18-34 Year Old Respond to Email Marketing Over Social Network Marketing

Posted by SEO News 21 October, 2008

Social networking is popular, but how to target consumers through them is a mystery that has plagued marketers since social media’s inception. Now, a new study from ExactTarget is showing how tough it can be.

The report showed that 18-34 year olds say they’re more likely to respond to marketing efforts via email or direct mail than they are social networking campaigns.

Here are more key findings from the study:

20 percent of Wired consumers have subscribed for marketing communications via SMS, more so than any other group, but they want to receive texts only for urgent customer service issues such as financial alerts or travel updates.
More than 50 percent of Young Homemakers use social networks and SMS during the day, but direct mail and e-mail are their two preferred marketing channels.
81 percent of Retired consumers have purchased online and 94 percent have been influenced by some form of direct marketing to make a purchase.
College Students are very spam-savvy and believe private communication channels such as SMS and social networks are off limits for marketers.
Teens use social networking more than any other group but are more likely to make a purchase from direct mail, followed by e-mail, SMS and social network sites.
Women are more likely than the men in the Established Professionals group to use new digital media channels such as IM, SMS and social networking to communicate with friends and family, but men and women alike shop online with 92 percent of the consumers in this group having made an online purchase.

What do you think of this data? Let us know in the comments.