Published 10/06/2021 by Georgia Parry
One thing that can be crazy to keep track of is your emails—especially when you’re a dedicated comper!
Compers can receive hundreds of emails every single day—newsletters, updates and spam—and every so often even a winning email! But it is easy for it to get out of hand, and suddenly there are way too many emails to keep track of!
We have collated these helpful tips to help keep a tidy inbox, which will definitely make your comping easier and make sure you don’t miss out on any wins.
1. Create a new email address for comping
Set up a new email account (we recommend Gmail) and use it exclusively for comping. It is free to sign up for an email account, and doing so will make it easier for you to separate your personal emails from your comping emails. Remember to keep it simple, using words rather than numbers as you will have to write it a lot if you’re a keen comper!
2. Unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters
When you get emails you don’t want, do you delete them? If the answer is “yes” then, take it from us, stop! There is a more permanent way to get rid of these emails once and for all, hit the UNSUBSCRIBE button. It can sometimes be very small and hard to see, but it will be there as it is required to be included in any Australian marketing emails. It usually will open up a web page and ask you if you’re sure - all you have to do is confirm and then you’re free of them. Making a habit of unsubscribing will break down a lot of the emails flooding your inbox, so it is a good behaviour to pick up.
Pro tip: Some competition terms and conditions will state that you must be a subscribed member to be eligible to win the prize, so make sure it is after the prize draw you entered if you are unsubscribing.
3. Regularly search your inbox and junk for wins!
Use the inbuilt search bar to check it for any wins – including in your junk/spam folders. Search for email subjects and messages that use keywords like “congratulations”, “prize”, “runner up” or “winner”.
4. Delete, delete, delete
If you have searched for a winning email and found nothing (or hopefully something) there will most likely be lots of emails leftover that are not necessary to keep. In that case, it’s time to delete!
If you have thousands of messages in your inbox, start by organising them by sender – change “Date” to “From” at the top. Then you can delete many emails all at once. Highlight the first email, then hold down the shift key and scroll down your inbox to get to the final email from that sender – then delete.
5. Create folders
Folders are a great way to organise your emails. Use them to file away important information about comping, like winning emails, so that you can easily find and track you wins.
6. Flag important messages
For any emails that are important, it can be helpful to flag them so you don’t lose where they are. You can also use the Rules function in your email software to choose to highlight, flag or file any incoming message from a sender, and that also includes flagging certain words. Check for this under Edit, Options or Tools on your menu bar.
7. Establish good habits
These tips will hopefully instil some good habits, and hopefully keep your inbox clean and easy to navigate. If you’ve managed to clear your inbox, then keep it that way by remembering these helpful tips:
- Review your newsletter and notification subscriptions regularly – unsubscribe from those you don’t need or read.
- Don’t tick the opt in boxes on competition entry forms unless you really want to receive more information.
- Clear your junk folder out every few days – if you don’t have time to check the title of every email, do a search on “winner”, “prize”, “congratulations” and “runner up”
Try to check your email every day, espescially if comping is one of your hobbies, which we definitely recommend.
