The average amount of time people spend reading an individual email has steadily declined over the past four years, according to recent research from Litmus.

The annual report was based on an analysis of Litmus data from billions of email opens that occurred between August 2021 and August 2022.

In the 2018 edition of the report, Litmus found that people spent 13.4 seconds, on average, looking at an email. In the most recent (2022) edition, Litmus found people spent just nine seconds, on average, looking at an email.

Average time spent reading a single email by year

The researchers found that 30% of emails, on average, are looked at for less than two seconds, 41% are looked at for between two and eight seconds, and only 29% are looked at for more than eight seconds.

Average amount of time spent engaging with a single email

The researchers found that between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., local time, tends to be the most popular time for opening emails in a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Most popular times for opening email

About the research: The annual report was based on an analysis of Litmus data from billions of email opens that occurred between August 2021 and August 2022.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Ayaz Nanji

Ayaz Nanji is a writer, editor, and a content strategist. He is a co-founder of ICW Media and a research writer for MarketingProfs. He has worked for Google/YouTube, the Travel Channel, and the New York Times.

LinkedIn: Ayaz Nanji

Twitter: @ayaznanji