Consumers want your E-Mail.

Postal mail still gets results, too

Text and instant messaging are fine for friends, but not for marketers.

That was the main finding of ExactTarget’s “2008 Channel Preference Survey.”

Nearly two-thirds of US Internet users surveyed said e-mail was their preferred channel for written communications between friends, with text messaging the next-favorite choice. The phone was the most popular way to communicate with friends overall, with 41% of respondents naming it as their channel of choice.

“There is a clear trend within younger demographics toward communication via text messaging and social networks,” said Morgan Stewart, director of research and strategy at ExactTarget, in a statement.

But Mr. Stewart said those preferred personal communication channels were not necessarily also preferred channels for marketing.

Asked to judge the acceptability of various channels for marketing purposes on a scale of 1 to 5, respondents gave direct mail an average score of 3.9, followed by e-mail at 3.7. All other channels averaged under 3.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said they had made a purchase because of a marketing message received through e-mail. More than three-quarters said they had made such a purchase in response to direct mail.

Even among regular text message users, only 9% said they preferred getting marketing messages via SMS instead of e-mail.

David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, said that although different age groups favored various means of communication, those preferences could change over time.

“It is worth noting that younger online users tend more toward IM than e-mail, which could be an indicator of change ahead in the composition of the e-mail audience,” Mr. Hallerman said. “But it might also indicate that younger users, who tend to have more time, are more available for instant messaging. As they age and their calendars fill up, the delayed communication of e-mail will appeal to them more.”

The ExactTarget results agreed with a recent survey of Internet users in North America by Habeas and Ipsos. About two-thirds of respondents to that survey said they preferred e-mail when dealing with businesses, and about as many said they expected to continue to prefer e-mail in five years.

Courtesy of http://www.emarketer.com