We're all chained to our email, in one way or another. Whether at the desk in the office or on the train/bus/ferry/broomstick via Blackberry and I-Phone, no other mass communication medium has revolutionised business the way email has.
We can extol the virtues of face-to-face contact and, to be honest, it is and always will be a more effective communication medium, but the fact is that business today runs on email servers, not on coffee meetings in the lobby.
A recent study has shown some interesting statistics on how we use email. The Epsilon's Global Consumer Email Study of 4000 consumers in 13 countries found the average Australian received over 180 emails a week, 10 per cent more than their Asia Pacific counterparts. This is less than those in Europe (200) and North America (300).
The survey, conducted by ROI Research, also found:
• North American (87%) and European (74%) respondents are more likely than their peers in APAC (58%) to use email as their primary online communications tool.
• In Australia, an average of 85 emails a week are considered spam.
• Asia Pacific (32%) leads North America (9%) and Europe (7%) in the use of PDA or handheld devices to access email.
• The idea of spam email had evolved to include irrelevant and 'saturated' contact.
Epsilon spokesperson Dominic Powers explained the challenges facing digital marketing teams in making their messages stand out in a crowded inbox.
"Marketers need to work harder to create emails which have a high level of relevance, personalisation and ensure that the timing of emails is what the user wants," he said.
What the user wants, it appears, is to stop being harassed to buy pharmaceuticals and cheap diamonds, in addition to being pressured to take part in lucrative business 'opportunities' in Nigeria.
What about you? How many email accounts do you use and how do you use them? Do you think the volume of spam is increasing?
A nail biter indeed, those were the days when the only mode of communication was a fax or phone!
Thank you for sharing the facts about the average emails received by Europeans, Americans and Australians. With the looping in of more and more users on the internet, spaming will increase. I did wish to share light upon the fact that yahoo, google and few others do seem to be doing there best by filtering spam mails and sending you the ones which are genuine.
Coming to the last point you mentioned, when using mails officially, there is a designated junk folder which picks up all unwanted emails but you still have to browse through them to see relevant mails don't get swept away!