Businesses engage in email marketing because it works – and works well.
Here are the numbers:
- According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generated an ROI of $51.58 for every dollar spent on it in 2006. The expected figure for 2007 is $48.56, and the prediction for 2008 is $45.65. As such, it outperforms all the other direct marketing channels examined, such as print catalogs.
- In a December 2007 survey of over 2000 marketers by Datran Media (an email marketing service), 80% of respondents “indicated email was the strongest performing media buy ahead of search and display.” 55% expected “ROI from email to be higher than any other channel.”
- Marketers responding to a July 2007 global survey by McKinsey put email second only to paid keywords in terms of online marketing efficiency.
- A July 2007 survey of over 3,000 marketers involved in search marketing by MarketingSherpa saw “email marketing to a house list” garners the most votes as the strongest marketing tactic. And it gained more votes than any other tactic for “good ROI.”
- A 2007 survey of over 1,000 advertisers by Outsell Inc. put email as the second most effective online marketing tool after the company’s own website.
- A July 2007 survey by Newsweaver and B2B Marketing Magazine of 170 marketers revealed 87% considered email critical, important or very important to their B2B marketing strategy.
- In a March 2007 survey of hotel marketers by Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, 58.7% cited email marketing as one of the Internet marketing formats that generate the best results and highest ROI.
Achieving a high ROI from email marketing requires a well-designed marketing program and a website with high-quality and fresh content of value to your target market. Unless you are an experienced marketing professional, creating, editing, and promoting unique high-quality content can be difficult and time-consuming. Given the high ROI, consider outsourcing.
Do what you do best and outsource the rest.