Research conducted by online marketing services supplier eCircle has discovered that this year marketing industry experts will place more value on email than any other marketing channel to drive sales during the Christmas period.
Over 40 per cent of those survey stated that email was a “very important” channel for generating additional sales during the festive season. Surprisingly, respondents cited social media as the fourth most important channel for driving sales with 20 per cent, behind SEO and SEM which were viewed as “very important” by 33 per cent of respondents. Only 19 per cent cited display as “very important” while affiliate marketing garnered 16 per cent of the vote.
Experts from the UK, France and Germany were surveyed as part of the eCircle’s research, 93 per cent of those stated that email will increase overall consumer spending, with 40 per cent believing that email marketing has the ability to generate up to a 10 per cent increase in Christmas sales. One third of respondents said they would increase the frequency of their campaign by 10 per cent, with another third claiming they would make no changes to the frequency of their email activity at all.
eCircle managing director, Simon Bowker, commented: “This study is a clear indication of how important email is. It is encouraging to see that marketers value it the single most important online platform for driving sales. The key to effective email marketing is personalised, targeted communications, and this research confirms that marketers recognise it is quality over quantity that matters, and they don’t need to increase the frequency of their campaign in order to drive this high return.”