2019 Adobe Email Usage Study

© 2019 Adobe. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Email Usage – Working Age Knowledge Workers (US Trended Results)
MCI | August 2019
Research partner:

Headlines
These findings are the result of a survey of 1002 US citizens of working age, who work in office/management roles, and own smartphones. Data is balanced to age and gender proportions found in the general
population.
The survey was conducted from July 29 to August 6, 2019. This survey has been conducted annual since 2015. Where questions are trendable, arrows indicate statistical differences year over year.
This report includes highlighted results. Full results are available to the project team at https://portal.advanis.net/adbe This survey is replicated in other countries and reported separately.
2
Although up to 5 hours a day is
spent checking email (work +
personal), many feel this is ‘just
right’
---
Work email is checked for 3+ hours a
weekday. (209 minutes, compared to
256 in 2016)
Personal email is checked for 2+ hours a
day (143 minutes in 2019) although it is
being checked less often YoY (162
minutes in 2018, and 209 minutes in
2016)
Millennials are protecting
their personal time for
personal pursuits
---
Half of workers (of all ages) wait
until they get to work to check
work email (but they’re still
reading personal email & social
media before they leave in the
morning. There is also a decline
in the number of people checking
work email when on vacation.
Fewer people are
achieving Inbox Zero -
many think it’s an
impossible goal
---
Those who do (with Millennials
most likely) describe it as
relieving. Half of Millennials hit
Inbox Zero, and only 1/3 of
Boomers.
Only ¼ of offers from
brands are interesting
enough to open - many
suffer from basic quality
concerns, or are sent too
often.
---
Personalization, done right, is
important to many, particularly
for personal emails, but
frustrations continue.

Key Findings

4
↑↓ = Significant differences observed wave-over-wave at 95% confidence level.
Chart Title or Question Being Answered (Base)
Email Usage US Results (July 2019)
Base: All respondents (1,002)
s1 – What is your gender? (not including those who said prefer not to answer base: 998)
s2 – In what year were you born?
s5 – Which of the following best describes your job?
Survey participants are mainly working aged, living in US, working
an ‘office’ or ‘white collar’
Male
48%
Female
52%
Gen Z: Born 1996 -
TBD
Millennials: Born
1977 - 1995
Generation X: Born
1965 - 1976
Baby Boomers: Born
1946 - 1964
Traditionalists: Born
1945 & before
27%
25%
11%
9%
9%
19%
Manager
Skilled office
worker
Business
man/woman
Professional
Manager
Executive
Other office
(clerical,…
3%
50%
19%
27%
1%
↑
↓
JobGenderAge

5
Time spent checking email has declined since 2016 but still
represents several hours each weekday
Chart Title
Minutes Spent Each Weekday
Checking Email
256
210↓
198
209
209
142↓
162↑
143 ↓
100
150
200
250
300
2016 2017 2018 2019
Work Email Personal Email
Base: All respondents (2016 - 1,004, 2017 - 1007, 2018 - 1001, 2019 1002)
Q6 a and b .. Please estimate the number of minutes you spend each weekday checking your email
Q4b (% of emails you open) and Q4c (% of emails you find useful) - new question in 2019
Work Emails
80% open
59% useful
Personal Emails
57% open
37% useful

6
Despite checking work emails for 3+ hours each day, and every
few hours outside of work, most feel their email checking
frequency is ”just right”
Chart Title
Checking Emails Often?
Work emails are checked for 3+ hours +
frequently outside of work
Personal email is checked less often
(and less so than in past years), but
still often checked while at work
• This is consistent across all ages.
• Although the frequency of checking
personal email in total is declining, 31% of
Millennials (and 26% of Gen X) still do so
multiple times per hour or more.
Most people (71%, unchanged YoY for
several years) feel that the time they spend
checking email is “just right”. Millennials
and Gen X are most likely to feel that they
should cut back on checking.
24%
43%
10%
13%
10%
8%
52%
15%
14%
11%
Never
Every few
hours
Every hour
Multiple times
per hour
Constantly
Over 3 hours a day (209
minutes) checking work email
each day
Over 2 hours a day (143↓
minutes) checking personal
email each day
q1 – While at work, how often do you typically check your personal email in a given day?
q2 – Outside of normal work hours, how often do you check your work email in a given day?
Frequency of checking
personal email while at work
Frequency of checking work
email
outside of normal work hours

