E-mail marketing continues to hit home with shoppers, new study says

Online retailers have good reason to continue to love e-mail marketing, says a new report from Forrester Research.

Today the average click-through rate for an e-mail campaign is about 5% - the same rate as in 2003, says Forrester. But e-mail recipients also are web retailers’ best customers. Consumers who buy products advertised in e-mail spend 138% more than typical non-readers and more than 50% of consumers who open and read e-mail marketing messages also are likely to purchase other items on impulse.

“47% of consumers who think e-mail is a great way to find out about new products or promotions are willing to pay a premium for products that save them time and hassles,” says Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk in the report “E-Mail Marketing Comes of Age.”

The report also finds that three in five customers who forward e-mail ads to friends are women and that younger shoppers ages 18 to 34 represent one-third of all consumers who maintain a discrete e-mail address for promotions.

“E-mail has reached almost universal penetration-97% of consumers and 94% of marketers use it,” the report says.