Your Workday on Email: Mobile vs. Desktop Habits

Over a typical workday, where and when do you generally read your work email? Do you use your mobile device or desktop? Read it while on your morning or evening commute? While at lunch? The answer to these questions can help vendors better understand when recipients are most likely reading their messages and in what format, giving them a better chance at reaching their target audience.

To help answer these questions, Yesware Enterprise, provider of an all-in-one digital sales toolkit, recently examined over 14 million messages sent by its users in Q1 2015. This slideshow features the results from their study.

Email Behavior at Work

Click through for a closer look at how work email is accessed throughout the day, provided by Yesware.

Email Opens

Overall, desktop email peaks during traditional business hours – 8 a.m. to about 5 p.m. Mobile access of work email also increases during these hours, though not as much as desktop. It also has a steadier access rate throughout the business day.

Morning Commute

Recipients are more likely to open emails on their mobile phones when they first wake up in the morning and during their commutes into the office.

In the Zone

As the workday takes off, desktop email opens increasingly outpace mobile opens. Email productivity peaks around 10 a.m. for most people.

The Lunchtime Dip

People are stepping away from their desks at lunchtime. Desktop usage dips around noon and bounces back at 1 p.m., but at a slightly lower volume. Mobile usage remains consistent throughout lunch. The spike in desktop opens after lunch shrinks as the week goes on.

Afternoon Decline

In the immediate post-lunch period, recipients remain focused on work. But afternoon email apathy sets in between 3 and 4 p.m., with both desktop and mobile opens dropping off toward the end of the day.

Working Late

Mobile email usage slightly outpaces desktop during the evening after-work hours.