Over 10 years ago Fast Company declared email to be dead and in the years to follow this sentiment would be proclaimed by the Wall Street Journal, the CEO of Evernote in The Telegraph and Fobes, but is email really dead? Almost to the contrary, email is more alive than ever and in the next two years, 126.7 trillion emails will be sent every year. In 2017 alone 90% of Americans within every age group were using email and 58% of those people said checking their email was the very first thing they did in the morning.
Reset Your Email Mindset
Email has certainly had its round of changes over the years with only three companies, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, handling 82% of all email access today. Another change has been the push for better email responsiveness. 1 in 3 GenXers and Boomers expect a response time of less than on hour. But shockingly the overall response time for a sales lead is 42 hours. This lag leads to many problems for a business. Response time is essentially a nonverbal clue to your clients that shows how much value you place on them. A failure to meet a client’s expectations can lead to frustration, annoyance and decrease interest. In fact, 6 out of 10 clients will walk away from a business after a couple of negative experiences.
On the flip side keeping up with email responsiveness builds a business’s positive reputation. Companies that responded to emails within one hour were 7X more successful than those who took 2 hours and 60X more successful than those who took 24+ hours. Responsiveness also leads to repeat business. Customers are 80% more likely to use a business again if their expectations such as speed, convenience, knowledgable help, and friendly service were met.
Use Tech But Keep a Human Touch
Here’s how you can improve your response time. First, encourage your employees to change their mindset on email. Help them organize their inbox to get rid of any chaos that may slow them down. Have them set a goal of response time for them to work towards and teach them to apologize if they fall behind. Second, be clear about your expectations for email responsiveness. Creating an email policy that outlines the nitty-gritty will be beneficial for this. Lastly, integrate tech tools to help make to process easier and faster. Auto and quick replies help streamline the process and adding text expanders can be a huge time saver.
Email responsiveness will help to keep your clients and exceeding their expectations will not only win more business but also gain their trust. Find out more in the following infographic presented by TimeToReply.
Make Sure There’s a Real Person Behind Every Communication!
Email Tips for Small Business