DMA and Econsultancy Release 'Email In Action' Report; EEC Conference Provides Tips and Trends on All Things Email

February 9, 2012 — The Email Experience Council (eec) of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Econsultancy today released a new report, “2012: Email in Action.” The study, which represents the first collaboration between DMA and Econsultancy, reports the findings of a joint survey on current email practices and the concerns of email marketers. The study covers current challenges to email marketing, the relationship between email and social media, segmentation, automation, metrics, and budgetary share.

The study found that, despite the challenges posed by the spread of social and mobile media, email continues to grow. Agencies report that 60 percent of their clients are in fact increasing their email usage. At the same time, 75 percent of marketers described competition from social media as “somewhat” or “very” challenging, and 69 percent said they believe that young people are abandoning email as a primary channel. 65 percent also report that they have problems getting email budgets that the channel deserves.

“Email is going through a transition,” said Yory Wurmser, DMA’s director of marketing & media insights. “Although email is still a vibrant channel, consumers — especially younger ones — use it more selectively, and marketers need to adjust accordingly.”

One area for improvement is the symbiosis between email and subscribers' social channels. The study found that 69 percent of marketers use sharing icons that link their email and social media, but that is the extent to which most companies integrate these two channels. Moreover, less than one in four has a documented plan to integrate email and social, and fewer than half use behavior for personalization.

“Email is really two channels,” writes Stefan Tornquist, vice president, research for Econsultancy. “One is precise and highly effective; the other a blunt instrument that attempts to compensate for relevance with volume. The penalties for not trying are getting steeper.”

Key Findings:

· 75 percent of respondents describe competition with social media as “somewhat” or “very” challenging.

· 69 percent report that young people are abandoning email as a primary channel.

· 69 percent of companies use sharing icons to link their email with their social media.

· Only 35 percent of companies have incentives for email subscribers to join their social programs; only 23 percent seek to build subscribers in the other direction.

· Less than one in four organizations has a documented plan to integrate email and social.

· 55 percent of client-side marketers are using lead source to personalize/segment their mailings, while 53 percent are using demographic data.

· Email automation is rated as effective by 80 percent of client-side marketers, with stages of the buying cycle the highest rated trigger.

· Content marketing is the second largest element of the email budget for most organizations, trailing only funds for email service providers.

Methodology

The data in this report comes from a survey of 467 marketers, agencies, and suppliers of email marketing. The survey was deployed in November 2011 to both DMA’s house email list and the Econsultancy proprietary panel of marketers. Respondents were given the incentive of a free copy of the report for completing the survey.

The report can be purchased by clicking here.

The 2012 Email Evolution Conference

For an up-close look at all things email, the Email Evolution Conference — which will be held February 22-24 at the Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, Florida — offers attendees the latest tips and trends in the ever-evolving world of email marketing. This high-powered event will feature keynotes from Gilt Groupe, Forrester Research, BlueHornet, and TextureMedia. Top digital marketers will demonstrate how this low-cost communication tool can provide a highly rewarding ROI — whether used on its own, or integrated with social, search, mobile, video, and other email enhancers.

For more information, and to register for this exciting event, please click here.

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About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the world’s largest global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including half of the Fortune 100 companies.

In 2012, marketers — commercial and nonprofit —will spend $168.5 billion on direct marketing, which accounts for 52.7 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures will generate approximately $2.05 trillion in incremental sales. In 2012, direct marketing accounts for 8.7 percent of total US gross domestic product and produces1.3 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 7.9 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.2 million US jobs.

About Email Experience Council (eec)

The Email Experience Council celebrates and empowers marketers around the globe to create amazing subscriber experiences, follow and improve email marketing best practices and, by their example and dedication, demonstrate the critical role email plays in integrated marketing. Our mission is to invest in, educate and bring together innovative email and digital marketers who understand the critical role email marketing plays in integrated, multi-channel marketing. We provide a broad series of initiatives that illustrate the importance of email marketing as a communications vehicle. We accomplish this through stellar education at our conferences, relevant research, legislative advocacy and member roundtables and advisory committees. We continually partner with innovative companies who positively impact our community and represent the voices of our members. Sign up for our free newsletters and gain access to a wealth of information: www.emailexperience.org.

About Econsultancy

Econsultancy is a community where the world's digital marketing and ecommerce professionals meet to sharpen their strategy, source suppliers, get quick answers, compare notes, help each other out and discover how to do everything better online. Founded in 1999, Econsultancy has grown to become the leading source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce. Our reports, events, online resources and training programs help our 110,000+ members make better decisions, build business cases, find the best suppliers, look smart in meetings and accelerate their careers.

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