Apps to help advisers manage their emails

For many financial advisers, few things are as daunting an an inbox filled with hundreds of unread emails. Fortunately, there are a number of apps on the market that help advisers be more productive by taming their inboxes.
Believe it or not, most professionals receive somewhere on the order of 121 emails a day, according to Radicati Group Inc., a technology market research company. With so many messages coming and going, it’s easy for advisers to let important ones fall through the cracks.
“If I have too many emails in front of me, I can’t work effectively,” Brett Watson, an adviser at RBC Dominion Securities in Winnipeg, Canada, said. “I need to have as few emails to deal with as possible.”
Mr. Watson said that he has no problem going through his emails quickly, and ends his day with about 10 to 15 emails in his inbox.
However, Mr. Watson is more likely the exception than the rule.
Mike Langford, chief executive of finservMarketing in Austin, Texas, uses folders and tags to help filter and later archive his messages.
“One of the worst things about email is you can feel overwhelmed when emails come in,” Mr. Langford said. That’s why he actively manages his inbox.
With the help of some apps, advisers can prevent themselves from feeling overwhelmed, too.
Organizing emails
Zero is an app that distinguishes personal or business emails from corporate, bulk, emails. The app, which is free for Gmail users, is set up through Zero’s servers so that the emails come into an adviser’s inbox and are automatically sifted through. The users can decide which emails they would like blocked, delayed or delivered immediately.
For the advisers who would like to aggregate their email accounts with other tools they use, there is Boxer, which combines all of a user’s accounts. Advisers can create “to do” lists within the app, as well as send pre-written responses within minutes. The service connects to LinkedIn, Evernote, Salesforce and other services. It costs $4.99 on iTunes and is free on Google Play.
Interactive inboxes
For the adviser who wants a completely “smart” inbox, there is Sanebox. The service automatically prioritizes emails according to importance based on the user’s contacts in various social media accounts, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It also automatically downloads attachments to Dropbox and replaces them with a link within the email for quick viewing.
It also lets users know when someone hasn’t responded to an e-mail so they may follow up. There are three packages, ranging from $7 a month to $36 a month.
For the adviser who wants to take a more lighthearted approach to email, there is Hop, which turns incoming emails into instant conversations. It is compatible with AOL, Gmail and iCloud and is free for both Android and iPhone users. The app also allows users to see a contact’s entire conversation history.
Pressing the ‘snooze’ button
An email isn’t always relevant at the moment it’s received, nor can advisers always act on them in that moment. That’s where Laytr can help. The app allows advisers to schedule a more convenient time to respond to their emails. The free package offers unlimited emails, attachments, time delays and dashboard access, while the premium plan for $4.95 a month offers all of these services as well as no ads.
Mailbox also gives advisers the ability to ‘snooze’ their emails, but it also learns from the user’s actions which emails can later be automatically snoozed. The service, which works with all Google and iCloud accounts, is free. It’s also available on Mac computers.
Finally, Scrubly isn’t a tool for managing emails, but it is used for organizing email contact lists. Advisers can use the service to clean up their address books, merge contact information, delete duplicates and add social media information. There are three options available for Scrubly: a free plan that allows the user to scrub up to 250 contacts; an annual fee of $39.95 to scrub an unlimited number of contacts; and a one-time charge of $19.95 to scrub an unlimited number of contacts at one time only.