SurePayroll Insights Survey: More than 80 Percent of Small Business Owners Consider E-mail Essential to Success

GLENVIEW, IL — June 18, 2007 — A recent survey by online payroll service SurePayroll reveals that more than 80 percent of small business owners believe e-mail is a key element in the success of their business.

The survey also discovered that 62 percent of small business owners believe e-mail is equally effective as or more effective than in-person or phone communication.

One small business owner explained, “I am self-employed and work from home. My clients are in other towns. I could not survive without e-mail. Calls and meetings are nice when we need a complete exchange of ideas, but e-mail serves a great purpose of getting quick answers without a lot of side conversations. I make and send attachments constantly — much better than snail mail or fax.”

Additionally, the survey suggests that small business owners have become increasingly immersed in e-mail. 64 percent of small business owners use more than one e-mail address and nearly a third use three or more addresses. Nearly 30 percent check e-mail one to four times a day. More than 25 percent check e-mail more than 20 times a day. 50 percent receive at least 21 business related e-mails each day, and 16 percent receive at least 51 per day.

“E-mail is especially useful to small business owners in an age where startups often rely on electronic means of running business,” said SurePayroll President Michael Alter. “You can’t afford to ignore it. Today’s successful entrepreneurs usually cite cost-efficient use of technology as an integral part of their business’ journey.”

Small Business Owners Satisfied with E-mail Workload; Prefer to Use Other Methods to Build Relationships

The survey also discovered that 55 percent of small business owners feel they receive just the right amount of e-mail, followed by 41 percent who feel they receive too many. This mixed response suggests there is a fine line regarding when the volume of e-mail received becomes too much, and that communicators who send e-mail to small business owners should exercise discernment.

Several respondents replied that e-mail was necessary to their business, but that relationship building should be supplemented with in-person or phone contact.

One small business owner commented, “From an operational standpoint with my company, e-mail is very important. However, with the clients I serve, personal contact and phone are far more effective in the relationship building process.”

Another wrote, “E-mail is great for many types of communication for my small business and is very effective for requesting simple tasks of vendors and staff, but many times, a phone call or meeting is necessary and e-mail cannot take the place of this personal contact.”

Additional Findings

Of the small business owners surveyed:

• Over 93 percent believe that e-mail is equally important to both small and big businesses.
• More than 50 percent spend about one to two hours reading or writing e-mail on a daily basis.
• 50 percent receive at least 21 business related e-mails each day and 16 percent receive at least 51 per day.
• More than 71 percent indicated they use e-mail primarily for business.

Surveyed business owners offered additional comments on e-mail usage in the small business workplace:

• “People don't always express themselves clearly when writing a message — which means I have to follow up with a phone call anyway to make sure I understood the e-mail mdash; so it is not always a time saver.”
• “Our business is international and frequently deals with volunteers; therefore, e-mail is essential (due to time zone differences, volunteers working after the normal working day, etc.). However, in-person or phone contact is more effective in that questions can be resolved with one session, whereas e-mails can take several communications back and forth.”
• “E-mail is the best trail for keeping up with the progress of an issue. It also saves time, because you can cut through the chit-chat that would occur if you had to pick up the phone every time you needed to address an issue.”

About SurePayroll:

Voted Editor's Choice for best payroll service by PC Magazine, SurePayroll is America's largest full-service online payroll manager. In addition to its payroll and ClickFREE™ tax file and pay service – which allows a user to complete the entire payroll process in minutes – SurePayroll provides HR and compliance resources, workers' compensation products and 401(k) retirement solutions designed specifically for small businesses.

SurePayroll also offers a private-label and co-branded payroll service to accounting and banking partners to offer payroll processing to their small business clients.

SurePayroll is passionate about small businesses and their payroll. The company is dedicated to providing an extremely friendly and simple payroll experience - at a price small business owners can afford. For more information, visit www.surepayroll.com.

SurePayroll also offers a private-label and co-branded payroll service to accountants and banking partners to offer payroll processing to their small business clients