http://phototropic.co.uk/swiftlet

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3102

[podcast]http://functionaltech.com/wp-content/podcasts/002-emailwebpage.mp3[/podcast]

Let’s use an example email address of    YourName@gmail.com.   Now, if you want to do something special with certain emails, you can add an extension to the first part of the address with a “+.”  Now it might look like this:  YourName+special@gmail.com.  The word “special” can be anything, even a person’s last name or other unique word you want to use.  Gmail will deliver the email because the first part before the “+” is a valid address.

Now, all you have to do is to create labels or filters to do whatever you want automatically with emails sent to this special address.  Here are some ideas about how you might use this feature:

• Use a transaction number or ID after the +, giving this address to participants in a transaction.  You can then automatically capture all transaction related email in one place.
• Use this feature to create a request email from your website or elsewhere that responds with a Gmail canned response.  You can deliver special reports this way.
• I use it for research, creating labels that match the words after the +.  Thus, any site I find that would be a good tech topic, I send with a “+tech.”  It gets filed away automatically to my tech research label.
• Use for ordering things, or for sites where you might want to be rid of them later, as you can do auto-delete when you no longer want email from them.

I’m sure that you can think of lots more to do with this feature, as it’s quite handy.

EmailThis is a Firefox addon that does a great job. It even has settings to email into Google and Yahoo Apps. It installs in the right-click menu, and it just takes a second to send myself or someone else a link to a web page.

Canned response allows you to do automated delivery of special reports that a user requests from your website.  The report is an attachment, preferably in PDF format, and you can set up the email for totally automated processing using extended email addressing and filtering.

Virtually any email content that you might want to deliver automatically to a requesting site visitor can be handled with filtering and canned responses.  You’ll find this Google Labs feature quite useful once you learn to use it.

[important]There’s more on this topic, plus an instructional video, in the Premium Content below the Related Artciles.[/important]

Related Articles:

{+++}

Using filters, you can accomplish a lot, including:

• Automatic labeling for archiving and later location
• Marking emails as already having been read
• Skip the Inbox altogether, label and file it
• Automatically forward the email to someone else, or even your cell phone
• Send gmail “canned responses” automatically to the sender
• Treat unwanted emails as Spam, or simply delete them

There’s more, and you can do a combination of several actions on an email.  I use dozens of rules.  As a real estate broker, when I get a new transaction under contract, until it closes, I create rules to label it with the transaction name if:

• from one of the clients
• to one of the clients
• contains the address anywhere in the email
• contains the title company file number
• contains the name of the client(s) or the other broker’s clients

As you can see, I can be assured with the filtering, that all of the emails associated with the transaction will end up where they need to be so that I can locate them later.  There are many uses for these filters. [important]There’s more on this topic, plus a video, in the Premium Content below the Related Artciles.[/important]

Related Articles:

{+++}

I use filters for so many things that I have almost a hundred of them.  The thing about email is that there is a lot of it that we would like to keep, especially if we research on the web, or we subscribe to newsletters, etc.  However, we need to be able to handle it more easily, using less of our time, but getting a better filing system online.

In the video below, I show you where the settings are for filters, as well as an example or two for how to build a filter quite easily for an email you’ve received.  Unlike folders, you can have a whole lot of labels in Gmail without getting lost as to which you used for a certain email.  That’s because you would apply every label you can think would apply to an email when you receive it.  With filters, you can only choose one, so make it the best one, or build more than one filter for that type of email.

And, then the frustration of finding that email again arrived.  Did I file it in the branch office folder, or under insurance?  That was three months ago, so who knows.  Sometimes I spend 15 minutes trying to locate an email, even with the search options.

Gmail does it differently.  There you have “labels.”  You can label a document, and that label looks and acts a bit like a folder, as you can look up a label and see all of the emails filed there.  The good part is that you can label an email with several different labels as well.  So, if an email has something to do with your Northside Branch Office, but it’s also pertaining to the insurance policy, you can label it with “northside,” “insurance,” and even “business expenses” if you want.  Then you’ll rarely be unable to locate it later.

[important]In the premium content below, I show you how to use labels, as well as how I use them for temporary transaction catch-alls and for research archiving.[/important]{+++}

As I said in the free content, I use labels extensively in Gmail.  When I set up a new real estate transaction, I label all incoming and outgoing emails for that transaction, so that I can pull them up with one click in reverse chronological order.  I’ll be doing a post on Gmail and Filters to show you how to automate the process as well.  Here’s a Labels tutorial video:

We all have competitors, and we definitely differentiate our services by offering more expertise or experience.  However, in today’s hurried world, response is also important, sometimes critical.  How are you handling your cell phone voicemail?  Sometimes, just the nature or tone of your message can cause a hangup with no message, or they will call a competitor as well to see who will respond first.

Or, there is the current customer or client who you definitely want to keep, so you want them to feel special when they call and are possibly mildly frustrated that they got your voicemail.  What that message says, and how it says it, can make the difference.

Well, there’s a FREE (at least currently) solution out there that allows you to do some amazing customization of your cell voicemail greetings.  It’s YouMail.com, and I love it.  For those very special clients, you can create custom messages that play based on caller ID and their phone number.  So, when your big client calls, you can call her by name, with a special message like “Mary, you know how important your business is to me, so my not answering is obviously because I’m stuck in a stalled elevator with no cell signal.  Please leave me a message, and when I get out of this thing, you’ll be the first call I make.” Amusing yes, but also very personal, indicating Mary’s value as a person and a client.

I know, now you’re wondering how you’ll get the time to create special messages for hundreds of contacts.  You don’t need to.   If their name shows in their caller ID, the YouMail system sees it, and an option allows it to say something like this for a call from Jonathan Smith:  “Jonathan, Jim can’t take your call right now, but please leave a message, and he’ll call you back shortly.”  This is automatic if you elect the option globally, so you don’t have to set it up for each contact.
[important]You probably already want to check YouMail out, but I can give you some insight into how I use it in the Premium Content below the Related Articles…[/important]

Related Articles:

{+++}

There are several ways in which YouMail can help you in dealing with clients or customers during real estate or other important time-sensitive transactions:

• It only takes a few moments to call in to create a special and different message for one particular person.  You can even do it from the menu items available when you receive a message from them.  Example:  Mary Martin calls to leave you a message that she’s concerned that she hasn’t heard anything about her transaction in a few days.  You tell YouMail that you want to change her greeting, as you won’t be able to talk to her the rest of the day.  If she calls back, she can hear a special greeting that you record telling her the current situation and her transaction status, and asking her to bear with you until you can call her in the morning.
• You’re about to go into an important meeting, and normally wouldn’t want to be disturbed and turning off your cell phone.  However, you have one special situation, and if you get a call from a certain person, you’ll want to break out of the meeting to handle it.  Just leave a special greeting for that person keyed to their caller ID.  Tell them that you’re in a meeting with cell phone off, but their call is important, so call xxx-xxxx and tell the receptionist to interrupt the meeting.  Talk about impressing a client!

Here’s a video.

However, with the generous 6+ megabytes of free storage provided by Gmail, as well as easy tools for archiving and locating emails later, you really should be giving it a try.  And, you can still have it check several of your branded accounts, even knowing which to use as your return address when you reply.  There’s a lot more, including “canned responses” for those frequent email answers you send out all the time.