Your inbox has 147 new emails. Somewhere in there is a contract that needs your signature today. Also buried: three investor questions, a crisis from your head of sales, and probably 50 things that don't need you at all.
This is every CEO's morning.
The average chief executive spends 4 hours a day on email. That's half your workday gone before you've made a single strategic decision. And here's the thing: most of those emails shouldn't even reach you.
Why a CEO's email is uniquely broken
Your email is different from everyone else's.
You get messages from board members who expect immediate responses. You get updates from every department head. You get escalations when something goes wrong anywhere in the company. You even get cold pitches from people who somehow found your address.
Every sender thinks their message is urgent. The subject lines all scream for attention. Your VP of Sales needs a decision. Your board member has feedback. That customer complaint escalated three levels up to you.
Without a system, you treat every email like it matters equally. You bounce from a facilities issue to acquisition strategy to a team celebration. Each jump drains your mental energy. By noon, you're exhausted from context switching, and you haven't even touched your real priorities.
The old way was painful. The new way takes seconds
Most email clients force you to create rules, folders, and filters manually. You had to figure out the perfect system through trial and error. CEOs never had time for that.
Superhuman's Split Inbox and Auto Labels change everything. Split Inbox automatically organizes your emails into focused sections. Auto Labels add intelligent tags that highlight what matters most. And with our new libraries featuring 60+ pre-built configurations, what would take hours to set up now happens in three clicks.
Think of it like this: you could organize your closet yourself, or hire a professional organizer to come in with a proven system and set it up instantly. That's what these features do for your email.
Split Inbox: your emails, automatically sorted
Split Inbox separates your emails into different sections based on what they are. You can use pre-built configurations from our Split Inbox Library that make sense for CEOs, or create your own custom splits.
How to set up Split Inbox in 30 seconds
Step 1: Access Split Inbox
- Click Settings (⚙️)
- Choose "Split Inbox Library" for pre-built options
- Or create your own custom splits
Step 2: Turn on the splits that matter to you
Here are some splits that work great for CEOs:
Finance Split: All your invoices, bills, and financial documents in one place. You'll spot unusual expenses immediately instead of discovering them weeks later.
Document Signing Split: Every contract and agreement that needs your signature. No more "sorry, I missed this in my inbox" moments.
Sales Split: Updates from Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever CRM you use. See big deals and pipeline changes without wading through every sales activity.
Collaboration Split: Notifications when someone mentions you in important documents or needs your input on strategic decisions.
Going beyond the pre-built options
The pre-built splits cover most of what you need. But you're a CEO. You have unique needs.
Click "BUILD YOUR OWN" to create custom splits. For example:
Board & Investors: Create a split just for board members and major investors. Never miss their emails again.
Direct Reports: A dedicated channel for your leadership team. Stay close to operations without drowning in details.
Fire Drills: Catch escalations and urgent issues before they blow up.
See it in action
Monday morning. 147 emails.
Without Split Inbox, you'd spend 20 minutes scanning subject lines, trying to figure out what matters.
With Split Inbox configured:
- Check Document Signing first. Three contracts need your signature.
- Jump to Finance. Spot that unusual vendor charge.
- Scan your custom Board split. Reply to that investor question.
- Everything else can wait.
You've handled the critical stuff in 15 minutes instead of 2 hours.
Auto Labels: smart tags without the setup
While Split Inbox sorts your emails into sections, Auto Labels add colored tags that catch your eye. You can choose from pre-built labels in our Auto Label Library designed for executive needs, or build your own custom labels.
Turn on Auto Labels in seconds
Step 1: Access Auto Labels
- Go to Settings (⚙️)
- Select "Auto Label Library" for pre-built options
- Or create custom labels from scratch
Step 2: Choose labels that help you prioritize
These CEO-focused labels are available:
"respond" Label: Flags emails that actually need your response. Instantly see what requires action versus what's just FYI.
"signature" Label: Highlights every document waiting for your signature. Works across DocuSign, HelloSign, and other platforms.
"contract" Label: Marks emails about contract terms, renewals, or legal agreements. Critical for staying on top of commitments.
"invoice" Label: Tags financial documents that might need your attention. Helps you spot budget issues early.
"mention" Label: Shows when you're specifically named in tools like Slack, Notion, or Google Docs. Know when your input is actually needed.
Build your own power labels
For more specific needs, you can create CEO-specific labels using "BUILD YOUR OWN":
"Board Decisions": Write an AI prompt to catch anything needing board approval. Add rules for specific board member emails.
"Revenue at Risk": Flag emails about major deals in trouble or big customer complaints.
"Acquisition Target": Tag communications about companies you're considering buying.
These custom labels work alongside the pre-built ones to create your complete system.
Making it all work together
The magic happens when you combine splits and labels.
Here's a typical CEO morning workflow:
First 10 minutes:
- Open Finance split. Check for anything labeled "invoice" that looks unusual.
- Jump to Document Signing split. Handle everything labeled "signature."
- Check your custom Board split. Respond to items labeled "respond."
Delegation round:
- Scan Collaboration split for "mention" labels.
- Review Project Management split for strategic updates.
- Forward relevant items to your team with quick notes.
End of day cleanup:
- Check Meetings split for recordings you should review.
- Scan Sales split for major deal movements.
- Clear out everything else that doesn't need you.
The result? You touch each email once. You handle what matters. Everything else flows to the right person.
What changes when you implement this
CEOs using Split Inbox and Auto Labels can expect the following improvements:
- Respond to email 12 times faster
- Near-zero missed critical items
- Handle twice as many emails as before
- Dramatically less email anxiety
Plus, what Superhuman delivers overall: teams save 4 hours per person every week.
Your inbox feels manageable instead of overwhelming. Email becomes a tool again, not a burden.
Your next steps
Don't overthink this. Start simple.
Pick two or three splits that address your biggest pain points. Add a few Auto Labels that help you spot critical items. Use them for a week. Then add more as you see patterns.
Remember: you're not aiming for inbox zero through brute force. You're creating a system where important emails surface naturally and everything else flows to the right place.
With Split Inbox and Auto Labels, you get a CEO-optimized email system in literally seconds. Whether you start with pre-built options or create your own, the result is the same: email that works for you, not against you.
Every minute you save from email chaos is a minute you can spend actually leading. Ready to make email feel good again? Open those libraries and click a few buttons. Your future self will thank you.
