Here’s the press release we made regarding the preliminary results from our new online survey:
Email Productivity Expert Releases Survey Results after 3rd Annual Clean Out Your Inbox Week
READING, PA (FEB. 11, 2010) – Internationally recognized email productivity expert Marsha Egan announces the preliminary findings of her new online assessment designed to measure how effectively email users manage incoming and outgoing email messages. Egan launched the 40-question assessment, adapted from her popular book, Inbox Detox and the Habit of E-mail Excellence (Acanthus 2009), during the 3rd annual Clean Out Your Inbox Week. The results indicate that people aged 55 to 64 have the most efficient email habits.
During Clean Out Your Inbox Week, which occurred January 25-29, 2010, 185 people across the US took Egan’s survey. The results indicate that respondents aged 55-64 have the highest average score of any age group, at 70.64 points out of 100. 45-54 year-olds were the next most productive users, with an average score of 69.25 points, followed by 25-34 year-olds, scoring an average of 69.05 points.
The results further indicate that women, with an average score of 69.43 points, generally have better email habits than men, whose average score is slightly lower at 66.30 points.
Egan’s survey also showed that individuals with graduate degrees, average score of 68.99, exhibited better email habits than respondents at other education levels. Respondents with “Some College” scored 68.83, followed by those with college degrees with an average of 68.29 points. Participants with a High School education or less scored the lowest, with an average of 67.92.
“The overall average individual score from this survey is only 68.64 points. This means that most email users still do not practice healthy email habits. It is so important that we manage our email effectively – both at home and in the office. Good management of your Inbox will save you hours each week and increase your overall productivity significantly. It will reduce the amount of stress in your life and enable you to communicate with greater impact!” comments Egan, CEO of The Egan Group, a consultancy in Reading, PA.
Egan’s survey is free and can be found at www.EganEmailSolutions.com/assessments.html . For more information about Marsha, visit her webpage at www.MarshaEgan.com and for tips that will help you take control of your inbox, search her blog at www.InboxDetox.com.
Urgent e-mails are toxic. For a workgroup to truly get anything done, everyone in that workgroup needs to stop using e-mail urgently. The best rule of thumb is that if anything is needed in under three hours, either pick up the phone, or visit. We have designed three different posters which say the same thing — “If you need it in less than three hours, pick up the phone!”
Click here to select the poster color combinations that work best for you.
Here is a sample:
Is your inbox empty yet?
Here is an eight page, printable magazine entitled “E-mail Savvy,” that has a lot of great tips and information that will help you be more productive with your e-mail. Please feel free to pass it on to anyone who you think will benefit…
In the spirit of January, a time for new beginnings and personal improvement, we are challenging the world to rethink the way they use email this week. Therefore, we are announcing the launch of the third annual Clean Out Your Inbox Week. All week, we will motivate both individuals and businesses worldwide to take control of their email and regain lost time and profits.
This week, we will launch our first-ever online assessment (http://eganemailsolutions.com/assessments.html) that will allow emailers to gauge the effectiveness of their email habits. This brand new 40-question survey is divided into two sections, and will rate users’ treatment of incoming and outgoing email messages. Based on the results, the survey will provide its users with advice to improve.
So, register now for our free assessment - see how you rate on a 100 point scale, for your INCOMING email and OUTGOING email practices!
Throughout the week, we will continue to blog daily and tweet (@marshaegan) about the toxic email habits that pervade the workplace and offer helpful tips and free downloads that businesses or individuals who want to take control of their inboxes can use.
So, register to receive your email version of our blogposts or subscribe to the RSS feeds so that you don’t miss all of the support you’ll gain from us during “Clean Out Your Inbox Week!”
Email is here to stay. It is very quickly becoming the primary communication tool in business. And if you want to hold back your career with your email practices, here are a few hints that can help you:
1. Waste peoples’ time. The more you annoy people by creating extra work through a myriad of bonehead maneuvers like sending unnecessary emails, forgetting attachments, and inserting HUGE graphics, the less they will think of your business communications skills.
2. Send poorly written emails. Use improper grammar, spelling and punctuation. Use run on sentences.
3. Make sure you don’t use spell check.
4. Bury the point of your communication in the middle of the message. By making it very hard for people to know what it is you are trying to convey, you will be sure to make a name for yourself in business circles.
5. Forward lengthy chain emails, saying “see below.” A great way to call attention to your lack of respect for the receiver is to forward an email that has at least 10 previously forwarded emails contained in it. This forces the recipient to have to read through all 10 to try to figure out what is important.
6. Copy as many people as you can. This one is more subtle. By adding many extra recipients, you might think you’re communicating, but what you’re really doing is adding more work to peoples’ already full plates. They may not catch on to this one right away, but over time, you won’t be able to hide.
