Last Updated: 14.03.2023
Blerina Miftari
Must-Know Email Statistics and Trends for 2023
Discover the latest email statistics and trends for 2023! Uncover essential insights on open rates, click-throughs, and the impact of mobile usage, personalization, and automation in email marketing.
Key Takeaways:Â Email Statistics and Trends for 2023
✓ According to the latest research, the average ROI for every $1 spent on email marketing is $45, making it a highly cost-effective way to reach and engage with customers. (Source: Forbes)
✓ Globally, the daily volume of emails exchanged in 2023 reached 347.3 billion, reflecting a 4.3% rise compared to the previous year's figure of 333.2 billion emails sent and received per day. (Oberlo)
✓ As of April 2023, the number of active email users worldwide exceeded 4.258 billion, and this figure is projected to continue growing in the foreseeable future.
✓About 246 million individuals, representing 85% of the U.S. population, use email actively.
✓As of March 2023, almost 90% of surveyed full-time workers reported using email daily for work purposes.
✓ The United States of America is the leading sender of spam emails, with around 8.61 billion being sent every day.
Section 01
General Email Usage Statistics
Section 02
Share of U.S. E-mail Users
Section 03
E-mail Usage Statistics
Section 04
E-mail Usage for Work
Section 05
E-mail Marketing Statistics
Section 06
Email Password Safety
Section
01
General Email Usage Statistics
Statista forecasts that by 2023, the number of email users will approach 4.4 billion. Read on to discover the specific number for the U.S.
Email was used as a method of communication by 92% of the digital population in the US in January 2022, surpassing the adoption rates of social media and other online messaging apps, which were used by 83% and 67% of US users, respectively.
The latest email user statistics for the US indicate that 90% of individuals aged 15 and above use email.
Individuals aged 25-44 have the highest email usage rate at 93.6%, followed by those aged 15-24 and 45-64, both with a usage rate of 90% or higher.
The only age group with a lower usage rate (84.1%) is those over 65 years old.
The highest usage of email for work among US users was observed in those aged 25-56, but only 53% of Gen Z users reported using email for work.
Around 60% of US Millennials reported using email for online shopping, while corresponding with family and friends was identified as the primary activity for users in the Silent Generation.
Users aged 45 and above were the main consumers of email news, and only 6% of users aged 35-44 used email as their primary way of accessing news online.
Promotional and discount emails were the most likely to be opened by online shoppers, while only 20% of them reported opening email invitations to leave reviews for recently purchased products.
A 2021 survey in the U.S. found that the majority of respondents had two email addresses, with 28% of them having more than four.
About 246 million individuals, representing 85% of the U.S. population, use email actively.
Gmail accounts for the highest number of email users, with 130.9 million users. Yahoo! and Outlook have a market share of 18% (42.2 million) and 14% (34.45 million) of email users, respectively.
As of November 2021, email usage was reported by approximately 95% of internet users in the United States aged 25-44.
As of October 18, 2021, the United States sent nearly 10 billion daily emails, which was the highest number of emails sent worldwide. Out of the 10 billion emails, 8.61 billion were identified as spam.
Between 2016 and 2020, individuals in the U.S. devoted more time to checking work emails than personal emails.
However, in 2021, people spent approximately 172 minutes each day on personal communications and only about 149 minutes on work emails.
This is a decrease from the 200 minutes reported in 2020, when the global COVID-19 pandemic caused an increased reliance on digital communication solutions for work-related activities.
In February 2022, a survey of workers revealed that individuals in the U.S. who split their time between in-person and online work activities received approximately 31 emails per week, while fully remote employees received as many as 170 emails per week.
Moreover, emails were the most preferred method of communicating with customers, with 41% of Millennials and 35% of Gen Z employees in the U.S. using email as their primary mode of communication with the customers of the businesses they owned or managed.
Among various types of e-mails, U.S. users were most concerned about phishing scams in January 2022.
Email accounted for 14 percent of all reported frauds to the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. in 2021, resulting in a loss of 329 million U.S. dollars for consumers.
However, only about 23 percent of U.S. users reported using a password generator for their email addresses as of 2021.
Furthermore, just 30 percent of respondents said they had changed their email passwords in the previous month, and six percent reported that they had never changed their email passwords.
The daily volume of sent and received emails has been consistently increasing and exceeded 333 billion in 2022.
It is expected to grow further, reaching 376.4 billion by 2025, as the number of email users worldwide continues to expand.
According to a 2022 survey of online users in the United States, phone calls were nearly universally used, with 95% of respondents indicating they used this form of communication for work or personal purposes.
Meanwhile, text messages, SMS, and messaging were equally popular as email, with 92% of respondents reporting using these communication methods during the survey period.
Section
02
Share of U.S. E-mail Users
The upcoming section will explore the demographic characteristics of email users in the United States, building on the earlier information that the U.S. has the largest number of email users worldwide.
