BUSINESS

The Ultimate Guide to Inbox Zero Mastery

by Laura Spencer

Inbox Zero is an action-based email management system. Learn these powerful techniques to take control of your email inbox and stay on top of your most important messages.

Contents

Introduction

How to Achieve Inbox Zero With Your Own Email Inbox

Section 1. Take Preventative Measures

Section 2. Set Up for Inbox Zero

Section 3. Regular Inbox Zero Habits

Section 4. Periodic Reviews

Section 5. More Time-Saving Measures

Conclusion

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Introduction

You’re busy. Because of that, every minute counts. You don’t have a lot of time to spend on email. You need to be able to go to your inbox, get what you need, deal with it, and leave as quickly as possible. Yet, for many of us, our email inbox is a mess.

A messy inbox is hard to deal with. From a business perspective, email clutter can slow you down. If you don’t answer an important message because you overlooked it, email clutter could even cost you a sale or make you look unprofessional.

Plus, having a lot of email messages that you haven’t dealt with is stressful. In the back of your mind, you know that eventually you’re going to have to do something with all the messages. You’re afraid that when you do, it won’t be pleasant.

A cluttered email inbox is a problem that tends to build on itself. You put off dealing with your email because there are too

many messages. Yet, the longer you wait to deal with your messages, the more messages there are.

If you dread the thought of dealing with your email, you know exactly what I mean. It’s time to solve the problem of email overload. It can be done—you just need to know what to do.

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That’s where Inbox Zero comes in. Inbox Zero is a productivity concept that helps reduces the amount of time you spend in your inbox and maximizes your efficiency.

The Inbox Zero concept was introduced in 2006 by Merlin Mann on the 43 Folders website. Mann was looking for an easy system for managing a high volume of email effectively. Inbox Zero has a lot in common with David Allen’s Getting Things Done® (GTD®) productivity system.

The information in this ebook is inspired by Mann’s original Inbox Zero concept. The techniques described here may vary from Mann’s original suggestions.

Many people think Inbox Zero is just about reducing the number of inbox emails to nothing. In reality, that’s only part of the concept—although it’s an important part. The main concept is to spend less time on email so that you can spend more time doing other things. The actual number of messages in your inbox doesn’t always have to be literally zero.

Inbox Zero is about using your email platform more effectively. As such, it’s an action-based email management system. As someone using Inbox Zero, you won’t allow email messages to accumulate in your inbox. Instead, you’ll deal with them quickly because you have a plan.

What Is Inbox Zero?

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Maybe you’re sitting here thinking that the Inbox Zero concept won’t help you. If so, you may not realize how much time you spend on email.

According to figures from Reuters, the average worker spends a lot of time on email, and many workers spend up to 6.3 hours a day on email. That’s a lot of time.

If you use email like the workers in the study, that means you spend more than 75% of your time each day on email. This leaves you less than two hours to get everything else done if you work an eight-hour day. Unless answering email is your main job, you either have to work overtime to get everything done or you wind up not processing your email.

You might be thinking, “That’s not me.” But isn’t it? How many times in an hour do you stop what you’re doing to check your email? And when you find a new message, don’t you usually look at it right away?

Most of us interrupt our daily work to deal with email without even thinking about it. That’s why it’s so easy to lose track of how much time you actually spend on email.

Interruptions affect your productivity. They cause you to lose track of what you’re doing. They can lower the quality of your work. And they can make your work more stressful.

Why Is Inbox Zero Important?

If you’re spending more time dealing with email than you should be, it’s time to take a closer look at how you can use Inbox Zero. You need a simple system that you can use to process your email messages quickly. Once your email is dealt with, you’re free to perform the rest of your daily tasks.

You can achieve Inbox Zero using your email platform by adopting a few simple email management practices. In this ebook, I’ll explain how to do that. Let’s get started.

Inbox Zero Techniques Can Help

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How to Achieve Inbox Zero

To make your own email inbox management approach more effective, use the following process:

Take preventative measures. The tactics provided here get your inbox ready for Inbox Zero and help you reduce the number of email messages you receive.

Set your inbox up. Organize your inbox, so it’s set up properly for efficient use. Good inbox organization helps you achieve Inbox Zero.

Follow good email habits. Learn how to use your email efficiently with these Inbox Zero inspired email management strategies.

Perform regular reviews. Regular reviews of how you process email help keep your email inbox usage on track long term.

