New Chart: Email Gets Little Respect at Budget Time – Despite Its Low Cost and Efficiency

Attitudes Toward Email at Budget Time

Click here to see larger, printable version of this chart

Email is on our minds for the second week in a row – MarketingSherpa’s 7th annual Email Benchmark Survey launches tomorrow. The chart above underscores one of the enduring ironies of online marketing: Email is such an inexpensive and efficient medium that it’s often taken for granted.

Almost one-third of responding organizations view email as a strategic tool; they invest enough to ‘stay on top of the medium.’ That leaves the rest in some version of maintenance mode, spending little more than enough to keep pace with inflation.

Note, though, that after initial technology and personnel investments, some organizations can enjoy top-notch programs without increasing their spending. But it’s unlikely that many respondents fall into this category.

The key takeaway:
Unlike other media, increasing spending on email can boost reach and efficiency. Come budget time, it’s worth arguing for the technology or service provider to take advantage.

In a few weeks, we’ll have the results of this year’s email survey. We’ll find out if the downturn in the economy has affected views toward email. We know that more is being asked of email this year, but is more being invested? We’ll see.

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MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008:
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on.html