In the United States, around 92 percent of the digital population aged 15 and above reported using emails as a form of online communication as of 2021.
This represents a steady increase from 84 percent in July 2013.
In the United States, email was used by approximately 95% of internet users aged 25-44 as of November 2021.
For those aged 15-24, over 93.4% of digital users utilized this form of communication.
About 85.5% of those aged 65 and older reported using email.
Around November 2021, email usage was observed among approximately 92.5 percent of women in the United States, while around 91 percent of male internet users were seen using emails as a means of online communication during the same period.
Based on data from November 2021, the usage of emails as a form of online communication was reported among approximately 91% of the African American digital population in the United States.
In contrast, about 93% of the white population and 94.1% of Asian Americans in the country used this method of communication during the same period.
Of the U.S. respondents surveyed in 2021, most had two email addresses.
However nearly 28% reported having more than four email addresses.
In a recent survey of online users in the United States, email communication was found to be a reliable and adaptable method for most millennials and Gen X users.
For Gen Z users, particularly those between the ages of 9 and 24, email communication was a primary communication method.
This is approximately 94 percent of them utilizing it as of January 2022.
This indicates that despite the rise of other forms of digital communication, email remains an essential tool for personal and professional communication across all age groups.
Section
03
E-mail Usage Statistics
The following section presents up-to-date facts and statistics on a range of topics related to email use, including common activities, the amount of time spent sending emails, and other interesting statistics. Keep reading to learn more.
Among online users in the United States between the ages of nine and 56, a 2022 survey found that email communication was commonly used for online shopping.
Among online users in the United States, email was frequently used for online shopping, with nearly 70 percent of Millennials, 64 percent of Gen X users, and 60 percent of Gen Z users reporting that they utilized email for this purpose in a 2022 survey.
On the other hand, users belonging to the Boomer and Silent generations, who are currently between the ages of 57 and 93, mainly utilized email for communication with their friends and family.
In 2021, United States users spent an average of around 172 minutes per day checking their personal email.
In 2021, the average time spent by United States users checking their work emails per day was approximately 149 minutes.
Between 2016 and 2021, the time spent by users on checking their email inboxes for both personal and work communications showed a consistent decline.
A 2021 survey of US online users revealed that on average, personal email checking took up 172 minutes per day, while work email checking took up 149 minutes.
Between 2016 and 2021, there was a consistent decrease in time spent checking email for both personal and work communication.
There was a slight uptick in personal email checking time from 2020 to 2021.
Nearly 60 percent of online users surveyed in the United States believed that most of the emails they received were not useful, and 54 percent reported receiving too many emails.
In contrast, 34 percent of respondents enjoyed their email program, and 28 percent liked checking their emails.
However, almost 20 percent of respondents found emails to be too distracting.
A survey conducted among online users in the United States revealed that 50% of the respondents reported experiencing stress due to email phishing scams.
Less than 40% of the users experienced stress from emails sent by marketers and salespeople.
In contrast, around 20% of the respondents did not experience any stress or worry related to their emails.
Only 17% experienced stress from branded emails and newsletters they subscribed to.
In 2022, a survey was conducted among U.S. consumers to understand their perception of email marketing frequency. The findings revealed that 50% of respondents felt that they received too many emails from brands.
Only 3% believed they didn't receive such emails frequently enough.
The study did not reveal how the remaining 47% of participants perceived the frequency of marketing emails.
A recent survey conducted in the United States in early 2022 revealed that email was the primary source of news for only three percent of adults aged 18 to 24 years old during the week leading up to the survey.
In contrast, adults aged 45 years and above were the most likely to use email as their main source of news.
A survey of US consumers conducted in 2022 revealed that email marketing is an effective tool for online marketers.
Success rates vary depending on the email format.
Shoppers prioritize saving money, and emails about discounts and promotions are the most likely to be read, with over 60% of these emails being inspected.
Section
04
E-mail Usage for Work
The section below showcases important statistics related to the use of email in the context of work.
As of March 2022, almost 90% of surveyed full-time workers reported using email daily for work purposes.
66% of respondents reported using instant messaging on a daily basis, while 64% reported using text messaging daily, according to the survey.
About 10% of workers surveyed also reported using recorded video messages for work on a daily basis.
As of January 2022, a study conducted in the United States revealed that over 40% of respondents aged 25 to 40 years old utilized email communication to engage with customers of their owned or managed businesses.
Compared to emails and text messages, phone calls were less frequently used, with only 18% of Gen Z users stating that they use this method to engage with their customers, according to a study conducted in the United States in January 2022.
In addition, the study found that 12% of Gen Z users reported using TikTok as a means to connect with their customers.
In February 2022, a survey of U.S. employees revealed that those who work fully remotely receive almost six times as many weekly emails as those who work in a hybrid environment.
