• by Ray Schultz , October 26, 2022

U.S. workers are distracted by incoming email, and 30% have declared “email bankruptcy,” deleting or abandoning their inbox, according to Inbox Intelligence Report, a study from Gated. 

Email is the primary source of internal at work for 82%. And 71% say it is the primary method of external communication. But 62% say it is difficult to focus because of digital distractions, with 30% saying they strongly agree. And 67% feel overwhelmed by their inbox. 

Moreover, 82% miss important emails because of inbox clutter. 

It is easy to see how: the average working person receives 87 emails per day in their executive work email on weekendays, and 71% in all work email accounts.  In addition, they receive 42 emails a day in their personal accounts, from Monday to Sunday.  

Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days when people receive the most inbound email. 

Nevertheless, 77% feel that cold email from unknown senders can be useful for learning about interesting or relevant opportunities. 

In a finding with import for marketers, 73% agree they get too much unsolicited email, and 36% strongly concur. In addition, 38% spend 31-60 minutes per day dealing with the flow of email. Another 22% take 1-2 hours.  

On average, 37% of all emails are not of immediate value to the inbox owner, even after automatic spam filters were applied.  This includes 28% of all emails received at work and 32% of those that reach executives.  

Yet 74% of the individuals polled report feeling guilt or stress over emails they have not read or replied to.  

Working with Gated, Centiment surveyed 560 professionals who use email at work in October 2022. Gated is an email management that challenges unknown senders to donate to charity to reach the inbox.