- Less than half of the emails sent today make it past spam filters and into the inbox.
- The most common mistake is that they are marketed as phishing, scam, malware or botnets.
- Marketers must change their strategies and metrics to adapt to the new email era
New research from Hostinger shared exclusively with TechRadar Pro has claimed that only 13% of global email traffic is written by humans, and the remaining 87% of emails are generated by automated systems.
The trend marks a major shift for email-based communication, which has gone from a person-to-person tool to a largely automated marketing tool.
But it also reveals a growing problem for communicators, as not even half (44%) of emails reach inboxes (at least for Hostinger customers in January 2026), and the rest are flagged as suspicious, insecure or malicious.
Most emails are no longer written by humans
Hostinger found that the most common reason emails were blocked was because they were flagged as phishing, scam, malware, or botnets (34%).
“Keeping the channel relevant requires responsibility at all levels,” wrote engineering director Edgaras Lukoševičius. “Inbox providers must equip users with better tools to eliminate noise and protect their concentration.”
Of the different categories of emails received in Hostinger inboxes, only personal email providers and low-volume senders predominated as written by humans. The rest, including enterprise tools, SaaS, marketing, social media, and more, were largely automated.
Lukoševičius added that senders need to be “much more intentional” in how they send messages to “stay relevant in crowded inboxes.” Senders are currently struggling with lower deliverability due to spam filters, as well as low engagement rates due to sheer noise.
Hostinger’s report also notes that traditional email metrics such as opens and clicks are becoming less meaningful as engagement patterns evolve.
“The data suggests that email is at an inflection point,” Hostinger concludes, noting that businesses need to totally reevaluate their email strategies to match the automated, AI-driven world of communications.
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