This article originally appeared on the Twilio SendGrid blog.

During a year of change, email has become an even more crucial connection between businesses and their customers. Email engagement increased by 200% in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As more customers stay at home, checking the inbox has become a regular part of customers’ daily routines—day and night, we check-in with our favorite brands and organizations. 

In 2020, Twilio SendGrid kept businesses connected to their customers by reliably processing over 1 trillion emails. Imagine 1 trillion letter-sized pieces of paper lined up end to end. That’s 173 million miles—long enough to travel to Mars and back when it's closest to Earth. Twice!

This incredible feat would not have been possible without our customers: senders both large and small who trusted us to deliver email to their customers. To celebrate this milestone, here’s a look at a few …