More than half (56%) of the 250 senior B2B and B2C brand marketers surveyed for the DMA Email Marketing Council’s 2013 National Client Email Report, stated that they are “confident that expenditure on email marketing will increase this year”. The findings indicate that email is bucking the prevailing industry trend as the figures published in the latest IPA Bellwether report suggested an overall decline in direct marketing spend.
According to the respondents polled, email delivered an average ROI of £21.48 for every £1 spend last year – the first time the Client Email Report has published an ROI figure. Its performance is tied to ever-improving and more sophisticated techniques: over half of brands surveyed reported an increase in open, click and conversion rates in 2012, a 5% increase compared to 2011 figures.
However, the value of generic ’one size fits all’ campaigns continued to decrease with 75% of email revenue now coming from more targeted approaches. Trigger email campaigns generated 21% of email revenue, despite low volumes sent compared to more general campaigns.
Nine in 10 (89%) respondents declared email to be “important” or “very important” to their organisation. However, in spite of email’s strong commercial performance, respondents expressed concern that the channel’s contribution to their businesses’ bottom lines is failing to earn the recognition it deserves among senior colleagues.
