Commentary
Email Challenges TV as Marketing Tool
- by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 7, 2005
EMarketer, reporting on research conducted by IPT in August and September 2004 says that consumers are showing a more favorable opinion of e-mail marketing compared to TV advertising. When asked to pick the most effective marketing communication channel, 32% of consumers say e-mail, not far behind the 39% that choose television. The report claims, "e-mail is fast encroaching on TV's territory as the king of promotion."
Probing consumers to find out what makes them most likely to respond to e-mail messages, the study found that Discounts or money-off offers top the list, followed closely by a general interest in the product.
Most Influential Aspect of Marketing email in UK, 2004 (% of respondents)
Source: IPT October, 2004
The report finds that 92% of industry professionals currently include e-mail in their marketing budgets, and 51% of them intend to increase their spending next year.
But, says the report, marketers still use e-mail marketing predominantly for customer retention, while its potential for up selling, customer acquisition and brand awareness is being under utilized. Just 41% of marketers measure open and click-through rates to gauge the effectiveness of their campaigns. Furthermore, 63% of the executives surveyed are still unclear on the implications of recent privacy laws and regulations.
You can find out more here.
Jack Loechner is the Editor of The Center for Media Research's daily Research Brief. You can reach him at jack@mediapost.com.