E-Mail Budgets Linked to Attitudes

Marketers' attitudes about e-mail affect their approach to strategy, judging by a study conducted in August and September 2008 by MarketingSherpa.

Respondents who thought that e-mail was becoming more effective were 50% more likely to increase their budgets annually and be concerned with staying relevant than respondents who thought e-mail's effectiveness was diminishing.

In contrast, twice as many marketers who viewed e-mail as decreasingly effective said they tried to keep e-mail close to free, or at least to hold the line on their investment.

E-mail ad spending was up 15% to $230 million during the first half of 2008 compared with the first half of 2007, according to eMarketer calculations based on Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)/PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) data.

As of Q1 2008, online marketers in the US said they were least likely to decrease e-mail marketing spending in case of a recession. Just 5% said they would cut their spending on e-mail if times got tight, compared with 41% who said they would cut display ads.