8 Ways to Optimize Your Collaboration Through Team Emails

Many teams still use email to run projects and collaborate.

Whether it’s for graphic design, marketing, or sales, among other business processes, email seems to remain the go-to communication channel.

Sadly, standard email platforms are usually inefficient and unsystematic.

And so the issue becomes, what if you need to continue using team emails? Is there some way to optimize your collaboration through them?

The good news is: yes, there is a way — eight of them, actually, which we will cover in this guide.

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1. Integrate with other communication channels.

Email is not the only effective way to coordinate with your team, so supplement the platform with other communication channels.

Use all-in-one team email tools that can connect with your email provider and offer audio and video meetings and other collaboration features.

That way, you can bolster and streamline your discussions better without leaving the email platform.

2. Invite team members to co-create wikis.

Create project wikis on email to share important, often-forgotten information that can help members accomplish their tasks.

Use wikis as references for your project’s parameters and deliverables, contract scope, client details, quick troubleshooting tips, and others.

Then invite your colleagues to add to the wikis as necessary. Leverage your email platform’s (or a comprehensive third-party tool’s) “Notes” feature for wiki creation and sharing.

To enhance your collaboration, opt for “Notes” features that show a history of changes made by which person.

3. Organize your messages and files.

Keep your documents and messages orderly to find what you’re looking for quickly. Making your virtual mailboxes and filing cabinets neat also helps clear your mind and make you productive.

Organize your emails with tags, stars, pins, and labels. Create easy-to-remember categories and subcategories to sort and find the right messages quickly.

For your files, attach easily understandable tags and labels, and configure access settings as necessary. Keep them also in a centralized repository integrated directly with your inbox.

4. Make teamwork on email fun.

Depending on your company’s dynamics, keep your working environment (whether physical or virtual) relaxed rather than rigid.

Loosen up a bit and urge your team to make working with colleagues more enjoyable — even on email. Doing so can enhance their coordination, work satisfaction, and productivity.

Encourage them to converse casually (as appropriate), especially during afternoon breaks or quick dialogues at work.

You and your colleagues can even add multimedia functionalities to your chats and messages. Insert emojis, photos, GIFs, stickers, doodles, and other creative elements.

Also, add your personality when sending voice messages and using type-to-speech instead of written emails for inquiries and updates. (These features are also excellent when you’re in a rush or inconvenient position to write.)

Initiate conversing a bit casually if you find your team members hesitating to do so. You’ll soon see the working atmosphere ease up and become more inviting for productive collaboration.

5. Recognize positive contributions.

Reward and recognize your team’s achievements and positive contributions to the success of your project by email.

Doing that is an effective way of writing project management emails. It boosts their morale because it shows that you notice and affirm their outstanding work. It also makes them feel valued and inspires them to keep giving their best for the team.

Reward and recognition can also increase your colleagues’ work satisfaction and motivate them more effectively than a higher salary, training, or promotion.

Openly recognize your members by sending appreciation messages to everyone in the team and company. Personalize or mention the people’s names to affirm them.

When applicable, you can even show your appreciation in small ways. Send short thank-you emails to the team by chat or directly to the person.

Even quick affirmations like that can uplift your staff and spur them to power through their assignments and perform excellently.

6. Sync calendars into your email.

Calendars are indispensable to implementing projects and daily assignments. They help you catch up with deadlines, see upcoming events and appointments, and more.

However, switching between virtual calendar apps and email platforms makes workflows inefficient — especially when using several devices.

Integrate your working and personal calendars into your email tools and synchronize schedules on your laptops, mobile phones, etc.

Establish comprehensive working and project calendars as well for your team. Share it with the group members and encourage them to sync it with their devices to keep tabs on changes.

Additionally, leverage the calendar tools’ RSVP functions to confirm your attendance at any activity (e.g., team meetings) in a single click.

7. Harmonize all your inboxes.

Do you have multiple email accounts from the same provider or even separate platforms? If so, harmonize these inboxes to avoid opening and moving between different tabs.

By integrating multiple accounts into one email platform, you can quickly toggle between them and browse through your messages seamlessly.

Find a team email tool that can bring together multiple mailing services, e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud, Hotmail, and more.

8. Streamline your email workflows.

Being able to complete several tasks on email platforms simplifies your work and team coordination. You don’t need to open many programs and risk confusion and error in your assignments.

Streamline your workflows to make the most of working and collaborating from emailing tools. Here are some ways to do that:

• Schedule your message delivery. Use “send later” or equivalent functions to schedule sending emails to your team. Doing so ensures you don’t forget to deliver your message and clears that nagging to-do from your mind. This feature is helpful when working with teams across time zones or a hectic working schedule.
• Snooze tasks for later. Set reminders to complete your emailing tasks, e.g., replying to a message, for a later date and time. This helps you prioritize and manage your to-dos efficiently.
• Identify priority notifications. Customize receiving notifications to more important messages by adding “Priority” or similar labels to specific email types and senders. You can also configure your email notifications settings accordingly.
• Create to-do lists. Use task lists built into your email platform or team email tools to centralize assignment delegation and progress checking.

Collaboration perfected through team emails

Team emails can powerfully optimize your collaboration when you execute these tips. So, contemplate how you can weave them into your management techniques and invest in the best team email tools. See how your coordination improves and adjust your implementation of these tips until you get the desired results.