Social media expert Ann Handley has a few tips to deal with the barrage of emails most of us receive.

1. Set aside limited time

Dedicate certain work hours to reading and responding to email. Or, if you you can't help reading it via your smart phone, at least try to group your responses.

2. But for the love of Pete... don't use auto-responders

Some people regularly put auto-responders on their email, informing the sender that they respond to email only at certain times of the day. Why add to the amount of email in someone else's inbox while trying to manage your own?

3. Answer email in offline mode

When you tackle your email responses, try doing so in offline mode; that way, the emails you send don't prompt an immediate response, distracting you from your batching efforts.

4. Hush those bells

Speaking of email pings... here's a trick: Turn off email notifications on your computer and cell phone.

Every time you hear that ding, it takes your brain over a minute to fully regain concentration.

5. Write simple, direct responses

Does a short answer feel rude? It's not. It's simple respecting your reader's time as well as your own - and keep your responses direct and to the point, but obviously courteous, correct and well-written (not SMS ‘speak').

6. Yes, and...

So, say you're agreeing to a lunch meeting - say yes, and then suggest three specific times and dates, and have the recipient pick one of them. That prevents a long to-and-fro of endless emails.

7. Lose the generic subject lines

Email subject lines are better served by making them specific, unique, and actionable.

8. Ditch the sub-folders

Finding messages by scrolling or searching (via keyword) through a single inbox is faster than looking through hyper-organised folders.

9. Opt out of unnecessary emails

Opt out of emails that tend to pile up in your inbox, going unread. You'll never get to them, so don't save them for later.

10. Use an email manager

There are many free or paid-for tools for managing your email more efficiently. They can help make your life easier.