2019 UK Adobe Email Usage Study

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

Headlines
2
5½ hours per day spent checking
email (work + personal), but most
feel this is
‘just right’
---
Work email is checked for 3+ hours a
weekday (207 minutes), while personal
email is checked
for 2+ hours (124 minutes) a day. This
starts to reverse declines seen in 2017.
One quarter of younger generations
think they should check email less often.
Most Millennials are
checking their work email
before they get to the office
---
Half (of all ages) wait until they
get to work to check work email
- but are still reading personal
email & (to a lesser extent)
social media before they leave
in the morning.
There is also a decline in the
number of people checking
work email when on vacation.
Most do not currently get
to 'Inbox Zero' - and those
who don't typically think
it's an impossible goal
---
Those who do (with
Millennials being most likely)
describe it as relieving.
Half of Millennials currently
do this, and but less than 2/5
of Boomers.
Less than 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 1,000 UK 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.
The survey was conducted from July 29 to August 6, 2019. This survey was last conducted in 2017. Where questions are trendable, arrows indicate statistical differences.
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.
Some icons used in this report are sourced from https://icons8.com.

Key Findings

4
↑↓ = Significant differences observed vs. 2017 at 95% confidence level.
Survey Participant Demographics
Email Usage UK Results (July 2019)
Base: All respondents (1,000)
s1 – What is your gender? (not including those who said prefer not to answer base: 1000)
s2 – In what year were you born?
s5 – Which of the following best describes your job?
Survey participants are mainly working aged, living in UK, working
as a manager or individual contributor
Male
49%
Female
51%
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%
7%
5%
25%
Manager
Skilled office
worker
Professional
Manager
Executive
Business
man/woman
Other office
(clerical,…
3%
44%
22%
30%
1%
GenderAge Job
↑
↓

5
Time spent checking personal email continues to decline but total email
checking still represents several hours each weekday.
Few emails are considered useful, and 1/3 of personal emails are never opened
Chart Title
Minutes Spent Each Weekday
Checking Email
Work Emails
81% open
56% useful
Personal Emails
61% open
37% useful
q6_a/b .. Please estimate the number of minutes you spend each weekday checking your email
q4a_a/b (% of emails you open) and Q4c_a/b (% of emails you find useful) - new questions in 2019
215
195
207
160
134
124
100
150
200
250
300
2016 2017 2019
Work Email Personal Email
↓
↓

6
Most people feel they check their email as often as they should
with most checking both personal and work emails every few
hours.
Chart Title
Checking Emails Often?
Work emails are checked for 3+ hours
but nearly one-third say they never
check it outside of work hours.
Personal email is checked more often
but for less time.
• Baby Boomers are also more likely to
never check their personal email in a
given day.
Most people (70%) feel that the time they
spend checking email is “just right”.
However, more than a quarter of Millennials
and Gen X feel that they should cut back on
checking.
31%
42%
10%
12%
6%
11%
51%
16%
14%
8%
Never
Every few
hours
Every hour
Multiple times
per hour
Constantly
Nearly 3½ hours (207 minutes)
checking work email each day
Over 2 hours (124 minutes)
checking personal email each
day
Frequency of checking
personal email while at work
Frequency of checking work
email
outside of normal work hours
↑
• Gen X and Boomers are more likely to
say they never check work email
outside work hours.
Email Usage US Results (July 2019); Base: All respondents (1,002)
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?

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 personal email or social media before
work, while waiting until they are in the office before checking
work emails.
23%
11%
Work Email Personal Email Social Media*
27
%
26
%
41
% 27
%
While getting
ready/eating
breakfast
Still in bed
When I get to work
While commuting
On a break at
work*
14%
16
%
13
%
53%
15
%
7%
27
%Gen X & Baby
Boomers are
most likely to
say they don’t
check their work
emails until after
they get into the
office,
while over half of
Millennials
check their work
emails before
getting into the
office.
*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
Smartphones are an increasingly common method for checking
personal email while most continue to prefer desktop/laptop for
work email.
Chart TitlePrimary Device
• Gen X and Baby Boomers are more likely
to say they use a desktop/laptop to
check both work and personal emails
while millennials prefer smartphones.
60%
33%
7%
0%
26%
64%
9%
0%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Work Personal
q7a_a – Work email?: What is your primary device type for checking...
q7a_b – Personal email?: What is your primary device type for checking...
↑
↓

9
Today, which of the following communication methods do you use regularly to interact with colleagues at work?
Email and face-to-face meetings dominate workplace
communication, with the latter being less preferred by Millennials
(in favor of newer methods).
Email
Face-to-face
conversations/
in-person meetings
Phone
Instant messaging
(e.g., Facebook Messenger,
Jabber, Gchat, Skype)
Video conferencing or
video chat
File sharing service
(e.g. Dropbox, Box, Adobe
Document Cloud)
Enterprise social
network (e.g., Yammer or
Slack)
Other
Millennials (A) Gen X (B) Boomers (C)
80%
63%
62%
51%
26%
19%
18%
0%
84%
73%
67%
39%
20%
13%
9%
2%
78%
78%
67%
33%
20%
10%
5%
2%
A
BC
AC
C
B
C
A
BC
C
BC
BC
Base: Millennials, Gen X & Baby Boomers (964)
q11 – Today, which of the following communication methods do you use regularly to interact with colleagues at work? A/B/C = Significant differences observed between generations at 95% confidence level.

