Tablets and smartphones have become the center of everything, including emails.
Email marketers can no longer ignore these devices as they account for a significant portion of all email exchanges and income.
But how big exactly?
The answer may help businesses realize the potential of optimizing their email marketing approach for mobile devices and improve advertising results.
We have put together some of the recent mobile email statistics in this article for you to get started.
Key Statistics
- The number of emails exchanged daily averages 347.3 billion.
- There are 4.37 billion active email users worldwide.
- Approximately 92% of the U.S. digital population uses emails as the primary source of communication.
- 58% of email users check their email first thing when they wake up.
- 80% of marketers would opt for email marketing over social media marketing if they had to pick one.
- Approximately 1.7 billion email users tend to read emails on their mobile devices.
- 41% of email views come from mobile phones worldwide.
- Smartphones are used by 85% of users to access email.
- Globally, 46% of smartphone users prefer email as the method of contact by businesses.
- While developing email marketing campaigns, 73% of businesses today give priority to mobile device optimization.
- In more than 70% of the cases, emails that are incorrectly displayed are likely to be deleted in less than 3 seconds.
- The chances of a consumer clicking through are 65% higher if they read it again on a desktop after opening it on their mobile.
Mobile Email Statistics in 2025: Use and Significance of the Email
1. The Number of Emails Exchanged Daily Averages 347.3 Billion.
Every year, the effectiveness of email as a marketing tool is questioned.
However, the statistics indicate that it is more powerful than ever.
Witnessing a 4.3% increase from last year, the number of emails sent and received daily averaged 347.3 billion in 2023.
In 2024, that number is projected to rise by a similar percentage to 361.6 billion.
Interestingly, Email is the main route for lead generation for 89% of marketers.
These stats show the growing dependence of marketers on emails for communication.
(Source: Snov.io)
2. There Are 4.37 Billion Active Email Users Worldwide.
There are 4.37 billion global email users, says research that has been studying email usage numbers since 1993.
Growing by 2.7% since 2022 this constitutes a majority of the world’s population.
According to analysts, this number will continue to rise over the next few years, increasing to 4.48 billion in 2025 (a 2.5% increase) and to 4.59 billion in the subsequent year (another 2.5% increase).
Global email usage is expected to reach 4.73 billion people by 2026.
In other words, it is anticipated that 11.1% more individuals will be utilizing email globally in just four years.
Experts who have studied email usage statistics claim that both consumers and businesses, who both significantly rely on email for their online experiences, are responsible for this surge.
(Source: Oberlo)
3. Approximately 92% of The U.S. Digital Population Uses Emails as The Primary Source of Communication.
With new platforms emerging, there is a common misconception that email is dying out as a source of communication.
The truth, however, is that email still surpasses social media in popularity.
The penetration rate of emails is still quite high in comparison to that of social media and various online messaging applications.
Records from the beginning of the year 2022 show that 92% of internet users in the United States used emails as the mode of communication, compared to 83% who used social media apps and 67% who used other online apps.
(Source: Statista)
4. 86% of Internet Users in The U.S. Have Two or More Email Addresses.
14% of respondents to a survey in the U.S. claimed they have just one email address.
The remaining 86% of email users have two or more accounts.
To be more precise, 37% of respondents indicated they have two active email accounts, while 21% said they have three, and about 28% reported having at least four.
The majority of users, per the report, had one primary email account for personal use and another one either for backup or business use.
Some people prefer to have distinct email addresses for various purposes.
This could involve many accounts for personal use, work use, financial use, and more accounts for purposes like newsletter signups.
(Source: Statista)
5. 58% of Email Users Check Their Email First Thing when They Wake Up.
99% of people who use email check it daily; some do so up to 20 times.
However, the most interesting fact revealed by researchers is that 58% of email users prioritize checking their emails before checking the news or social media.
It is usually the first thing they do when they wake up in the morning.
In contrast, 14% tend to check social media first.
According to research, those who check their emails first thing in the morning are thought to be more task-focused and are more inclined to be using online interactions with a specific objective in mind.
(Source: Optin Monster)
6. 80% of Marketers Would Opt for Email Marketing Over Social Media Marketing if They Had to Pick One.
74% of boomers, 72% of Gen Xers, 60% of Zoomers, and 64% of millennials deem email as the most personal means of communicating with brands.
Therefore, it is no surprise that email is the main route for lead generation for 89% of marketers.
These figures alone should be enough to illustrate the significance of focusing on email marketing campaigns.
In fact, 37% of businesses are already known to be increasing their budget for email.
(Source: Mail Butler)
Mobile Email Statistics: Use of the Email on Mobile
7. Approximately 1.7 Billion Email Users Tend to Read Emails on Their Mobile Devices.
Estimated at around 1.7 billion, the number of people checking their emails on mobile devices has surpassed that of desktops, where there are only about 0.9 billion users.
Both smartphone usage and the number of individuals reading emails on mobile devices are surging.
New email users generally prefer to use mobile devices as compared to desktop ones.
This should effectively demonstrate the value of mobile-friendly emails.
(Source: EasySendy)
8. 41% of Email Views Come from Mobile Phones Worldwide.
Mobile devices account for 41% of the total email opens. Desktop computers are second, with 39%.
Additionally, tablets open 19% of all emails. Therefore, 60% of the total email opens come from mobile and tablet devices combined.
For many people, mobile devices have replaced desktop computers as their preferred method of staying informed as they evolve to be more user-friendly and sophisticated.
This covers all workplace communications, including emails sent and received on a personal and professional level.
The practice of being always available is facilitated by the portability of these devices.
Many employees are receiving and responding to work emails outside of regular business hours now that they are no longer required to be seated at their desks.
