Inbox overload isn't always volume, though volume doesn't help. It's the habit of letting other people's mail arrange the day, and the lack of a simple way to see what actually needs you among the newsletters, the notifications, and the messages that could have waited.
Take the inbox off the steering wheel
Give yourself two planned looks, not a day of dipping in. Late morning and late afternoon suit a lot of people. Outside those slots, close it, or at least turn off the count on your phone. Urgent things will usually find you another way, especially if your customers already have your number.
Unsubscribe from anything you don't read. It's a dull half hour that you only have to do once in a while, and it makes every later look shorter. Move newsletters and automated notices out of the main inbox if your mail tool can do that, so the first things you see are from people.
Use a very small set of flags or folders: needs me, waiting on someone else, and done. You don't need an elaborate filing system. You need to be able to open the inbox and see the work, not a stream.
When a message needs a careful reply, start a draft, even a rough one, rather than leaving the original staring at you. A draft is easier to finish in the next slot. If a message is really a task, put it on the task list and take it out of the inbox, so it isn't hanging there as unfinished mail.
None of this requires a new email account. It requires using the one you already have, on purpose, instead of as a corridor you live in.
We'd sort, summarise, and draft
We'd sort and summarise your inbox, draft replies, and surface what actually needs you. You'd still decide, and you'd still approve anything that goes out. Nothing is sent without your say-so. The tone would be yours, or written with you, so a draft sounds like a note you'd have written on a clearer day.
This would be done in your own mailbox, in your own tenant, whether that's Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace or what you already pay for. You remain the owner, and you pay that bill directly. We'd have a seat only for as long as you want us to. We charge for setting up the sorting and the drafts, and for looking after it if you want monthly care. If we part company, your mail stays in your account. Nothing has to be forwarded away or moved.
The inbox will still have mail in it tomorrow. The aim is not an empty inbox for its own sake. The aim is that the day is no longer run by it, and that the work you sat down to do has a chance to happen first.