85% of DMers Will Boost Online Spend in 2007: Report
Direct marketers will make online activities a big priority in 2007, according to a survey by Chicago-based marketing software maker Alterian.
According to the company’s fourth annual poll of more than 500 direct marketers, marketing services providers and agencies in the U.S. and the U.K., 85% of respondents said they will spend more on online direct marketing this year than they did in 2006. That’s the greatest proportion expecting to hike digital spending since the survey’s first flight in 2003.
Asked to detail their spending plans, 81% of those polled say they will increase spending on e-mail marketing, while 45% will allot more budget to the creation of optimized landing pages for search marketing campaigns.
And while 51% of those surveyed also plan to hike their spending on offline direct marketing efforts this year, a whopping 94% of those who plan to cut back on non-Web DM efforts in 2007 said they will still increase their online spending.
Other findings from the Alterian Annual Survey:
* 35% of respondents said they integrate e-mail campaigns with all other channels, and 26% combine it with at least one other channel. Only 18% run standalone e-mail marketing programs.
* 70% said they apply either only basic analysis to e-mail program or no analysis at all. Only 29% say they analyze e-mail campaigns to the fullest extent possible.
* 44% of marketers manage e-mail in-house, while 29% outsource to an e-mail service provider and 15% to an agency. Only 11% use marketing services providers.
* 71% of Alterian respondents send fewer than 1 million e-mails a month on average. Monthly workloads of less than 1 million or more than 10 million e-mails are more likely to be managed in-house; mid-sized campaigns usually get outsourced.