7
It's a workday, and you've just woken up. After you wake up, how long does it typically take you to check your….
Most people are checking email or social media before work,
although an increasing number resist the urge to check in before
work
25
%
13%↓
Work Email Personal Email Social Media*
25
%
26
%
42
%
25
%
While getting
ready/eating
breakfast
Still in bed
When I get to work
While commuting
On a break at
work*
15%↑
16
%
11
%
48%↑
17
%
8%
30
%Millennials are
driving the
change to check
work email at
work (matching
behavior older
groups already
exhibit).
But, 1/3 check
personal email
or social media
while still in bed.
*Social Media New in 2019 - also ‘on break’ is only asked for social media
q7 – It's a workday, and you've just woken up. After you wake up, how long does it typically take you to check your work email?
q7b – It's a workday, and you've just woken up. After you wake up, how long does it typically take you to check your personal email?
q7c – It's a workday, and you've just woken up. After you wake up, how long does it typically take you to look at a social media app?

8
During which of these situations have you checked your email or social media?
Users check work email during other life situations less often than
personal or social accounts. Boomers are most likely to resist
checking email/SM
BC
BC
AC
C
B
B
C
Work Email Personal Emails Social Media*
Millennial
s
Gen X Baby
Boomers
Millennial
s
Gen X Baby
Boomers
Millennial
s
Gen X Baby
Boomers
A B C A B C A B C
While watching TV/movie 36% 38% 26% While watching TV/movie 62% 66% 59% While in bed 62% 42% 22%
C C B C C
While in a meeting at work 35% 36% 20% While in bed 61% 42% 29% While watching TV/movie 61% 54% 44%
C C B C C C C
While on the phone 35% 28% 22% While in the bathroom 54% 34% 24% While in the bathroom 56% 31% 19%
C B C C B C C
While in bed 35% 23% 16% While on vacation 42% 44% 38% While on vacation 43% 37% 23%
B C C C
While in the bathroom 28% 18% 12% While on the phone 35% 29% 23% While walking 40% 23% 9%
B C C B C C
While on vacation 26% 27% 23% While walking 35% 26% 14% During a meal with others 37% 20% 10%
B C C B C C
While commuting to/from work 25% 15% 10% During a meal with others 31% 23% 14% While on the phone 34% 24% 13%
B C B C C B C C
While walking 23% 20% 7% While commuting to/from work 26% 15% 9% While commuting to/from work 27% 10% 4%
C C B C C B C C
During a meal with others 20% 15% 12% While in a face-to-face conversation with
someone
22% 12% 7% While in a face-to-face conversation with
someone
26% 11% 6%
C B C B C C
While in a face-to-face conversation with
someone
18% 6% 7% While in a meeting at work 19% 20% 7% While working out 22% 11% 5%
B C C C B C C
While working out 13% 7% 4% While driving 18% 6% 5% While in a meeting at work 19% 14% 4%
B C B C C C
While driving 11% 4% 4% While working out 17% 12% 6% While driving 19% 2% 3%
B C C C B C
While at a formal ceremony (e.g.,
graduation, wedding)
4% 1% 3% While at a formal ceremony (e.g.,
9% 3% 3% While at a formal ceremony (e.g.,
14% 5% 4%
B B C B C
None of these 21% 30% 39% None of these 3% 8% 16% None of these 6% 18% 39%
A A B A A B A A B
Email Usage US Results (July 2019) Base: All respondents (1,002)
q10 – In the last month, during which situations have you checked your work email? (Multi-response)
q10a – In the last month, during which situations have you checked your personal email? (Multi-response)
q10b – In the last month, during which situations have you checked your social media app? (Multi-response) (New questions in 2019) A/B/C = Significant differences observed between generations at 95% confidence level.

