Let’s Talk About Emails in Kenya

While there is a tonne of articles on emails facts and statistics on the internet, it’s harder to find information and statistics on emails in Kenya. However, as the Kenya National Bureau of statistics confirms, emails have become a mainstay as a channel for communication at the workplace and is increasingly used by Kenyan business to push products and services. It is therefore important to get our local facts right.

Sending or receiving emails is the most common activity carried out by Kenyan business on the internet. (Source)

10 Interesting Facts and Statistics About Emails in Kenya

1. As early as 1992, email services were used by a few enthusiasts in Kenya. Source
2. In the early to mid-1990s it cost KES 50.00 to send an email and KES 10.00 to read or receive and email
3. By 2010, only 10% of Kenyans were using email
4.  88.7 % of businesses in Kenya use the internet to send and receive emails
5. 58.4% of Kenyan businesses use emails to get more information about goods and services
6. Out of all Kenyan firms surveyed in 2016 that used email to transact, 68.5 per cent and
   65.8 per cent of them purchased and sold products, respectively.
7. In 2016, Email was one of the most popular cloud computing activity in Kenya
8. 80.8 % of  Kenyan enterprises used email to place orders in 2015 compared to 45.7 per cent in 2010
9. Majority of public Kenyan institutions (85.6%) and enterprises (87.7 %) have an official email address i.e [email protected]
10. In 2015, the Kenyan Government borrowed 4 Billion Shillings from the Chinese government to create the Kenya Government Email System which targeted 50,000 users annually.  Source

Email Marketing in Kenya

Kenyans have come a long way from sending at least two letters a year to sending millions of emails in less than a minute. And as more business owners adopt email as a channel for communicating with prospects, sharing company profiles, sharing product catalogs, sending orders and receiving orders for goods and services; it is important to remember that just because you have someone’s email doesn’t mean you have the right to email them.

In fact, Email marketing experts like Seth Godin advice that if you want to get the most out of each email you send, the best strategy is to be personal. But how do you go about personalizing emails when you have a list of 500 email addresses? Let’s talk more about this on the next post; Important factors to consider before you hit send.

What do you think about the facts and statistics on emails in Kenya? Did you learn something new? Let us know in the comment section below, we love to hear from you 🙂