2019 Adobe email report

© 2019 Adobe Inc. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Email Usage – Working Age Knowledge Workers (WW comparison)
Ryan Dietzen | MCI | August 2019
Research partner:

Headlines
2
Although up to 5 hours a day is
spent checking email (work +
personal), many feel this is ‘just
right’
---
Only in India (with the highest amount
of time spent checking email) and in
Japan (with the lowest amount of time)
are workers increasingly likely to say
they spend too much time checking
email.
Many, especially in Germany
and Japan, resist checking
work email until they get to
work.
---
However, the pull of personal
email is strong - nearly all check
this before work.
Surprisingly, at least 1/3 do not
check social media before work.
Fewer people are
achieving Inbox Zero -
only half or so in most
countries
---
Those who do describe it as
relieving. In India, where 70%
achieve inbox zero, most
describe it as amazing.
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.
These findings are the result of a survey of approximately 1000 residents 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 of each country. The survey was conducted in the US, UK, Germany, France, India, Japan, and Australia. This summary compares results across countries.
The survey was conducted from July 26 to August 6, 2019.
This report includes highlighted results. Full results are available to the project team at https://portal.advanis.net/adbe. Some icons used in this report are sourced from https://icons8.com.

Key Findings

4
Email Usage WW Results (July 2019)
Base: All respondents (Approx. 1,000 per country)
s2 – In what year were you born?
Survey participants are millennials, particularly in India.
Gen Z: Born 1996 -
TBD
Millennials: Born
1977 - 1995
Generation X: Born
1965 - 1976
Baby Boomers: Born
1946 - 1964
Traditionalists: Born
1945 & before
Survey Participant Demographics
27% 30% 32% 31% 31%
15%
32%
19%
22% 21% 20% 21%
16%
22%
50%
44% 44% 45% 44%
66%
44%

↑↓ = Significant differences observed at 95% confidence
level.
5
On average, 3+ hours spent on work email; India higher; Japan
lower
1-2 hours spent checking personal email, except in Japan
Minutes Spent Each Weekday
Checking Email
209 207
173
216 211
334 ↑
77
143 ↓
124
105
142
129
241 ↑
53
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
United States United Kingdom Germany France Australia India Japan
Work Emails Personal Emails
q6_a/b .. Please estimate the number of minutes you spend each weekday checking your email
Ironically,
participants
in India and
Japan are
both more
likely to say
they check
email too
often,
compared to
prior years.

6
While most emails are opened, just over half are considered useful
- least so in Japan, France and the UK.
q4a_a/b (% of emails you open) and Q4c_a/b (% of emails you find useful) - new questions in 2019
80 81
83
71
79
66
69
59
56
64
57
61 60
49
Only 63% in France say the amount
they check email is “just right”. For
other countries, this is closer to 70%
or more.

7
Personal email is checked during work more often than work email is
checked outside of work hours. However, many check once an hour
or more - particularly in France and India
↑↓ = Significant differences observed vs. 2018 at 95% confidence level.
Email Usage US Results (July 2019); Base: All respondents (Approx. 1,000 per country)
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?
q5 – How would you characterize your frequency of email checking in general?
Checking Emails Often
(once an hour or more)?
33%
27%
32%
42%
35%
60% ↑
38% ↑
40%
38%
41%
50%
39%
59% ↑
27%
Work email outside of work
hours

52%
47%
27%
57% 59%
88%
43%
83% 85%
75%
82% 84%
93%
87%
62%
66%
56%
61% 62%
80%
72%
Work Email Personal Email Social Media
8
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 personal email or social media before
work, although an increasing number resist the urge to check work
email
↑↓ = Significant differences observed vs. 2018 at 95% confidence level.
While getting
ready/eating
breakfast
Still in bed
While commuting
*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?
This chart shows the net of
before work, which is a
combination of the above
levels.

9
Email/face-to-face dominate workplace communication (as a
preference) in most countries. In Germany, phone is as popular as
email, while in India and Japan, face to face is preferred less often
than phone and instant messaging
BC
AC
C
B
C
Today, how do you prefer to communicate with colleagues at work?
q12 - Today, how do you prefer to communicate with your work colleagues?
Face-to-face conversations/in-person
meetings
35% 43% 52% 35% 37% 15% 11%
Email 33% 28% 19% 23% 31% 23% 38%
Instant messaging
(e.g., Facebook Messenger, Jabber, Gchat,
Skype)
13% 11% 6% 10% 8% 20% 17%
Phone 11% 10% 18% 18% 14% 20% 25%
Enterprise social network (e.g., Yammer or
Slack)
3% 3% 2% 4% 4% 7% 3%
Video conferencing or video chat 3% 3% 3% 3% 2% 8% 3%
File sharing service
(e.g. Dropbox, Box, Adobe Document Cloud)
2% 2% 1% 5% 3% 7% 3%
Other (specify): 0% 1% 0% 0% 1% 0% 2%
Base 1002 1000 1000 1005 1001 999 1000

10
During vacation, how often do you check your work email? (% checking)
UK, German and Japanese workers least likely to check work email
during vacation - while in India this is virtually guaranteed
62%↓
51%
42%
q14_a – Work email?: While on vacation, how often do you check your…
68% 69%
95%
54%
↓
↑↓ = Significant differences observed at 95%
confidence level.

11
Do you get to ‘Inbox Zero’?
About half of workers achieve ‘inbox zero’ (higher in India)
Most describe this as “relieving”; in India many describe it as
“amazing”
46%
↓
44% 46%
48% 46%
70%
↑
51%
↑
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?' ↑↓ = Significant differences observed at 95%
confidence level.

12
23 ↓
19
32
28
23
41
20 ↓26 ↓
23
27
28
27
36
20 ↓
0
10
20
30
40
50
Work Emails Personal Emails
† Question wording has changed since last wave; no trending available.
Email Usage WW Results (July 2019); Base: All respondents (Approx. 1,000 per country)
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?
Only ¼ of email offers from brands are interesting enough to open,
fairly consistent whether for work or personal reasons
% of Email Offers From Brands
Interesting Enough to Open…
↑↓ = Significant differences observed at 95% confidence
level.

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