We recently asked more than 30,000 Outlook users if Outlook and emails are doing a good enough job of supporting their business goals and objectives. We can now reveal:
- Why (and how) users say that Outlook is NOT working well enough and
- A solution to the problems identified… inside Outlook… that you can master in 5 seconds.
Let’s start by looking at how users said they use Outlook…the majority of Outlook users no longer use Emails and the Inbox simply as a means of communication.
We use our Inboxes as our primary to-do-lists.
Emails are our simplified task and project management systems
that support our business objectives and goals.
Outlook is used as a replacement for CRM systems, Customer Support Systems, Project Management software, Case Management Systems and other specialised software.
And yet there is ONE MAJOR PROBLEM that makes using Outlook result in wasted time, missed deadlines, incomplete responses, frustrated customers and lost opportunities.
The information in Outlook is
TOO INCOMPLETE and/or TOO DISJOINTED.
Information is spread out all over the place… inside Outlook and outside Outlook… over different emails, in notebooks, on pieces of paper where we have recorded phone conversations, in Excel files and Word documents, on websites that we can’t remember etc.
It’s difficult to find all the right information… in time… to make the correct decision and take the correct actions.
What information do we need so that we can
write timely effective emails
that support our goals and objectives?
Our survey revealed that the information users need when responding to emails can be broken down into a few common categories irrespective of professions (readers who responded to the survey included lawyers, architects, software designers, web designers, accountants, consultants…)
- Personal Comments, Thoughts and Ideas: We have thoughts and ideas on emails even if we are not ready to respond now. By the time we are ready, our thoughts and ideas are often forgotten. We need an effective system to collect these ideas so that they are not lost.
- History: We need to track progress and know the key events that have happened when responding. When did the customer contact us? What communication took place between us? How many times have I followed up already? etc.
- Phone Conversations: Emails rarely contain all the information we need. What about the additional information that was gathered over the phone? Where can it be recorded so that it is easily accessible when you need it?
Word Documents, Excel Files, PDFs etc: Quotes, Contracts, Sales Letters, Research Notes etc are often stored electronically on our computers or networks. How can we get immediate access to this information when we need it? - External information on websites: It is highly likely that there is important information on the web that you have seen that you need access to. Wouldn’t it be useful to simply click on the links instead of having to use Google and find the information again?
- Follow Up Actions/Schedule/Next Actions: What am I still waiting for? What do I (or other members of my team) need to do next? What are the deadlines on the project? It would be great to immediately see this kind of information when responding to emails.
- Notes for Future Reference: Most of us get hundreds of emails every week (some get hundreds per day). Wouldn’t it be great to be able to note down why you decided to keep the email… or maybe tag it with keywords so that it is easy to find an email later?
We created a solution for you …
that works inside Outlook… takes 5 seconds to learn
… and requires no change in the way you work!
We have seen many attempts to create structured systems inside Outlook to help us to store and retrieve the information faster and easier.
In our experience structured systems are NOT the answer.
Many of you already have structured systems outside Outlook. Yet you still prefer to use Outlook. Obviously more structure is not the answer!
We agree! Like you we use Outlook for most of our working day.
We’re very excited to announce that we have created a solution that will solve ALL the problems identified in a totally unstructured way that anyone can use immediately.
- It works inside Outlook… right beside your emails. There is nothing new to learn. We guarantee that you’ll be able to use this within 5 seconds of installation.
- It makes it easy to record all the information that we need while we are working on our emails… without changing your emails in any way.
- It makes it super-easy to automatically view all relevant information as we are working on an email. Your information will find you instead of you having to search for it.
We are going to introduce our solution before the end of the week…
and there will be great discounts & bonuses for early movers
So keep your eyes on your Inbox
Regards,
Sanjay Singh.
