Email and data go hand-in-hand. Your email inbox is a critical hub of business information, and, likely, you’re inadvertently storing tons of important data there. Important information such as event dates, customer conversations, shipping orders, invoices, and more are stored in your mailbox. If you’re like the average person who spends three hours a day in their email, you might spend a lot of time clicking through messages, downloading attachments manually, and trying to put all the puzzle pieces together.

One way to increase your email productivity is through email parsing. Instead of manually digging through messages to find important information, automation tools can help mine and extract that data. Then, you can organize it in a way that makes sense for your business and helps you understand the bigger picture.

What Is Email Parsing?

An email parser extracts information from email messages and organizes it in a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or a CSV format. For example, in a spreadsheet report, email data like invoice numbers, subtotals, or event dates helps you understand the bigger picture of your metrics.

You can extract any texted-based email data, such as:

• An email header
• The body of an email
• Attachments such as PDF documents, CSV files, and MS Office files

Here are some of the things you might want to extract from your email:

• Forms including intake forms, order forms, and real estate listing forms
• Customer surveys
• Replies to customers
• Automatic CRM database updates
• Email list building
• Backing up essential email messages
• Invoices or other number amounts: subtotal, total
• Important dates including delivery dates, order dates, and shipment dates

Now that you have some idea of what you might want to extract, here are a few email parser best practices for making the most of automation tools.

Email Parser Best Practices

Determine What Data You Want to Extract

Sender name? Delivery dates? Replies from customers? Determine what data you want to extract, and set up a Gmail label for these conversations to automatically enter that label. Once they do, a sophisticated email parser like Emails to Sheets will automatically export data that enters that label to Google Sheets.

Skip Data You Don’t Want

Maybe you don’t want every word to be parsed from your email into your Google Sheet, only the most critical info. A sophisticated email parser can allow you to skip an email if nothing can be parsed from the email body.

Define Parsing Rules

Keep parsing rules straightforward, such as “extract phone number line with text’ phone number’” or “extract data after text’ tracking number.’” You can also use rules like “extract data after text’ total.’” Make sure email messages have a similar format and specify both sender and subject.

Parse Gmail Labels

One of the easiest ways to quickly parse similar email messages is to add them to a Gmail label. For example, create a Gmail label titled FedEx Tracking Notification, PayPal receipts, Stripe invoices, etc. Specify both sender and subject, so random emails aren’t added to the label and the Google Sheet.

Have a Plan for Using the Data in Google Sheets.

How do you want to use this organized list of contacts, invoices, receipts, email addresses, etc.? Once this data is exported into Google Sheets, you can use it for larger business projects and initiatives. For example, invoices and receipts are helpful to store for tax season. A list of engaged customers is great to upload to social media platforms to build an audience for ads. If you’re storing shipping information, it’ll help you keep track and manage inventory for customers. You could also use shipping information if customers emailed about delays or timeline updates. There are many ways to use this valuable data once it’s out of your email.

Download the Best Email Parser

Download Emails to Sheets, a sophisticated email parser that exports and enriches contacts from emails. It offers a continuous export and sync of a Gmail label that can run automatically as soon as a message enters the label. You can backup your emails, export specific data, export contact info to build an email list, and find bounced email addresses.

Never manually extract data from your email again. Instead, use your resources and team more efficiently with Emails to Sheets. Utilize these email parsing best practices to make your exporting efficient and quick, allowing you to focus on more critical tasks.