4 minute read~
VA tidbits newsletter here again!🎉
I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving next week! 🦃
In this issue I’ll dive into:
- 📨3 tips to successfully managing a client’s inbox
- 💁♀️Some resources from other VA’s on how they manage client emails
- 📞My go-to client communication tool
Let’s talk client email management!📧
Managing your client’s inbox is one of the most important services you can offer. I’ve done it for 90% of my clients throughout the last seven years.
It’s not a shocker this is a top sought after service. Email inboxes are constantly being attacked with a barrage of advertisements, sales pitches, customer messages, replies, spam, etc. Having someone to filter out the noise is a huge win for any business owner.
It can be pretty intimidating managing a client’s communications and you may have a lot of questions about it. Questions like:
- What if you delete an important email?
- Which emails do they want and which ones are junk?
- How do I make sure they don’t miss something important?
- How should I reply to messages?
All important and stress-inducing questions to be sure! It’s not as intimidating as it seems though. Here’s some tips to managing a client’s email.
- Before you start, schedule a training call with the client. It’s so important to have a call with the client to discuss their inbox. Let them give you a brief rundown of:
- how their email works
- list of their clients/customers who they communicate with
- subscriptions they want to keep and read (i.e. not the spam ones we all get!)
- important people to look out for
Ask questions and take notes. You’ll learn a lot as you go and it’s definitely a trial and error in the beginning, but this will give you a good jumping off point.
- Create email rules. This goes along with step one. Once you’ve gotten a feel for their inbox, create rules to follow. Email rules not only help ease your anxieties, but also your client’s too. Plus, they are a great way to ensure you don’t make a mistake! Here are some rule examples you could create:
- who needs responses right away
- who you can reply to for the client
- who the client must reply to directly
- how to communicate (i.e. as yourself or are you speaking as the client themselves)
- what labels and folders to put emails into
- how often to follow up with the client on emails they have not checked on yet
*Side note, if you do make a mistake, don’t beat yourself up! Any descent client will understand that it takes some time and trial and error to perfect any system.
- Set proper timelines and expectations. It’s SO VITAL that you set proper expectations with your client! You should not be expected to check and reply to each and every email they get right away. Set expectations of:
- how many times a day you will check their email
- what times of day you will check their inbox
- how quickly you will reply for them
- how often you will check in with the client about their emails
Your timelines and expectations are up to you, but an example would be that you check their email once in the morning and once before you leave for the day on working days only, and then you reply to all emails within 24 hours. This is an example of what I’ve done.
Also, you can still check their emails more frequently and reply to some right away if you want! Now you are going above and beyond the normal expectation. You get to be the hero here, but it’s not expected of you.
Above all, be kind to yourself and allow a learning curve. Like any other work you do, email management will take some time and practice to get perfect for each client. Be patient and be flexible.
Takeaways 🎁
I researched what some other VA’s do for email management and have their thoughts listed below. Take what you like from me and from them to create your ideal system.
How To Do Email Management As A Virtual Assistant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQBKfy3fAzQ
Virtual Assistant Training: Inbox Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk8CpHSfd5c
Vendor Recommendation📞
For the day-to-day communication between you and clients Slack is my go-to. Using email for each and every back and forth will get tedious and exhausting. I love Slack because it offers instant messaging between you and your clients, channels to organize your conversations, is user friendly, and has a free version.
*Check them out here! https://slack.com/.*
Danielle LeBaron | Virtual Assistant | Operations Manager | Eagle Mountain, UT |Salt Lake City, UT | Lehi, UT | Colorado Springs, CO | Fort Collins, CO 