Email is dead – that’s what the tech industry has been saying for the last decade. Yet hundreds of unread messages clutter workers’ inboxes every day. Slack aims to increase productivity by improving communication and transparency across entire businesses. Could this really be the end for email?

Whether it’s cluttering our inboxes or littering our letterboxes, junk mail is an unavoidable irritation; Brits receive 3.2 billion pieces every year. But while it might be hateful, it’s also effective. What is it about direct mail that spurs sales even as we rip it up and chuck it out?

Private messaging is an ideal medium to do the obvious – open a dialogue and conduct a conversation. In fact, 59% of all US social sharing now occurs in private channels. But while people are happy to chat to their mates on platforms like Facebook Messenger, how can brands get involved?

We Facetime, we Snapchat, we Tweet and we Whatsapp. Although the ways in which we use technology to communicate have diversified and multiplied, six out of 10 working Americans think that email is “very important” to their jobs, making it the most significant digital tool in the US workplace.