SLACK

MEDIA CAMPAIGN: OUTDATED COMMUNICATION

We partnered with Slack on an international study exploring communications within small businesses, paying particular attention to how email is used at work.

This research-led earned media campaign for Slack involved polling 8,000 small business employees (split evenly between American and British adults). Our editorial team crafted news stories from the results, for the U.S. and U.K. media, and key findings were also illustrated with visual assets.

By asking respondents questions about how they use email to communicate and interact with co-workers, we found that the average employee spends 10 hours and 47 minutes a week drafting emails that few recipients read.

The data revealed that they draft an average of 112 emails a week, spending just over five and a half minutes on each.

But small business employees surveyed believe their emails are only fully read and understood by their recipients a third (36%) of the time.

Respondents said that when their email is responded to, it’s common to have their questions not be answered, to be addressed by the wrong name or to be asked a question they just answered.

Respondents were aware they’re guilty of not reading emails, too: over half admitted that if an email is “too long” — eight or more sentences — they won’t bother reading the whole thing.

Data-driven news story

We used the research findings to create a newsworthy and very relatable story. By extracting generational differences from the research data, we were able to also make some comparisons between younger and older respondents too. For example:

The study revealed younger generations were more likely to perceive an expectation for them to stay “formal” in their emails and find it a challenge. Results found 57% of Gen Zers and 46% of millennials agreed, while only 37% of Gen X and 34% of baby boomers said the same. 

There was also a direct correlation between age and feeling like emails are a waste of time. Younger respondents were more likely to say emails are not worth it (41% of Gen Z and 38% of millennials) compared to older generations (30% of Gen X and 22% of baby boomers).

Campaign results & coverage highlights

The campaign earned over 300 pieces of online coverage across U.S. and U.K. news and consumer sites — 180 with links to the brand’s website, as well as regional broadcast coverage. The story achieved an estimated 10.9 million coverage views. These are some of the outlets that covered the story:

Fox News
Independent en Español
Fortune
Daily Mail
Daily Mirror
Entrepreneur

Interested in media exposure for your brand? Let’s talk about our custom research and earned media solutions for in-house and agency teams. See more of our client coverage here.