BOSTON (CBS) – Does it ever feel like you can’t keep up with your inbox, that the email just keeps coming and coming?

It might not be your imagination.

Retailers are sending 20-percent more email than they did a year ago.

“Email marketing can be very targeted,” according to David Gerzof Richard. He is the president of Big Fish, a marketing communications firm in Brookline.

He says more companies are now seeing the benefits of email after getting on board the social media bandwagon.

“You might be able to read everything in your email inbox, but there’s no way you can keep up with every tweet and every Facebook update from the people you are following.”

Newer technology, like tablets and smartphones are changing how we get information.

“Greater than half of the U.S. population now has a smartphone,” said Gerzof Richard. “These devices are very quick and very enabled to be able to not just get one email account, but multiple email accounts. It is very easy to be able to push a message directly to a consumer where they are.”

One strategy to avoid getting so many emails is to just stop giving out your email address. You might, however, miss out on some good promotional offers.

“The best thing to do here is have a second email address, kind of like a Hotmail account where you can just send all of your junk,” said Gerzof Richard.

“You can pick through it if need be, but for the most part you are not seeing it. You are using the primary email for your correspondence.”