Marketing Budgets Predicted To Increase, But What About Email?

Marketing budgets in the United States and United Kingdom are expected to increase year-over-year for the third consecutive year, according to a report released Tuesday by Gartner. 

More than half of all marketers expect their budget to increase next year, according to the study, while only 14% of marketers expect their budgets to decrease. The analyst firm polled 377 marketers from companies making over $250 million in annual revenue, releasing the results in the 2016-2017 Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Spend Survey report (subscription required).

The top three areas of planned investment are the Web, digital commerce and digital advertising, according to Gartner, with 65% of marketers planning to invest additional resources in the latter category. 

"Digital advertising" is obviously a broad category, ranging across multiple communication channels. The Gartner study does not directly address investment in email marketing, but it would be wise for marketers to incorporate email in any planned 2016-2017 marketing budget. 

Email still generates the highest revenue per dollar spent, yet it lags in investment, per an Adestra and eConsultancy study released earlier this year. Brands spend an average of 15% of their marketing budget on email according to the report, although email accounts for 23% of total sales. 

Email is a powerful revenue generator, and it is also consumers’ most preferred method of brand communication according to an October study by Bluecore.

Sixty-eight percent of the 1,200 consumers polled by Bluecore across all ages selected email as their most preferred method of contact when communicating with a brand. Email overwhelmingly beat other digital advertising channels in the study, including online ads, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest -- which all remained in the single digits.

When broken down by age, email was the preferred method of communication for 73% of Baby Boomers, 71% of Generation X, 62% of Millennials and 65% of Generation Z.

Sixty-three percent of Gmail users even regularly admitting to checking their ‘promotions’ tab to find brands’ email marketing, according to Bluecore, while 47% responded that they check the tab daily.

1 comment about "Marketing Budgets Predicted To Increase, But What About Email?".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Mike Templeton from Aisleside, November 10, 2016 at 10:30 p.m.

    It's not surprising to see these numbers continue to climb, especially when you consider it's where consumers are spending most of their time. Bright and shiny objects are always attractive, but in the end they'll fall flat if they aren't aligned to the behaviors of your customers. 

Next story loading loading..