It should come as no surprise that one of the primary attributes of a successful company is optimized efficiency. But, not every entrepreneur knows how to recognize areas in which they can improve. Fortunately, something as simple as email parsing can drastically improve the workflow efficiency of your business.
Let's explore everything you should keep in mind.
What Exactly Is Email Parsing?
Email parsing is the use of software that allows you to automatically extract the data from emails that you receive. When integrated correctly into your business practices, this can save you a significant amount of time through minimal investment.
For instance, menial tasks that involve searching through a large amount of information or constantly checking platforms for new messages can be completely delegated to email parsing software.
This is particularly useful when handling unstructured data since email parsing can allow you to seamlessly be presented in a consumable format.
Listed below are a few of the most prominent ways that you can take advantage of this software.
1. Lead Generation
One of the most significant ways that email parsing can benefit your company is through lead generation. This is particularly useful for medium-to-large-sized companies since manually compiling leads is an impractical and time-consuming process.
But, small businesses can also benefit greatly since they often lack the manpower to manage this obligation without it affecting productivity. Through the use of email parsing, you are able to automatically consolidate information about your leads and send the data to a centralized location.
In practice, you essentially check a single platform in order to see how many new leads you've acquired. From here, you can easily take the appropriate response for each one without experiencing the interruptions that you typically would by manually sorting through your emails.
2. Report Data Extraction
Generated reports are essential for the vast majority of business types. However, these don't have to be thorough, in-depth analyses.
A report could be something as simple as a list of new users who have subscribed to an email newsletter. Another common example is a performance report, such as one that you would find on an analytics page. Since this information can be obtained and compiled so easily, it makes it notably simple to share with other people.
To elaborate, many companies have weekly, monthly, or quarterly meetings where certain reports are discussed. So, purchasing software can pull all of the relevant information from an email (such as a report sent from a colleague) and instantly make it presentable.
This will also ensure that the information is accurate, as there is no opportunity for error to occur.
3. Customer Inquiry Processing
When it comes to managing inquiries made by your customers, it's imperative that you respond to them as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing their attention or having them purchase from a competitor instead.
Unfortunately, this isn't always as easy as it sounds to accomplish, especially for a company that typically gets a large number of inquiries each day. Not only is it difficult to manually sort through them, but you also run the risk of overlooking customers who reach out to your brand.
Instead, there is an internal system with email parsing that you can configure to help you accommodate this responsibility.
Most brands have a specific email address that is used for customer inquiries. Upon receiving one from a potential customer, this email is then forwarded to a mail parser automatically.
The parsing software then extracts certain data from the inquiry email and sends it to the appropriate location. More often than not, the final destination is some sort of customer relationship management software.
Without this functionality in place, you're tasked with not only manually checking your inquiry email account but also sorting through inquiries on your own. By setting certain parameters, you can ensure that only relevant information is forwarded to your CRM software.
4. Invoices/Receipts
As you might expect, it's also possible to collect data from all of the invoices and receipts that your company receives. Having this capability can drastically streamline your business's financial management and place a far lighter burden on your accounting department.
Smaller businesses can also send this data directly to their accounting system so that it can be properly managed at a later time. Since manually creating monthly reports can take tens of hours to complete, it's essential that you keep this functionality in mind.
5. Centralize Bookings from Third-Party Platforms
It's important to note that the term 'bookings' here could be replaced with something more relevant depending on what industry your company operates in. The overall function of email parsing in this case is more or less the same.
In many cases, it's both more convenient and practical to use a third-party platform for certain functions. Fortunately, you can take advantage of the situation by using email parsing software.
When a booking has been made by a customer, an email from this platform will be sent to an email parser. From here, certain information is required and consolidated before being sent to CRM software.
In practice, this function is more or less the same as a customer inquiry would. But, the difference here is that you will be able to fulfill any relevant obligations as quickly as possible.
Streamlining your internal operations in this manner will ensure that you significantly improve your overall customer satisfaction. Over time, this will translate into an increased number of sales and a stronger reputation for your brand.
It also provides an incentive to take advantage of as many third-party platforms as possible, allowing you to greatly expand your reach in your industry.
