Email marketing outstrips direct mail in U.K.

The volume of marketing emails sent in the U.K. has overtaken direct mail for the first time, according to the British Direct Marketing Association.

by Helen Leggatt

dma%20logo.gif The DMA in the U.K. has released data from its most recent Email Benchmarking report. The figures reveal email marketing has outstripped direct mail in terms of volume.

While direct mail volumes have decreased there has been a rise of 52 percent in the volume of marketing emails sent. During Q1 2007, the number of marketing emails increased to 1.6 billion while the number of direct mail pieces dropped 2 percent to 1.2 billion.

“The continued growth of email marketing reiterates its importance as an effective marketing channel – for both retaining existing customers and generating new customer relationships,” said Richard Gibson, chairman of the DMA’s Email Marketing Council Benchmarking Hub.

All of the survey respondents, which included 75 percent of the U.K.’s email service providers, believed that the volume of email being sent will continue to rise. Improvements in deliverability and hard bounce rates, coupled with the medium’s targeting, measurement and creative capabilities, are all key to attracting marketers to use email in their marketing mix.