Why should you hire a virtual email assistant to manage your inbox?
Do you have thousands of unread emails? Have you searched long hours for an important email? Are you missing deadlines or vital information because you missed an email… or decided to reply later and it slipped your mind. It’s chaos.
There are 3.7 billion email users in 2017 and there will be more in the years to come. The average business owner sends and receives more than 100 emails per day—about 86 emails at work and another 25 or more at home. Emails are a vital part of running a fruitful business, online or offline. It is, therefore, crucial to effectively manage an email inbox.
Why should you hire a virtual email assistant to manage your inbox?
Outsourcing your email management will free up valuable time.
Imagine having an extra 10 hours per week to spend on growing your business. A virtual assistant can give a business owner those extra hours to be productive in other areas.
A virtual assistant scans your spam folder
It takes time to sort through emails, trying to decide what to open and what to ignore. A lot of times, valuable time is wasted on spam emails. A virtual assistant scans your spam folder in case important messages got flagged by mistake and get rid of the real spam for you.
A VA can control your email inbox
The habit of checking emails on a regular basis is a good one, but it can steal valuable and productive time. A few minutes here and there adds up. Running a successful business means every minute counts. With a VA, it will no longer be the business owner’s task to check emails every few minutes.
The virtual assistant reads every email and will notify you of important and urgent emails
No more missing important emails because there wasn’t any time to read or send a response.
They can organize the inbox so that it makes sense to the business owner
Declutter the inbox and organize the inbox are tasks that are often shifted to the bottom of the to-do list and then carried over to the next day, next week… An organized inbox means the business owner can easily find emails he’s searching for. In fact, now you’ve gained control because you know what’s going on in your inbox again. It also means that the email virtual assistant sends and receives emails on your behalf. Emails that don’t require your personal attention but need to be sent is taken care of.
There are a few practical steps that will make it easy to hand over your email inbox to an email virtual assistant. These steps will clarify instructions to the virtual assistant how you want your email box managed.
Access to Your Email Accounts
Decide to what extent the email virtual assistant will have access to your email accounts. If you prefer to restrict access, especially in the beginning, create an email account for the freelancer that limits access. A delegation service like Outlook and Gmail allows a third party to access the same email account with a different password. It also gives you the freedom to revoke the access if required.
You can also create a separate account for your confidential emails and give the virtual assistant access to the main account or choose cloud sharing.
Create a List of Emails
Create a list of all the types of emails you receive and send. Divide the emails into personal and business groups. Then decide which emails are confidential, emails you prefer to respond to personally, and emails a virtual assistant can manage.
Sending on the Business Owner’s Behalf
After you’ve decided which emails the virtual assistant will respond to, you need to decide how she should respond to the emails.
Create a list of approved senders ,it will help to identify senders who are not on the list as well as avoiding sending the wrong type of response.
Draft Email Response Templates
Draft sample replies the virtual assistant can use when replying to emails. Many emails require the same kind of response. By providing the email virtual assistant with drafted email response templates will ensure the right message is sent.
Give Feedback on Performance
When you’ve outsourced to a freelance email virtual assistant, start small with a few approved senders and drafted templates. Gradually increase the level of work based on the virtual assistant’s performance. Give regular feedback, especially in the beginning. It helps build the relationship.
Daily and Weekly Briefs
The more you work together, the more responsibility the virtual assistant will take over and the less you need to worry about your emails. It is good practice to continue to meet at least once a week with the email virtual assistant. Even when you fully trust the virtual assistant, weekly meetings may prevent any possible issues that could occur.
Become a client today and hire a pre-vetted virtual assistant to grow your business.
