'Email is at an inflection point': new study finds only 13% of emails sent worldwide were actually written by humans

Date:
Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
Tired of junk mail? You're not alone 87% of emails are actually generated by automated systems and aren't personal.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Fewer than half of the emails currently being sent are making it past spam filters to the inbox The most common error is that they're being market as phishing, scam, malware or botnets Marketers need to change their strategies and metrics to suit a new era of email New Hostinger research exclusively shared with TechRadar Pro has claimed only 13% of global email traffic is actually human-written with the remaining 87% of emails generated by automated systems.

The trend marks a major shift for email-based communication, which has gone from being a person-to-person tool to a largely automated marketing tool. But it also reveals a growing issue for communicators, with not even half (44%)
of emails actually reaching inboxes (for Hostinger customers in January 2026, at least), and the rest being flagged as suspicious, unsafe or malicious. You may like Employees are wasting thousands of hours a month on admin - so is AI the answer? AI bot web traffic is closing in on human usage, experts warn Fifty US retailers sent nearly 42 billion emails during the Black Friday hype
and they were loaded with sneaky ways to track your habits Most emails are
no longer human-written Hostinger found the most common reason why emails
were being blocked was because they were being marked as phishing, scam, malware or botnets (34%).

"Keeping the channel relevant requires responsibility at every level," Engineering Manager Edgaras Lukoeviius wrote. "Inbox providers need to equip users with better tools to cut through noise and protect their focus."

Of the different categories of emails received by Hostinger inboxes, only personal email providers and low-volume senders predominated as
human-written. The rest, including business tools, SaaS, marketing, social networks and more, were mostly automated.

Lukoeviius added that senders need to be "far more intentional" about how
they send messages to "stay relevant in crowded inboxes." Senders are currently battling with declining deliverability due to spam filters as well as poor engagement rates due to the sheer noise. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Hostinger's report also notes that traditional email metrics, like opens and clicks, are becoming less meaningful as engagement patterns evolve.

"The data suggests email is at an inflection point," Hostinger concludes, noting that companies need to totally reassess their email strategies to
match the AI-driven, automated world of communications. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/email-is-at-an-inflection-point-new-study-finds- only-13-percent-of-emails-sent-worldwide-were-actually-written-by-humans


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