More U.S. Businesses Turning to E-mail Campaign

Cost-conscious businesses in the United States are increasinglyturning to the Internet in stead of traditional direct mailings,according to a new study released this week by U.S. research firmGartner.

Gartner projects that e-mail advertising revenue will reach 1.26billion U.S. dollars in 2002, up from 948 million dollars last year.By 2005, e-mail advertising revenue is forecast to total 1.5billiondollars.

While this is still a drop in comparison with traditional directmarketing, which is expected to be close to 200 billion dollars thisyear, the e-mail advertising's growth should threatenoffline directmarketing services.

"Direct mail has reached its peak and will account for less than50 percent of mail received by U.S. households by 2005, down from 65percent in 2001," said Gartner's report. "As e-mail use, familiarityand trust increases, consumers will become more comfortable withaccepting advertisements through their computer."

In addition, according to Gartner, e-mail marketing campaigns haveproven to be more effective and less expensive.

On average, it takes four to six weeks to complete a direct mailcampaign, while it needs only seven to 10 business days for an e-mail campaign. Currently, e-mail costs range from five to sevendollars per thousand while direct mail costs range from 500 to 700dollars per thousand.