Following a vote last month by the European Parliament to
tighten the rules on unsolicited commercial e-mail, the Direct
Marketing Association has released the results of a survey that
measures e-mail marketing activity in the UK.
The results of the survey, based on 402 respondents, include the
following findings:
- 16% of respondents are using e-mail marketing more than direct
mail.
- Over 86% of respondents plan to increase their e-mail marketing
budget within 2 years.
- 60% of respondents are currently running e-mail marketing
campaigns. Of those not currently running campaigns, 85% plan to do
so within 2 years.
- Customer based e-mail campaigns are achieving a response rate
of 10% - 15%.
- E-mail is being used for: servicing information requests (60%),
targeting new business (58%), customer newsletters (53%), account
management (44%), providing account information to customers (35%),
taking orders on-line (29%), and billing (11%).
- 67% of respondents viewed e-mail as a secure medium for
communicating sensitive or commercial information.
Questions of use of e-mail in the office were answered as
follows:
- Over 60% read personal e-mail at work.
- One in three respondents have sent an embarrassing e-mail to
the wrong person.
- One in six respondents have fired or threatened an employee
with disciplinary action because of an inappropriate e-mail sent at
work.
