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PK
on Feb 14, 2020
Global
I want to receive updates regarding this question via email.

How many queries does Gmail get per day?

Assuming a query can refer to logins (logging into Gmail), reads (email open) , deletes,  and writes (send),

Here is how I have tried to solve it:

# of queries = # of users per day * #queries per user. 

We can divide the users as professional (enterprise) and personal users.  Last I read online the daily active user count of gmail was 1B users. I am assuming that 20% of these are professional and 80% are personal accounts.

I will first calculate the professional queries per day and then personal queries per day.

Professional Queries per day:

1.  200M (pro users)

2. Assuming on average,  everyday a professional reads 50 emails, writes to 25 of them, and deletes 5 of them. The number of queries that a given professional had done per day = 80.

3. Total professional queries = 200 * 10^6 * 80 --> 16 x 10^9.  (part a)

Personal Queries:

We have the remainder 800M users. I am assuming a uniform age distribution for these users. I am also assuming that these users are primarily in the age group 15 - 65. I will further segment these users based on their usage.  Also I will assume that Gmail penetration amongst all users is

15-20 (moderate users) = 5/100*800M --> 40M

I am assuming moderate users get 10 email (read), write 5 emails and delete none perday. = 15 query per day

20-50 (power users) = 30/100*800M --> 240M

I am assuming power users get 20 email (read), write 5 emails and delete 5 perday. = 40 query per day

50 - 65 (casual users) = 15/100*800M --> 120M

I am casual  users get 5 email (read), write 1 emails and delete 0 perday. = 6 query per day

Thus total query per day for personal users = (40M * 15)+ (240M*40)+(120M*6). -- (part b)

Thus the total number of queries per day  = part a + part b.

Any thoughts on this approach?

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Top answer
Antonello
Coach
on Feb 16, 2020
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi Piyush, 
I like your approach. The only thing you can improve is estimating also the number of active users on Gmail, by making assumptions on how many people use email service and the market share of Gmail (both personal and professional). Then you can compare your estimation with the number you have read to prove that the order of magnitude is correct. 

Best,
Antonello

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Luca
Coach
on Feb 29, 2020
BCG |NASA | SDA Bocconi & Cattolica partner | GMAT expert 780/800 score | 200+ students coached

Hello Piyush,

I'm not an IT expert ut I think that you should consider also account used by enterprise to send marketing emails to larg mailing lists. They could be included in the bucket "professional" but the amount of email is larger.

Best,
Luca

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