It Figures 08/05

Increased compensation, environmentally friendly products and more

August 1, 2005 2 min read

This story appears in the August 2005 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

of businesses have fired an employee for misuse of the internet; about the same percentage has done so for misuse of e-mail.

Statistic Source: American Management Association/ePolicy Institute

of workers respond to e-mail within an hour of receiving it.

Statistic Source: Hewlett-Packard/TNS Research

Americans do not feel secure with their personal finances.

Statistic Source: Simmons Market Research

executives say their businesses are concerned about losing key staff to retirement in the next five to 10 years.

Statistic Source: Robert Half International Inc.

consumers say they're willing to pay more for environmentally safe products.

Statistic Source: Simmons Market Research

small-business owners say they'll increase compensation to their workers this year;

expect to give raises of

or more.

Statistic Source: International Profit Associates Small Business Research Board

The Wind in Your Sales What marketing techniques do U.S. small- and midsize-business owners say are "critical to driving business"?
Community relations	55%
Website	47%
PR/media coverage	31%
Direct mail	26%
Yellow Pages	23%
E-mail marketing	21%
Newspaper advertising	21%
Search engine keywords	18%
Telephone marketing	10%
Outdoor advertising	10%
Magazine advertising	6%
Print coupons	6%
Radio advertising	6%
Web banner advertising	5%
Source: Interland

Fantasy Features What e-mail users want:
The ability to unsend a message that hasn't been read	43%
The ability to track where an e-mail has been forwarded	43%
A lock on e-mail so it can't be forwarded	27%
A pop-up that asks the user to double-check who they are sending the e-mail to	27%
The ability to unsend a message that has already been read	14%
Source: AOL/Opinion Research Corporation