Six Tips to Succeed at Email

4NLearning
Dec 29, 2025
5 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Man in blue shirt using a laptop on a couch in a modern living room.

Introduction

During a virtual project meeting while employed with another organization, a team member I will refer to as Susan attempted to share a document with the group. In doing so, she inadvertently navigated to her Microsoft Outlook window which was running in the background. She had over 800 unread email messages in her inbox.

Your email inbox may not look like Susan’s, but undoubtedly opportunities exist for you to manage your email more strategically. Use built-in Outlook productivity tools and features to simplify how you interact with and organize your messages. And follow proven effective best practices to check, respond to, and prioritize your email.

Consider these 2025 statistics:

93% of professionals check their email every day
86% of business users say email is their preferred channel for work communication
The average office worker now receives 121 emails and sends about 40 emails each day for business purposes.
The typical employee now spends between 5 and 15.5 hours each week on email, depending on their role and industry. While 35% of people report spending less than an hour a day in their inbox, another 35% say they spend between two and five hours daily reading and writing emails.
Studies show that only about 30% of received emails actually require immediate action, and 32% of messages may go unread.
The average employee checks their email 11 to 36 times per hour, with 84% keeping their email app open in the background and 64% relying on notifications.
About 40% of employees admit to having at least 50 unread emails in their inbox, and 23% of work time is spent just checking messages.

Hands typing on a laptop with a bright screen, set on a wooden desk; a blurred monitor in the background creates a focused work atmosphere.

Before we dive into the 6 tips, click below for several general email best practices:

Email Etiquette and Expectations

Use clear, direct subject lines.
Use "reply all" only when everyone needs to receive your response.
Be concise and state the point of your email quickly.
Write concisely and leave ample white space.
Use bullet points to convey information
Keep your tone professional and use humor judiciously, if at all.
Limit your email thread to one topic.
Call out attachments so your recipients don’t overlook them
Proofread your message for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Respond to email within 1 business day.
Avoid forwarding emails without permission
Add the email address last and double-check that you've selected the correct recipient.

Email Organization and Prioritization

Use Outlook categories to assign a color code and label to specific emails, e.g. priority, low priority, and follow-up.
Create folders to organize your emails by topic or category.
Create automatic rules to filter/sort your emails into specific folders.
Use flags for emails that require immediate attention or follow-up.
Use conditional formatting to make emails that meet certain conditions stand out with a specific style, size, or color in your inbox.
Use the Clean Up and Archive features regularly to scrub your email inbox.

Checking and Responding to Your Email

Set aside structured time each day to check and respond to your email.
Disable automatic desktop notifications and create rules to be notified of only the most critical messages.
Use the Only Handle It Once (OHIO) method. Touch the email once, take action on it, file it away, and then move on to the next email.
Use the two-minute rule. If it only takes 2 minutes to reply to an email, reply to it immediately.
Set up an automatic reply detailing your availability and the best alternative way to contact you for urgent matters.

Tip #1: Include the Call to Action and estimated time for completion in your subject line.

This tip comes from Product Marketer and YouTube Creator Jeff Su.

Here, you see I am asking Grover and Bert to review the attached article for the team meeting. I’ve let them know that task will take approximately 7 minutes. If it is not appropriate to include an estimated time, you’ll want to be very specific about the call to action.

Email draft window with a subject: "ASK: Review Attached Article for Tomorrow's Team Meeting [7 minutes]". Recipients include two email addresses.

Tip #2: Manage your email recipients.

Jeff Su suggests using a plus or minus sign. Followed by the reason you are adding or removing the person from the email thread. Add this at the top of your email using a different font style or color. That will help to separate it from the body of the email and alert readers immediately who the new recipients are.

Here, you see I’ve added Big Bird and Cookie Monster to the email thread for awareness because this email contains information they should know. And I’ve removed Oscar the Grouch because he doesn’t like to receive email that no longer pertains to him. I mean, who does?!

Email interface with addresses for Grover, Bert, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster. Subject: Planning Meeting. Note adds Big Bird and Cookie Monster, removes Oscar the Grouch.

Tip #3: State your main point first and then follow with context.

Jeff Su suggests leading with your ask and getting to the point quickly. Maybe you've heard of BLUF – B.L.U.F. – which stands for Bottom Line Upfront. This gives the reader the option to read (or not read) the less important part of your email. Then you follow with your why and the appropriate details.

Here, I started my email to Snuffleupagus with a quick greeting followed by my ask. In the next paragraph I explained why I need the requested information and the format in which I prefer to receive it.

Email interface showing a message to Snuff about sending budget numbers for last summer's block party by next Friday; vacation in Disneyworld mentioned.

Tip #4: Use Bcc to send a group email that requires a response by all recipients.

Add the group’s email addresses to the Bcc line and make yourself the main recipient. This way, when each person replies with their response, you will be the only person copied. Thus, we’re not clogging everyone’s inbox.

Email interface showing a message about Elmo's surprise party. BCC has several addresses. Subject: potluck contributions for the party.

Tip #5: When replying to an email that asks three or more questions, embed your answers.

Simply copy and paste the questions from the previous email and include your answers underneath each question. This helps organize the information for the recipient.

Notice here I’ve embedded my answers to the Miss Piggy trivia questions in my response email to Kermit. I prefer to bold the question and use a different font color for the answer.

Email interface with trivia answers highlighted in red. Topics: Miss Piggy's real name, favorite jazz singer, hobbies, and perfume name.

Tip #6: include an agenda with your meeting invitation.

This will notify your attendees what will be discussed so they can prepare to contribute.

Email meeting invite for 7/25/2025 on Sesame Street. Agenda: team activity, project updates, repaving, community service. Time: 2:30-3:30 PM.

**Bonus: Watch this video for helpful tips and tricks about using the latest Microsoft Outlook features.

Conclusion

A wealth of benefits flow to organizations when employees manage their email effectively. When they can find and access emails with the information they need quickly in real-time, productivity increases. An organized mail system improves communication and decision-making, ensuring messages are prioritized, answered, and handled appropriately. In addition, Outlook tools and features can be configured to minimize distractions, highlight crucial messages, and streamline how emails are crafted.

Sources

Assaraf, N. (2025, April 23). Workplace Email Statistics 2025: Usage, Productivity, Trends. cloudHQ. https://blog.cloudhq.net/workplace-email-statistics/
Email etiquette in the workplace. (2025, May 20). Administration. https://adminvc.ucla.edu/news/email-etiquette-workplace
Harvard Business Review. (2021, July 7). 8 Email Etiquette tips - How to write better emails at work [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XctnF7C74s

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