For companies entering the U.S. market, the first challenge is often visibility. How do you reach potential buyers when they have never heard of your brand, your search rankings are still developing, and your local network is limited?
A report from Northeastern University offers a useful place to start: the inbox.
The researchers analyzed desktop browsing data from 4,608 U.S. adults between June 2024 and December 2025. In the observed data, Gmail accounted for 16.4% of desktop browser time, more than any other individual platform. Email services as a category accounted for approximately one-quarter of the time measured.
For B2B teams, that finding is a reason to take email seriously when building a U.S. market entry strategy. But the opportunity is not simply to send more messages. It is to reach the right people with a reason to respond.
Published in May 2026, How Americans Spend Their Time Online analyzed browsing activity collected by the National Internet Observatory. The study found:
There are important limits to these numbers. The study used a weighted, opt-in panel and measured time when a browser tab was in the foreground; it did not establish that a person was reading or paying attention throughout. Mobile use, work computers, and native desktop applications were outside its scope. It also did not measure cold-email performance or B2B purchase decisions.
The findings are therefore not a direct measure of business buyers’ inbox behavior. They do, however, show that email occupies a substantial place in the personal desktop browsing the researchers observed. That makes it a useful starting point for a broader question: how should a company with little U.S. brand recognition start conversations with potential customers?
Entering a new market often means competing with companies that have spent years building local recognition. Search, social media, events, and advertising can all help close that gap, but each requires time, budget, or an existing audience.
Targeted email offers another path: identify specific companies that fit your offering, find the relevant people, and start a direct conversation. You can test a message with a defined group and learn from their responses without waiting for buyers to discover you.
This does not make email a fully owned channel. Inbox providers filter messages, and recipients decide whether to engage. Nor does the Northeastern report prove that email outperforms search or advertising. The strategic case is more practical: for a company that already knows whom it wants to reach, email can be a useful way to begin testing demand while other channels develop.
Start with a specific ideal customer profile: industry, company size, location, business model, and the problem your product can solve. Then identify the roles involved in evaluating or purchasing a solution like yours.
For example, a cosmetics manufacturer might focus on U.S. beauty distributors that carry professional skincare brands, then look for contacts responsible for sourcing or brand partnerships. A narrower starting point makes both research and messaging more relevant.
A message should connect what you offer to something relevant to the recipient. That could be the types of products they distribute, the market they serve, or a recent business development you have verified.
Keep the first email clear and easy to answer. Introduce your company, explain why you are reaching out, and propose a small next step. Personalization should show that you understand the buyer’s business, not just insert their name into a template.
A good message only matters if it can be delivered. Set up your sending domain and authentication, keep contact data current, monitor bounces and complaints, and make it easy for recipients to opt out. Increase volume gradually as you learn what works.
For commercial outreach in the U.S., review the FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide. It applies to B2B commercial emails as well. Also check the requirements of the mailbox providers you send to, such as Gmail’s sender guidelines.
For an initial campaign, choose a focused group of target accounts and test a small number of messages. Track deliverability, positive replies, meetings booked, and opportunities created alongside bounce, complaint, and opt-out rates.
A high volume of emails is not the goal. The goal is to learn which buyers have a real need, which messages resonate, and where a sales conversation can move forward.
The Northeastern report also found that LLM tools represented a measurable share of desktop browsing. That snapshot does not show whether AI-generated sales outreach performs better. But AI can help a small team work through the practical tasks involved in international prospecting: researching accounts, drafting messages for different audiences, and managing follow-ups.
Human judgment still matters. Teams need to check the accuracy of buyer research, review claims, protect their brand voice, and decide how to respond when a prospect engages. The best use of AI is to give salespeople more time for those decisions and conversations.
For companies entering the U.S., building awareness is important. So is creating opportunities to learn directly from potential buyers. A focused email campaign can support both: it puts a relevant offer in front of a defined audience and produces feedback that can improve targeting, positioning, and future marketing.
Meet Selly, DeepSales’ AI sales agent. Selly helps teams identify overseas buyers, prepare personalized outreach, manage follow-ups, and coordinate meetings—so they can spend more time building relationships and growing in new markets.
Research source: Lazer, D., Özturan, B., Wilson, C., Choffnes, D., Waldrip, C., Lu, H.-C., and Wihbey, J. (2026). How Americans Spend Their Time Online. Northeastern University.