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Top tips from Mesmo Consultancy (and Associates) on how to save time and improve business and personal performance by ‘Taking Control of your Inbox’ and using proper business email etiquette.
To quote Louis Renault in Casablanca, ‘round up the usual suspect’. This applies to the recent business email overload and etiquette articles. Leaving aside all the technology predictions, here are five articles which caught our attention and are worthy of your too. 
1. Curb digital addiction with these resolutions. We wish we had written this ourselves. Although the slant is on men’s addiction the article really applies to us all. It contains some very practical and easy steps to wean yourself of those smart phones and tablets. For example write something in a book and share it for others to add some comments. Phone a friend instead of texting them.
2. Porsche urged to ban emails out of hours. There is a certain irony and black humour about the Porsche trying to reform their own workforce. After all, are these not one of the most prized status symbols of those who are often the worst offenders for sending late night out of office hours emails? However, other companies are continuing to adopting similar policies to reduce email overload and help people re-build their work-life balance.
3.‘Starwars’ ‘whatever’ other terrible passwords. Starwars and Whatever are among eleven new entries into the list of the worst passwords. Poor password management is worrying in a time when each day new cyber attacks are revealed. Click here to learn how to create a really strong password.
4. How I love thee, email? Let me count the ways I hate its alternatives. Why do many of the time saving alternatives to email not realise their full potential? We are talking about applications like Slack, Facebook for Business, Google Drive etc. The author Rhymer Rigby likens it to communism ‘communism would be great if only it was done properly’. It is all too easy to blame the real-user, when these new tools fail become embedded in our every day working practices (ie you and I). Is this true or is there something else missing, such as adequate training and leadership from the top? These are all great ways to reduce email overload too, so it not time to make them work?
5. iPhone users: upgrade to iOS 11.2.2 Both the new Spectre and Meltdown security flaws can effect iOS devices and users are being urged to update as soon as possible. It’s not often that Apple admits it devices might be susceptible to such flaws so when they do it’s worth listening.
Tags: business email etiquette, Business email overload, Digital addiction, Late night emails, Password Management
It’s that time of year when it’s easy to become complacent and let our email etiquette slip. Coming back from a festive lunch (drink or even dinner) you decide to clear the email backlog and are in a frivolous mood. Then there are all those Santa hats and jumpers you wear.
To some extent they are OK because they are here today and gone tomorrow and few remembers what you were wearing a week ago. However, like a puppy and kitten, an email is for life despite your best endeavours to recall it!
Here are five top tips on business email etiquette to preserve your professional image when all about you are losing their heads.
You might also want to avoid letting colleagues (and friends) post images of you on their social media sites with those fun hats etc. Although you can delete your posts, you do not not have control over other people’s sites. 2018 might be when you look for a new job and recruiters often look in depth at candidates internet foot prints before making a judgement.
Tags: business email etiquette, cybercrime, Professional image
Inbox Zero
Inbox zero was a phrase coined by Merlin Mann to epitomise email efficiency. Now it is regarded by many include Mann as perhaps a way to waste time yet still feel like you are working hard. However at this time of year we can all profit from spending a little time de-cluttering and getting ready for the new year. In this context reaching ‘inbox zero’ makes an excellent goal. Here are five quick ways to clean and de-clutter your inbox to reach inbox zero over the festive season
By now you should have a relatively clean inbox. If not – simply declare Email Bankruptcy.
Still too many emails in your inbox and no place to put them? Why not ask Mesmo Consultancy to run a Smart Email Management Masterclass in the new year?
Tags: De-clutter your inbox, inbox zero, Merlin Mann
An increasing source of stress for teachers is juggling with the pressures of email overload and lesson preparation.
Email overload
These facts were confirmed by a recent Mesmo Consultancy survey looking at the email culture of several leading UK independent schools. Responses from over 300 academic and support staff identified three key issues:
1. The Instant Reply Syndrome (IRS) – the perception that fast response is required
2. The volume of daily email requiring their attention
3. How to prioritise their time – balancing being responsive to email with teaching duties
This article provides some email best practice solutions which work both in schools and business. Click here for more.
It was first published in Independent Education Today in July 2017
Here is what one client said after working with them.
I enjoy reading your blogs and you have definitely made a difference to so many people with keeping the email at bay.
Tags: Email overload in schools, Health & well-being, Schools stress
When colleagues receive 70+ emails per day, what is the most effective business email etiquette to draw their attention to a critical and urgent email? There are several ways such as priority markers and read receipts. Neither are that effective because they can appear rude and annoying, and be overlooked especially as some senders use them for everything.
A follow-up phone call? A very good idea but what if the person is out of phone contact.
How about sending the email so that the subject-line shows in red in the recipient’s inbox? This is the business email etiquette one client uses and finds it very effective. Here is how it work.
To send an email that will appear red in the recipient’s inbox.
1. Open a new email
2. From the Tags menu block click on Follow Up and select Custom... from the drop down menu.
3. In the Custom dialogue box, click on the Flag For Recipients. Click on Reminder and set the date and time you want the recipient to be reminder. After that date the email turns red.
Note – If you include a ‘Flag for Me’ (top half of the dialogue box), the reminder will also show up on your Task List.
4. To make the email Red on receipt, set the reminder date to a date and time in the past (ie before you send it).
As with all such attention seeking email etiquette practices, it is vital that you agree whatever process you employ with the other person prior to using it, otherwise you risk coming across as arrogant and too clever by half!
What’s your preferred business email etiquette to highlight important emails?
To learn more ways like this about how to send emails which attract the recipient’s attention without appearing rude attend on one of our Smart Email Management Masterclasses. These are run in-company as either conventional classroom sessions or webinars. For more information call or email us now.
Tags: business email etiquette, High priority emails, High priority markers, Red emails, Urgent emails