It has been speculated that services such as email support won’t be needed for much longer due to an anticipated decline in the use of email. This is based on the perception that email is being hurt by the rise of social media, text messaging and even instant messaging.
Not so fast. The Mesmo Consultancy, a company that teaches other companies about email best practices, did a study on email usage as well as social media and instant messaging over the second half of 2012 and found some surprising results. They discovered that the use of email was on the rise even more than using social media for communication.
This does not even include all those spam emails we are forced to endure for the most part. The study did not include emails that were used for any marketing purposes.
Another study done by The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, in 2012 agreed with the Mesmo Consultancy’s findings. Radicati predicts that the total number of email users worldwide will increase by a steady 6 to 7 percent each year between 2012 and 2016. Over the same period, total revenues from email worldwide also will increase 10 to 11 percent each year.
Radicati also predicts that the average number of emails each day will increase each year by 7 to 8 percent in 2012 through 2016. This type of continued growth is surprising for a technology that is over 40 years old and has remained relatively unchanged in that time.
Email support services needed more than ever
These findings show that the need for email support services is more important than ever. These services help protect the personal information you place in emails every day and try to ensure that this information goes to the intended recipients. They also help keep your email up and running.
The study also underscores the need for email best practices. Mesmo’s study showed that only 25 percent of the people they studied had any type of training in how best to use email. This would include proper email etiquette and whether to use email or social media for your communication needs.
When people are not trained in email best practices, the wrong message is often conveyed. For example, too many people choose to write emails in all capital letters. However, this comes across to the recipient as if the writer is shouting while writing.
Mesmo concluded from its study that email will around for at least the next decade. Are you prepared for that?