6. Sales Tracking
Similar to how you can easily track your companies receipts and invoices, you can also track your company sales through email parsing. It should come as no surprise that this is highly useful for companies that sell products across a wide variety of platforms.
It can also be used by a single entrepreneur who operates multiple businesses. For instance, let's assume that somebody runs a small clothing brand and provides commissioned graphic design services for clients.
An email parser could manage sales from both of these platforms and consolidate them into a central location that this person can easily manage. Since so many entrepreneurs have issues with paying their taxes each year, it's highly recommended to explore this opportunity to see how you're able to benefit from it.
You will also have a more current idea of how your company is performing since you'll be able to quickly check this information at any given time. Additionally, having highly accurate sales reports means that you can easily gain insight into trends in your sales performance.
From here, you can make adjustments to strategies that are not working and double down on those that are.
7. Google Alerts Export
It's highly common for business owners to take advantage of the utility that Google Alerts are able to provide. It allows you to easily keep up with the trends that are going on in your industry while also staying aware of any time that your business is mentioned publicly (Such as through a news story or press release).
Dealing with a large number of alerts, however, could easily prevent you from gathering the information that you need to. But, this obligation can be handled similar to any other than email parsing is able to take care of.
By creating a separate inbox specifically for your Google Alerts, you can use email purchasing software to acquire the necessary information from Google Alerts that you receive.
Then, you can simply log them into a spreadsheet and analyze The Google Alerts at a time that's more convenient.
8. Job Application Consolidation
It typically costs a business a large amount of money in order to find a suitable candidate for an open position. Part of this endeavor includes listing your available role on multiple online platforms to maximize your exposure.
But, this can quickly become overwhelming for companies that do not have a dedicated team to manage this responsibility.
Additionally, each platform that you use will have differences and how you can access certain information or how it is displayed. In most scenarios, this is a significantly unpleasant situation to deal with.
This can easily become a task that takes countless hours in order to complete. But, email parsing software is able to easily accommodate hundreds or even thousands of job applications.
Not only will you be able to quickly consolidate applications that you receive, but you can also program the software to only consider specific information. For example, if someone's application immediately conveys that they are not fit for the role, then it won't be 'counted' toward the total of applications for a specific position.
Depending on how rigid your requirements are, you can narrow down your number of serious applicants to a fraction of the total number of people who applied. Afterward, you can quickly move forward with the interview process and find a suitable candidate in a minimal amount of time.
9. Overall Efficiency
A reliable email parsing software is one of the most powerful investments that you can make into your business. This is a direct result of its capability to maximize your company's overall efficiency.
For smaller businesses, this means reducing turnaround time and streamlining various different integral processes. For larger businesses, it directly translates into a greater value for the companies shareholders.
Although improving your company's efficiency comes with many short-term benefits, it's highly conducive to future growth. This means that your firm will be able to scale far sooner than you anticipated and reach heights that were previously thought unattainable.
On a more microscopic level, though, your employees will also have notable benefits.
More often than not, the employee responsible for handling the menial tasks that email parsing software can automate is performing these alongside their core responsibilities. During times of high-volume orders, busy seasons, etc., this could easily lead to them becoming distracted or overwhelmed.
By minimizing the number of tasks they are employees need to complete, they'll be able to devote more mental energy toward each one. This will result in your employees working harder than ever before.
10. Improved Maximum Workload
It's important to know that this type of software will also allow you to increase your company's maximum workload.
For example, let's say that an employee can manually complete a certain task 10 times within a single hour. If email parsing software allows them to complete this task 50 times within a single hour, your company's potential earnings will skyrocket.
Combined with an increased level of overall efficiency, increasing your maximum workload can allow you to grow your company's revenue exponentially. Although this might seem hyperbolic, it comes down to simple math.
Additionally, the software is highly scalable and can easily accommodate the increased volume of a growing company. So, you can expand your level of service at any given time depending on your needs. Similarly, you can also downgrade your service during slow seasons when reaching peak performance isn't required or even possible.
Maximizing Your Workflow Efficiency Can Seem Complicated
But the above information will make the process far smoother. From here, you’ll be able to use email parsing to optimize your company's workflow efficiency and hit metrics that you never thought possible.
Want to learn more about what we have to offer? Feel free to reach out to us today and see how we can help.