Inbox Zero emerged as a way of managing emails for hyper-productive people. It has now moved beyond emails as Cooby introduces Inbox Zero on WhatsApp for the first time.
In a world where messages are constantly swarming around your head, you need a better way to manage them while maintaining peace of mind. Establishing connections with people need not be stressful. Inbox Zero takes away the stress while empowering you to make stronger connections with your clients, investors, partners, contractors, and anyone who’s important to you and what you do.
Let’s dive deeper into the concept and unlock unparalleled productivity when you’re at work.
What is Inbox Zero?
Inbox Zero is an approach to increase productivity by having no unread messages at the end of your day. It means you have gone through all chats and either replied, snoozed, or closed them to empty your inbox.
It’s a productivity strategy to be less overwhelmed and focus more on important conversations. The peace of mind reduces any message anxiety and keeps you attentive to critical communication for your business. Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work, advocates for Inbox Zero and says, “It’s critical for being productive."
Introducing Inbox Zero on WhatsApp for the first time
According to statistics, WhatsApp has an open rate of 98% compared to 21.5% of emails. Many modern businesses use WhatsApp to establish closer customer and client relationships. With this shift in preference, WhatsApp became a day-to-day tool for customer-facing teams who spent countless hours on it to engage and support their clients.
Wen Shaw, CEO and Co-Founder of Cooby, recognized this shift and decided to bring Inbox Zero to WhatsApp. It’s an indispensable feature for WhatsApp users who want to be more productive and efficient.
You can close chats to mark them as done while removing them from the view. These chats would pop back in when there’s a new message. Moreover, you can defer and snooze chat to address them later. There are several other things you can do with Cooby to experience the ultimate Inbox Zero on WhatsApp.
Mr. Shaw says, “Inbox Zero isn’t about counting messages in your inbox; it's about liberating your mind from the inbox's clutches, so you can think, create, and live without digital distractions.”
After addressing all chats and taking relevant actions, no messages in your inbox are waiting to capture your attention when you end your day! It helps you clear digital distractions to free up mental space to think and act.
How to achieve Inbox Zero on WhatsApp
While the concept was originally developed for managing email, it can also be applied to other forms of communication, including WhatsApp.
Inbox Zero is about triaging your chats with proper actions to clear up your inbox super fast. Download Cooby’s Chrome Extension on your device to begin your Inbox Zero streak and follow these five steps. For each chat, you take either of the following actions:
- Respond and close the chat if it takes you only 30 seconds
- Defer and snooze chats if you can't or don't want to respond right away
- Star a conversation if it's an important one
- Archive the chat if you feel it’s noisy
- Sort chats into a tab if you want to divide and conquer your inbox
Achieving Inbox Zero on WhatsApp is not a one-time event but an ongoing process. You should try achieving an endless inbox-zero streak to relish complete focus and productivity.
Below are some best practices to achieve Inbox Zero on WhatsApp.
- Mute chats that cause noise and distraction.
- Set reminders to respond later or snooze chats that don’t need immediate attention.
- Use the Search box to locate specific messages or information needed to respond to a chat and close chats faster.
- Consider unsubscribing from groups where people spam with greetings, promotions, or anything that isn’t even relevant to you or your business.
Why Inbox Zero has become a must-have feature for WhatsApp users
Inbox zero helps WhatsApp users stay productive, organized, and performing at their peak. Below are some reasons why it’s a must-have for WhatsApp users.
Clear the clutter
An overflowing inbox is overwhelming for many. It’s cluttered. And, when people see the clutter, their messages tend to flutter while often wondering what to utter.
The situation gets out of control. On the other hand, Inbox Zero gives a clear sense of priority in which you should respond to important messages, increasing your productivity and efficiency in communication.
Perform at peak
WhatsApp isn’t built for sales or customer-facing teams. When it becomes chaotic, it impacts your team’s performance. Digital distractions snatch your attention away from the tasks at hand. It takes time for you to get back on track again.
