To respond or not, that is the question.

A student once told me that I was the most responsive person on earth.   

I thought - note to self, be less responsive.   

One motive for being responsive is the fact that we don't want to be perceived as rude.  But my need to respond quickly to queries is due to my desire to "get things off my list" so that I can move on.  I once heard it referred to as "pre-crastination."

Unfortunately, the stream of endless emails I face every day makes it nearly impossible to ever catch up and leaves me feeling like a bit of a failure when I can't.

I've already created a junk email address to handle communications from companies trying to sell me stuff - sometimes sending me multiple emails per day.

And ghosting friends is common - 1/3 of us do it. (Dhawan, 2022)

But business is different. Ignoring messages in these "always-on" times is frowned upon.   

And the colleague who sends a message at 7 pm must have an emergency that they need help with.  Or do they?  Research shows that most of us overestimate how fast a response our colleagues are expecting.

But at the end of the day it is up to us to set our own boundaries. 

Since I work for a company based in Hong Kong, I shut my phone off at 7pm.  I also don't check that junk email address very often. 

What about you?  Are you overwhelmed with the amount of communications that you receive?  How do you deal with them?  Do you ignore them and hope that they will go away?  Do you set boundaries? 

How about the people you work with?  Are they responsive?  If not, how does that make you feel?

 

 

Dhawan, E. (2022, February 21)  Ignoring a Text Message of Email Isn't Always Rude.  Sometimes It's Necessary.  nytimes. com.  Retrieved February 22, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/culture/ghosting-work-digital-overload.html

 

 

Another day, another email to unsubscribe. How about you?

According to satista.com, 61% of marketers identify emails as their most important digital marketing tool, ahead of websites at 59%.  (2016)  One of the keys to getting recipients to open emails is the headline.

Last week I received two emails that used a technique we call "social proof" to entice me.  That means that they offered evidence that other people were interested in something as a means to convince me that I should be too.  It's a time tested method.  When people are having trouble making a decision they will often follow the crowd.  It lowers the risk of making a bad choice.

One read: "Just announced: the #1 beach in the world!"  the other "You voted, we tallied.  Announcing the #BestDVDEver mailers."  Frankly, neither one moved me, and I deleted both emails without opening them.

According to a new study from Marketing Sherpa, 21% of consumers unsubscribe from emails that are not relevant to them.  19% unsubscribe when they receive too many emails from one company.  (Nelson, 2017)

There's a company that sends me at least one email a day, sometimes as many as three.  I've never bought anything from them and never will.  I just throw their emails into a dormant account where they pile up, until I get around to unsubscribing.  Ironically, that same company published an infographic this week about improving email open rates which indicated that only 15% of Americans appreciate receiving daily emails!  It makes me wonder if they read their own research.

They also noted that personalization is effective in increasing open rates (37%) and sales (20% increase). (Forer, 2017)

So, now it's your turn.  Has 'social proof" in a headline ever motivated you to buy something?  Or is personalization more likely to engage you?  How many emails from one company are too many?  Are more ok if you are an actual customer?

(2016, March)  Most effective digital marketing tactics worldwide in March 2016. statista.com .  Retrieved February 28, 2017, from

https://www.statista.com/statistics/534852/effective-digital-marketing-tactics/

Nelson, J. (2017) Customer Brand Satisfaction Drives Email Engagement, Study Shows mediapost.com.  Retrieved February 28, 2017, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296022/customer-brand-satisfaction-drives-email-engagemen.html?utm_sourc

Forer, L. (2017, February 28)  How to Improve Email Open Rates.  marketingprofs.com.  Retrieved February 28, 2017, from

https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2017/31438/how-to-improve-email-open-rates-infographic