Recently comScore reported a drop in the time spent by US internet users under the age of 55 on web based email. The drop was most significant, almost 59%, in the age group of 12 – 17. Users in this age bracket were most likely to favor social networking over emails. But web-based emails accessed on desktop computers account for only a part of email communications.
Popularity of social networking sites has hardly affected email usage. The percentage of internet users checking email daily, 87%, has hardly changed between 2007 and 2010. According to a survey by Merkle, a customer relationship marketing agency, social media users are likely to check their email more often compared to the non users. 42% social media users checked their emails four or more times in a day, while only 26% non users checked their emails with the same frequency.
Mobile is also a popular tool for accessing emails. The results of the survey indicate that mobile access to emails is encouraging users to check emails more often. Among US mobile email users, 31% users check their emails four or more times in a day, 32% check them 1 – 3 times a day, 11% check it 2 – 6 times a week and 26% check it once or less than that in a week.
Although there are a few indicators of decrease in email usage for personal communications, it still remains the top choice across all age groups for reception of online promotions. Email marketing remains one of the most effective internet marketing tools, which marketers can’t ignore.