Marketing is ever-changing, and as professionals, we have to evolve our strategies and keep up with industry best practices.
Recently, the Baseline Creative strategists attended a webinar hosted by the Kansas Chapter of PRSA with keynote speaker Kristin Graham, Principal of Culture & Communications at Amazon. Graham came to speak about effective ways to communicate in a time in which people are having digital overload.
Effective Communication in the Digital Age
Email communications have increased 31% since March, according to Campaign Monitor. In addition, many companies have shifted their workspaces to be permanently remote due to the pandemic. As a result, employees have adopted new methods of communicating virtually, including video conferences, chat rooms, and a surge in email communications. This is a change that while keeps employees safe, has created communication challenges.
Our brains are flooded with information from the moment we wake up in the morning to the time we go to sleep each night. Advanced technology and mobile devices make it easy to send and receive information within seconds. Within seconds of starting our days, we begin to experience decision fatigue.
As a business or organization, ensuring your employee communications are as clear and actionable as your client communications are important. According to Graham, we can achieve this with bite-sized cookies of information, rather than long, drawn-out emails.
3 Tips to Help Email Stand Out
Graham offered up three ways in which you can make your internal, or external email communications break through digital clutter.
- Use a clear, intentional subject line with no punctuation. The ideal length is seven-10 words.
- Keep your body content to 111 words. This is the “sweet spot” and after this number, 49% will stop reading. Break up your content with spaces.
- BLOT (Bottom Line on Top) or don’t bury the lede. The most important information should be at the top of the email including deadlines.
Making Messages Stick
The brain can process visuals 65,000 times faster than words so when possible, use a combination of visuals and words for the most effective communication. This combination of visual and auditory will help your audience recall the message.
Graham reiterated that as communicators we need to respect the brain drain that is happening all around us. By using clear subject lines, concise content, and using “multi-sensory activation”, we can help our internal and external audiences understand what we have to say. Providing more effective communication is key to any person, in any industry.
