We’re a virtual company here at Convince & Convert. A few years ago, we were drowning in text-based communications, with a seemingly endless barrage of emails flying back and forth. When we were at our annual planning retreat in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, we decided we’d had enough. We usually come up with our best ideas while basking in the sun over margaritas, and our new focus on ending the text-based email insanity was no exception.
We needed to get our ideas, plans and questions communicated to each other faster, better and easier. So, in 2017, we started adding visual content, including videos and animated GIFs, to our emails. New idea? We create a video. Need to explain a new initiative? We create a quick visual. Need to explain how to do something? We create an animated GIF with step-by-step instructions.
And I can tell you: IT HAS MADE A TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE IN OUR BUSINESS. Really, I can’t express that enough.
We get our ideas across faster. There are fewer questions. We close new business more quickly. We spend less time emailing each other and following up. We waste less time in pointless meetings and instead spend more time focusing on what matters: doing great work for our clients.
Videos let us easily see the emotion of our teammates, not to mention that this strategy has saved us serious time and money. We wouldn’t be the company we are today without visual communication.
Visual Content Should Be Your Company-Wide Priority in 2019
For 2019, I want you to make using visual content in communications your focus too.
As we all know, the absolute easiest way to improve company-wide productivity is to improve your communication strategy. A brilliant new study by software maker TechSmith (makers of Camtasia and Snagit) found that using visual content in communications — such as short videos and static images vs. text alone — could unlock $167 billion in productivity across the six geographies they investigated — an average GDP boost of 0.52%.
AMAZING!
A new study by @TechSmith found that using visual content in workplace #communication could unlock $167 billion in productivity. WOW. Click To Tweet
As part of their new report on “The Value of Visuals“, our friends at TechSmith created this infographic (see below) on the value of visuals in workplace communications. If you’re not already leveraging visual content within your organization (WHY NOT?), these statistics will convince you and your boss to start ASAP:
- Two-thirds (67%) of employees are better at completing tasks when communicated by video or by text with images rather than by plain text.
- Businesses are two times as likely to be increasing their use of plain-text email over any other type of communication.
- On average, each employee could gain 6 minutes and 43 seconds of productivity back each day — that’s more than 33 minutes per week and 25 hours of recovered productivity per year.
- More than one-third (36%) of employees have been demotivated by poor company-wide communications, compared to one-quarter (25%) who have not been affected.
- Almost half (47%) of employees think their companies rely on plain-text email to communicate.
- 48% of employees consider video the most engaging form of communication, 37% consider images with text the most engaging and just 15% of employees consider plain-text email the most engaging.
- Only one-quarter (25%) of employees have received a video message in their company.
- Companies could recover $1,200 or more in productivity per employee per year by using more visuals in workplace communications.
- More than one-third (38%) of employees believe they would be more engaged if corporate communications were more inspiring than they are today.
- Younger workers are twice as likely as baby boomers to use images and video to communicate in their own time, and two times more likely to want more visual communications at work.
Our experience here at Convince & Convert has proven how valuable using visual content in company communications is, and now TechSmith’s amazing new research proves it too. Check out their no-cost, un-gated research to see for yourself, and promise to make adding visual content to your communications part of your focus in 2019, okay?
Check out the Value of Visuals Report by TechSmith now.
