Aye Moah, Head of Product at Baydin gave stellar tips and tricks on finding success in your Inbox. Presented at SF Community Managers Meetup 1/29/2013. Resources mentioned in the presentation: http://www.reviveyourinbox.com http://boomeranggmail.com http://inboxpause.com http://awayfind.com

1. Inbox A Few
Better than Inbox Zero
Aye Moah @ayemoah
moah@baydin.com
Chief of Product
Baydin

2. Email Personas
Pilers Filers
9893280241 messages in Inbox Hundreds of nested folders

3. Transition yourself to be an Archiver
1. Start from a clean slate
Archive everything older than 1 month.
2. Set up a few major categories (less than 7) as Labels
Use filters to automatically label messages as they arrive.
3. Learn when to archive vs. delete
Only 2 reasons to delete - never need it or too big attachment
4. Master the art of searching
• from:, to: - Search messages from a specific sender name or email address.
• has:attachment - Search for messages that have files attached to them
• before: - Search for messages sent before a date
• filename: - Search for file names of attachments or file name extensions (i.e. jpg
or doc)

4. Transition yourself to be an Archiver - Part 2

5. Transition yourself to be an Archiver - Part 2
Gmail Auto-advance Lab Feature + Boomerang for Gmail
http://emailga.me

6. Now you are at Inbox A Few!
Ideal Inbox should only hold
a few messages
that need to be taken care of TODAY &
UNREAD messages.

7. Reading Emails
Turn off notifications - mobile & desktop
Each interruption costs you 64 seconds
to recover
Check your emails in Bulk. Ideal interval
No self control to stop checking?
Use InboxPause or Offline Gmail
45 Minutes
Use Awayfind to get alerts for urgent
emails

8. The Art of Deferring Messages
37% of emails require your attention later
Travel documents - flight, hotel, car rental confirmations
Events and Conferences
Long emails or documents you need to read later
Anything you need to handle at a future time
Waiting for someone or something else

9. David Allen recommends a system of 43.
1. One folder per day labeled Day 1,
Day 2, Day 31, one for each day of
the month
2. One folder for each month, labeled
January, February, etc.
http://boomeranggmail.com

10. Sending Emails - Timing
Send at optimal time for the recipient
Email sent between 6-7 am has 40% higher response rate than
emails sent between 4-5 pm
Beware of the recipient time zones
If you have a request or difficult decision from them, ask when
their blood sugar is likely to be high.

11. Sending Emails - Content
Make subjects searchable
Summarize in the first sentence
Number your questions or requests
Put explicit timeline or dead line
Ideal subject line format
{Topic} : {Request|Question} {Deadline if any}
E.g. World Startup Report : Please Confirm Burma Trip by Feb 28

12. Follow Up Wizard
Remind yourself if there is no response by a certain time

13. Follow Up Wizard
Send an automatic reminder if there is
no response

14. Follow Up Wizard
Send recurring reminders to yourself or others for events, meet
ups, expense reports, roommates and spouses

15. Want to be an email geek?
If you love this presentation and want even more of email
productivity goodness, go sign up for Revive Your Inbox.
http://www.reviveyourinbox.com

16. Have questions?
@ayemoah
Check out our suite of productivity tools
http://baydin.com