When such distractions become a day-to-day thing, it impacts your performance and ultimately affects business metrics. Utilizing Inbox Zero approach to manage chats empowers you to be focused, prepared, and in control of your work. It helps you be fully engaged and perform at your best.
Avoid missed opportunities
WhatsApp messages are like raindrops. You can enjoy seeing them falling from the sky. But when they hit the ground, they flow into the drain. In a customer-facing role, you can’t let your WhatsApp messages leak, as they can be missed opportunities.
With a more focused inbox, you get the luxury of time and undisputed attention to decide whether to respond now or later. Potential clients expect a faster response. Giving one gives them a glimpse of the future where you leave no stone unturned in supporting them as your clients.
Inbox Zero empowers you to stay attentive to every chat that can become an opportunity.
Improve communication
Communication is pivotal to any business relationship. How you manage it tells much about what turns your business will take in the foreseeable future. Attending to every business communication on time helps strengthen your client relationship.
Inbox Zero keeps you away from distractions so you can attend to every communication and set unparalleled benchmarks for response time.
Be truly async
WhatsApp messaging is asynchronous communication. However, chaotic WhatsApp ceases to be asynchronous anymore. All day long, you get messages from clients, groups, internal team members, friends, and family. These are messages from people whom you care about. Whenever a chat lands in your inbox, it has the potential to cause message anxiety.
Even when you have achieved Inbox Zero earlier in the day, the anxiety compels you to dive back into the realms of the messaging tool and have somewhat synchronous communication.
According to a research paper, “even brief interruptions could significantly disrupt workflows, and it may take 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the original task.” Of course, We all have felt the need to reply to a message while doing some critical work. And when we do, we often land at the primary work after a long time.
By practicing Inbox Zero daily, you get into the habit of addressing several messages at once and leaving no chats unaddressed. With such a habit, you’ll be less compelled to respond to messages as they come unless you’re not in a customer-facing role.
Achieving Inbox Zero: Looking at the past while peeping into the future
The fundamental concept of achieving Inbox Zero remains the same for the past and present. It will be the same in the future. However, the ways to achieve it will evolve. Earlier, Inbox Zero was an approach limited to email communication. It has spread its wings over WhatsApp, Slack, and other social media channels.
Humans’ quest for productivity and efficiency drives concepts like Inbox Zero to become more comprehensive and inclusive. When it comes to WhatsApp, Cooby has been a torchbearer and a guiding light for people striving to replicate the Inbox Zero approach in WhatsApp conversations.
Cooby’s way to achieve Inbox Zero on WhatsApp: A futuristic approach
Cooby offers an easy way to achieve Inbox Zero. You can review all chats, close them by responding, or snooze to address them later.
However, responding to or closing chats involve a variety of task and activities to perform. Cooby supports you through various scenarios possible in achieving Inbox Zero
WhatsApp reminders
Cooby equips WhatsApp with capabilities such as reminders. Suppose on your way to achieving Inbox Zero, you land on a chat where you need to send a file before a set date. Snoozing this chat may not be the best way forward, as the sender expects an acknowledgment, especially when they’re your client.
You can add a reminder for yourself on Cooby-powered WhatsApp Web to send the file before the set deadline. Acknowledge the message and close to chat to proceed forward.
Integrations with CRM
Inbox Zero is more than simply having zero messages in your inbox when your day ends. It’s a way to ensure you give as much focus to a conversation as it deserves. This seems tricky when administrative tasks rapidly bounce on and off your mind, for example, updating the CRM with WhatsApp conversations.
Cooby helps you sync WhatsApp conversations with your CRM, automating the manual work. Moreover, you can choose which chats to sync, keeping your chats as private and secure as they should be.
Toward more effective and efficient communication
Overall, Cooby doesn’t only provide a way to Inbox Zero but empowers you with the necessary tools and functionalities essential to achieve Inbox Zero faster. It engineers the original approach to be more comprehensive and integrated for all-time advocates of productivity and efficiency.
Let Cooby supercharge your WhatsApp for more effective and efficient conversations.
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