Key takeaway
Email is still where communications work happens, and it is getting heavier. Knowledge workers receive 117 emails a day (Microsoft, 2025), 62% of journalists prefer email pitches and 86% delete irrelevant ones (Muck Rack, 2025), and half of all email replies arrive within 47 minutes (USC and Yahoo Labs). Meanwhile 75% of PR professionals use generative AI and 72% use it to draft (Muck Rack, 2025), while 72% of journalists worry about factual errors in AI-generated PR content (Cision, 2025). The teams that win pair AI speed with human review.
On this page
Key findings
Inbound email keeps growing, journalists still want it, replies happen fast or not at all, and AI is now part of how communications teams write. The trust gap is where teams win or lose.
117
emails the average worker receives a day, most skimmed in under a minute
Microsoft WorkLab, 2025
62%
of journalists prefer to be pitched by email
Muck Rack, 2025
86%
of journalists delete a pitch that is not relevant to them
Muck Rack, 2025
47 min
is when half of all email replies have arrived
Kooti et al., WWW 2015
75%
of PR professionals use generative AI, and 72% use it to draft
Muck Rack, 2025
72%
of journalists worry about factual errors in AI-generated PR content
Cision, 2025
Email volume and workload
Microsoft's figures come from aggregated, anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals ending February 15, 2025. McKinsey's estimate is old but remains the most widely cited benchmark for time spent on email.
How fast people reply
The largest academic study of email replies, covering more than 2 million users and 16 billion emails, found that email is answered quickly or not at all.
The overload finding (13) matters most for shared inboxes: when volume rises, people do not slow down, they quietly skip messages. Important email that arrives on a busy day is the email most likely to go unanswered.
What journalists want from email
Muck Rack surveyed more than 1,500 journalists for its State of Journalism 2025; Cision surveyed more than 3,000 journalists in 19 markets for its 2025 State of the Media.
Journalists are also stretched: 62% took on more responsibilities in 2025, according to Muck Rack. Short, relevant, well-timed email is not a courtesy; it is what gets read.
AI in communications work
Muck Rack surveyed 1,013 PR professionals between November 13 and December 17, 2024 for its State of AI in PR 2025.
Two more signals point in the same direction. The share of PR professionals who revise most AI output fell from 61% in 2024 to 51% in 2025, according to Muck Rack, even as journalists' concern about AI errors stays high. And in Muck Rack's State of PR 2025, 72% of PR professionals named low journalist response rates as a challenge.
What this means for communications teams
Put together, the data describes a squeeze. Inbound email keeps growing, the people on the other end want short, relevant, fast replies, and AI can now write those replies, but a single invented fact can cost a relationship.
The practical response is to let AI do the reading and the first draft, and keep people responsible for the send:
- Triage automatically. With 117 emails a day, important messages need to be sorted before a person sees them.
- Draft from the whole thread. Replies should reflect everything already said, not just the last message.
- Never let AI guess. Unknown names, dates, and figures should stay visibly blank until a person fills them in.
- Approve before sending. A human sign-off addresses the trust gap that journalists describe.
This is the workflow Tutti is built around: an AI shared inbox for Gmail that labels every conversation, drafts every reply from the full thread with unknowns left as [placeholders], and requires a person to approve each send.
Methodology
This report aggregates published findings from ten sources: vendor research (Microsoft, Google, HubSpot, The Radicati Group), industry surveys (Muck Rack, Cision), a management consultancy report (McKinsey Global Institute), and a peer-reviewed study (Kooti et al., presented at the WWW 2015 conference). We did not run a new survey. Each figure is quoted as its publisher reported it, with the survey population and dates where the publisher gave them. Where we relied on a publisher's summary rather than the full gated report, the source list says so. Figures from different studies use different samples and definitions and should not be combined into a single estimate.
Sources
- Microsoft WorkLab, “Breaking down the infinite workday (Work Trend Index special report),” 2025.
- McKinsey Global Institute, “The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies,” 2012.
- The Radicati Group, “Email Statistics Report, 2024-2028,” 2024.
- Google Cloud, “Google Workspace study reveals more than 90% of rising leaders want AI with personalization,” 2025.
- Muck Rack (via PR News), “The State of Journalism 2025,” 2025.
- Muck Rack, “Journalists answer your FAQs on pitching preferences, follow ups and pet peeves,” 2025.
- Cision, “2025 State of the Media Report,” 2025.
- Muck Rack, “The State of AI in PR 2025,” 2025.
- Muck Rack, “The State of PR 2025,” 2025.
- Kooti, Aiello, Grbovic, Lerman, Mantrach (WWW 2015), “Evolution of Conversations in the Age of Email Overload,” 2015.
- HubSpot Research, “Live chat exposes a fatal flaw in your go-to-market (updated March 2025),” 2025.
Frequently asked questions
How many emails does the average worker receive per day?
117, according to Microsoft's 2025 Work Trend Index special report, based on aggregated Microsoft 365 signals; most are skimmed in under a minute.
How do journalists prefer to be pitched?
By email. Muck Rack's State of Journalism 2025 found 62% prefer email pitches, 69% prefer pitches under 200 words, and 78% want them before noon.
How many PR professionals use generative AI?
75%, according to Muck Rack's State of AI in PR 2025 survey of 1,013 PR professionals; 72% use it to draft content.
How fast do people reply to email?
Fast when they reply at all: in a study of more than 2 million users and 16 billion emails, the most likely reply time was two minutes and half of replies came within 47 minutes.