For those who think email marketing is dying, you might want to check out Zoomerang’s consumer survey.

The 2011 survey, Marketing in a Digital World, reports over half (52 percent) of the consumer respondents rated Email/Newsletters as the the number one source of interaction with businesses.

It didn’t say they like it –

Simply that it’s what they receive or interact with most on a weekly basis.

About the Survey

Zoomerang, a site for online surveys and polls, distributed surveys to consumers and small businesses.

• Objective – The survey’s objective was obtaining information on the use of social media tools for interaction on products/services
• Small Business Respondents – 1,180 small business decision-makers responded – 83 percent had 10 or fewer employees
• Business Location – Most (51 percent) had physical, brick and mortar locations versus online only
• Consumer Respondents – 500 consumers responded – 41 percent were between the ages of 26 and 45

The report compares how small businesses market versus how consumers use social media tools for information.

Survey Findings

Here are a few interesting findings.

Marketing Source

The top three sources of marketing for small businesses are –

1. Websites – 54 percent
2. Email/newsletters – 51 percent
3. Social media – 44 percent

Compared to what consumers interact with most (on a weekly basis) –

1. Email/newsletters – 52 percent
2. Website deals and Advertising – 29 percent for each category
3. Social media – 21 percent

Facebook

• 86 percent of small businesses use Facebook for marketing
• 64 percent, however, do not use Facebook advertising
• 93 percent of consumers have a Facebook account
• 53 percent indicate Facebook deals/discounts work best in getting their attention

Conclusions

If you follow my blog, you know I tend to be a bit skeptical about statistics.

This report had several that left me with a take it with a grain of salt conclusion.

• The report devoted a section to Facebook for Business/Marketing
• It asked consumers what are their primary reasons in connecting with businesses on Facebook
• It reports several statistics related to Facebook for business/marketing

Here’s my observations.

• Just because 93% of consumer respondents have a Facebook account doesn’t mean they frequently access businesses pages
• In fact, the report shows 64 percent have not interacted with a business on Facebook
• Another 60 percent report they never clicked on a Facebook advertisement

The survey asked consumers what they felt was the most effective tactic for getting their attention on Facebook.

That’s like asking 60 percent of a crowd who wasn’t at the scene to describe an accident.

As with most surveys, I found the information interesting, but it probably won’t change my marketing efforts much.

What do you think?

What are your most productive marketing tools?

BigStock Photo Credit

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