The human brain is red lining due to data and decision overload
If the human brain is like an engine, then – in the developed world at least – it’s been operating at the red line for quite some time.
Scientists estimate we process at least 5 times more information today than we did in 40 years ago. The digital age may have its upside, but it also creates a state of almost constant distraction, meaning we struggle to focus.
The human body sends 11 million bits per second to the brain for processing, yet the conscious mind can only process around 50 bits per second.
The only way we can cope with the 2,000 decisions we need to make each hour – without curling up into a ball in the corner – is to rely on short cuts, or ‘heuristics’, including the many cognitive and emotional biases that govern our behaviours.
We use mental spam filters
Another short cut we can use is our own mental spam filter, which allows us to screen out data and information that we deem surplus to our own requirements.
When it comes to our email inboxes, our mental spam filters supplement the automated spam filters in determining what emails we pay attention to, and they are having to work harder than ever, thanks to the increasing amount of digital traffic coming in our direction.
Covid gave us a crash course in the benefits of virtual communication, and since 2020, the amount of marketing emails has exploded 70%. Other channels recorded strong growth too – SMS messages up by 70% in a single year, and web push messages up a staggering 280%.
What makes the volume of emails particularly challenging is the obsession some of us have with replying quickly – and in having ‘inbox zero’ (having zero unread messages in our inbox).
‘In box zero’ – why emails are a productivity thief
A UK study from a few years ago found half of all information workers respond to an email within 60 minutes of receipt. Workers spend 28% of their day reading and responding to emails, and check their inboxes 74 times a day!
But what’s more damaging to our productivity is that every time we switch between tasks, we momentarily lose focus and have to ‘reset’. After dealing with an email – which takes on average 2 minutes – we need an additional 68 seconds to return to our work and remember what we are doing.
Responding to emails as soon as you receive them means your agenda is being dictated by other people. For small business owners – such as financial advisors – it’s not a sustainable approach.
The main defence we have against all these attacks on our productivity is to change our relationship with email. For some this means reducing the frequency with which we check our inbox. For others it means being more ruthless in what emails we even open, let alone respond to.
Email response rates are plunging while unsubscribe rates soar
Unsurprisingly, email marketing response rates are heading South, and unsubscribe rates are heading up. According to Omnisend, 2022 click through rates for marketing emails reduced 10% year on year. Cross-emails suffered an even bigger drop- of around 20%.
Through surveys, Gartner has found that the vast majority of both B2B and B2C customers feel overwhelmed by the number of emails they receive from brands. Worryingly, these customers say if they perceive emails as irrelevant, they will unsubscribe – something easier than ever to do.
As financial services marketers, our category is already one of the hardest in which to get cut through, with click through rates for financial services emails lower than the overall average, and unsubscribe rates double the average across all categories.
The problem for financial advisors is they want and need content, but finding it is like panning for gold; you need to sift through a lot of rocks and dirt to find the nuggets. And who has time for that?
What Australian financial advisors have said about emails from providers
At Ensombl we recently interviewed some advisors about how they preferred to receive and consume content from product and service providers.
Spoiler alert – emails didn’t fare well. Too disruptive, and too many.
What emerged was the appeal of channels that were opt in & permission based. Where they could quickly and easily get a direct line to key people at any given provider. And where the advisor could be as active or as passive as they preferred.
Online communities tick all these boxes, in a way acting like a short cut, reducing the need for the advisor to go looking through their inbox, and instead knowing that for [insert topic] content, they could just go straight to that community.
Here’s what some advisors said:
“To me, dedicated online communities would replace the emails coming at me from every angle. Providers have good content, but it’s often hard to find.”
“When I am in my work zone – providers are jumping into my inbox. When I go to Ensombl I am choosing to be there, choosing to learn and search for new ideas.”
“Sales teams are struggling to have meaningful meetings… being able to access meaningful information in our own time is a better use of my time.”
Branded spaces
At Ensombl, we’ve catered for this demand through the creation of branded spaces. These are dedicated communities that sit within the Ensombl platform, and which invite members to participate on an ‘opt-in’ basis. Spaces allow you to engage with a fragmented and distracted audience, in a way that suits them.
Creating your own ‘space’ on the Ensombl platform allows you to benefit from the pre-existing engagement, trust and collaboration that has taken Ensombl nearly a decade to build, across 8,000 platform users.
We have already created dedicated spaces for Schroders (Investments), North (Retirement strategies), and Colonial First State (Professional Year support).
If creating a direct line to distracted advisors is central to your strategy, we’d love to chat about whether a branded space within the Ensombl platform could help.
If you are interested in finding out more about Ensombl spaces, get in touch, we’d love to discuss the possibilities.
More from Richard Dunkerley
