What Are the Industry Drivers of Email Marketing?

To understand the rapid growth of the email marketing industry, we must first observe that the use of the Internet continues to penetrate the US, reaching over 77% of the population in 2010, and email is the number 1 use of the Internet. According to the non-profit Pew Research Center, more than 90% of Internet users between 18 and 72 said they send and receive email, making it the top online activity, ahead of search engine use. (see our post on this Pew Study Here)

Email is not only pervasive in Internet usage, it’s also the dominant method of business communication. According to a 2011 study done by the Marketing Agency, Merkle3, email is the preferred method of commercial communication by 74% of all online adults, beating phone, social networking sites, and text messaging by wide margins. The same study shows that 30% of total email time was devoted to commercial emails (versus personal), compared to only 17% in 2005.

The increased use of mobile and smart phones also bodes well for email. According to a Nielsen report released in August 2010, email usage makes up 42% of all mobile action, while time spent on social networks makes up only about 10% of the total.