Weddingbee PRO
About 5 years ago, famed professor and writer Lawrence Lessig sent out a mass email in response to the insurmountable number of emails in his inbox. Here’s what it said:
Dear person who sent me a yet-unanswered e-mail, I apologize, but I am declaring e-mail bankruptcy.
I think most of us have a love/hate relationship with email. We love it because it’s so convenient. We hate it because its convenience lends itself to overuse. In this world of blackberries (I confess I’m addicted to mine) and iphones, we carry our inboxes with us, and they’re a constant reminder of the work we have yet to do.
Currently I have 1885 unanswered emails in my work inbox, and I get hundreds of new emails daily. I regularly sit and power through emails for 4-5 hours straight. It’s not the most productive use of my time. I think if I answered every email I receive, I’d never get any work done. Another problem with email is whenever I have to write a difficult one, it takes me much longer than it would if I’d just had a conversation with the person. I want to make sure that I say the right thing since whoever I’m writing to will have a copy of my email to read or forward on for all eternity. 
We currently use gmail for business to power Weddingbee’s email. As soon as I respond to an email, or decide not to respond to an email at all, I label it and archive it so that it’s out of my inbox. I tend to answer emails as they come in throughout the day if I have time, and then power through a bunch in the evenings or on the weekends. I have yet to figure out a system that enables me to respond to everyone I need to in a timely manner, and doesn’t take up large chunks of my day.
What systems do you use to manage your email? Are you ever overwhelmed by the volume of email you receive and want to declare email bankruptcy?
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I don’t get near as many emails as you do, but I try to answer mine as quickly as I can so I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I hate having unanswered emails in my inbox :-/
I’ve been meaning to do a post on this for soooo long!!! Filters are the best things in the world. Here’s a super quick run down of how I try to manage the 200+ emails I receive each day.
First - I use Mac Mail, which allows me to create folders and set up rules which manage the mail as much as possible before I ever have to look at it. I’ll do a video tutorial of this soon.
Second - I use different sorting methods. First I sort by author to see if there’s a particular author that seems to have a pressing and unaddressed issue. I then sort by subjects so that I can quickly see form emails that have come through my website versus private emails.
Third - I use “signatures” which are quick form-like responses for common email questions such as, what’s your policy on such and such, the basic second response to an initial inquiry, dates of availability, referrals for other photographers, etc.
I’ll do a video series this weekend (I say that now, let’s see if it actually happens) and post it to photolovecat.com for you. 
I use gmail and have filters and label assignments for EVERYTHING. I even have certain emails skip my inbox and go straight to a specific label so I don’t get too overwhelmed. I used that for emails from church and other group organizations. I also use one of the new google labs to have two inboxes at once. I keep all of the emails I need to reply to (usually rhodeygirltests.com ones) in one inbox, and everything else (wedding, friends, forwards, etc) in the second.
I’m terrible with keeping up with work email, and I don’t hardly get anything! About once a week I get frustrated and go through my inbox, deleting and replying and organizing. I hate messy inboxes!
Whew, I totally understand. I don’t get nearly as many emails as you per day, but unanswered emails/an overloaded inbox definitely give me a nagging feeling. I’m like LatteLove. I go through about once a week and delete and reply. However, it’s not always a great system. My inbox is still a mess…
Good luck with your emails! I don’t know how you ever pry yourself away from your computer/blackberry!
Bee and all other Pros might find the following useful. I do not mean to overload you with links! Although I do not suffer from a deluge of email, I find the idea of limiting email to be very interesting.
Keeping with the other suggestions and uses of form emails… Since you use Gmail Bee, you might like to start experimenting with Gmail’s canned responses, if you find you get a lot of the same questions that require similar answers:
http://lifehacker.com/5165371/use-gmails-canned-responses-for-smarter-autoresponders
I have also heard of a computer science professor who manages to check his email once every three months! Can you imagine?? (He has an assistant who helps him sort through them and prints out important ones as they come in for him to respond to sooner)
Declaring email bankruptcy! I love it!!
We have been traveling for the most part since December so both our email and voicemail have been a bit out of control. One thing that has helped tremendously is hiring a virtual assistant. It cost me less than $400 per month so it’s much less expensive than hiring a full time employee and he/she can do a LOT of things for you! Shoot me an email if you’d like a referral for the company I use.
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Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
One thing I like to do is to have form email responses that i put into Macro’s. This is good for rejecting offers and things like that. Also, when I do write a difficult email I save it in an easy to find place and sometimes make it a template for other correspondence.