Perfect fit, this results from a study by researchers at Yahoo Labs in Barcelona and the University of Southern California. to my talk at re:publica 2015. Some interesting findings:
Here are some of the things the study found:
- Most people write shorter responses to email late in the day and on weekends
- Younger users generally send faster and shorter replies
- Men send slightly faster and shorter replies than women
- Replies from mobile devices were faster and shorter than from desktops
- Emails without attachments typically got faster replies
The report, Evolution of Conversations in the Age of Email Overload, noted that users naturally compensate for email overload by responding to a smaller fraction of incoming emails and with shorter replies.
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One of the more surprising findings: The younger the user, the quicker the response — a finding many parents will likely challenge. Researchers claim teens respond to email, on average, in 13 minutes. The time climbs with age:
- 16 minutes for 20 to 35 year olds
- 24 minutes for 36 to 50 year olds
- 47 minutes for those 51 and older
In general, people respond faster to email from phones, followed by tablets and desktops. Emails from phones have a median reply time of only 28 minutes, compared to the 57 minutes for the replies from tablets, and 62 minutes for the desktop.