(Source: Hub Spot)
9. 35% of Business People Use Their Mobile Devices to Access Email.
Since there’s always a potential that work emails can contain sensitive information, many individuals believe it’s inappropriate to open them on a phone.
Data on smartphone usage, however, shows that more than a third of businesspeople access emails on their phones without paying any heed to these concerns.
(Source: AOVUP)
10. Smartphones Are Used by 85% of Users to Access Email.
For 85% of users, smartphones have replaced computers as their primary email-checking tool.
That rate is much higher, at 90%, for people in the 25–34 age group.
Since 2017, when 81% of consumers said they accessed their email through smartphones, this practice has grown in popularity.
It is becoming less common for people to read their emails on desktops and laptops; in 2018, 69% of users said they did so, down from 74% in 2017.
(Source: 99 Firms)
11. Globally, 46% of Smartphone Users Prefer Email as The Method of Contact by Businesses.
Emails and SMS messages are the two most used avenues for targeted messaging.
Which should you pick? The choice is clear: intensify your email marketing effort.
According to research based on smartphone users, 46% of consumers said they would rather get emails than text messages from any brands they engage with.
The inclination is so strong that according to research, 22% of campaign-related emails were opened within an hour of receipt.
This behavior is certainly inconsistent with opening an SMS.
This not only highlights the importance of email marketing for any business but also the optimization of those emails and overall campaigns to accommodate the needs of mobile email users.
(Source: Skillademia)
12. While Developing Email Marketing Campaigns, 73% of Businesses Today Give Priority to Mobile Device Optimization.
Mobile email statistics show that businesses have been losing out on potential customers for years because they haven’t given mobile email optimization enough attention.
The situation has changed, and many companies are now focusing on creating an optimization strategy, albeit many claim to be having trouble locating the necessary resources.
As many as nine out of 10 organizations are creating an email marketing plan, yet some claim that a lack of resources may hinder them from putting it into practice.
Yet, nearly three out of every four enterprises are successfully optimizing their emails for mobiles to improve the consumers’ experience.
This number is 14% higher than the previous year, demonstrating that marketers across various industries are giving mobile optimization higher attention.
(Source: Campaign Monitor)
13. In More than 70% of The Cases, Emails that Are Incorrectly Displayed Are Likely to Be Deleted in Less than 3 Seconds.
The main criticism of mobile email is its poor formatting.
No matter how wonderful the content is, if an email’s display is bad, it will likely be deleted in less than three seconds.
Up to 15% of people will choose to unsubscribe rather than delete.
Overall, that represents an 85% decrease in prospective clients on mobile.
High-frequency emails, meaningless content, poor communication layouts, and click-throughs that direct users to sites that aren’t mobile-friendly provide additional challenges that mobile email users seek to avoid.
(Source: Campaign Monitor)
14. The Chances of A Consumer Clicking Through Are 65% Higher if He Reads It Again on A Desktop After Opening It on His Mobile.
As evident from given statistics, it’s critical to ensure that your emails are optimized for mobile as a large number of individuals open their email using mobile devices.
But just because individuals check their emails on cell phones doesn’t mean they don’t also check them on desktop computers.
In fact, 23% of users who view an email via a mobile device later open it again, frequently on a desktop.
However, getting a consumer to read an email is only half the battle for any business.
Getting them to click through is the real challenge.
Fortunately, consumers are 65% more likely to click through if they first read an email on their mobile device and then again on their desktop.
(Source: Optin Monster)
15. iPhone Is the Most Popular Device for Opening Emails, Accounting for 28.4% of All Mobile Email Opens.
According to statistics on mobile email, Apple is the clear leader in this field.
The most popular device for opening emails in the year 2021 was declared to be iPhone.
iPhones accounted for 28.4% of the total email opens via mobile devices, and iPads for 9.3%. With a 2.3% market share at the beginning of the year 2021, Google’s Android was third.
(Source: Truelist)
FAQs
How Can I Access My Email on Mobile?
With the right email client, emails can easily be accessed on any mobile device in use.
The two most popular options for reading emails are Gmail and Apple. They collectively own 87.16% of the market share for email clients.
According to data from March 2022, Apple opens 60.66% of all emails, followed by Gmail (26.5%).
With 4.09% of all opens, Outlook is the next most popular email service. Yahoo Mail and Google Android round out the top 5 with 3.33% and 1.68%, respectively.
Is It Better to Access Email on Mobile or Desktop?
While it is a matter of personal preference mainly, accessing email on mobile devices works in the favor of those who are on the go or seeking to make themselves available even outside working hours and vicinity.
For professionals who are extremely cautious of the confidentiality of their data, it may work out better if they confined their email access to desktops at work.
Is There a Better Chance of Emails Being Opened when Accessed via Mobile?
Since 60% of all email opens across the world are via mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), the assumption that emails have a better chance of being opened if a consumer accesses them through a mobile device sounds quite logical.
However, optimizing emails to mobile also becomes equally crucial for businesses because poor formatting may cause businesses to lose prospective clients even after they open the email.
Conclusion
With various new platforms being launched for online communication, email has been deemed dead by many.
However, if we take into account the number of email users worldwide and the volume of emails exchanged daily, it is evident that this digital marketing and communication tool is still quite prevalent.
With mobile technology evolving alongside, there have been significant changes in our lives and the way we communicate.
Over half of consumer emails are now sent and received on mobile devices, with desktop use declining, demonstrating once more that mobility is the way of the future.
Thus, the aforementioned statistics about mobile email demonstrate the need for marketers to stay current with mobile trends to maximize the effectiveness of their email marketing.