73% of UK consumers check email before Facebook first thing, study suggests

Almost three quarters (73%) of UK online consumers begin their day by checking emails, compared to a mere 14% starting with Facebook, a new study suggests.

ExactTarget, an email and interactive marketing technology provider, surveyed over 1,400 consumers across the UK and sought to examine how online consumers in the UK interact with brands through email, Facebook and Twitter.

The report also found that 93% of UK consumers have provided their email address for the purpose of receiving permission-based emails from at least one company, whilst 45% of consumers have “Liked” at least one company or brand on Facebook – and half of those (49%) said they have done so in order to receive discounts. The study found that 7% of UK consumers (34% of active Twitter users) are followers — meaning they follow at least one company or brand on Twitter.

Furthermore, whilst 82% of those surveyed check their emails daily, only 51% check Facebook each day. “In today’s digital world, consumers are interacting with brands across multiple interactive channels,” said Nigel Arthur, ExactTarget’s Managing Director, EMEA. “Email is clearly the preferred channel for most online consumers at this point, but Facebook and Twitter are certainly important in their own way,” added Jeff Rohrs, vice president, ExactTarget’s Marketing Research and Education Group. “Marketers who can tap the strengths of each channel will be the ones that are most successful when developing long-term relationships with consumers.”

The Digital Kingdom is the eleventh report in ExactTarget’s Subscribers, Fans & Followers research series. You can access the full data by clicking here and subscribing (by email).

With around half of the UK now on Facebook, and many people using Facebook as a direct communication platform bypassing email altogether, this leaning towards email may surprise some. This study was carried out in September, but Facebook has started phasing out email notifications, which could mean this figure will change in the months to follow .