• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 6, 2025

Almost all consumers use email and regularly check their inboxes -- but they are suspicious of phishing and are quick to mark emails as spam, according to a new global study from ZeroBounce titled Into the Inbox: Email Statistics Report for 2025.

Of the shoppers surveyed, 88% use email every day and 95% check their inboxes daily. 

But 80% will mark an email as spam merely if it looks like that. And 55% will relegate a message to the spam folder if the sender has not asked permission to email them.

What’s more, 47% will report an email as spam if there is no way to unsubscribe.

Once in the spam folder, it’s not easy to get out. While 76% of consumers check the folder, 25% do this a few times a year and 14% never do. The remaining 23% review their spam folder every month. 

"Email is a powerhouse — both in the workplace and in marketing," says Liviu Tanase, founder and CEO of ZeroBounce. "But our survey shows consumers are becoming more cautious about spam and phishing attacks. The majority mark emails as spam at the slightest sign of suspicious content.” 

What makes people unsubscribe? For 43%, the main reason is that the sender emails them too often. Another do so when the brand never asked for permission, and 17% when the content is no longer relevant. In addition, 13% opt out because they get too many emails in general. 

And be advised that 25% never check their promotions tab, while 21% don’t have one. 

Of course, email remains an effective channel. But people are not necessarily looking for your content. Of the consumers polled, 79% check their inbox for emails from work, 41% for messages from family and friends—and 41% for brand discounts. Another 30% check for newsletters. 

But they will open a brand email every time based on relevance (46%) and the subject line (43%). Another 34% cite fear of missing out, while 22% say they open all their emails.

The study shows that 64% check their email on mobile devices. And, of those polled, 58% have three email addresses, 32% have two and only10% have only one. 

Here’s one tip: 67% prefer short emails. 

ZeroBounce conducted the initial survey in 2023 and updated  it in February 2025. The company surveyed 985 respondents in the United States, Canada, Australia, India, Israel, and various European countries.