Survey results

In a survey conducted for this study, 68.4% of respondents indicated that English as a second language and grammar, punctuation, and spelling are not the dominant factors that erode email’s effectiveness as a communications tool. The tone of the message was blamed by 84.2% of respondents as being significantly to somewhat damaging. (Full survey results)

Respondents agree overwhelmingly that face-to-face is the best form of communication with phone communications as the second best option. There is hope for email; respondents rated text messaging and printed material, not email, as the worst communications tools, and nearly half rated email as okay, while only a quarter rated email as poor. Meanwhile, nearly half the respondents rated email as only generally effective, and close to 40% rated it as effective for specific purposes only.

These are interesting findings when you consider that nearly 83% of respondents spend between one and five hours a day in email and another 12% spend more than five hours. The volume of email was also notable: 42% of respondents read/write between 30-60 emails daily, 26% read/write between 10-30, and 26% read/write more than 60 a day. These findings indicate we're investing a significant portion of our valuable time with a communications tool we don’t feel is consistently effective and often does damage to our projects and relationships.

Close to all respondents (94.7%) cited confusing information in emails as the predominant contributor to the ineffectiveness of email followed closely by volume of email (92.1%) and insufficient information in individual messages (90.8%). 80.2% cited length of individual messages as damaging, and over half cited English as a second language (67.1%) and poor spelling, grammar, and punctuation (64.5%) as culprits. Close to half (44.7%) indicated that the reader's mood is the least damaging, and only 19.7% indicated length of individual emails as the least significant factor effecting email’s effectiveness.

Another indication of hope is that a few respondents provided additional feedback noting that email has also left them happy and occasionally amused, as well as satisfied at having conveyed their message effectively. Yet, not one person indicated that email has never left them feeling confused, only 1.3% said that email never leaves them feeling frustrated or angry, and less than 4% said that email never leaves them feeling worried. Additionally, 71% said that email occasionally leaves them feeling confused and 69.7% said it occasionally leaves them feeling frustrated. (One respondent even indicated that it has, albeit rarely, left them feeling enraged.)

Nearly 96% of survey participants indicated that the emails they write enable activities and decisions, and 93.4% indicated that they take care and proofread their emails. 93.4% also believe their emails generate quick responses with useful information. 77.6% claim to have only rarely or never written an email they regret, and 64.5% report that they’ve never composed a new email message or a response when they were angry or upset. Only half of the participants had experienced wishing they had read an email message more thoroughly before writing a response, and 81.6% claimed that their emails don’t generate more questions than answers.

With such strong agreement that emails have significant inclinations towards ineffectiveness,  these evaluations of ourselves as senders makes one wonder exactly who is sending all this damaging email? (Which explains this week’s national holiday of the month: National Blame it on somebody else day.)

Perhaps our EQ is inhibiting our perception of ourselves as email users, and we don’t realize we are the ones wielding those poison pens (tablets, Blackberries, iPhones…)?

Full survey results