We get it. Your inbox is a nightmare. You have notifications from your lead generating sites, reminders from your CRM database, offers on your listing, showing requests from Buyers, alerts from real estate market sites and the list is endless. Most agents avoid their inbox entirely because it looks like this:
Fear no more! We have a quick and effective solution to help you never miss another important email again!
Setting up color coded labels for specific emails will help bring attention to emails that you don't want to miss. You can set up labels for emails from:
Your Broker/Office
The Bank
Past Clients
CRM Notifcations
DocuSign/Zipforms
Your Transaction Coordinator **cough*cough**
Website Inquiries
Any other specific email type or address you want to pay attention to
And check out our previous post The Beginner's Guide to Using a TC to find out more ways this simple trick can work wonders on your business relationships!
STEP 1: CREATE A LABEL
Most of you already know how to do this, but in case you're new to Gmail or haven't used this feature, you can do this one of 2 ways:
First Option - Go to your Inbox and click on the Settings wheel in the top right corner of the screen and then click "Settings".
Click on the "Labels" tab then scroll down and click on "Create New Label".
Type in the name of the new label. Your emails won't go here automatically, but you need something to call them. Then click "Create".
Now your new label will show up in the list at the bottom of the page as well as in the column on the left side of your screen. From this page you can also decide if you want that label visible in the column (default), hidden, or to only show up if there is an email in it. Depending on how you work in your inbox, you might want to make these setting different for some or all of your labels.
Second Option - Create a label directly from a selected or opened email.
From your inbox, select or open the email you want to put into a label. Once selected, a file icon appears at the top of the email. When you click the icon, you get a list of labels you already have created. Just start typing the name of the label you want to create and hit enter.
Go through the same steps as before to name your label. You will have to through Settings > Labels if you want to change your label settings.
STEP 2: COLOR YOUR LABEL
This is clearly the best part! Assign a bright and bold color to your labels so they stand out no matter your background.
Go to the list of labels on the left hand column and HOVER over the right side of the label. A tiny little triangle will appear. Click it. A new menu will appear and the first item is "Label Color". Hover over that option and you will get a selection of standard colors to choose from.
This can get a little tricky if you have more than 5 or 6 labels colored, so try to stick to just a few or keep your requirements broad. Once completed, you will see the selected color next to your label in the left column.
STEP 3: FILTERS
Now you need to tell your inbox which emails get to go under your special color labels.
Go back into your Settings section, select the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" tab at the top then click on "Create a new filter"
A new box will open asking you fill in the terms of the filter. All you need to do is include the email address of the people SENDING you the important emails into the From line.
**Note: It must be the specific address, so you can just type in DocuSign and think it will filter correctly. You should go through your emails and copy and paste the address into this line. Some systems use a do-not-reply type email address so the email you use to send things out might not be the same email sending you a reply**
Then click "Create filter with this search" in the bottom right corner.
Now your inbox wants to know what to do with those emails when they come in. In the middle of the list, check the box to "Apply the label:" then pick from the drop down your preferred selection.
At the bottom of the box, it will show you how many emails in your inbox currently fall under this filter and asks if you would like to apply this label to all of those as well. I highly recommend this option. When you're ready, select "Create Filter"
Now when you return to your inbox, you will notice that your emails already have their color label AND they have been placed in the designated folder in the left column.
You are well on your way to having control over your inbox and never missing another important email again!
Want more fabulous Gmail hacks? Visit this post 13 Gmail Hacks That'll INSTANTLY Maximize Your Productivity from MyDomaine.com (We swear by Boomerang, Undo Send and Canned Responses)
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