The fact email has grown in a little over 20 years into a dominant form of communication is undeniable. With more than 100 billion messages sent daily, it's interesting to know that most people follow remarkable patterns when it comes to the way they respond to emails.

To better understand how people deal with emails, a team of researchers from Yahoo Labs and Cornell University used a machine learning algorithm to look at 16 billion emails sent and received by two million Yahoo users.

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As part of the largest study undertaken on the subject, it revealed predictable results.

Nearly 90 percent of email users responded to their emails within a day, and some 50 percent of them replied within 47 minutes. The most common response time is two minutes.

Most email replies were measly five words to 43 words. Only 30 percent of the email messages had 100 words or more.

Researchers also found replies came faster as email exchange progressed. The last exchange usually came slower, perhaps because there was only a few left to discuss.

In addition, emails became longer as the conversation progressed although the last reply was frequently short.

Emails sent on weekend or at night received slower and shorter replies. The best time to send emails, according to the researchers, is at the beginning of the working day when users were given to faster and longer replies.

Younger people were the fastest to answer emails, taking just 13 minutes on average to send a response of about 17 words. 

Users aged 51 and above took an average of 47 minutes and 40 words before sending their replies.

The study also took gender into account, with men taking 24 minutes to reply. Women usually answered after 28 minutes, while both sent an average of 30 words in an email.

Mobile phone users answered emails usually within 28 minutes, while tablet users took 57 minutes to reply. Desktop users were relatively tardy, with 62 minutes response time.

The pattern on how people reply to emails suggests that computer algorithms may stand a chance to help sort through the email surge in the future. The study is vital for designing better email management applications.

Tagsemails, yahoo users