email by unsubscribing relentlessly, filtering routine and unimportant messages, and sorted through your back log of messages, the next tactic for further reducing your email volume is to communicate more succinctly with better closure.
Instead of responding to each email, consider how you can create a situation where the other party only needs to respond to exceptions.
There are 4 parts to each of these messages, and they are structured as follows:
If [true] no action…
If [false] please [action] by [deadline].
Here’s a plain English example:
Mark,
Following up on our meeting I will have Amanda schedule our monthly conference calls for the 24th.
If this is fine with you, no need to respond.
If you need to change the time slot, please email me by COB this Thursday with the new information.
Thanks,
David
There are many ways this method can be applied. Rather than having your messages disappear into a blackhole and wait for a response, this puts the onus on the recipient to respond or you’ll do what you stated.
In order for this to work there has to be some level of basic trust and transparency. If someone is prone to not following through, they’re still not going to follow through. It’s also the sender’s responsibility not to abuse it by being too stringent on the recipient, for example setting a deadline that’s too soon).
This also works when used in-person but is best done on email where there is a trail or record.
If what you need is a response, an effective technique is the second attempt.
After a reasonable length of time, if I have not received any response to an earlier email requesting a response (e.g. asking a question) I will get the message from the sent box and resend it, adding [2nd try] to the beginning of the subject line.
That usually gets the recipient’s attention and a response. I’ve never needed to elevate it to [3rd try].