Email strategic planning and best practice processes are lagging behind, despite 70 per cent of marketers expecting email marketing expenditure to increase over the next 12 months according to the latest Direct Marketing Association (DMA) National Client Email Survey report.

Fewer than half of marketers have a strategy concerning maximum email contact frequency, while only a quarter of marketers are able to calculate the value of an email address and 12 per cent of respondents do not know how many emails an address should receive each month.

Richard Gibson, chair of the DMA email marketing council benchmarking hub said tough economic conditions were leading marketers to increase the volume of emails sent.

"Without the correct best practice and evaluation measures in place, these companies risk alienating customers by over-mailing which can, in turn, lead to deliverability issues" he said.

The report also highlights deliverability as marketers' biggest concern, followed by conversion rates, return on investment and reputation.

Sender reputation is ranked as the most important deliverability factor by 36 per cent of surveyed marketers, followed by list hygiene (20 per cent) and email content (18 per cent).

Open and click rates were reported as the most common measures of success, used by 72 per cent and 66 per cent of marketers respectively. Yet, only half of marketers are measuring the revenues generated by their email marketing. This low figure is attributed to an increase in the use of email for brand awareness.

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