Study: Email is cheap and we like it

This week's Marketing Sherpa Chart of the Week highlights marketing spend allocated towards email.

Here's the chart, taken from the organization's Benchmark Survey:

A takeaway from the above is that just as many people said email is cheap or free and fine as it is as did those who find it to be a powerful tool that's worth spending enough on to stay on top of it.

Yes, email is an inexpensive marketing tool, but I think the "junk-in, junk-out" rule applies here.  Companies will only get so much out of their email programs if they don't allocate proper resources towards them.  MailChimp blogged about a company that notched a $157,000 ROI from its email campaign.  (OK, this company deals in precious metals, but still.)

It is my hope that the 31% group grows and more companies begin to realize the power that the channel carries.  As the market for mobile messaging grows, I see email as a complementary channel growing alongside it.