Learn more time-saving strategies.Evaluate email productivity strategies as you run across them. Adopt the

good ones that work well for you and ignore the bad.

Let’s take a closer look at some tactics you can use to get to Inbox Zero.

I’ll use Gmail as a specific example of a professional email platform. Although I’m using Gmail as an example, these tactics work with most popular email platforms. To learn more about using Gmail, review the Envato Tuts+ series, How to Use Gmail (Ultimate Beginner Guide).

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Get a good head start on achieving Inbox Zero by controlling how and when you share your email address.

Get a good head start on achieving Inbox Zero by controlling how and when you share your email address. Many of us receive dozens of messages each day that we have no real interest in reading. If you reduce the number of unwanted messages, you’ve taken your first step towards a cleaner, more manageable inbox.

The fewer messages you receive, the fewer decisions you have to make about what to do with those messages. Preventative measures deal with the sources of your unwanted email.

If you’re setting up a new email inbox, pay close attention to this section. It’s always easier when you start off right. These measures can also help clean up your incoming email clutter for an established email inbox.

Here are some causes of unwanted email and what to do about each of them:

Section 1: Take Preventative Measures

Newsletter SubscriptionsEmail newsletters can be a helpful source of information. Yet, if you receive too many, they can make your email inbox cluttered.

You probably don’t read every single email newsletter that you receive. Some of them may have seemed like a good idea when you subscribed to them, but the reality is that they didn’t live up to their promise. You may truly be interested in other email newsletters, but you never get around to reading them. If you’re honest with yourself, you probably never will.

Follow these steps to keep email newsletters out of your inbox:

• Ask yourself before you sign up whether you need this newsletter.

• Automatically filter email newsletters to a folder.

• Unsubscribe from email newsletters you don’t read or need.

Remember, you can always resubscribe later if you find that you really miss a newsletter.

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Email Promotional SignupsYou use your email to sign up for offers such as contests and other promotional deals.

The entry form for nearly every offer requires you to provide an email address. That’s because those offers aren’t really about giving something away. They’re about building a mailing list for the sponsoring company. If you read the fine print, most forms include an email opt-in statement. By submitting the form, you’re agreeing to receive email.

So, think before you complete that form. Ask yourself:

• Am I okay with getting email from this company?

• Do I really want this prize or offer?• How often am I likely to receive an email? Remember, a bargain isn’t a bargain if it means your inbox is cluttered with email you don’t want or need.

Deal with promotional emails by creating a separate email address for these and other less important messages. You could also use a disposable email address. To learn more, review Beginner’s Guide to Disposable Email Addresses. Manage your separate email address as you have time. If

Automatic Alerts and Notifications

Many apps and tools send regular email alerts and notifications. These notifications can add a lot of email clutter to your inbox.

Here’s what happens. You use your email address to sign up for an app or tool. The default (which most people don’t change) is that you are notified by email when certain events occur. Do you really need all those notifications? Probably not.

Here are some examples of tools that automatically send email updates:

you change your mind about a promotion, delete the associated email without worrying about losing important contacts or messages.

Another tactic to keep your email inbox uncluttered is to use your email’s filtering tools to send promotional messages to a folder. Read them later when you have time. To learn how labels work in Gmail, study the tutorials How to Organize Your Gmail Inbox to Be More Effective and How to Filter & Block Unwanted Emails (Spam) in Gmail.

As part of your regular periodic review, re-evaluate the promotional emails you receive. If you haven’t read an email from a vendor in a month, unsubscribe.

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• Social media accounts• Online vendors• Software apps• Financial institutions

Some updates you probably want to receive. For example, you need to know if your bank account is overdrawn. You’ll want to keep that email notification turned on. Do you need to receive an email each time an online vendor ships a product you ordered or each time you gain a social media follower? Maybe not.

Reduce the email you receive by turning off email notifications in the apps and tools you use. For most tools and apps, turn email alerts and notifications off in your Profile or Account Settings. Look for an option called Notifications or Email and Notifications.

Section Checklist

This checklist reviews the main points made in this section. Use it to make sure you’ve followed the recommended steps.

√ Review newsletters and other email subscriptions regularly. Unsubscribe from any you don’t use.

√ Don’t give out your email address indiscriminately. Examples include entering contests, signing up for discounts, or giving out your business card at events.

