Commentary

How Cyberloafers Can Hurt Email Marketers

Let’s face it -- we have all sent personal emails or snuck in a visit to an outside website while at work. Most of us don’t overdo it, but some people do -- cyberloafers who spend a good part of their work day idly surfing the net.

These layabouts waste an average of 2.09 hours per day, and they are a threat to productivity and cyber security, according to a survey of 338 full-time and part-time workers conducted by Lee Hadlington, of De Montfort University, in Leicester, UK. 

At their worst, cyberloafers use company systems to build their own websites, visit dating sites, watch videos and download pornography. But even when they are not that extreme, almost half of all workers say that internet surfing is their main workplace distraction. 

And these cyberloafers are putting their companies at great risk of hacking, Hadlington contends. 

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What does this mean for email marketers? Well, for one thing, brands could be exacerbating the problem with promotional blasts that reward cyberloafing.

At the least, consumer marketers should be aware of personal orders coming in with business email addresses, or from a business IP — they may not all be for business gifts. 

Nobody expects people to turn down such orders, but these customers could be loafing at work, and marketers could lose access to them — very suddenly — if they get themselves fired. 

Logic also suggests that a higher rate of cart abandonment of orders placed from company systems may result, due to interruptions or the arrival of a boss.

Here’s the solution: Make sure you capture the person’s personal email address, and ask permission to use it.  

Granted, this study isn’t about marketing problems. Rather, it focuses on the fact that “the more employees cyber loaf, “the less likely they are to follow the rules and protocols designed to protect the company’s IT systems,” Hadlington writes. 

That’s especially true of those who engage in the most egregious online behaviors, he adds. 

A company may think it is safe because it uses freelancers. But these part-timers may work onsite, and they could have access to the company's system.

How do marketers fight cyberloafing? One solution is to impose strict penalties for breaking the rules. But training might be “more beneficial,” especially if it “empowers employees to identify aspects of internet abuse and seek help,”  Hadlington adds.

But don’t use email to reinforce the message. 

“If you’re deep into a cyber loafing session, an email will be just another corporate message lost in an overloaded inbox,” Hadlington concludes. 

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