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Keep staff ‘tuned in’ – savvy businesses move from e-mail to video and visuals
MOST BUSINESSES are increasingly reliant on plain text e-mails for vital internal communication and record-keeping – but it may be a mistake.
Plain text e-mails are not what employees need or want, according to research developed by software company, TechSmith.
TechSmith CEO, Wendy Hamilton said adding visual content to everyday tasks like e-mail and presentations has been shown to increase productivity and engagement. 
“E-mail is the lifeblood of how we communicate professionally, and that will remain true … but with visual evolution, adding screenshots or a short video to e-mails fosters better understanding, reducing the need for follow-up,” Ms Hamilton said.
“As the workforce becomes increasingly digitally savvy, visuals and video are necessary for employee engagement.
“Businesses that fail to adapt may find themselves lagging in productivity and even losing top talent.”
TechSmith’s research showed that using visual content, such as short videos and static images, over text alone, saves time and improves performance. Despite the growing desire for more visual content in workplace communications, research undertaken amongst 4,500 office workers, showed many businesses were sending more plain-text emails — and that may be causing problems. 
A scientific trial to find out how visual communications impacts business performance found two thirds (67 percent) of employees were better at completing tasks when communicated with by video or text with images than by plain text.
Ms Hamilton said ‘disappointing’ communications were impacting employee engagement as well. Over a third (36%) of employees have been demotivated by poor company-wide communications, she said.
“More than a third (38%) of employees believe they would be more engaged if corporate communications were more inspiring than they are today,” Ms Hamilton said.
The research showed half (50%) of companies have increased their use of email recently; almost half (47%) of employees thought their company relied on plain-text email to communicate; and only a quarter (25%) of employees had received a video message within their companies.
“Employees are in a constant barrage of content that often threatens to overwhelm them,” Ms Hamilton said. “And, despite evidence that visual content is easier to digest and increases productivity and engagement, today’s businesses are twice as likely to be increasing their use of plain-text email over any other type of communication.”
The business research utilised by TechSmith was conducted among 4,500 office workers from across Australia, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the UK, and US in December 2017. The scientific laboratory test was conducted amongst 125 office workers in January 2018 by an award-winning doctor in behavioural economics, Alastair Goode.
Business communication methods that have increased in use over recent years:
|
1 |
|
50% |
|
2 |
Video calls |
23% |
|
3= |
Personal social networks (eg Facebook, WhatsApp) |
22% |
|
3= |
Text |
22% |
|
5 |
Presentation slides |
18% |
|
6 |
Video based network (eg YouTube or Boomerang) |
16% |
|
7= |
Work based social network (e.g. Slack, Yammer) |
15% |
|
7= |
Image based network (eg Instagram or Pinterest) |
15% |
|
9 |
Short videos |
13% |
|
10= |
Podcasts |
6% |
|
10= |
GIFs |
6% |
.
