16 Reasons Why Your Company Needs Email

Surprisingly enough, some CEOs and sales managers we talk with still think email is only for net heads and computer geeks, not for serious business people. Email, they say, is not as good as postal mail, fax and voice mail. If you are anti-email, consider the 16 reasons your organization should use email.

1. Faster. Email is faster than postal mail, of course, but it's also faster than a phone call - email doesn't involve having a call put through, talking about the weather, and then getting around to the purpose of the call.

2. Cheaper than Calling. Email from Tucson to Phoenix or Tucson to London is free. There are no long distance charges.

3. Saves Customers, Vendors, Business Partners Time. If customers have to fax you, they have to prepare the fax, then (typically) get up from their desks and run it through the fax machine. They might even have to look up your fax number. Their email address book, however, gives them your email address as they type in your name. So email saves the customer time.

4. Saves Sales & Service People's Time. See #3. The same time savings occur.

5. Easier. Email is easier. If I call you, you may be on the phone, or out. Then I have to figure out what message to leave or what to say on your voice mail. If I make a mistake in leaving you a voice mail message, I can't fix it. With email, I just say what I want to say. If I make a mistake, I edit my email.

6. More Convenient. Customers can send you an email at any time, day or night, before or after work or during the lunch hour. At their convenience.

7. Provides Better Documentation. You always have a record of what you said to customers, and what they said to you. There's no possibility of having an argument over prices quoted over the phone or delivery dates given.

8. Provides Sales Alternatives. Once you develop a group address of your customers – or prospects -- email addresses, you can tell them about specials or promote new offerings just by sending out an email to everyone on the list.

9. Saves Money Over Direct Mail. Direct email promotions are faster and cheaper than direct mail. With direct mail, out-of-pocket expenses include printing, zip-sorting the mailing and postage. Sometimes the postage is a killer; sometimes it's the four-color printing. With direct email, there's no charge, for sending a message in color .

10. Encourages Communication. Email is so easy it encourages more communication between your customers and your sales/service people. That means better service, and better service means more sales.

11. Get the Message to the Right Person. If you receive a message that you want to share with someone else, or you get a message that was intended for someone else, you can forward it to the right person in seconds, adding your own comments to it if you want to. Most phone systems don't allow you to forward a voice mail message.

12. Increases Event Attendance. One way to increase attendance at your next event is to email people about it. If you could send a four color invitation and pay nothing for the printing, zip sorting and mailing, you'd do it wouldn't you?

13. Keeps You Updated on Customer Changes. If there's a change in the key contact at one of your customers, email can be the fastest way you'll find out. That's because if that contact's email address is terminated, your email will bounce back, often in seconds and nearly always within 24 hours.

14. Enables People to Attach Files. Increasingly, businesses share computer files with each other. Word files, PDFs, spread sheets, etc. You can't attach a file to a fax. Sure, you can fax the document, but then the other party can't edit it, print it in color, or send it on along to someone else (and have it still look decent).

15. Email Boxes Are Never Full. Everyone's tried to leave a voice mail and, at one time or another, been told the voice mail box is full. That's rude, and makes the person whose box is full seem disorganized.

16. Leave a Message of Unlimited Length. Another problem with voice mail is that callers may get cut off half way through or told, "You have 15 seconds to complete your message." That's just bad customer service.

So that's 16 ways email is superior to the fax machine, voice mail or postal mail. But there are more. Tell us what you think. Email me at dave.tedlock@netoutcomes.com and we'll post these 16 advantages, plus others you send in, on our Website.

This article first appeared as a column written by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Inside Tucson Business and/or the New Mexico Business Weekly.

Click HERE to return to Articles page