Offering email management to clients can be a fantastic service for Virtual Assistants, but where do you begin?
Being clear from the start about what the client expects from you makes the whole process of email management more straightforward.
My recommendation is to have the client record their process for a week or so, so you can transcribe it and create an SOP for them to approve.
Other key steps:
1. Understand their expectations:
- Email responses: Determine if you’ll be answering emails on the client’s behalf. If so, take time to ensure your responses match the client’s tone of voice, so recipients believe the email is genuinely from the client. This can work particularly well for frequently asked questions. Reviewing and keeping a small log of past emails and creating template responses will help here.
- Email filtering: Does the client want you to flag important emails and delete spam? Clarify what they classify as 'important' and 'spam'. Are you also responding to the important emails, or is flagging them sufficient? One nice way to handle spam is to pop it into a holding folder for a month, then it’s available if something has been miscategorised. If it’s not needed, go ahead and unsubscribe!
2. Urgent emails:
- Have a clear process in place for handling urgent emails. Does the client want you to call them, flag and pin the email, or attempt to resolve the issue yourself?
3. Inbox organisation:
- Understand how the client wants their inbox to be managed. Do they prefer a zero inbox with everything filed away, or do they like everything kept in their main inbox? Do they want rules for filing and auto-forwarding set up? Establishing this will help you keep their email organised according to their preferences.
4. Setting up a client's email address on your computer
Sometimes it’s as simple as entering the client's email address and password into Outlook or Gmail, and off you go! However, some email addresses have higher security levels, requiring server details and IMAP/SMTP settings. Sometimes a client would prefer to give you delegate access rather than sharing their password, so they can set your levels of access. Delegate access is available both in Gmail and Outlook.
5. Upskill
Gmail and Outlook are the primary email providers, and both offer free training on the platform. Take time to upskill yourself and increase your confidence in your chosen platform - or both!
Is email management a service you’ve been thinking about offering?
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