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

• 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.

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 Lukoševičius 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.

Lukoševičius 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.

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.

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