In 2007, Fast Company declared that email was dead. The Wall Street Journal echoed this sentiment two years later, The Telegraph six years after that, and Forbes three years after that. If email has been in its death throes for over a decade, why do 58% of Americans check their emails first thing in the morning before social media or anything else? And why do 90% of Americans still use a dead or dying means of communication?
Emailing, as it turns out, is a lot more important than many people believe. Maybe it’s just because it’s taken for granted that people don’t notice how much they interact with email. Just three companies, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, handle 82% of all email access, and by 2022 126.7 trillion emails will be sent every day.
Unlike phone calls, it can be answered whenever the recipient has an opportunity, making it a preferred communication medium for many. But what happens when emails go unanswered?
A shocking one in three Baby Boomers and Gen Xers expect a response to their emails within one hour. 11% of clients expect a response within 15 minutes, 19% expect it within an hour, and 14% expect a response within four hours. Responding to emails is a nonverbal cue that builds trust, and longer response times lead to greater distrust and annoyance.
Companies that respond to emails within one hour are seven times more successful than companies that take two hours, and they are 60 times more successful than companies that take 24 hours or more.
80% of Americans say that speed, convenience, knowledge, and friendly service are crucial to a positive customer experience. When those expectations are met, customers are 80% more likely to be a repeat customer.
Learn more about the importance of email responsiveness below in this infographic provided by Time To Reply. Be sure to read the questions after the infographic and then head to the comments or social media to give us your thoughts and opinions.
Please include attribution to with this graphic.
What do you think? Are you still emailing or have you moved on to some other form of online communication as your primary outlet? Do you think this infographic is accurate? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook, or MeWe.
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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