√ Remember when you give out your email that many companies sell email addresses.

√ Turn off automatic alerts and other distracting notifications.

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We’ve discussed preventative measures you can take that keep your email inbox from getting too cluttered. Now it’s time to talk about ways that you can set up your email inbox so that you spend less time on email. This section describes some steps that you can adopt to make your email process more efficient.

Section 2: Set Up for Inbox Zero

Combine Multiple InboxesHow many email inboxes do you check each day? Many people use more than one email address. While it’s understandable that you may want your personal email coming from a different email address than your business email, it takes time to open more than one account and process the email in each.

There’s a better way, especially if you own and operate your own business. You can maintain separate email addresses, but funnel all your messages into one account. Gmail, for example, lets you do this. You can even reply to messages from other accounts and choose which email address you want the response to come from. For

more details on how to combine email, study the Envato Tuts+ tutorial, How to Combine All Your Email Accounts Into One Gmail Account.

Even if your employer requires you to use a separate email account for work, you can still save time by combining your personal accounts if your email platform allows you to do so.

Organize Your Current InboxIf you’re lucky enough to start with an inbox you just set up, you don’t have to worry about decluttering your email inbox. It’s already clean because it’s brand new. You just need to keep it that way.

Most of us already have a pretty cluttered email inbox, though. You may have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of emails you need to remove from your inbox before you can start using Inbox Zero principles.

The first thing to do is set aside some time to handle your existing email inbox clutter. The more cluttered it is, the more time it will take to deal with. Unless you literally have thousands of emails in your inbox, you can probably process it in less than a

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day. So set aside a morning or an afternoon for decluttering.

Here are five steps to make your inbox cleaner:

1. Use the search function. Don’t try to look at every single email individually. Chances are that you receive emails from the same sources over and over. Start with the first email in your inbox and search on the sender’s email address or a keyword to pull up all emails from that source. Most email systems let you batch delete messages. Gmail, for example, has a checkbox on the upper left of the menu bar (next to the icons).

2. Delete or archive ruthlessly. Save only emails you’re required to keep. Delete or archive anything you haven’t needed recently. You’ve already unsubscribed from newsletters you don’t want, but old issues from past subscriptions may still be in your inbox. Keep only the most current issue if you must. (Remember, if you decide to keep it now, you’ll need to delete it later on, after you’ve read it.)

3. Don’t overthink your deletions. It can be easy to justify why you might want to look at that email later. If you don’t process an email within a day or two of receiving it, you probably never will.

Keeping those messages is how your email inbox got cluttered in the first place. Delete or archive them now.

4. Repeat. Once you’ve searched on the sender of the first message in your inbox and deleted or archived all messages from that sender, move on to the next message. Search for all messages from that sender and delete or archive those messages. Continue until your inbox is nearly empty or you run of time.

5. Use a TEMP email folder. If you run out of time clearing your inbox or if you have an unmanageable number of emails in your inbox, select all the emails left in your inbox. Move the old messages into a temporary folder you create just for these messages. Mann calls this the email DMZ folder or you can name it TEMP. Regardless of what you name this folder, its purpose is to give you a fresh start. Of course, you’ll need to make time to deal with those emails later (probably by deleting them).

Your email inbox should be nearly empty at this point. Our goal with Inbox Zero is to keep your inbox as uncluttered as possible. Now that you have a nearly empty inbox, the next section will help you develop habits that enable you to spend less time on processing email.

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How many folders (or labels if you’re using Gmail) do you have in your email? A dozen? Two dozen? More?

However many folders have you set up, it’s probably too many. Using a high number of email folders means you have to spend time figuring out which folder to use. You might even wind up creating yet another new folder.

According to Mann’s original Inbox Zero concept, you don’t need lots and lots of folders. In fact, using lots of folders can mean that you spend more time figuring out which email goes in which folder. When it comes to folders, less really is more.

How many email folders do you need? Probably not as many as you have. Consider simplifying the number of folders you use to fewer than six if you can. Here is a simple four-folder structure:

1. Inbox. Where new unread messages live. Keep this as close to empty as possible by processing email regularly.

2. Archive. Where most messages will go after you act on them.

3. A to Z folder. Where you keep emails you need to refer to in the near future.

4. Waiting. Messages that you need more information on before you can respond.

Section Checklist

This checklist reviews the main points made in this section. Use it to make sure you’ve followed the recommended steps.