The survey conducted in February 2022 among employees in the United States found that fully remote workers received significantly more emails per week compared to their hybrid counterparts.
Fully remote workers received around 170 emails per week, which was almost six times more than the approximately 31 emails received by hybrid workers.
A January 2022 study of U.S. users reported that 38 percent of respondents took two to four days to follow up on an email they had sent previously.
Around 30 percent of respondents revealed that they follow up after a day, and 11 percent of respondents claimed that they follow up within a few hours of sending their emails, according to a study of U.S. users in January 2022.
A survey conducted among full-time workers in the US revealed that 70% of the respondents believed that email was an appropriate means of communication for work-related matters outside of regular work hours.
In addition, 54 percent of surveyed employees found online messages acceptable for after-hours communication.
Phone calls were considered appropriate by 47.5 percent.
Section
05
E-mail Marketing Statistics
More interesting facts are waiting for you as you continue reading, such as the fact that email is the leading method for consumers in the United States to find brand coupons.
The data indicates that 86% of US consumers prefer to receive promotional emails once a month or more, while 15% would like to receive them daily.
A study found that email is almost 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined when it comes to acquiring new customers for a business.
Email marketing is considered to be effective for both customer acquisition and retention by 80% of professionals, according to a survey.
When it comes to driving sales, email marketing has a greater probability of success than social media marketing.
60% of consumers have directly made a purchase as a result of receiving a marketing email, according to a survey.
According to a 2021 survey of email marketers in the United States and Canada, the most popular email service provider (ESP) was Salesforce Marketing Cloud, identified by 25% of respondents.
Mailchimp ranked second, with 22% of respondents mentioning it.
A 2021 survey of US advertisers spending a minimum of $10,000 annually on digital advertising found that 86% of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that newsletters provided a crucial connection point between their brand and customers.
Additionally, 88% of participants viewed newsletters as a valuable approach to target and reach consumers in the absence of third-party data.
According to a 2021 survey, the primary ways that consumers in the United States discover promotions and coupons from brands are through email communications and online searches.
Almost half of the respondents reported using these methods, while less than 10 percent learned about coupons through sponsorships or podcast ads.
A recent survey found that 77% of consumers were willing to share their email address with brands in exchange for a personalized experience and additional incentives, a trend that was consistent across all countries surveyed.
However, users in Germany were less likely to share data, with only around 30 percent reporting they were willing to share information on their browsing history on the brand's website and app. In contrast, consumers in India were more open to sharing data with brands, with 71 percent of respondents being willing to share information on their social values.
Over 40% of respondents often unsubscribe from brand emails. Approximately 35% of respondents identify and mark emails for deletion by examining the sender, while another 34% mark emails by scanning subject lines. Only 7% of the surveyed consumers globally provide a fake email address when signing up with brands.
Across all industries, the average bounce rate is 9.96%.
Approximately 59% of millennials consider their smartphones to be the primary device they use to check their email, while 67% of Generation Z prefers to use mobile devices to scan their inboxes.
Email is the most personal channel for receiving communications from brands, according to a survey of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.
The primary way consumers in the United States discover coupons from brands is through email.
Email users are checking their inboxes more frequently than ever before, with some checking as much as 20 times a day. Among these users, 58% of consumers check their email as the first task in the morning.
According to a recent study, over 84% of consumers check their email inboxes on a daily basis.
Section
06
Email Spam and Password Safety
Spam emails are a huge problem for people all over the world. According to Statista, nearly half of all emails sent are spam. The majority of these spam emails come from countries like the US, China, and Russia. In 2021, it was estimated that nearly 319.6 billion emails were sent and received daily. Keep reading to learn more.
The United States of America is responsible for sending around 8.61 billion spam emails each day.
The most common type of spam is advertising/marketing emails, which make up nearly 36% of all spam.
The next most popular type of spam is emails with adult content, which makes up about 31.7% of all spam.
Emails related to finance are the third most common type of spam, making up about 26.5% of all spam emails.
Of all the spam emails out there, 2.5% are scams and fraud.
Of the emails that people receive, 73% are phishing emails.
Nearly four out of ten respondents in the U.S. changed their email password in 2022. This was likely due to a variety of factors, including an increased awareness of online security threats and a desire to improve personal security.
A mere six percent of respondents have never once changed their email password.
As of 2022, four percent of respondents were using a password generator tool at work, while 76 percent said they were setting their own passwords.
The most popular password manager in the United States is LastPass, which was used by 21 percent of respondents in 2021.
A mere ten percent of respondents had any faith in McAfee true key and Bitwarden.
Americans were more likely to use a password manager on their mobile phone or computer rather than on their tablet..
People in the U.S. tend to use curse words and personal information, like birth years, when creating passwords. This is not secure because hackers can easily find out this information about people and use it to break into their accounts.
Only 20 percent of people in the U.S. use passwords with 12 or more characters, which makes it even easier for hackers to guess passwords.