Study: More Than 100 Billion Emails Sent Daily, Most Answered In Two Minutes

People around the world send more than 100 billion emails daily, most of which are answered in just two minutes, according to a new study by Yahoo Labs in California and Spain.

Researchers considered email habits of around 2 million users who exchanged 16 billion emails over the course of several months.

Nearly 90 percent of users replied to their emails within a day, with about half responding in around 47 minutes. The most frequently occurring reply time was just two minutes, the study found.

The study further discovered that as email exchanges progressed, replies came faster although many emailers lost steam by the last exchange, possibly because there was nothing left to say.

Emails sent on weekend or overnight got slower and shorter replies.

Emails that were sent first thing in the morning received faster and longer reply.

Teens and youngsters replied emails faster than any other group - taking just 13 minutes on average to fire off a response of about 17 words.

 The study also found that emails containing attachments slowed things down and the recipient took nearly an hour to respond.