√ Combine multiple inboxes into one to simplify your email management system.

√ Set time aside to deal with your current inbox clutter.

√ Don’t set up lots and lots of folders.

Don’t Do This To find a message later, use your email’s search tool rather than relying on finding the right folder.

Of course, your email folder structure may be different depending on your needs. Also, your job may dictate how you store emails, particularly if you work in customer service. Develop a simple folder structure that works for you.

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Those looking to reduce the amount of time spent on email should put some or all of these habits into daily practice. Here’s a look at the Inbox Zero habits you should adopt:

Section 3: Regular Inbox Zero Habits

2 Minute RuleProcess email quickly. According to David Allen’s Getting Things Done® productivity system, if something takes less than two minutes, do it right away. In most cases, processing a message takes a lot less time than two minutes.

You can process messages quickly because you know in advance what to do with them. Depending on the message, Mann identifies five options for dealing with a new email message:

1. Delete or archive the message.2. Delegate the message to someone else.3. Respond to the message.4. Defer acting on the message.5. Do something about the message.

The key is not to let messages sit in your inbox while you decide what to do.

For more detail on how to perform these five options, study our Envato Tuts+ productivity tutorial, How to Use the Getting Things Done (GTD) Productivity System. The tutorial outlines a decision-making process for emptying a physical inbox, but the principles also apply to an email inbox.

Batch ProcessingUnless your job demands it, don’t leave your email open and respond instantly to each message as soon as it comes in. And turn email notifications off on your phone and on your desktop. Those constant interruptions are seriously hurting your productivity. They hinder you from focusing on deep work.

Instead, schedule designated times during the day when you will process email. Only check and process email during those times.

How often you schedule time to process email depends on the volume of messages you receive. If you receive a high volume of messages, you may need to schedule a few minutes each hour. For a lower volume of

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messages, schedule your email checks for just a few times a day at regular times.

If your contacts are accustomed to receiving instant responses from you, then you need to manage expectations. A good way to manage expectations is to include a phrase in your email signature. Something like the following could work:

“I check email twice a day. If your message requires a response, I will answer within 24 hours.”

By managing expectations, you let contacts know that you are not ignoring them.

Of course, if you work in a customer support field, you’re not going to be able to batch process your email. However, you can still apply the principle of batch processing email to your personal email account. You can also adopt many of the other Inbox Zero principles described in this ebook.

Use Search Over LabelingNearly all email platforms give you the ability to create folders (labels in Gmail). While folders can be helpful, most of us create far too many of them. Deciding which folder(s) to put an email in can be time-consuming.

Try to limit the number of email folders you create and use. For a simple folder strategy, refer to the ebook section on a possible four folder scheme.

“Wait a minute,” you might be thinking. “Without folders, how am I going to find the emails I need?”

The answer is to use your email’s search utility. Most email platforms have a tool that allows you to search within messages. Gmail, for example, has a sophistical email search tool that allows you to set specific search parameters. To take a closer look at the Gmail search utility, read through the Envato Tuts+ tutorial: How to Search Your Emails in Gmail Like a Pro.

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Convert Your Emails to TasksInbox Zero is an action-based system. As you process emails, it’s important that you act on them. Don’t use your email inbox as a to-do list.

If an email requires you to perform a task and you can’t get to the task right away, add the task to a task tracking tool. Archive or delete the email when you complete the task.

There are many good task tracking tools available. The best ones integrate with your calendar and send reminders close to the time when the task is due.

Some email platforms include task list capabilities. For example, many people don’t realize that Gmail includes a task utility that integrates with Google Calendar. You can open the task list from within Gmail and even cause it to pop out onto your desktop. To learn how to use the Gmail task list tool, study the helpful tutorial: How to Work With Tasks in Gmail to Be More Productive.

Write Short ResponsesOne part of processing emails that often takes a lot of time is crafting a response. In many instances, you may be overthinking your email replies.

Most emails can be dealt with quickly, in just a few sentences. Yet, it’s not unusual for the average person to agonize over writing an email. Some people even spend hours crafting a simple response.

While it’s normal to worry that your response seems too curt, most people won’t be upset by a short reply. Mention that you are being concise in your email. Something like the sample response below could work:

“Thanks for bringing that to my attention. The quick answer is, we won’t be implementing that process any time soon due to the cost. If you have further questions, feel free to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.”