7. Gossip via email. Even though you think that your friend won’t rat you out over the gossip you sent – hey, it is a permanent record, and that “friend” could be as catty as you!
8. Put several names in the “To:” line
9. Write long and rambling emails.
10. Send emails between 1am and 5am.
Whether your boss is a plain ol’ jerk is another story… but if your boss sends urgent emails, that behavior qualifies him or her to be deemed an “emailing jerk.”
Let’s be clear: I define an urgent email as any email message that requests or requires action within 3 hours, not three minutes.
So why does this behavior warrant such a distinctive title? Because when that boss uses email to initiate immediate action, he or she has just scared the entire department into HAVING to have their inboxes open, dinging and flashing while they work.
“So what?” cries the emailing jerk. Well that behavior has just caused the entire department to be interrupted every time an email message shows up! Let’s see… the average worker today receives anywhere from 80 to 150 emails. Hmmmm. With every interruption taking an average of 4 minutes for recovery, that is a VERY expensive “so what.”
Instead, convince the urgent emailing jerks in your office to call or visit when something is needed in less than three hours. This allows all of you to triage your email handling, and actually get some work done for a change.
8.5 x 11 Posters for You
For posters to help you promote this behavior, visit http://EganEmailSolutions.com/urgentposters.html
And, oh, if you’re a boss, and someone forwarded this to you-it wasn’t meant to describe YOU – just the other emailing jerks in your organization.
We all know them. They are our friends who love jokes, and continually, and perhaps incessantly share them with us by email. And while we appreciate the thought, we groan every time we see those emails. How do we turn them off without turning off our friend?
Here are three suggestions:
- If they are being sent to your work address, let them know about the company policy related to personal email. This solution may be the easiest, but you may encounter problems when they ask for your home email address.
- The next time you talk to them, let them know how many emails you receive daily, and that you enjoy the jokes, but are trying to control the amount of email you receive, so “please just send me your very best.” I’ve found that in most cases, they take you off the group joke distribution entirely. Also, it is best to say this in person so that you avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings.
- Consider setting up a free email account JUST for jokes. Who knows, you may really need a lift one day! The next time you receive a joke, respond with a quick note requesting that the email address be changed to your.name.jokes@gmail.com
I received this question the other day:
I’ve got a auto website client who needs to put an autosignature on the bottom of autoresponders and newsletters. Is it best to use the name of a real person at the company or a fictitious name considering that people will not actually be able to respond directly to these communications? Also, do you think that it would be better to put a female’s name than a male’s or vice versa? Looking forward to your input, and thanks in advance! – L
Here’s my answer:Hi L,
I have always believed that honesty is the best policy. Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to “bare all.” Giving a fictitious name just doesn’t set well with me, to be honest. Something like “Your XYZ Marketing Team” could be a good halfway action. Hope this helps!
What thoughts do YOU have?
Most email programs have a “Calendar” feature that not only allows you to schedule important meetings and due dates, but also sends you reminders and prompts about those important deadlines you have docketed. By using the calendar feature, you can keep track of dates conveniently.
Even more importantly, if everyone in your work group uses the calendar feature efficiently, you can use the calendar search feature to find convenient times to schedule meetings and get-togethers. Doing so will save you valuable time, but only if everyone in the group puts every scheduled item on his or her calendar.
We have all been exasperated with the multiple emails back and forth, trying to find time for a simple meeting.
How much time do these unnecessary emails steal from each recipient’s day?
Work groups that use the calendar feature can greatly increase their efficiency. Furthermore, even if there are some who forget to put scheduled items on their calendars, it generally only takes them one or two times of having to ask the rest of the group for a change of time before they begin using the feature efficiently and consistently.
In my corporate career, after the leadership team became fed up with all the time it took to find time for meetings, we collectively decided to “mandate” the use of the electronic calendar to schedule meetings. Our department of 70+ people was given one week to enter all its scheduled meetings into calendars. We then “required” that all meeting requests, even one-on-ones, be handled electronically. People remarked at how they “couldn’t believe how easy and efficient it was!”
By including your contact information in every e-mail you send, you make it easy for the recipient to respond to you, whether by e-mail, telephone, or post. Most e-mail programs have this feature. They also have the capability for you to program various auto signatures for you to use with different audiences. A standard, default auto signature might look like this:
Clint
Clint Smith, Vice President
ABC Company
123 Park Road
Anywhere, PA, 19500
610-xxx-xxxx
TF: 877-xxx-xxxx
F: 610-xxx-xxxx
C: 610-xxx-xxxx
clint@abcco.com
www.abcco.com
Excerpted from Inbox Detox, Acanthus Publishing, 2009
