We have all been in this situation This is where you’re looking through your inbox for a specific email about a project. It will take us hours to locate the email if each of the emails on the topic appears individually in the inbox. This is where an email thread can prove to be very helpful.
Email threads are used to group emails that have been sent to the same topic and to arrange them according to when they were sent. It allows people to easily find an email and view all related emails in one place.
This article will discuss email threads and their pros and cons. We’ll also talk about how to make them more efficient.
What is an email thread?
An email thread can be a record that groups all email replies to email, instead of listing them individually and that arranges the in chronological order so that the most recent reply is at the top.
If you create an email thread, all recipients will be able to see every reply that was sent to the original email within that thread.
Unless someone has removed them from the conversation, hit “reply all” instead.
The most important email In the example above, you will see a “(4)” within it. This indicates that there are four emails in this conversation. It includes both the email sent and the received emails. You can also click on the email to view all four emails in that thread.
Advantages of using an email thread
An email thread has many benefits. It can make email communication easier. Here’s how:
It group-related emails
It’s easy for people to lose track of emails, or even forget about them altogether when they email each other about a topic or project. You can group emails about a topic together by using an email thread. This will help everyone involved in the conversation and prevent them from losing track of their emails.
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It allows you to easily track your email
If you use email on a daily basis to communicate with others, Email threads are a great way to organize your emails. Email threads keep all emails that are related to the topic together. This makes it easy for people to search and track down emails.
Keep everyone informed
A project is a collaboration of several people. There are always chances that someone might forget to include the email of everyone involved in the project.
If you use an email thread, You can prevent people from being left out of the conversation and Keep everyone updated about the progress of the project.
It helps reduce email clutter
All emails are grouped together in the email thread. it doesn’t display every email in the inbox and helps reduce clutter. Without an email thread If you receive ten responses to an email that you have sent, you could end up with an inbox containing 11 emails.
Disadvantages of using an email thread
As with everything nice, email threads are just both advantages and disadvantages, just like everything else. Here are some of the disadvantages of using an email thread.
People can be roped into threads unrelated to them.
A large number of recipients can make an email thread a positive thing. However, you may start to receive emails that you don’t wish to see in your inbox.
It can be frustrating or confusing for people to be added to threads. It is possible to avoid this by adding only those recipients you feel need to see the replies.
Not all email clients offer an option to send an email thread.
Gmail, Apple Mail, Outlook, and many other email clients allow people to view emails in a thread. However, not all email clients support email threads. If you send an email thread via an email client that doesn’t support them, each reply will be displayed as a new mail in their inbox.
An email thread can get too long.
People sometimes use email threads to communicate with one another about a large project. This can lead to a lot more back and forth, and an email thread that is a mile long. If someone is not keeping up with an email thread, they may end up scrolling back to see what happened.
How do you enable email threads within your email client?
Here are the steps to get email threads set up on Android or iOS devices if you think it might work for you.
Gmail for Android
Step 1: Open your inbox. Locate the Settings icon on your screen. If you’re using a laptop, it will be in the upper right corner and on your mobile screen at the bottom left.
Step 2: Open it, and then click on General Settings.
Step 3: Select The email conversation view will now be active. To turn it on, toggle it ON.
iOS Device
The built-in Mail app in Apple iOS has many settings to control email threading.
Step 1: Navigate to Settings, and choose Mail.
Step 2: Scroll down for Threading.
The following options are available to you:
Organize by thread
This setting is normally turned on by default. It is indicated by a green icon. This setting controls email threading usage. If you turn it off, email threading will be completely disabled.
Collapse read messages
This option will collapse any email messages that you’ve just read.
The most recent message from
This setting is typically turned off by default. You should turn it on, as you’ll have to scroll through many emails in order to find the latest one.
Complete threads
This setting can be turned on if you wish to group emails into threads, even if they were originally sent from another mailbox.
To enable email threading, you can toggle ON at any time.
Also read: 12 Cold Email Tips for an Email Campaign
Best practices to follow for an effective email thread
Although it sounds simple, the process of creating an email thread is not difficult. It can be difficult to use. Make sure it is organized in a way that’s easy to understand for all recipients. These are the best practices you can optimize your use of email threads.
Only one email thread per topic or project
If all discussion on a topic or project is kept in one place, It’s simple for people to understand the contents of an email thread. Send an email to a different email if you don’t want to email the topic or project. Because if you begin to talk about another topic within the thread, It can cause confusion and lead people to ask lots of questions in order to understand the situation.
Only discuss topics that require insights from more than one person
If you need to ask something doesn’t need to get a response from more than one person. Email the person directly, rather than through the thread. It doesn’t add any value to the thread.
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Don’t turn the email thread into an online chat
A lot of people reply with one-word responses to email threads, such as “Thanks”, “Got it”, or “Okay”. This is the main reason that a thread can become too long and cluttered. These replies are not helpful to other thread members and can be annoying for the recipients.
Establish ground rules, and define the frequency at which people must reply to the thread and how frequently they should update it. This could be every other day or every week, or any other time at all. This will inform the recipients that they don’t need to reply to the email to acknowledge it.
Only add the contacts that must see your replies
It is not a good idea to add people to emails that aren’t relevant to you. This can cause them to be overwhelmed and annoyed. Do not add people to the CC or BCC threads unless they are absolutely necessary. They will only see emails that relate to the topic.
Avoid stretching the thread too long
When the project is complete, it’s best not to continue the discussion. The thread could get long if you continue to use the same thread for communication with recipients. If you are interested in starting a discussion about a different topic, you can create a new thread with your existing members.
When writing emails, be professional
Do not post emotional replies in the thread. Many people will see it. It can make the thread seem unprofessional and could affect the team’s morale. Instead of responding quickly, review your email several times before you send it.
If it mentions their names, you can add them to a reply or forward them
It is important to include a person in an email that is about them. They should be able to understand what’s happening. It can cause confusion and misunderstanding between people if they aren’t added.
Wrap up
An email thread is a great way to organize discussions to keep them running smoothly. And if you use the above-mentioned tips, you can use them in the most efficient way.
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