Email ROI still impressive, but falling

Figures released by the US Direct Marketing Association show email marketing is still delivering impressive ROI despite falls over the past two years.

According to the data, marketers will have spent around $500m (£244m) on email marketing to drive $23bn (£11.2bn) in sales by the end of 2007. That equates to $48.56 (£23.60) for every dollar spent.

This ROI, though impressive, has fallen significantly from previous years:

• Email returned $57.25 (£27.91) for every dollar in 2005, and $51.58 (£25.14) for every dollar spent in 2006.
  
  
• The DMA forecasts that ROI will continue to fall next year, with marketers predicted to spend $600m to drive $27bn in sales in 2008. This equates to $45.65 (£22.26) for every dollar spent.

Email ROI still compares favourably to other marketing channels though, with non-email online marketing expected to return $20.67 (£10.07) for every dollar spent this year.

In our recent Email Marketing Industry Census, a surprising 47% of respondents did not know what their company's ROI from email marketing was.

Of those that did know, 55% said that ROI was three times or more, while 32% said it was five times or more.

Related stories:
Five reasons to embrace email marketing
Email marketing overtakes direct mail  

Related research:
Email Marketing Roundtable Briefing, October 2007
Email Marketing Industry Census 2007

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