If you’re still struggling with an unruly inbox full of emails that need answering, or are suddenly finding yourself with an aversion to shoes or perhaps you just happen to be writing about these issues this week, have we got some interesting data for you…

January’s releases sent out through the ResponseSource Press Release Wire took on email hell, intriguing footwear-related job offers, surprising financial findings and the attractiveness of attractive influencers – see how the numbers stack up, below…

Inbox infinity

Are you consistently trapped in overly-busy-inbox hell? You’re not alone – 32% of employees spend nearly one whole working day managing their inbox, according to research from Mail Manager. In a survey of 1002 business leaders and decision makers across the UK and the US during December 2020, the stats showed that nine in ten (91%) used email to communicate with their clients, with 61% preferring email to any other communication tool at their disposal. So, why can’t we keep our inboxes clean and tidy? Read more stats on this eternal mystery here.  

Seeking the nation’s best slipper tester

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns have changed many aspects of our lives, probably forever, but one issue perhaps nobody could have foreseen is that 86% of people no longer enjoy having to wear shoes while they’re working. In Bedroom Athletics’ survey of 2000 adults about their home office habits, an aversion to shoes was just one of the impacts of working from home. The Welsh brand’s answer to this? Opening applications for Slipper Tester for its Chepstow business. Another important number – pay for the position is 40K pro-rata. Read more here.   

APR: interested?

Finance can be incredibly confusing – hands up if anyone fully understood what was happening during the recent GameStop stocks situation, for example. However, the confusion goes further than you might expect, as a financial survey from KIS Finance has found that 68% of credit card holders don’t know what APR is and why it’s costing them money. Only 31% of adults surveyed in the UK could correctly identify what an APR (that’s ‘Annual Percentage Rate’) is – get more of the stats, or find out what an Annual Percentage Rate is, here.  

Bank of mum and dad is closed

‘It is understandable that parents may want to sit on their nest egg savings for their own financial security,’ says Saffron Building Society’s chief commercial officer John Penberthy-Smith on the findings that 83% of active first-time buyers were offered no financial support from their parents. Even for those lucky enough to have a legal guardian with enough money to spare for getting them a rung on the property ladder, times are tough – 82% of those taking part in the survey admit they struggled to raise the deposit and upfront costs for their home. Read more here.   

‘Attractive’ influencers unattractive to 17 to 25-year-olds

While the influence of influencers when it comes to spending decisions and which brands are trustworthy is undeniable, there are some surprising statistics in new research from Trinity Business School. In the study of 172 17 to 25-year-olds, findings showed that influencers – or ‘cewebrities’ – deemed ‘attractive’ could have negative effects on the success of the products they align themselves with. ‘Surprisingly, attractiveness is found to have negative impacts on both product design and production performance,’ is how Assistant Professor of Marketing Dr. Xiaoning Liang sums it up. This is almost as confusing as APR – read more on the study here.

We provide these as a jumping-off point for your own research and you should perform your own checks on any of these stories – a few tips in this post. If you’d like to source experts, further information or case studies for any of these topics or something else you’re working on, head to the (free) Journalist Enquiry Service to save hours of research and expand your network of sources.