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Six free ways to stop losing enquiries

An enquiry usually goes missing in a boring way. Someone reads it on their phone, means to deal with it later, and it slides down the inbox. These six fixes use tools you probably already pay for, and each one comes with a quick check so you know it works.

Updated October 20, 20268 min readMicrosoft 365 and Google Workspace

01Label every enquiry the moment it arrives

An inbox rule moves every enquiry into one place as soon as it lands, so nothing depends on someone noticing it between other emails.

Outlook on the web and new Outlook
  1. Select Settings, then Mail > Rules.
  2. Select Add new rule and name it, for example "Enquiries".
  3. Add a condition your enquiries share, like the subject line your website form uses.
  4. Add an action: move it to an "Enquiries" folder, or apply a category.
  5. Select Save.

Watch out: in Outlook on the web, Stop processing more rules is turned on by default. If an email matches two rules, only the first one runs. Rules run in list order, so move your enquiry rule near the top.

Gmail
  1. In the search box, select Show search options.
  2. Enter what your enquiries share, like your form's subject line. Select Search to check what it catches.
  3. Select Create filter, then choose Apply the label and make a new label called "Enquiries".
  4. Select Create filter.

Watch out: when someone replies to a filtered email, Gmail only filters the reply if it also matches your search. Matching on a subject pattern helps, because replies usually keep the subject.

Check itSend a test enquiry from a personal address, using the same subject your form uses, and confirm it lands in the right folder or label.

02Ask new clients only the questions that apply

A form that asks everyone everything is slower to fill in and harder to read afterwards. Branching shows each person only the questions that fit their earlier answers, so a new client never wades through questions written for existing ones.

Microsoft Forms
  1. Write all your questions first.
  2. On the question that decides the path, like "Are you a new or existing client?", select More settings for question, then Add branching.
  3. For each answer, pick the question to go to next, or End of the form.

Watch out: Microsoft Forms only branches forward. A question can jump to a later question or the end of the form, never back to an earlier one.

Google Forms
  1. Group your questions into sections with Add section.
  2. On the deciding question, select More, then Go to section based on answer.
  3. Choose the section each answer leads to, or Submit form.

Watch out: "Go to section based on answer" only works on multiple choice and dropdown questions.

Check itFill in the form twice, once as a new client and once as an existing one, and confirm each path shows the right questions.

03Send every response to a spreadsheet by itself

If answers only live inside the form, someone ends up copying them out. A linked spreadsheet keeps a running list you can sort, filter, and share.

Microsoft Forms and Excel
  1. Open the form and go to Responses.
  2. Select Open results in Excel. Forms creates the workbook and saves it to OneDrive.
  3. Keep working in that same workbook.

Watch out: new responses sync into the workbook automatically when you open it in Excel for the web. The desktop and mobile apps can show the data, but Microsoft says only Excel for the web picks up new responses on its own.

Google Forms and Sheets
  1. Open the form and select Responses.
  2. Select More, then Select destination for responses.
  3. Choose Create a new spreadsheet or pick an existing one, then select Create or Select.

Watch out: the form and the sheet have separate sharing settings. If you change who can see the form, change the sheet too, because Google doesn't sync that for you.

Check itSubmit one test response and confirm a new row appears in the sheet.

04Use one subject-line pattern for every enquiry

If every enquiry starts the same way, finding them takes one search, and the rule from step one has something reliable to match.

  • If your website form lets you set the notification subject, start it with the same word every time, for example Enquiry: followed by the person's name.
  • When someone forwards an enquiry to the shared inbox, ask them to start the subject with the same word.
  • Write the pattern down where the whole team can see it. A rule nobody knows about gets broken by accident.

Check itSearch the inbox for your prefix. Every enquiry from the last week should show up, and nothing else.

05Give every follow-up a date the moment it arrives

A follow-up that only exists in someone's head is the easiest one to lose. Give it a date as soon as the enquiry comes in.

Outlook and Microsoft To Do
  1. Flag the enquiry email. In classic Outlook, right-click the flag to pick a date, like Tomorrow.
  2. Open Microsoft To Do and turn on the Flagged email list. Flagged emails show up there as tasks you can give reminders and due dates.

Watch out: only emails flagged in your own mailbox sync to To Do. Flags in shared mailboxes don't, so a shared enquiry inbox needs its own daily check (step six).

Gmail and Google Tasks
  1. Open the enquiry email.
  2. At the top, select Add to Tasks. If you don't see it, look under More.
  3. Give the task a date and time.

Watch out: on work or school accounts, your administrator decides whether Tasks is available. If it's missing, ask them.

Check itLook at tomorrow's task list. The follow-up should be there, with a link back to the email.

06Check one list at the end of every day

Steps one and five already built the list. Someone just has to look at it.

Microsoft 365
  1. Open the "Enquiries" folder, or filter by the category.
  2. Open the Flagged email list in To Do.
  3. Anything without a reply or a follow-up date gets one before you log off.
Google Workspace
  1. Open the "Enquiries" label.
  2. Open your Tasks list.
  3. Anything without a reply or a task gets one before you log off.

Pick one person to do this every day, and a backup for when they're out. Of the six, this is the step that actually catches what the others miss.

07What this won't do

These fixes catch enquiries and remind people. They don't type the details into your CRM, check for repeats, or create the follow-up task for you. That copying is the part a workflow takes over, with a person approving each record before it's saved.

Sources, checked October 20, 2026

Menus change. If a step doesn't match your screen, the linked page has the current version.

  1. Microsoft Support: Manage email messages by using rules in Outlook
  2. Microsoft Support: Use branching logic in Microsoft Forms
  3. Microsoft 365 Insider blog: Sync Microsoft Forms data to Excel for the web
  4. Microsoft Support: Flag email messages for follow up
  5. Microsoft Support: Using Microsoft To Do with flagged email from Outlook
  6. Gmail Help: Create rules to filter your emails
  7. Google Docs Editors Help: Show questions based on answers
  8. Google Docs Editors Help: Choose where to save form responses
  9. Gmail Help: Create a task in Gmail
  10. Google Tasks Help: Learn about Google Tasks