Commentary

Email's Clean Sweep: Channel Scores Best On ROI And Acquisition In B2C Marketing

Email continues to hold its ground as providing the best ROI in B2C marketing, according to Customer Acquisition & Retention Research 2021, a study by Spot Trender. 

Of the companies polled, 62% say email provides the best ROI, according to findings shared by Rick Nguyen, president and co-founder of Spot Trender.   

Email is followed by print (44%), direct mail (41%), TV (21%), SEO (20%), SBM (15%), programmatic (61)%, display/video (15%), and audio (13%).

However, email narrowly comes in second in ease of measurement and tracking of ROI by channel: 

  • SEM — 79% 
  • Email — 74%
  • SEO — 68% 
  • Direct mail — 65% 
  • TV — 61% 
  • Programmatic display/video — 61%
  • Print — 57%
  • Audio — 45%

That said, Email is the most popular way of acquiring new customers — by far:

  • Email — 64% 
  • Print — 41% 
  • Direct Mail — 39%
  • Other — 22%
  • Programmatic Display/Video — 21%
  • TV — 20%
  • Audio — 20%
  • SEO — 18%
  • SEM — 11%

Email is also seen as the most preferred method for immediately boosting sales, although none of the numbers are very high: 

  • Email — 30%
  • Direct Mail — 16%
  • SEO — 11
  • TV — 9%
  • Programmatic Display/Video — 5% 
  • Print — 9%
  • Other — 8%
  • SEM — 5%
  • Audio — 3%

The study also reports that many respondents are unaware of solutions for tracking and optimizing ads for traditional channels like OOH, radio, and TV.

“The research echoed the importance of measuring the impact of acquisition campaigns across the entire funnel," concludes Rob Schmidt, senior vice president, management supervisor at Eicoff. 

Schmidt adds that "traditional media like TV play a vital role in building awareness and creating demand in the upper funnel, while search, remarketing, and other lower funnel tactics pull these new customers in. Smart marketers know that acquisition campaigns need to be planned, executed, and measured across the full funnel, and they need to mine their data and tap into different resources to measure impact at each stage."

Spot Trender surveyed 169 marketing leaders -- those at the director level or higher who have significant or final decision-making authority -- at B2C companies.

The research was conducted in partnership with Bottle Rocket and Eicoff, organizations that are part of Ogilvy Experience.

 

 

 

1 comment about "Email's Clean Sweep: Channel Scores Best On ROI And Acquisition In B2C Marketing".
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  1. Ronald Kurtz from American Affluence Research Center, September 2, 2021 at 4:11 p.m.

    This seems to be a survey of what a group of marketers think about email and other forms of promotional communications. It does not provide results based data on any of the forms of communication. 

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