• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 9, 2023

A recent study by Sequel Response is being publicized because it shows that a majority of companies have increased their email marketing budgets in the past 12 months — more than any other channel.  

That’s a great vote of confidence in email. But these accounts overlook the next set of charts in the study. 

Consumers themselves were asked how overwhelmed they are by the amount of advertising they receive.

Guess which channel fared the worst?  

Email topped the list, with the following percentages of consumers saying they feel overwhelmed by:

• Email marketing — 33%
• Sponsored social-media content ads — 28% 
• Ads through TV or video streaming — 25%
• Sponsored influencer-marketing content ads — 22% 
• Text-messaging ads — 22% 
• Direct-mail ads (letter, postcards, catalogs) — 15%
• Radio or digital audio (streaming ads) — 14% 
• Printed media ads (magazines, newspapers) — 10%
• Ads on billboards or event signage — 8% 

At the same time, 23% of consumers say they are somewhat overwhelmed by email marketing ads. 

So email doesn’t come out very well in this part of the study.   

However, consumers list the most influential types of ads as follows: 

• Ads through TV or video streaming services — 50% 
• Email marketing ads — 36% 
• Direct mail ads (letters, postcards, catalogs) — 38% 
• Sponsored social-media content ads — 36% 
• Radio or digital audio ads — 31% 
• Printed media ads (magazines, newspapers) — 26%
• Paid online search results or banner ads — 15%
• Sponsored influencer marketing ads — 15% 
• Ads on billboards or event signage — 14%
• Text-message ads — 14%

Granted, this is a report more about direct mail than anything. It shows that 69% of consumers engage with mail once per week, and that almost 33% of consumers do so daily. 

Moreover, 70% of brands say their direct mail performance has improved in the last 12 months. 

But here is the full budget breakdown for the last 12 months, although we don't know the dollar amounts::

• Email marketing — 62% 
• Social media — 52%
• Influencer marketing — 50% 
• Direct mail — 49%
• SMS/MMS — 48%
• Programmatic display — 47%
• Printed media — 46% 
• Search engine optimization (SEO) — 46%
• Out-of-home (OOM) — 42%
• CTV/OTT — 42% 
• Linear TV — 37% 
• Radio — 37%

Sequel Response partnered with ISG to survey 250 B2B and B2C marketing strategy leaders. In addition, it surveyed 400 consumers.