search email on laptop

Why Email Search Deserves Its Own Search Strategy 

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Time is the most valuable resource that any of us has and that any of us can provide because it is limited and fleeting. Yet, there are many activities that take place during the workday that do nothing but contribute to lost time and lost productivity. For example, a recent McKinsey Report noted that the average knowledge worker spends roughly 1.8 hours per workday just searching for information. That is almost a quarter of every workday thrown away on a task that could be streamlined. It is also the reason why e-mail search deserves its own strategy.  

The Hidden Cost of Inefficient Email Search 

E-mail search remains the ultimate inefficiency blind spot for far too many employers. What might seem like just a few minutes here or there quickly adds up to massive amounts of time wasted every day. In part, this is because many workers suffer from “inbox fatigue”. Forbes explains that exploding e-mail inboxes have even led some employees to throw in the towel on their jobs altogether:  

Business leaders may already know that email fatigue is a problem, but they might not know how heavily message overload is weighing on the minds of their workers. The rising tide of emails, messages, and video meetings caused by remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic is leading to a growing level of employee burnout and job dissatisfaction. 

Even if an employee doesn’t ultimately quit their job because of their overwhelming inbox, it can still cause problems when it comes to their levels of productivity. They cannot find the information that they need to do their job quickly, and this adds up to lost time.  

Some of the common pain points for employees who are attempting to find the information that they require include: 

  • Rapidly Switching Between Platforms - Switching between different platforms, such as Outlook, Gmail, and other services, can cause an employee to become distracted and forget the context with which they were using any given platform. They may freeze up and cost themselves (and the company) valuable time.  
  • Difficulty Recalling Information - Even misremembering some piece of information slightly can make it impossible to find the actual information that one is looking for in their inbox. As such, time can be lost through these simple lapses in memory.  
  • Searching Through Lengthy E-mail Threads - Many of us have had the experience of being caught up in a lengthy e-mail thread that seems to go on forever. If that is the case, then it can quickly become extremely difficult to find the detailed information that you truly need in those threads. 

These are just some of the areas where employees might find it challenging to uncover the information that they need to obtain quickly.  

Why Email Search Needs Its Own Strategy 

It is long overdue for companies to start to look at giving e-mail search its own unique strategy. The way that the data is structured alone gives an employer plenty of reasons to consider a comprehensive strategy specifically for e-mail searches. For example, different e-mails might contain:  

  • Threaded conversations 
  • Metadata 
  • Attachments and images 

These are all different categories to search, and it is essential that employees have every tool in their arsenal to cut through the noise and get to the details that they really need. Traditional search tools don’t cut it in that environment, but an advanced search tool can make it possible for employees to get to the information that they need more quickly in the following ways: 

  • Filtered Searches - Instead of a basic search of a given term, a filtered search makes it possible to scan through an entire e-mail inbox via filters such as date sent, subject line, sender, and more. This narrows down the total emails returned in the search so that the searcher can find what they are looking for more quickly.  
  • Tagging, Archiving, and Keyword Organization - It is also possible to develop an e-mail search strategy where one can tag certain e-mails as they review them to make them easier to find later. That individual can even add special keywords into the tags to have them pull up immediately when those keywords are searched. That can produce search results more rapidly for them and cut down on the total amount of time it takes to find certain e-mails.  
  • Integrating E-mail Search into the Broader Desktop Eco-System - It is not necessary for you to keep your e-mail search systems completely apart from the broader search strategies that you use for desktop search. Instead, by integrating your e-mail search strategy into your broader desktop search, you can make it possible to search both at the same time.  

If you apply these strategies to your search efforts, then you will see results almost immediately, and the benefits will stack up.  

How a Smarter Desktop Search Transforms Productivity 

Copernic Desktop & Cloud Search helps bridge the gap between indexing old e-mails and keeping them available for instant searches. You’ll want both options available: the ability to store large volumes of emails and the convenience of accessing them when needed. Our system indexes your emails through the scheduler, allowing you to keep them securely stored while making them easy to search and retrieve. 

 tool offers a unified search of all your files across your desktop, inbox, and more. It is a user-friendly tool that makes it easier than ever to track down all the files that you require whenever you need them, fast. 

Tips for Building an Effective Email Search Strategy 

An effective e-mail search strategy simply doesn’t happen unless everyone on your team is on board. That’s why you should apply a few simple tips to ensure that you are getting the most out of your e-mail search strategy. Here are some recommendations:  

  • Create Smart Search Habits - Encourage everyone on your team to start including tags on the e-mails that they are likely to need to go back to in the future. They can make a tagging system that is personalized to them, but the point is that they need to apply the tags to make the search process easier going forward. 
  • Use Consistent Keywords - Try to keep keywords consistent across time to pull up relevant e-mails more easily. Those keywords are the fastest way to search for information without wasting time.  
  • Adopt an Intelligent Search Tool - Use a smart search tool such as Copernic Desktop & Cloud Search to seamlessly search through all your files rapidly and with the filters that you designate to it.  

Stick to these habits and you will be amazed by how much progress you can make in a short period of time. 

Reclaim Your Time, Refocus Your Work 

As we said at the beginning, your time is your most precious resource, and we only get so much of it. Make sure you aren’t wasting any time with searches that aren’t efficient. You can become more productive at work and see quick results when you apply a smart search filter to every search that you and your team make.  

Make your work life more productive and take back control of your time by using Copernic Desktop & Cloud Search for a more powerful and clear searching experience. Begin taking back your time with a free 30-day trial of Copernic.