It estimated that business professionals spend an average of 1/3 of their day sorting through and responding to emails. Being a transaction coordinator I can definitely see this. Not to mention the time it takes to get back on track if something comes in while your in the middle of doing something already. Given this information I decided to see what we can do to improve our Gmail accounts and make them work for us. To my surprise Gmail has a lot of features a lot of us aren’t taking advantage of.
Color Coded Labels/Folders
Let’s Be honest we think of the traditional folders and moving them and they become out of site and out of mind
Well google changed that. Now you can create labels and color code them.
You can now add a label to a message in your inbox or if its completed and you don’t need to do anything else with it, you can move the message to the label completely and out of your inbox.
Okay I’m ready how do I set it up?
Login on your Email on your Desktop
On the Left hand side you’ll see some folders
Click on the More option and scroll down a little ways till you see Create New Label
You can create Main Labels and Sub-labels referred to as “parent” or “Nest”
This allows you to add multiple labels and separate things that may be the same Subject but have a different purpose
Transactions
(Nest) Address 1
(Nest) Address 2
Leads
Active
Follow Up
Simplify even more by adding color.
Scroll over one of your new labels you will see 3 dots
Click on the dots and select Label Color
Use a coloring scheme that you will remember but this will also help highlight emails for different topics and purposes even if you forget.
2. Google tabs
The tabs are useful to sort through incoming messages.
Google’s algorithm will sort your messages based on material and what you teach it.
This way you can get to what may be most important first then sort through the misc. later when you have more free time.
Different Types are useful for different people.
Primary
Can’t be changed
Social
All social media related emails will be sent here. Google will auto sort the obvious ones right away
Useful so these emails don’t clog up your primary inbox and lets be honest you already saw the notification from the app on your phone.
Promotions
Upgrades for services, special sales, etc.
Google might need a little help getting this right but will learn quickly
Updates
As a transaction coordinator I didn’t find much use for this and even had issues with it moving some of my important emails over here and I wouldn’t see them right away.
Forums
Notifications from any forums you may be subscribed to such as a response to a thread or maybe a new thread.
Lets set it up
Click the gear icon in the Right hand corner of your email
Select configure inbox
A box will telling you to select tabs to enable
Choose what best fits you.
Save your changes
Now you can quickly access the more important messages without sorting through all the other stuff you don’t need.
If you happen to see a message that should be in another tab, teach google by clicking and dragging that email to the appropriate tab.
3. Time to Declutter and Organize!
This part may take a little time since lets be honest it has probably gotten out of control.
You can take it step by step or just go through one by one choose what best works for you
Delete the old unimportant stuff
File away the old stuff that doesn’t need your attention
Select the box for the email and a toolbar appears up top
Select the Folder with the Arrow “Move To” should appear.
Select your label to move it to and voila
Label what’s left and still active or need attention
Right click the email and select “Label As”
4. Other Gmail Tips/Tricks
Unsend a message
Did you accidentally send a message with an error or maybe you just weren’t done yet?
Many people don’t know that Gmail allows you to unsend a message up to 30 Secs after sending it.
Go to the gear icon in the upper right corner again and select Settings
Scroll Down till you see Undo Send
Set the timer to 30 seconds default is 5 seconds but lets be honest it takes us 5 seconds to process what just happened LOL
Save your changes
Now when you send a message in the lower left hand corner you should see an Message Sent notification that also says Undo. Click undo and fix or finish your email.
If your on your mobile Gmail app it will be directly at the bottom of your screen and the undo button is on the bottom right corner
Add a picture/logo and Signature
This makes your messages more professional and easily adds contact info and any other important information such as media links without having to type it in every time.
Gear Icon >>> Settings >>>>> General Tab >>> Scroll down till you see My Picture
Now Select the photo from your computer that you want to use and save
Scroll down a little more and you will see the Signature block
Type in your name, Business Info, and other pertinent information such as Social media, Website, etc.
You guessed it Save your changes!
Congratulations!!!!
Your email now does what you need it to now as long as you do your part and use what I’ve shown you.
There are many other tools and add-ons to play with through the Advanced tab of your Settings
Auto Canned Responses if you find yourself responding with the same message over and over
Multiple Inboxes if you have more than one email
And More ….
Note for Apple Users (Not sure about Android)
Unfortunately if you’re using the Default Email app on your apple device these changes will have no effect.
This is why I highly encourage downloading the Gmail app and using it for your business email as all the changes will work as they are designed to.