• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

B2B marketers have one key asset when trying to reach buyers: Most professionals check their work emails outside of work hours, and some do so in unusual settings, judging by a new study from ZeroBounce. 

Almost half of all professionals check their work emails even when they’re on vacation. And the higher their pay, the more they do so. 

Here are some of the places where they admit to looking at their inboxes:

• After work—56%
• In the bathroom—53%
• In bed, next to their partner—38%
• In the car, while driving—30%
• At a wedding—24%
• On vacation—23%
• At a funeral—18%

Anyone earning $200,000+ a year is even more likely to check their email at any time or place:

• In the bathroom—61%
• After work—59%
• In the car, while driving—38%
• On vacation—32%
• On weekends—50%
• At funerals—24%

Check out that last setting: Is there no respect? And don’t think that this mania is productive—70% of high earners return to work feeling overwhelmed. 

It's not clear if constant inbox perusal extends to marketing or sales emails, although we bet it does. In general, email recipients scan their inboxes lest they: 

• Miss something important—48% 
• Fall behind on work—33% 
• Appear unreliable to colleagues and peers—20% 

Another 31% say checking work email has become a reflex, and 36% are too curious about new emails to stay away from their inboxes, even on vacation. They describe their vacation behavior as follows:

• I check daily but only respond to urgent messages—33%
• I fully disconnect and don’t check it—29%
• I check occasionally but avoid responding—23%
• I regularly check and respond to emails—15%

Most likely, people in sales will check client and prospect emails wherever they may be. 

ZeroBounce surveyed 1,157 workers in the U.S. and Europe. It cautions that the results are based on self-reported responses and may not fully reflect real-world email behavior or global trends.