Datran study finds an increase in e-mail marketing budgets

Seventy-two percent of marketers plan to employ more e-mail marketing in 2007, according to a Datran Media survey.

The survey asked 1,500 marketing professionals from 50 different companies, including KPMG International, infoUSA, Q Interactive and Art.com about e-mail marketing. It found that 70.5 percent of these marketers plan to increase spending on e-mail acquisition campaigns and that 63 percent will increase spending on retention campaigns.

"As the audience for offline marketing media continues to migrate online, more and more marketers are spending their money on e-mail and search," s aid Lana McGilvray, vice president of marketing at Datran Media, New York. " The two channels instantly connect marketers with customers and prospects, and their ROI performance can be tracked in real-time."

The study also found that paying for performance is an appealing option for marketers who have historically fought to prove the return on investment for channel choices. Art.com specifically found it much easier to get e-mail budget approval because of past returns.

In addition to boosting e-mail marketing programs, the Datran Media survey also found that more than half of the respondents outsourced e-mail marketing. Also, e-mail optimization techniques, including landing pages, subject line testing and triggered messaging, were unanimously ranked as "very important."

In addition, the study found that 83 percent of respondents were confident that e-mail ROI will increase during the new year.

"Now that major brands have opened their kimonos and publicly discussed the revenue that adding e-mail to their multichannel marketing mix has delivered, those who left money on the table will follow," Ms. McGilvray said.