By Jon-Mikel Bailey, Owner and Director of Business Development, Wood Street, Inc.
(Published October 11, 2004)

Well, if you have made it this far, our point is made. . . People read email! Are you using your email to its fullest potential? Emails can be used to sell products, promote ideas or provide useful information or they can be used to promote events.

Statistics show that email is strong and growing stronger everyday.

Take a look at the facts

Around 65 percent of marketers say they plan to increase their use of email newsletters
Almost two-thirds of B2B marketers and more than one-half of B2C marketers also claim that they plan to increase their use of email newsletter sponsorship. (Aug 2002, Intermarket Group)

Spending on email marketing will increase
Forrester forecasts that spending on email marketing will grow from $1.3 billion in 2001 to $6.8 billion in 2006. Jupiter Media Metrix is more optimistic, forecasting growth from $1 billion in 2001 to $9.4 billion in 2006. (May 2002, ZDNet)

Email marketing increases sales
T wo thirds of US companies report increased sales in 2001 as a result of using email marketing. (April 2002, DM News quoted in Nua)

US consumers online
Survey of 57,000 households in the United States shows nearly half of the US population use email (45.2 percent, up from 35.4 percent in 2000). (Feb 2002, US Department of Commerce)

Over 100 million American adults now use the Internet:
77 percent of all users send e-mails weekly. The average user sends 6.4 e-mails per day.
Source: e-marketer

Internet direct marketing is estimated to be 60-65 percent cheaper than traditional direct marketing.
Source: Yankee Group

Direct marketing cost-per-piece comparison: $.01-$.25 per e-mail versus $1.00-$2.00 for traditional mail.
Banner ads have a response rate between .005 to 1%. Direct mail programs typically generate an average 1 to 2%. Opt-in e-mail campaigns produce and average response rate of 5 to 15%. The rapid response rates for email marketing programs (which average 80% return within 48 hours vs. 6 to 8 weeks for traditional direct marketing methods), is building the huge surge in demand for outsourced volume email solutions.
Source: Jupiter Communications

E-mail accounts for 91% of online usage.
Source: Yahoo/Jupiter Communications/USA Today

Marketers that outsource the delivery and list management of their email have more than 400% higher purchase rates than those that keep email operations in-house (6% versus 1.4%) HTML email will become the central point of customer contact as it delivers not just marketing, but also transactional and customer service. Both the infrastructure and skills required to personalize, deliver, and analyze such sophisticated email campaigns will force firms to turn to outside experts. Among 50 retail marketers which Forrester surveyed, 64% outsourced at least part of their e-mail operations. A well known hotel recently sent an email message to about 8,000 customers who had opted-in to their mailing list. Their offer for discounted hotel rooms received a 45% response and resulted in the selling of 2,000 rooms.
Source: Boldfish Inc.

65% of home and work Internet users have a college degree and their median household annual income is $67,000.
Of the items for which Internet shoppers browse online, they complete the transaction 15% of the time online, but 43% of the time offline, that's a 3:1 ratio in favor of buying offline. When survey respondents were asked about receiving a personalized email newsletter with only product information that matches their profile, 50% of the people said they'd appreciate receiving it, and 25% said they want to receive an email news letter from a merchant once a week.
Source: Clickz.com

The number of email users has hit 122.6 million.
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings

65% of the dollars spent on e-mail direct marketing will be used to retain customers, as opposed to acquiring them.
Source: S.G. Cowen

Email is for more than just sending a quick note...or sending an attachment. Email can be used to reach a large audience in an effective way. Are you utilizing this very strong marketing tool that you see every day? Still don't believe us? Why are you still reading?

With backgrounds in both fine arts and business development Jon has an interesting perspective about getting the word out. He has developed marketing campaigns for clients locally, nationally and internationally. Throughout all of Wood Street's projects the focus remains consistent - what's the message and who cares? For Jon it is all about making some noise, so to speak. If you feel like you are not being heard, you might want to contact Jon at jbailey@woodst.com.

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