The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) has today (25 April) released its Consumer Email Tracker 2023 report, which highlighted the continued importance of email marketing.
According to the DMA’s research, just 15% of consumers believed email brand messages to be useful in 2021 – in today’s report however the number had more than doubled, with over 32% now finding is useful.
Supported by marketing automation platform Deployteq, the research involved asking over 2,000 consumers their opinion about the emails they receive from brands and how they choose to interact with them.
The report also found that consumers continue to rate emails as more effective than all other channels for receiving brand communications, 64% for discounts, offers and sales, and 53% for new products and services.
“Email remains a key part of a consumer’s omni-channel journey. Depending on how you view it, the cost-of-living crisis has either presented a crisis in marketing effectiveness, or it has created an environment of profound opportunity for marketers,” DMA insight director, Ian Gibbs said.
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“While squeezed consumer wallets have made it harder to elicit a specific acquisition or sale in response to marketing comms, the need to nurture customers through difficult times becomes a role of fundamental importance for brands. The email channel arguably offers unrivalled effectiveness in fulfilling this role and its relevance to consumers continues to rise.”
The importance of mobile-friendly communications was also re-iterated, with 79% of respondent indicating that they preferred to view brand messages ahead of their desktops or laptops (37%).
Deployteq marketing director, Pauline Bull added: “Mobile is more prominent than ever in this year’s statistics. We see trends even more in favour of mobile as internet data becomes more accessible and the need for immediate gratification rises; it’s easier to check emails on a phone than on a laptop!
“Therefore, having a user-friendly platform that spans across multiple channels such as WhatsApp, mobile app, SMS, and email help to tailor your communications directly to customer preferences in a few clicks is now more important than ever.”
