Our Blog

The Email Delusion

6 July 2010

Genuine, ‘old fashioned’ service must have taken a heavy blow when email stormed in on the scene. The somewhat sterile, lifeless form of communication that had good intentions and optimistic dreams of taking communication to a whole new level, carelessly replaced service with laziness.

Sure we all got on board, and I’m not denying that it is a very important part of our lives every day. I’m just not convinced that it goes hand in hand with great service. Over here at GZ Design, we put a strong emphasis on a relational approach. Plenty of face to face meetings and regular phone contact allow us to build a relationship with our clients that cannot be manufactured by another emotionless (no, emoticons do not count) cluster of text. While emails may compliment these other methods of communication, they are rarely the foundations of a relationship. People build relationships, emails aren’t people.

So why do so many businesses use email as their primary form of communication? The answer is easy. Seriously, that’s the answer. It’s way too easy to flick off an email. You never have to be prepared to respond on the spot. You have all the time in the world to craft your sentences. You can avoid what you like. You don’t have to iron your shirt. You don’t need to brush your teeth. Heck, you don’t even need to get out of bed. It seems like some form of dream communication.

And it is. But some dreams are rubbish. Face to face and phone communication allows us to cover a far wider range of topics in a far shorter time, while maintaining and building a relationship. No back and forward with a days delay in between, its real time, its relational and its retro (had to start with R, I was going for ‘old fashioned’). Email is a great tool, but face to face and phone communication are still some of the most effective communication methods available today, and that’s why we will never let it go.

Comments

1. search engine marketing melbourne, on 23 December 2010 said:

   You are so observant. Thanks to you…:P

2. Bintan Island, on 8 April 2011 said:

   Agreed. Email is great, but for effective communication using the telephone (or face to face) should be the preferred method.

3. Robin Jennings, on 28 August 2011 said:

   Email is far too cheap and easy.

   If a companies email blasts cost as much as sending a letter in the mail they’d actually treat emails with a bit more respect.