Emails expected to rise to 140 a day in 2018

FED up with the amount of email you get a day or an hour? Brace yourself. The clog in your inbox is set to grow – but you can avoid it.

Digital deluge ... Record numbers of emails will hit workers’ inboxes in the next four years.

WORKERS who lament the growing number of emails in their inbox each day must brace for further pain.

The average number of business-related emails sent and received is set to soar, from 121 each day now to at least 140 each day in 2018.

The most popular form of business communication shows no signs of slowing down, the 2014-2018 Email Statistics Report finds.

The report, by global computer and telecommunications research company The Radicati Group, reveals workers receive an extra 13 emails a day on average now than in 2011.

By 2018, 97 emails will hit the inboxes each day, at an average of 12 emails every working hour.

It is expected 43 emails will be sent each day, at an average of five an hour, or one about every 10 minutes.

Adelaide client development manager and networking adviser David Dercho says email has become a critical communication tool in business to share information but the inbox clog can cause frustrations.

Dercho, who works for Wallmans Lawyers, says workers do need good time management and an action/save/delete strategy to tackle the ever-increasing number.

The best strategy, however, may lie in knowing when to have an actual conversation than an email one, he says.

Bogged down? ... you can manage your emails so they don’t tie you to your work desk.

“I’m still a strong believer that relationships are personal, that face-to-face and relationship-based communication methods build that level of trust which is important in business,” he says.

“Email can lose the subtext. Face-to-face conversations bring back that subtext, you can have that immediate understanding.

“Email to email remains absolutely critical... but unless you are absolutely clear with language and have a clear indication that the person receiving the information is clear what the information is, you still run the risk of missing the mark and them saying something back/seeking clarification with something you thought was clear and straightforward.”

The report finds employers may be introducing other technologies such as instant messaging to try to more efficiently communicate but email remains king.

The rapid growth in business emails predicted also is opposite to the static number of personal emails being sent, as individuals increasingly favour social networking, instant messaging, mobile IM and SMS text messaging.

When using email, Dercho advises workers to keep the words clear, action-oriented and information-based.

They may want to take a three-pronged attack – removing those that can be read and deleted, putting aside those that can be read and saved, and prioritising those that need to be read, saved and actioned – to avoid getting weighed down in the bog.