Gmail - A Real Time Saver

by Sue Tamani Easy Steps to Success Franchise

Email

Snail mail is almost dead and gone. The paper filing systems associated with keeping letter records are changing too. Everyone has jumped gleefully on the email wagon - instantly gratifying! I can remember how it was spelled when first introduced - eMail .

One of the first free email providers Hotmail was gladly adopted by everyone, as was Yahoo mail when it arrived. Then many webhosters started providing company specific email addresses.

I can't remember when I first started using gmail. I guess I could check by looking at my first gmail account, if I could remember which one was my first :)

Gmail

The minute I tried gmail I loved it. It was so clean, well set out and functional. What immediately struck me was the different filing system, a system that allows you to file a document in more than one location. This is done by assigning as many labels as you need. What clever little mind thought that one up?

Filing

So that's really neat, but what's even neater is that you can file emails even BEFORE you receive them! All you do is set up a filter by assigning labels to specific email addresses or phrases.

You can even file emails without reading them, delete them the minute they arrive, automatically forward them to a different email address plus many other actions.

Canned Responses

As a fulltime online marketer, I am just trying to think of the most common things I do every day with gmail. One of these is a recent 'lab' feature not automatically available, Canned Responses. You can add this feature via the Settings menu.

I have several online businesses and have set up Canned Responses for one-off leads or queries as they come in. I can pre prepare welcoming emails for new leads or joiners to my businesses and send them with a couple of clicks.

It's also useful for setting up generic emails for specific events that occur often such as when my referrals forget to do something, I can quickly and easily send them a reminder.

Priority Inbox

Another brand new feature is the 'Priority Inbox' feature which highlights important emails and and places them at the top of the Inbox. This priority can be adjusted manually.

At the end of each session online, I try to leave my inbox empty. This is really easy as more than 90% of emails coming in are already labelled and can all be filed or archived with 2 clicks.

Even though I am not using all the features, I gradually add new ones that help me become more efficient so I don't have to spend hours sorting out emails.

Gmail has excellent training materials to help anyone install and try out all the new features which are regularly added. If you want to try anything, just search online. It's all there.