Roughly 40 percent of the totalemails annually received by U.S. workers (44 billion) are "notimportant," and of those, 34 billion are automatically routed totrash.

As U.S. workers collectively receive 576 billion emailsannually, employers embarking upon digital transformation shouldcommunicate strategically if they don't want workers to just tunethem out, according to GuideSpark's report, "Strategic Corporate Communication: 5 Steps to Overcome theNoise and Increase Impact."

On behalf of GuideSpark, IDC surveyed 300 employers and foundthat each day, workers receive about 50 work-related emails, andevery worker receives about nine "strategic corporatecommunication" emails per day. Roughly 40 percent of the totalemails annually received by U.S. workers (44 billion) are "notimportant," and of those, 34 billion are automatically routed totrash by email rules or other process, without being read or actiontaken by the workers receiving the messages.

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"Email overload causes employees to ignore, overlook ormisunderstand what they are supposed to do," the authors write."Important messages must be communicated well, or the benefits ofkey strategies or initiatives can be lost."

Many "business-critical" messages about strategic initiatives orimportant business process changes often fail to generate thedesired consistency of effort or action, the survey found.Meanwhile, "non-strategic" messaging about more routine activitiessuch as health and wellness events, employee rewards andrecognition, or internal events, often fail to achieve employers'desired amount of worker participation or engagement.

"Good corporate communications practices help orchestratemessages, so every message receives the appropriate attention," theauthors write. "Good communications increases relevance of messagesby making the importance and purpose of the message clear to theemployee."

While employers often send emails to workers with the intentionfor them to take specific action, many workers are interpreting themessages as "information-only" emails, according to the survey. Theoriginators of messages want action in one-third of messages theysend, but employees receiving these messages believe 45 percent ofthe messages require action.

"The opportunity is for senders to more clearly inform receiversof the expectation to act, helping receivers give each message theproper attention," the authors write.

The survey also compared reactions to messages that are part ofa series versus those that are "stand alone." Workers tend tobelieve most messages are part of a series, even though only 40percent of messages actually were.

"This suggests employees are making connections between emails,even when the sender thinks of the message in isolation," theauthors write. "Senders can take advantage of the receiver'sperception by intentionally connecting related messages to broaderthemes to aid in understanding and increasing motivation."

Specific communications types had their own characteristics thatimproved success, the survey also found. For example, localizationand frequency were both important to the success of security andonboarding communications. But a call to actionwas important for onboarding, but not for security.

"Just reading a message might constitute 'success' for sometypes of communications," the authors write. "Other types require amore active response. That's why we believe the program's purposedetermines how success should be evaluated."

The report details five steps that employers should consider toincrease the impact of their strategies communications:

1. Strategy: use strategic internal corporatecommunications to create a shared understanding andmotivation.
2. Purpose: make the importance and purpose ofthe message clear to the employee.
3. Design: craft communication programs toreflect the desired actions and audience requirements.
4. Reinforce: increase understanding, motivationand action by creating campaigns that include a series ofmessages.
5. Measure: evaluate each communication program'ssuccess by considering its specific purpose and intendedactions.

"Information overload is having a negative effect on employee'sability to understand change, leading to strategic priorities andprograms not getting the attention and action they deserve," theauthors write. "Enterprises undergoing crucial change need tosegment their audience and reduce irrelevant communications, andenterprises must measure communications programs to properlyevaluate success."

Read more: 

• Head of Amazon India takes a stand againstafter-hours emails
• An employer's guide to battlingburnout
• To improve talent management, focus oncommunication