Inbox triage for trades: 30 emails a day without an office

Check email twice a day at set times, not all day. Sort every message into one of four folders (act today, quotes and jobs, money, read later), let filters move the predictable mail for you, and answer common questions from saved replies. With that in place, 30 emails a day takes about 20 minutes instead of an evening.

Why does email eat so much of the day?

Because it gets opened in dribs and drabs between jobs, and each message is read two or three times before anything happens to it. The cost isn't the 30 emails. It's the 60 or 90 glances at them.

A typical small trade firm's inbox is a mix: new enquiries, replies to quotes, supplier invoices and statements, merchant price updates, accountant questions, certificate notifications, planning or building control letters, and a long tail of newsletters. Only a handful need you personally, today. The rest need filing, forwarding or a standard answer.

The same goes for WhatsApp. If you take a steady stream of enquiries there while on the tools, the fix is the same as for email: stop answering as things land, batch them, and stop typing the same answer twenty times.

What does a 30-email day look like before and after?

Here's where the time goes on an ordinary weekday for a four-person heating firm, with the owner doing the office side.

Put your own numbers into the calculator to see what the evening email session costs over a year at your charge-out rate.

How do you set up the four folders?

Create four folders (Outlook) or labels (Gmail) and treat the inbox as a waiting room. Nothing stays in it after a session.

Number the names so they sort to the top. Delete or archive anything that fits none of them. If you aren't sure, it goes in Read later, and if you never open Read later, unsubscribe from what's landing there.

1. Make the folders.

   In Gmail, labels; in Outlook, folders. Do it on a computer, not the phone app.

2. Write five filters.

   Start with the obvious ones: your two main merchants' invoice addresses into Money, your accounts software's notifications into Money, newsletters into Read later, your certificate or job app into Quotes and jobs, and anything from your accountant into Act today.

3. Turn on templates or quick parts.

   Save the replies you type every week (below).

4. Set two inbox times.

   Put them in your phone calendar as repeating events. Close the mail app outside them.

5. Clear to zero each session.

   Every email gets one decision: reply now with a template, move to a folder, forward, or delete.

How do filters and rules work in Gmail and Outlook?

A filter (Gmail) or rule (Outlook) looks at each incoming email and acts on it automatically: moves it to a folder, labels it, stars it, forwards it or deletes it.

In Gmail on a computer, open the search options in the search box, enter who it's from or words it contains, click Create filter, choose the action and save. Google's help page lists the actions as sending email to a label, archiving, deleting, starring or forwarding it. Filters are set up on a computer.

In new Outlook for Windows, right-click a message, choose Rules, then Create rule, and pick the folder. For more control, the full rule settings let you add conditions, actions and exceptions, and tick "Stop processing more rules" so later rules don't run. Microsoft notes that new Outlook doesn't support rules for third-party accounts like Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud, so if your business email is a Gmail address read through Outlook, set the filters in Gmail.

Which replies should you save as templates?

Save any reply you've typed three times. For most firms that's five or six messages: acknowledging an enquiry, asking for photos, booking a survey, sending a quote, chasing a quote and confirming a start date.

Gmail templates are turned on under Settings, See all settings, Advanced. You then write the reply once and save the draft as a template. Google says templates can only be turned on and used from Gmail on a computer, so for replies from the van use your phone's text replacement or the quick replies in the WhatsApp Business app instead.

Hi name,

Thanks for getting in touch about job type at address or area.

So I can give you a proper price, could you send:
- three or four photos of the area, including any existing boiler / roof / consumer unit
- rough measurements if you have them
- when you'd like the work done

I'm on site during the day and reply to email at lunchtime and after 4:30pm. If it's urgent, call or WhatsApp me on mobile.

Your name
Business name

If you trade as a limited company, put your registered name, registered number, where the company is registered and the registered office address in your email signature. The trading disclosure rules require these on business letters, order forms and websites, and count documents "in hard copy, electronic or any other form", so the signature is the safe place for them. There's more on what changes when you incorporate in going limited.

What should your auto-reply say?

Say when you'll reply, what to do if it's urgent, and what information speeds up a quote. Keep it to four lines. A long auto-reply gets skimmed and then ignored.

Gmail's vacation responder normally replies to a sender only the first time they message you, and again if they write after four days while it's still on. It doesn't reply to messages that land in spam or come from mailing lists. You can restrict it to your contacts, which is useful if you only want regular customers to see your mobile number.

Thanks for your email. I'm on site most of the day and reply to email by 5:30pm.

For quotes, photos and rough measurements help me price faster.
If water, gas or electrics are unsafe right now, call mobile.

Business name

Leave a weekday auto-reply on permanently if you work alone. It sets the expectation and stops the second "did you get my email?" message, which is the one that drags you back into the inbox. For a fortnight away, see taking a holiday when you run a trade business.

When should email go to someone else?

When the same type of email keeps landing and you aren't the only person who can answer it. Supplier bills can go to a bookkeeper, booking requests to whoever runs the diary, and certificate requests to the engineer who did the job.

If you're the only person in the business, "someone else" means automation: filters, saved replies and an assistant that drafts the routine answers for you to approve. If you're losing enquiries because they arrive on email, WhatsApp, Facebook and the phone at once, the fix is one place to see them, covered in one inbox for enquiries. The wider picture of admin piling up on the owner is in the owner bottleneck, and cutting admin time has seven more ways to get your evenings back.

Common questions