(288 words, 1 min read)
The nature of my business means I end up with a surprising number of email accounts. Staying on top of 20 or so inboxes is one version of a nightmare! For me though, it’s a mixture of discipline and philosophy.
The discipline part is considering each email only once. The philosophy is about always aiming for inbox Xero. The key to both is the email client.
I have agonized about email clients for as long as there’s been email. For much of this time I didn’t have a choice. Corporate desktop, PC based email was always controlled, expensive and usually ugly. Today it’s different.
I am spoilt for choice when it comes to features. Handling all those inboxes is not a problem. Neither is action based email triage (now there’s an expression!). The challenge is staying loyal a single product. I will settle into a particular client but after a while feel like a change.
On my iPhone I switch between, Spark, Airmail, Newton and Dispatch. On my laptop it’s Spark, Airmail, Newton and Postbox. The only client I always come back to is Mailplane. For many years this has provided an excellent front end to my many Gmail accounts.
Today, Google own email. What they don’t own is the user experience. The browser experience of Gmail is at best cluttered and can be tiring. Most of the clients mentioned above do a much better job. Given how much time we spend on email it always helps if the experience is a pleasure.
My recommended approach. Set up Mailplane and then pick another client for day to day use. As I write I use Spark on my Macbook and my iPhone. By the time you read this I may have switched to something else!
Next time: Drip your pitch.