Biggest Threats To Email Marketing? Social Media & Kids Texting [Survey]

Social media and kids abandoning email are two of the biggest threats to future success in email marketing, according to the new 2012: Email in Action study from eConsultancy and the Direct Marketing Association.

Conducted in the fourth quarter of 2011, the survey involved more than 450 email marketers in North America.

When asked about the challenges to future success in email marketing, 75 percent of respondents said competition with social media was either “very challenging” or “somewhat challenging.” Sixty-nine percent said “young people abandoning email” was either very or somewhat challening.

Budget concerns, integrating with other marketing channels, and proving ROI were seen as challenging by 65 percent, 61 percent and 59 percent, respectively.

There have been a number of studies and stories over the last few years about how young people are relying more on text messages as their primary communication tool, and not using email. (Here’s a New York Times story from 2010, and a CNET story from 2007.) Email marketing service Aweber surveyed teens last year on this subject, and found that only 44 percent of teens “believe email will live on.” There’s a strong contrarian viewpoint in our previous story/infographic, Infographic: Email Isn’t Dead.

The full eConsultancy/DMA report costs $400, but there’s a free sample with this chart and others that can be downloaded, no contact information required.

(tip via MarketingCharts.com)

(Stock image via Shutterstock. Used under license.)