SmallBusinessNewz

A survey conducted by Hurwitz & Associates and sponsored by Campaigner revealed some interesting results on how small businesses view email marketing. The survey gathered responses from 259 small business owners and focused on North American small businesses with 1 to 20 employees.

"The survey points to a major adoption trend in small business email marketing – 46 percent currently use email marketing and 36 percent plan to use it next year," said Laurie McCabe, partner, Hurwitz & Associates.  "As the recovery from the recession gets underway, businesses that already have email marketing programs in place are better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities to increase sales and revenues."

Key findings from the survey include:

- 46% of Small Businesses Use Email Marketing Today, 36% Plan to Start Using in the Coming Year

- Both current users and those that plan to use email marketing view spam as the biggest barrier or potential barrier to successful email marketing.

- When questioned about their concerns in designing and executing email marketing campaigns, respondents reported the following top challenges: Concerns that my customers will view email marketing as spamming, too many email campaigns are filtered out by spam filters, poor response rates.

- Survey respondents cited the following as their top criteria for choosing an email marketing provider: Ease-of-use, quality of customer support, price.

When asked more detailed questions about email marketing, small business owners cited the following as top benefits:

- Inexpensive/effective way to reach out to new prospects and customers

- Generates a fast response so I can tell if a campaign is working

- Effective way to build customer loyalty

Newsletters, sales and promotional offers and announcements are the most common ways small businesses said they are using email marketing.