Your New “In The Office” Email Assistant

Most of us use the handy “out of office assistant” feature in Outlook when we’re traveling, on vacation, or are otherwise, well, out of the office.

But few of us use it when we’re in the office. Maybe we should.

We all get way too much email, far more than we can typically handle in a reasonable workday. Some of us use inbox rules to sort through different types of emails, filter through the junk, file newsletters for later reading, etc.

But that still leaves a ton of email send directly to you, where you were either the primary recipient or among a group of recipients.

What if you could instruct Outlook to set response expectations with those sending you email, instantly, and even instruct Outlook to communicate things back to folks on your behalf?

What if Outlook could immediately let your senders know that you typically check email a couple times a day, and that they should call your cell phone if something is particularly urgent and needs an immediate response? Would that help you be less reactive to email each day, and more focused on what really needs to get done? Would it help you filter the “needs your attention right now” messages from the “it can wait until later” messages?

What if Outlook could give your senders something to read, something to learn, while they’re waiting for a response from you? What if that was a rotating set of headlines about your business, articles you’ve recently written or particularly enjoyed, or other content that would help senders learn more about you and your business?

Outlook can do all of that, if you let it.