How long do you wait until you email someone back?

I always respond right after I read it.

I think it depends on the person. If you don’t check your email everyday and the person emailing you knows that, then they cannot expect you to respond quickly. I sit in front of a computer most of the day until about 5pm, so my friends/co-workers/etc don’t expect me to reply to their emails after 5pm. If they email me after that time, then they know they will probably hear from me first thing in the morning.

In a perfect world I think everyone would like to have their e-mails responded to in a very timely manner.

In the real world, people get busy and “less important” things get read and then put away and sometimes unfortunately not responded to.

At work I’m pretty good about responding to things when I receive them because otherwise it will get buried in my inbox and I’ll completely forget about it.

At home, I don’t check my e-mail very often because I’m also in front of my computer all day at work and it’s sometimes the last thing I want to do when I get home. But I will also try to respond right away when I do get to those personal messages. Usually it’s a couple days after it was sent to me though.

On the other hand if it is an urgent matter that I missed because I didn’t check my e-mail I would call the person to relay my message.

I respond immediately if a response is warranted.

Business: promptly
Personal: stall for a few hours…sometimes
Romantic: romantic emails? SMS for the win!