Notice that the response was only three short sentences. Sending an answer like the response above is quick and effective. It probably took less than a minute to type and send. The sender notes that they are being concise by using the phrase “The quick answer is.”

Use Response TemplatesDo you find yourself answering the same email questions repeatedly? If so, you’re not the only one.

Instead of crafting a new response each

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time you receive the same old questions, create answer templates that you reuse over and over. Answer templates can be a huge timesaver, especially if you deal with customers by email.

Gmail Labs has a feature called Canned Responses that is perfect for this. Enable the feature from the Settings menu. Learn more about how to work with this feature in the tutorial: How to Create Email Templates in Gmail: With Canned Responses.

MS Outlook also has the Quick Parts feature that allows you to store and reuse email text blocks.

You don’t need an email platform with special features to store common email answers, though. All you need is a simple word processor. Notepad could even work. Here’s what to do:

1. Create an email answer folder on your computer for common email answers.

2. Each time you find yourself answering a common email question, copy and paste the text into a word processor file.

3. Give the file a descriptive name and save the file to your email answer folder.

4. To use an email response template, open your email answer folder.

5. Find the appropriate response.

6. Copy the text from the file into your email response.

7. Customize the response for your recipient, if needed.

8. Send the email.

Or you can work with a dedicated app like TextExpander. As you can see, the process isn’t hard. Having prewritten email responses for certain questions can save you quite a bit of time.

Section ChecklistThis checklist reviews the main points made in this section. Use it to make sure you’ve followed the recommended steps.

√ Don’t spend more than two minutes deciding what to do with an email.

√ Set aside specific times of the day to process your email.

√ Don’t overuse email folders or labels. Use the email search utility instead.

√ Convert emails requiring actions into tasks and use a task manager.

√ Write short email responses whenever possible.

√ When a short response won’t do, use an email response template for common email questions.

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Once you’ve set up your Inbox Zero system, you’re not really done. Clutter tends to creep back into your inbox if you’re not careful. Plus, old bad habits tend to reassert themselves.

Section 4: Periodic Reviews

The answer is to schedule a periodic review of your system. How often you perform your review depends on how heavily you rely on email. Many email users will be fine with a monthly review, but for some a short weekly review is a better option.

During your review, look at what is working in the system and what is not working. You can also tackle your temporary email folder at this time.

Here are some questions to ask yourself during your review:

1. Have I been able to mostly eliminate inbox clutter? If not, what is cluttering my inbox and how can I deal with that clutter?

2. Am I checking my email too often or not often enough? You may find you need to change how often you check your messages.

3. Did I unsubscribe from a list I needed to be included on? That’s easy enough to fix. Simply resubscribe.

4. Am I still receiving emails I don’t need? You may need to unsubscribe from even more email lists.

5. Is my system for converting email to tasks working? Do I need a better task list tool? Is there one that will integrate better with my email system?

6. Do I need to create more email response templates?

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Some signs that your Inbox Zero system isn’t working as well as it could be:

• You’re spending more time processing email than you should.

• Your customers, colleagues, or boss are upset with the way you handle email.

• You feel more stressed with your email process than ever.

Don’t be discouraged if it takes several rounds of adjustments to get your Inbox Zero system to maximum efficiency.

The good thing about achieving Inbox Zero is that it’s up to you how you do it. That means it’s flexible. If some part of this

Section ChecklistThis checklist reviews the main points made in this section. Use it to make sure you’ve followed the recommended steps.

√ Review your temporary (TEMP/DMZ) email folder and process it down.

√ Make sure that your Inbox Zero system is working.

√ Make adjustments to your approach as needed.

advice isn’t working for you, adjust it until it does work. Create the email management process that works best for you.

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Inbox Zero is just one system for dealing with your email inbox. There are many other email management techniques as well, which you can use to further improve your approach.

Section 5. More Time-Saving Measures

In this section I address three common email strategies. I’ll look at:

1. Using a junk email address.2. Using a vacation responder.3. Using email plugins and apps.

Let’s review each of these concepts separately.

Should You Use a Junk Email Address?

Many email users create what is called a “junk” email address. They give this email address out when they need to provide an email address, but don’t intend to read any emails they receive from the entity they are providing the email address to.

The purpose of a “junk” address is to keep email messages out of the email address you use on a regular basis.

