According to research by The Relevancy Group, 66% of online consumers check their email account multiple times per day, with 13% of online consumers actually checking their email hourly or more frequently (I’m guessing this is during waking hours!). Being a regular email-checker myself, it’s not hard to imagine. I know that for a scarily large percentage of my day I am either in front of my laptop or within grabbing distance of my iPhone, and both give me temptingly easy access to my email account, even at inappropriate times. Like in the supermarket queue. Or on the step machine at the gym. I have to admit, I actually feel a little envious of those 1% from the same survey, who said they checked their email only ‘monthly or a few times per month’. These people must be seriously laid-back.
But it does serve as an important reminder. With so many people checking their email so regularly, and in (sometimes) odd places, we have to be even more careful to ensure that our email marketing messages are sent at a time that is appropriate for the recipient, and that they are as relevant as possible. I may be an advocate of email marketing (the good kind), but have to admit I get a certain buzz out of deleting unwanted marketing emails from my mobile while I wait for the kettle to boil. It’s a simple kind of ‘multi-tasking’. Removing that message from my inbox means one less distraction when I get back to my desk – ironically to get to work on some marketing emails for our clients. But hopefully not the sort that anyone will want to delete while waiting for the kettle to boil…