Email trends: Do your habits coincide with your clients?

The most common email reply is only five words, according to a recent study by Yahoo Labs and the University of California. Half of email replies studied were less than 43 words.

And if you’re the sender looking for a quick response to an email, the best time to send a message is a weekday morning.

The type of device you are using to reply also impacts response time. Phones are the fastest, with a median reply time of 28 minutes, tablets have a median reply time of 57 minutes, and desktops round out the group with a median reply time of 62 minutes. However, the study noted that 30 percent of emails sent overall are longer than 100 words, which would impact reply time.

Also, the addition of an attachment will slow down a reply. Emails with attachments have a median reply time of 56 minutes and typically elicit a longer reply, a median of 47 words. These longer response times are most likely attributed to the responder having to take the extra time to read the attachment.

As an email conversation continues, replies tend to become quicker between parties. However, the last reply in a conversation tends to come at a delay, perhaps signaling the end of a conversation, researchers suggested.

Overall, 90 percent of email replies were sent within one day. Not surprisingly, the youngest email respondents, teens, tended to respond more quickly. As users age, so do their response times. The median reply time for teens was 13 minutes, while it was 47 minutes for those 51 and older.

Gender does not seem to impact reply time, men have a median reply time of 24 minutes, while women take about 28 minutes.

Overall, do your email habits fit the trends?