• by Ray Schultz , February 5, 2019

Email marketing came in last in ROI in a study on influencer marketing by SocialPubli.com — a finding contradicted by many other surveys.

Of 150 marketers polled, only 2% say email produces the best ROI.

In contrast, 35.3% cited influencer marketing, while 29.4% named SEO, 21.6% cited social ads and 11.8% named SEM.

However, a survey by Adestra last year found that 73% are getting good to excellent ROI from email, with SEO coming in second. And the Data and Marketing Association documents an email ROI of 124%.

The survey also shows that 93% of the respondents are using influencer marketing, and that 84% find it effective. In addition, 72% have been using it for more than one year.

However, 37% deploy it only on special occasions, and only 30% have an “always on” strategy. Twenty-five percent say they use it frequently.

Of those polled, 53% allocate at least 10% of their budgets to influencer marketing, and 32% designate from 10% to $25%. Only 3% devote 25% to 50% to influencer marketing, but 18% allocate over 50%.

This year, 60% plan to increase their budgets, while 30% plan to maintain them and 2.5% plan to reduce them.

What metrics do they use to document their success?  For 26%, engagement is the leading metric, and for 19% it’s reach. Another 13% measure website traffic 13% measure sales and lead generation.

“It’s encouraging to see that marketers are starting to transition away from vanity metrics towards the use of more solid KPIs to determine the success of partnerships as they hone in on what’s working and what isn’t seeking higher ROIs,” states Ismael El-Qudsi, CEO of SocialPubli.com.