89% of Americans check their email at least once a day. Take a minute to chew on the vastness of that number. Then think about your own email habits. How often are you peeking at your inbox (or inboxes as is often the case these days) on your phone, desktop or tablet? It may be a lot more than once a day.

The figure above is just one of the findings revealed in The Inbox Report, which details survey results about email perceptions from over 1,500 American adults.

It’s a reminder of two things: (1) just how ingrained email is in our everyday lives; and (2) how important email is to digital marketing for organizations across industries—from retail to B2B to nonprofits.

In today’s post, we’ll look at more findings from The Inbox Report and provide some key takeaways to keep in mind with your email marketing throughout the year.

About The Inbox Report

The Inbox Report was put together by Fluent using data from the company’s online survey of 1,603 American adults (aged 18-65+) conducted on December 3, 2015. Respondents were randomly selected. You can download The Inbox Report here.

Survey Findings About How American Adults Use Email

Here are some interesting findings from the Fluent survey about how Americans use email and view email marketing:

89% of Americans check email at least once a day

27.6% check their email 1-5 times a day

20.9% check their email more than 5 times a day

61.6% of Americans say they mostly check email on their smartphones

27.3% say they mostly check email on their desktops

11.2% say they mostly check email on their tablets

72.9% of 18-24 year olds say they mostly use their smartphones to check email

74.1% of 25-34 year olds say they mostly use their smartphones to check email

37.4% of adults aged 55-64 say they mostly use their smartphones to check email

42.3% of Americans say they sign up for email lists to get discounts and savings

19.8% say they sign up for email lists to learn about new products

11.2% say they sign up for email lists because they like a brand

35.9% say they never find marketing emails to be useful

Only 9.2% of people say that they always find marketing emails to be useful

The top two reasons for unsubscribing from marketing emails:

1. Emails are sent too often (34.8%)

2. Email content is irrelevant (20.8%)

40.5% of Americans say they prefer to receive marketing emails “once a month or less”

27.1% say they prefer to receive marketing emails “once a week”

34.5% of people say they “always” or “often” unsubscribe from marketing emails they sign up for

53.1% said they purchased a product from a retail store after receiving an email about it

27.1% said they made an online purchase after receiving an email

26.2% said they visited a company’s website after receiving an email

1 in 5 Americans open a marketing email on a smartphone then buy an advertised product using a smartphone

Three Key Takeaways from These Email Survey Findings

What can your company take away from these email stats? What lessons can you apply to make your email marketing better? Here are a number of things to keep in mind moving forward:

1. Email is an essential marketing tool

89% of Americans check email at least once a day; nearly 21% check their email more than 5 times a day. The sheer number of people who (1) use email and (2) check it on a daily basis reveals the great opportunity email offers. No other marketing tool enables you to get in front of consumers so easily, frequently and at a lower cost. Email should be used to forge customer relationships by every organization. Don’t leave this opportunity on the table.

2. Make sure your emails are optimized for mobile

61.6% of Americans say that they mostly check email on their smartphones. As the survey numbers show, a significant portion of Americans are checking their email primarily on mobile devices. Make sure your emails are configured to look their best on smartphones, and make it as easy as possible for individuals to (1) see your call to action and (2) act from their mobile device.

3. Cater your emails to individual preferences

34.5% of people say that they “always” or “often” unsubscribe from marketing emails they signed up for. That means just because you got a customer to take that critical first action of signing up for your emails does not mean they’re in for life. Take action to collect data to ensure you are providing content relevant to their specific interests and emailing at the frequency they prefer.

As you map out your marketing strategy for the year, make sure you’re placing the necessary focus on email. It’s a powerful, valuable and cost-effective way to build and maintain relationships with people who are interested in the services you provide.

You can download the full Fluent Inbox Report here. We strongly recommend you do.