5 Email Productivity Hacks For Freelancers – Video
No matter what it is you do, whether it’s graphic design, web development, illustration, copywriting, or anything else, there’s one thing every freelancer has to deal with day in, day out.
Email.
Some days, it seems we haven’t done any productive work because we’re battling our way to inbox zero.
In this video, I talk about a few ways I make my daily email work-flow more efficient. Many of these tools and tips apply specifically to GMail, but they can carried over to any email client in one way or another. The tools and tips discussed include:
- How to personalize your Gmail Canned Responses
- One effective use for Gmail Labels and Filters.
- Set followup reminders via email with followup.cc.
- Write it now, send it later (and track it too) with RightInbox or Boomerang.
- Apps for a better Gmail interface: Postbox and Sparrow.
What About You?
Have an email productivity hack that’s working wonders for you? Share it in the comments!
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Hi there!
This was so helpful! I run a small business and used to log into my multiple gmail accounts so many times throughout the day. I had them both linked but one was always delayed in receiving messages, which got to be an annoyance when things are time-sensitive. Thank you so much for all of this helpful information! I can’t wait to try these new tricks today!
I recommend getting your own domain email its the only way to go. GoDaddy has really cool features built in with templates, auto reply, etc.
What’s more valuable than owning your own?
I find it useful to set up email forwarding and authorize main account to send as other ones, this way I only need to check one mailbox for new emails. Also for emails, like server notifications, I add “skip inbox” to filter and apply a label, so that they can be accessed under that label.
Great stuff. I wrote about this last week too and have the other half of the post coming out this week!
According to my research the average person spends around TWO HOURS a day on email – that’s crazy isn’t it?
Something that really worked for me was to have just two times during the day when I check emails and action them. This means I eliminate distractions and when I’m working on my inbox I’m more productive.
I find the ‘three minute rule’ works as well – basically if an email will take less than 3 minutes to action then just do it, don’t save it for later or procrastinate
If it’s not considered spammy I’d love to share the link with you as some of your readers may find some genuinely helpful suggestions: http://gloucestershirewebdesigns.co.uk/email-time-management-tips/
There is a chrome extension called “Checker Plus for Gmail”, which I’ve been using for a while now and can’t imaging living without it.
It is a gmail notification extension as you can image, but it lets you actually read entire messages, label, archive or delete them and do this for all your gmail accounts from a single popup interface. Way better than having to open Gmail in multiple tabs to keep track of multiple e-mail IDs.
GMail’s Quick Links have been very useful for me. I have one for Non-List Mail (i.e., doesn’t have the List label on it, as applied by my filters), one for Work Lists (has both the Work and List labels), and one for Non-Work Lists. This helps me get to the really important stuff first, and save the dross for last. I’m considering refining my label/link setup even further, separating the List concept into Announcement and Discussion lists.
Every person has the limitation as the day have only 24 hours. So if anyone like to increase the volume of work within a limited period should have use the email tools. I have tried getresponse and awber demo version and looking forward to purchase something like that.
Great ideas and suggestions! I especially like the idea of highlighting and using caps lock for the areas you need to change in canned response emails.