Some examples of when someone might use a junk email address:

• When entering a contest• When creating an account to buy

something online• When subscribing to services• For newsletter subscriptions• When you provide your email address to

get something for free

You can probably think of your own examples of when a junk email address might prove useful. And having a “junk” email address can help reduce inbox clutter.

There are some definite disadvantages to creating a “junk” email address, though. Here are some things to be aware of:

• Clutter. Since most people who create a “junk” email address rarely check that email, the inbox fills up quickly. It may only take a few weeks before you have hundreds of messages in your inbox. Not only can this be irritating if you decide to read a message, but your email storage can start to fill up quickly.

• Missing out. Inevitably, something important will be sent to your junk email address. It may be a product recall. It may be a special offer. It may

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be something else. You won’t see it in your “junk” email box because you’re ignoring this email inbox.

• Security. Even though you may not wish to receive promotional emails from the online vendors you do business with, they will probably also send account information and receipts to the email address you provide. That account information and those receipts could contain sensitive information.

While you may be tempted to create a “junk” email address to keep promotional email from your main email, it’s a better idea to just use a single email address and control who you provide it to.

If you must provide an email address to open an account with an online vendor, opt out of receiving promotional email. There are usually checkboxes on the form you fill out to create your account. Typically, they are checked by default. That means making a conscious decision to look for those checkboxes and uncheck them.

Does a Vacation Responder Help or Hurt?It’s normal to want to unplug when you go on vacation. When you do so, a vacation responder message can help. Learn more about vacation responder messages in this

helpful tutorial: How to Set Up a Gmail (Out of Office) Vacation Responder Email.

Beware of overusing the vacation responder message, though. Clients and colleagues can find them to be annoying if you use them too often. For short breaks, it’s a good idea to check and process your email remotely if you can. For longer breaks, a vacation responder message can make sense. Be sure your message provides your email contacts with a way to handle urgent situations.

If you do decide to use a vacation responder message, remember that it may take longer to process your email when you return. After a break of a week or more, you may find that your email box has hundreds of new messages. Be sure to allow yourself the extra time to process these extra messages when you return to maintain Inbox Zero.

Should I Use Email Apps and Plugins?There are many email plugins and other tools designed to expand the capabilities of your email system.

For an overview of just a few that are available for Gmail, check out our Email Plugins article: 20+ Helpful Gmail Plugins for Better Email Management.

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Some email tools can be quite helpful when organizing your email inbox. For example, you’ll probably need a task list application. Other tools may not be practical for your situation.

Before committing to an email app or plugin, it’s important to ask yourself the following questions:

1. What problem am I trying to solve with this email tool?

2. How long will it take me to learn to use this tool?

3. How costly is this tool?4. How well does this tool integrate with

my email platform?5. Do I already have another way of

handling this problem?

If acquiring the email tool is too costly or

Section ChecklistThis checklist reviews the main points made in this section. Use it to make sure you’ve followed the recommended steps.

√ Re-evaluate the use of a junk email account.

√ Use a vacation responder message when appropriate.

√ Consider email plugins and tools carefully.

learning to use it is too time-consuming, skip it. Keep in mind that choosing an email app is a somewhat personal decision. A tool that works for you may not work for someone else. For example, a salesperson would likely benefit by using a CRM plugin. But for a research assistant, a CRM plugin might not be as helpful.

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Conclusion

You need your email messages, but you don’t need to spend most of your day dealing with them. You can process email more efficiently. It may seem difficult, but once you understand what to do, you can reach Inbox Zero.

In this ebook, you’ve learned why Inbox Zero is important. As we’ve discussed, Inbox Zero was designed to help you reduce the time you spend processing email.

We’ve explored some strategies to help you get your email inbox ready for Inbox Zero. We’ve also discussed some basic Inbox Zero strategies that you should adopt, as well as some that you should not.

Inbox Zero is also a flexible strategy. Adapt it to meet your own needs. Your Inbox Zero methods may differ from someone else’s.

If you adopt the email management principles in this ebook consistently, you’ll save time and get more done.

If you’d like to learn more about using email effectively and about productivity, Envato Tuts+ offers some tutorials on the subject:

• How to Master Proper Business Email Format - and Avoid Professional Disaster

• How to Prioritize the Emails You Respond To

• How to Do One Thing at a Time and Stop Multi-tasking

Find more courses, tutorials, and eBooks at tutsplus.com