Free-mail: Brits save £1 billion a year online by creating throwaway email accounts

●      Nine million Brits have opened a separate email account to snap up free trials and discounts[1] — saving £1 billion a year[2]

●      Consumers have signed up to more than 33 million ‘freebie accounts’[3], with 400,000 savers signing up for ten or more[4]

●      A fifth of people have used the trick to blag a free month’s streaming service, while the same amount have nabbed a free delivery from a retailer[5]

●      Consumers have five email accounts in their lifetime on average, with two active accounts, one unused, one deleted, and one throwaway account[6]

●      Uswitch.com offers advice on how to get the most out of your email account and how to reduce your “digital baggage” by getting rid of unused accounts.

Nine million consumers have created a new email address to take advantage of introductory offers, discounts and free trials[1] — saving a whopping £1 billion a year[2], according to Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service.

As online shopping grows in popularity and more deals are offered via email, Brits have created more than 33 million ‘freebie accounts’[3], with 400,000 people claiming to have signed up for ten or more email accounts to grab ‘new customer’ or one-time-only promotions[4].

Almost a quarter of people (23%) have used a throwaway email address to receive a discount from a shop or service, while a fifth (21%) have blagged a free trial. A similar amount (19%) have claimed a free month’s subscription to a streaming service, and the same number (19%) have nabbed free delivery from a retailer[5].

The average consumer saved £182 over the last year thanks to throwaway accounts. Results also found that men are better at finding the savings then women, bagging £242 in a year compared to £103 respectively. However, it’s the younger generation who are most savvy, having saved £234 in a year, against just £67 for the over-55s[2].

Email users have an average of five accounts in their lifetime, with at least two of those being active, one unused “zombie” account, one deleted and one freebie account[6]. Three in ten people (30%) with a zombie account have an email address that has gone unused for more than ten years[7].

Gmail is the most popular email service in the UK, with six in ten people (60%) having an active account, followed by Hotmail (32%), Outlook (24%) and Yahoo Mail (20%)[8].

Uswitch.com is offering advice to consumers on how to reduce your digital baggage, getting rid of unused email accounts and unsubscribing to services they no longer need or use to avoid unexpected charges. This could help keep data safer in the long-run by limiting the number of places where your details are stored.

Catherine Hiley, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, comments: “We’ve all been enticed to save money by signing up to a newsletter or by registering as a new customer. But once you’ve done that once, the discounts can end there.

“Some five million savvy Brits are getting a second bite at the cherry by opening separate email accounts just to take advantage of free trials and discount codes.

“If you have a lot of different email addresses, make sure you keep tabs on how and when you use these, so you know exactly where your personal details are saved.

“If you are using a new email account to access a free trial of a service, remember to decide whether or not you want to keep it long-term as you may end up paying to keep it after the trial ends.”

Find out how to keep your email address if you’re leaving your broadband provider here.

For more information please contact:

Isabel Green, Uswitch.com on 07913 954 048 / isabel.green@rvu.co.uk

David Bullock, Rhizome Media on 07762 079092 / davidbullock@rhizomemediagroup.com

Notes to editors:

Opinium surveyed a sample of 2,000 UK adults from the 30th July to 3rd August 2021. Results were weighted to reflect a nationally representative criteria.

1. Respondents were asked ‘How many of the following types of email accounts do you have?’ 189 people said ‘More than one throwaway email account’. 338 / 2,000 = 16.9%. 9.45% of 55.2 million UK adults = 9.3 million adults have at least one throwaway email account.

2. Respondents were asked ‘How much do you believe you have saved by using a throwaway email account in the last 12 months?’ The average amount was £181.90. £181.90 x 9.3 million people with throwaway email accounts = £1.7 billion.

3. Respondents were asked ‘How many of the following types of email accounts do you have?’ The average number of throwaway email accounts per person was 0.6. 0.6 x 55.2 million UK adults = 33 million throwaway email accounts.

4. Respondents were asked ‘How many of the following types of email accounts do you have?’ 15 out of 2,000 have ten or more throwaway accounts = 414,000 consumers with ten or more throwaway accounts.

5. Respondents were asked ‘do the following statements apply to you?’, 19% of people agreed with the statement ‘I have used a new or unused email address to claim a free month of a streaming service’ and 19% agreed with ‘I have used a new or unused email address to claim free delivery as a new customer’.

6. Respondents were asked ‘How many of the following types of email accounts do you have?’ Respondents had 2.4 active emails accounts on average, 1.0 unused email accounts, 1.0 deleted email accounts, and 0.6 throwaway email accounts.

7. Respondents were asked ‘do the following statements apply to you?’, 30% of people agreed with the statement ‘I have an email account which I have not used for more than 10 years’.

8. Respondents were asked ‘which of the following providers do you still have an active email account with?’, 60% said ‘Gmail’, 32% said ‘Hotmail’, 24% said ‘Outlook’ and 20% said ‘Yahoo Mail’.