Email marketing tipped to become even more popular in 2012

Email marketing will become an even more popular method of reaching consumers in 2012, an industry expert has predicted.

Marketers sent an average of 41 emails in the final two months of 2011, which is a 20 per cent higher volume than in 2010 - suggesting that the medium could continue increasing in popularity. 

What's more, Chad White -  research director of an independent email marketing company - has claimed that marketing email usage will continue on an upward trend just as it did last year. Reacting to new statistics which show a 16 per cent annual increase in the amount of emails sent out by retailers, White predicted a similar jump this year.

He told bizreport.com: "As we kick off the New Year, email continues to play an increasingly prolific role as a marketing tool for retailers. During 2011, major retailers relied more than ever on cost-efficient email marketing to reach their customers and generate sales - and we expect retail email volume to continue trending upward in 2012."

Despite his predictions of increased volumes, White claimed that the challenge for marketers should be to achieve better returns from their campaigns without increasing the amount of emails they send to subscribers.

According to internetretailer.com, he claimed that this could be achieved through increased relevance, better analytics, more triggered emails and improved segmentation.