1. Prioritize the importance of each category of mail to answer the most strategically important issues first.

In judging the responsiveness of a letter, constituents care most about a quick reply. To turn email around quickly you need to develop a prioritization system to determine which mail gets answered first. For example, you may choose to answer sensitive, hot-topic, or high-volume issues before lesser-known or niche issues. Or, you may give priority to issues that are most important to your district/state, relate to your boss' committee assignments, or are considered their issues of expertise.

2. Ask for the constituent’s email address in addition to postal address when doing intake of comments or cases, and reply via email.

• Saves money
• Takes fewer steps & less time than postal mail
• Enhances likelihood of continued online relationship
• Staff must be ready to communicate office privacy policy

3. Adapt your standard constituent mail responses for email; recognize that email should be written differently than postal mail.

• Email messages are shorter, require less verbiage
• Brief intro & close
• Include main website link and other links for more in-depth information.

4. Edit text online instead of editing on paper. This saves time on the part of the writer and reviewer. 

• If you must edit on paper, only do so for: (1) Texts that need thorough vetting; and (2) Drafts by new staff or less proficient writers (i.e., those who might need extra editing time and could benefit from reviewing and discussing hardcopy edits with you).
• At a minimum, edit online: (1) Modified form letters or other mail needing minimal review because the changes will be few; and (2) Drafts from staffers whose mail needs little editing.

5. Take advantage of resources to increase the number of hands processing the mail during a crunch period. Temporary assistance can help turnaround the form responses to constituents.

• Pay overtime to staff or pay interns in Washington office to input names and codes
• Ask district office(s) to input names and codes, or handle production of some letters during the workday, or pay them overtime to do this
• Contract with vendors for data entry and/or production of form letters. Call constituents who have time-sensitive or complex issues instead of writing to them to save time
• Consider hiring additional temporary staff even if it means setting them up with an office laptop and having them telecommute

6. Market your website to drive constituents to it. Once they’ve come to the site, they can find the answers themselves, or email you using the web form (instead of calling or writing).

• Use direct mail and email marketing of website
• Refer relevant callers to website
• Present blow-up of website at town hall meetings
• Include links/references in all email and mail responses

(For more on handling mail overload, see CMF’s "Dealing with Backlogged Mail in Congressional Offices")