Email: It Was Acceptable in the 80s

In what might be the world’s worst kept secret (it’s probably sitting in your inbox somewhere) research indicates that no one is reading your emails. A staggering 80% of them go unopened. Even higher if the sender shares the same name as this author. And if, or when they are opened, the average response time to an email is 90 minutes.

In contrast, 98% of text messages are opened by recipients and yield an impressive response time of 90 seconds. It’s why your Tinder Swindler doesn’t ask for your email address anymore. Engagement in the medium seems to be on the way out. Overburdened inboxes and increasingly sophisticated filter settings make it harder than ever to grab the attention of your readers.

That is not to say it is acceptable to start sending WhatsApp messages to your customers about a 5% discount on ski apparel this summer, but it does mean that you need to rethink your communications strategy, particularly for B2B products and services that might not have the luxury of a budget that can provide a multi-channel strategy.

It’s also pause for thought for those trying to deliver on internal communications. Not only is no one reading your email about your new policy on booking meeting rooms, but neither are they turning up to the office for that in-person Townhall on timesheets.

Are internal messaging apps the way forward to cut through everything else in our inbox?

What is clear for any General Counsels who are still reading is that there are a plethora of emerging data sources. The inspiration for this piece is a report by my colleagues from our Technology team on The State of Emerging Data 2023, highlighting how the world of data has reached a tipping point, surpassing human ability to manage it effectively. Information governance is your next black swan event and it’s time to get your house in order.

When the obituary for Email is written, it will speak of it’s invention in 1971, that it became popular in the 1980s and 90s with business, government, universities, and defense industries but that it’s real heyday was in the noughties.

Don’t expect this epitaph any time soon. Email remains a popular form of communication, but if it is engagement you seek, it’s time to consider your options.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, Inc., its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals. 

FTI Consulting, Inc., including its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a consulting firm and is not a certified public accounting firm or a law firm.