It is very obvious that email has become the way to
communicate. Mail as well as fax is slowly fading into the sunset. Email is
dominating the business and personal sectors of our lives and because of that
we thought that we need to dedicate a blog post to examine it a little closer.
Being around since roughly 1993, email provides simple and quick communication
between people all over the world. Even though we were unable to find concrete
data on the busiest day for email, from personal experience we extrapolated
that Monday and Wednesday are very email-heavy. The business community accepted
email very quickly due to its simplicity and speed. Communication can be sent
across the world to multiple recipients at the same time in lightning speed and
of course the same can't be said for snail mail.
As helpful as email is, it also may cause information
overload and as research shows, it is responsible for productivity loss. Plantronics
performed research into "How We Work" and found out that 83% of the
surveyed people use email as primary way of communicating. On the downside, 53%
of the surveyed people are overwhelmed by the amount of email that they get on
a daily basis. To prevent yourself and others from feeling overwhelmed try to
use email in non urgent situations. If something requires immediate attention,
it might be best to call. With this said, when sending email, prepare yourself
that it might not be immediately answered by the recipient. Also, try to
designate specific times during the day where you check and reply to email.
This will boost productivity because it will prevent the constant distractions
that pull you from doing what you are focused on. Of course this will not be
possible at all times, but it is a good to do this as often as life allows.
Additionally, the same research shows that 50%
of people that were polled during the research said that a misinterpretation of
an email message caused tension. With that in mind, the best way to prevent
that is to quickly skim the email before sending it out to make sure the
content is easy to understand and friendly. Clarify content that might need
clarification. On the bright side, email is saving trees! Imagine how much
paper is saved each day because of electronic communication. If you have any
additional inquiries about email, give TechFarmer a call, or send us an email
;-) and we will happily answer all of your questions!