10
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
Base: Millennials, Gen X & Baby Boomers (964)
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.
Social Media
Millennials Gen X Boomers
(A) (B) (C)
While in bed 67% BC 46% C 30%
While watching TV/movie 63% BC 49% 42%
While in the bathroom 47% BC 24% C 13%
While walking 45% BC 24% C 15%
While on vacation 40% C 33% C 25%
While commuting to/from
work
39% BC 28% C 19%
While on the phone 37% BC 21% 15%
During a meal with others 33% BC 19% C 10%
While in a face-to-face
conversation with someone
29% BC 12% C 7%
While working out 21% BC 8% 4%
While in a meeting at work 19% BC 9% 4%
While at a formal ceremony
(e.g., graduation, wedding)
16% BC 5% C 2%
While driving 9% BC 3% 1%
None of these 5% 24% A 36% AB
Work Email
(A) (B) (C)
work
35% BC 26% 21%
While in a meeting at work 34% C 30% C 21%
While watching TV/movie 33% BC 25% 21%
While on vacation 21% 21% 18%
19% BC 12% C 6%
During a meal with others 17% BC 10% 7%
While driving 6% C 4% 1%
5% C 4% C 0%
None of these 21% 37% A 43% A
Personal Email
(A) (B) (C)
While watching TV/movie 60% 54% 54%
While on vacation 39% 38% 38%
work
35% C 32% 25%
During a meal with others 27% BC 19% C 12%
22% BC 15% C 6%
While in a meeting at work 18% C 16% C 10%
10% BC 5% C 2%
While driving 7% C 5% 2%
None of these 5% 13% A 17% A

11
Less than half of people are achieving ‘inbox zero’, with those who
do saying it is a relief. Many of those who don’t say it is
impossible.
Do you get to ‘Inbox Zero’?
44%
36%
17%
17%
45%
17%
24%
62%
10%
It’s Borderline
OCD
Amazing!
Relieving
Impossible
It’s Borderline
OCD
Amazing!
Relieving
Impossible
49% 39% 38%
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?'
(Yes)What is your reaction
to ‘Inbox Zero’?
(No)What is your reaction
to ‘Inbox Zero’?
↓
↓
↑

Email is the preferred way to receive offers (65% work, 69%
personal) significantly more than direct mail, social, etc.
12
Under ¼ of email offers from brands are interesting enough to
open (strong declines since 2017), 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
(35%)
• Marketer’s data about
me is wrong (25%)
• Too wordy/poorly
written (23%)
• Urging me to buy a
product I’ve already
purchased (17%)
24
16
25
19
28
22
31
23
0
10
20
30
40
50
2015 2016 2017 2019
Work Email Personal Email
What is most annoying?
(Personal emails)
• Emailed too often
(40%)
• Urging me to buy a
product I’ve already
purchased (24%)
• Marketer’s data about
me is wrong (24%)
• Too wordy/poorly
written (22%)
† Question wording has changed since last wave; no trending available.
Email Usage UK Results (July 2019); Base: All respondents (1,000)
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?
†q24a_a – For email offers received at work?: When you receive an email offer from a brand, which of the following is most annoying...
†q24a_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
(27%)
• Misspelling name
(22%)
• Expired offers (21%)
• Promoting things I’ve
already purchased
(18%)
• Offer not appropriate
to season/location
(13%)
13
Personalization is most important for personal emails, and to
Millennials.
Chart Title
% Rating Personalization as
Having High Importance
What is most
frustrating?
(Work emails)
• Recommendations
don’t match interests
(27%)
• Misspelling name
(27%)
• Expired offers (18%)
• Promoting things I’ve
already purchased
(15%)
• Offer not appropriate
to season/location
(13%)
39%
51%
25%
48%
27%
42%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Work Emails Personal Emails
Millennials (A) Gen X (B) Boomers (C)
† Question wording has changed since last wave; no trending available.
Email Usage UK Results (July 2019); Base: All respondents (1,000)
†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...
BC
C
A/B/C = Significant differences observed between generations at 95% confidence level.

2019 UK Adobe Email Usage Study

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