E-mail continues to eat into other forms of marketing, says a new survey

E-mail marketing, a relatively young medium compared to other marketing techniques, is quickly becoming an integral part of marketers’ promotional mix, says the 2002 E-Mail Marketing Benchmarking Study from e-Dialog, a provider of e-mail marketing services.

Among the findings:
--32% of respondents ranked e-mail as their number one most effective marketing vehicle. 82% ranked it in their top three.
-48% consider e-mail a mainstream marketing vehicle for their companies.
--55% have increased the percentage of marketing budget they will spend on e-mail in 2002 vs. 2001, while only 5% have decreased it. In comparison, 16% have increased their traditional direct mail budget allocation, while 33% have decreased it.
--Of all the marketing budget categories, only e-mail`s average percentage of budget rose from 2001 to 2002.
--54% of marketers surveyed increased their use of e-mail marketing as a result of the down economy.

"Marketers continue to increase their investments in e-mail marketing because it can be such an effective medium when done right," said John Rizzi, president and chief executive officer of e-Dialog. "We have seen the marketing budgets of our clients steadily shifting toward e-mail, and this study further substantiates that trend."