Study: Gen Z likely to buoy email as a favored channel

Email use is just about saturated among Generations X and Y.

There is one group, though, for whom it is growing: Generation Z, in the 13–21 age group. So little is known about them that they don’t yet have a clear stereotype.

We do know that they view email as essential, thanks to The Future of Digital Communications, a study by SendGrid and Egg Strategy.

Of the Gen Z members polled, 85 percent of have an overwhelming preference for email as a communication channel. They are outranked—for now—in this area by millennials (89 percent) and Gen Xers (92 percent).

Forty-eight percent of Gen Z respondents expect their email use will increase in the next five years, compared with 36 percent of Gen Y and 23 percent of Gen X.

Of 1,200 consumers surveyed overall, 67 percent view email as essential or important to their lives; 33 percent say it is neither.

At the same time, 79 percent of consumers responding say their email use has risen or held steady over the past five years, especially those in younger generations. Three-quarters (74 percent) prefer email as the channel for companies or brands to interact with them.