9
During vacation, how often do you check your work email?
Millennials and Baby Boomers are more likely to ignore email on
vacation (compared to 2018), although personal email is frequently
checked.
Millennials
Only ¼ check work
email multiple times a
day while on vacation.
1/3 will check personal
email that often.
Generation X
Only ¼ check work
email multiple times a
day while on vacation.
1/3 will check personal
email that often.
Baby Boomers
Nearly half never check
email during vacation,
increasing from 34% in
2018.
62% ↓ 63% 55% ↓
q14_a – Work email?: While on vacation, how often do you check your…
q14_b – Personal email?: While on vacation, how often do you check your…

10
Fewer people are achieving ‘inbox zero’, with those who do saying
it is a relief. Many of those who don’t say it is impossible.
Inbox Zero
Text
46%↓
36%
16%
19%
41%
22%
32%
55%
10%
It’s Borderline
OCD
Amazing!
Relieving
Impossible
It’s Borderline
OCD
Amazing!
Relieving
Impossible
51%↓ 44% 38%↓
Millennials Gen X Boomers
q20 – Getting to 'inbox zero' is defined as acting on every email as it comes in to move it out of your inbox immediately (delete, respond, or delegate). Is that something you currently do?
q21 – What is your reaction to the idea of 'inbox zero?'
55% in 2018

Email is the preferred way to receive offers (56% work, 60%
personal) significantly more than direct mail, social, etc.)
11
Only ¼ of email offers from brands are interesting enough to open,
mainly due to issues of frequency and quality
Chart Title
% of Email Offers From Brands
Interesting Enough to Open…
What is most
annoying?
(Work emails)
• Emailed too often
(38%)
• Marketer’s data
about me is wrong
(25%)
• Too wordy/poorly
written (24%)
• Urging me to buy a
product I’ve already
purchased (21%)
25
19↓
26↑ 27
23↓
26
23↓
31↑ 31
26↓
0
10
20
30
40
50
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Work Email Personal Email
What is most
annoying?
(Personal emails)
• Emailed too often
(43%)
• Urging me to buy a
product I’ve already
purchased (24%)
• Marketer’s data about
me is wrong (23%)
• Too wordy/poorly
written (23%)
Q22_a – In work email: Of the email offers you receive from brands each day, what percentage are you interested in enough to open?
Q22_b – In personal email: Of the email offers you receive from brands each day, what percentage are you interested in enough to open?
Q24_a – For email offers received at work?: When you receive an email offer from a brand, which of the following is most annoying...
Q24_b – For email offers received as a consumer?: When you receive an email offer from a brand, which of the following is most annoying...

What is most
frustrating?
(Personal emails)
• Recommendations
don’t match interests
(31%)
• Misspelling name
(19%)
• Expired offers (19%)
• Offer not appropriate
to season/location
(15%)
• Promoting things I’ve
already purchased
(15%)
12
Personalization is most important for personal emails, and to
millennials
Chart TitleImportance of Personalization What is most
frustrating?
(Work emails)
• Recommendations
don’t match interests
(33%)
• Misspelling name
(19%)
• Expired offers (19%)
• Offer not appropriate
to season/location
(15%)
• Promoting things I’ve
already purchased
(15%)
37%
46%
26%
43%
23%
30%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Work Emails Personal Emails
Millennials Gen X Boomers
Q27a_a – For offers received at work?: On the following scale, how important is it that brands customize their communication with you as an individual...
Q27a_b – for offers received in personal email?: On the following scale, how important is it that brands customize their communication with you as an individual...
Q28a_a – For email offers received at work?: What of the following is the most frustrating way brands lack personalization in their emails...
Q28a_b – For email offers received in personal email?: What of the following is the most frustrating way brands lack personalization in their emails...

2019 Adobe Email Usage Study

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