Marketing potential: Email 'cheap and accepted'

Email is an excellent platform for marketers as it is low cost and "ingrained" into consumers' everyday lives, an expert has commented.

Jack Wallington, programmes manager of the Internet Advertising Bureau, agreed that email is going to be one of the main ways in which web marketers communicate in the future.

He described the medium as being one of the "earliest and simplest" versions of social networking and forecast that as a result of smart phones, email is likely to soon compete with texting as a cheap means of communication.

"As this technology becomes more affordable there’s potential for email to replace texting altogether, further growing the medium," Mr Wallington added.

The Direct Marketing Association recently urged business to business marketers to only send their clients relevant email communications to aid deliverability and boost the reputation of the sector.

However, it noted that recently there has been a rise in the number of firms sending more sophisticated messages, such as regular newsletters.