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JupiterResearch: Social networking, SMS use impact effectiveness of email marketing

Categories: Research
By: , IntoMobile
Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 12:32 PM

JupiterResearch

JupiterResearch has found that rising popularity of social networking sites and other forms of communication including text messaging and mobile phone use are beginning to impact the effectiveness of email marketing, particularly the numbers of consumers that say promotional messages inspired purchases.

According to a new report titled “The Social and Portable Inbox: Optimizing E-mail Marketing in the New Era of Communication Tools,” emerging forms of communication are leading to diminished use of email:

  • 22% of email users said they use social networking sites instead of e-mail, with scores more indicating they have used instant messaging, text messaging, and mobile phones instead of email.
  • In 2007, 51% of users said email inspired at least one online purchase, and 47% said the same for off-line purchases. However, in 2008, the share of email users fell to 44% for online purchases and 41% for off-line purchases.

According to JupiterResearch’s David Daniels the reason for this is that nowadays people receive such a high volume of email that they are unable to pay attention to every message. “It is so important for marketers to be relevant and succinct when they send messages to consumers’ inboxes,” he added.

Finally, David concluded that marketers need to be aware that consumers are using other forms of communication and must ensure their strategy adapts to consumers’ changing behavior.

The complete findings of this report are available to JupiterResearch’s website.

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About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • Alex (SMS from PC)

    “ensure their strategy adapts to consumers’ changing behavior”…

    Let’s just hope that marketing will not get that abusive with SMS and IM in general as it became with e-mail.

    We already see the rise of marketing solutions like Bluetooth proximity systems, bulk SMS messaging, and similar. There’s already some demand in personal SMS spam blockers, and carrier grade filters too. We’ll see..