A recent study conducted by Nokia SA has shown that 59% of South African respondents said that email is the preferred method to connect with colleagues, friends and family; taking precedence over voice calls and text messages.<\/p>\n
The study, which was also conducted in six other countries (including Russia, UK, UAE, Spain, Italy and Singapore), revealed that 43% of South Africans polled spend up to half an hour a day responding to emails, with the majority (57%) receiving up to 20 emails per day.<\/p>\n
This means that, on average, South Africans spend up to seven days responding to emails each year.<\/p>\n
In addition the survey indicated a few traits that are unique to local email users. Half of the South Africans polled said that they only read emails if they know the sender. 59% thoroughly read all the work emails they receive on a daily basis compared to a third category making up 32% who claim only to read the majority of personal messages that land in their inbox.<\/p>\n
Roughly 74% of those polled claimed to respond quickest to work related emails, predominantly those from customers and upper management, while partners and friends are less urgently responded to.<\/p>\n
Urgency however appears not to be a strong South African trait with only 24% of respondents indicating that they reply to emails within 5 minutes of receiving them.<\/p>\n
The survey also detailed a number of province specific trends. Users in Gauteng for example spend between one and two hours a day responding to emails, making them some of the busiest users in the country. Only 21% of users in the Western Cape said they spend over an hour a day reading emails that they receive.<\/p>\n
Eastern Cape residents are among the slowest to respond to emails with one in ten taking over 24 hours to reply on average. Users in Limpopo proved to most prompt respondents with 31% claiming to reply within 5 minutes of receiving a message.<\/p>\n