• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 11, 2022

Email newsletters are fading slightly as an information source for engineers. And this may indicate COVID-19 has induced email fatigue, according to 2022 State of Marketing to Engineers, a study by TREW Marketing and GlobalSpec. 

Of the engineers polled, 89% subscribe to at least one email newsletter, and 55% to at least three. But the latter number is down by 7%, compared with last year. 

In general, engineers turn to the following information sources when researching a product or service for purchase:

• Supplier/vendor sites — 69%
• Trade publications (online) — 46%
• Industry directory websites — 41%
• Publication emails/newsletters — 37%
• Industry/association groups — 35%
• Vendor emails/e-newsletters — 34%
• Conferences/trade shows — 29%
• YouTube — 27%s
• Trade publications (print) — 27%
• Social media — 12%
• Podcasts —4%
• Other — 5%

Despite their low placement in this listing, podcasts are popular -- 73% listen to work-related podcasts during their work week, a 33% increase over the prior year. And 96% consume video for work-related purposes, with 53% spending an hour or more on these types of videos weekly. 

In addition, 83% are willing to fill out a form in exchange for useful technical content. And that’s where firms have a chance to snare their email address and perhaps get them to subscribe to a newsletter.

Overall, 16% of engineers subscribe to 6+ email newsletters, 39% to 3 to 5, 34% to 1 to 2 and 11% to none at all.

People under the age of 35 are most likely to subscribe to 6+ newsletters. 

What makes a winning email newsletter from a company? The elements include: 

• In-depth technical information — 70%
• Industry trends and news — 55%
• Variety of content topics — 36% 
• Video content — 17%
• Other — 4%

Engineers also like email when communicating with salespeople — 53% prefer it when they initiate a discussion.

But marketers should be cautious -- engineers list these issues they encounter when engaging with vendors:

1. Lack of technical expertise
2. Poor responsiveness
3. Contacting me too often
4. Reaching out to me without permission (unsolicited)
5. Emails with grammar/misspelling issues 
6. Lack of presence at industry functions, online, etc. 

On the other side, here are the factors most likely to influence them: 

1. Technical expertise
2. Responsiveness and customer service 
3. Innovative technology 
4. Price 
5. Referrals 
6. Company values/social responsibility 
7. Financial stability
8. Awards

What types of content do engineers want? They prefer:  

• Datasheets — 77% 
• CAD drawing — 45% 
• White paper — 39% 
• Tutorial/how-to video — 38% 
• Product/service overview video — 37%
• Product review/testimonial — 35% 
• Case study — 31% 
• Trade publication article — 28%
• Print catalog — 28% 
• On-demand webinar — 26%
• eBook — 23% 
• Conference presentation video — 15% 
• ROI calculator — 13% 
• 1:1 interview (audio or video) — 15% 
• In-depth blog post — 8%
• Corporate overview video — 7% 
• Other — 4% 

Here are the types of content for which they will provide their information:

• White paper — 37% 
• CAD drawing — 35% 
• Webinar — 30%
• In-depth case study — 29% 
• Product configurator — 28% 
• Video tutorial — 26% 
• News article — 18% 
• ROI calculator — 9% 
• Infographic — 6% 
• Other — 5%
• I am never willing to fill out a web form in exchange for content — 17%

Among social media platforms, YouTube is deemed the most valuable, followed in descending order by LinkedIn, Git’Hub, Quora, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram and Clubhouse. 

Drilling down, 81% of the respondents spend some amount of time reading or sharing information with their LinkedIn networks. For 52%, that totals less than one hour per week, but 24% devote between 1 and 5 hours, and 5% to more than 5 hours. 

Over 800 engineers and technical professionals across the globe responded to our most recent survey. Of those, 89% were male, 6% female and 5% non-binary, and 1% did not answer. Also, 53% self-identified as white or Caucasian, 15% as Asian or Asian-American, 14% as Hispanic or Latino, 2% as Black or African American, 2% as American Indian or Alaska Native Native, 0.13% and as Hawaiian or other Pacific Island. Another 5% prefer to self-describe and 13% to not answer. 

Professionally, 85% identified themselves as engineers, 8% as manufacturing staff and 8% as working in product management.  

The primary industries included engineering services (19%), automotive (9%), energy (9%), aerospace/defense (9%) and electronics/electronic components/semiconductors (8%). The remainder verticals were 5% or less.