64% of decision makers use email marketing for Lead Generation

Feb. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- Hampshire, UK – 8th February 2012 - Email marketing specialist, Inbox Insight, recently conducted a survey to an audience of 175 directors, MD’s and marketing decision makers regarding their organisations current and future lead generation strategies.

Results compiled by Inbox Insight reveal that 61% of organisations surveyed currently have a lead generation strategy in place, however although there is a clear appetite for lead generation, when asked, 33% of the respondents do not think they are using it effectively.  

Despite a third of respondents stating they would spend more on lead generation this year, the survey revealed a lack of understanding among them regarding the definition of lead generation. The majority (73%) said they would define it as customer generation, whilst 61% said they would define it as database building. Other responses include prospecting (52%), nurturing (28%) and subscriber generation (24%).

There are many tactical methods for lead generation, but a huge 77% of respondents asked said that they utilise their website for lead generation, whilst 64% use email marketing. Other avenues include social media (53%), whitepapers and guides (17%), events (57%) and direct marketing (49%).

Although the majority of respondents use email marketing for lead generation, when asked which avenues they thought were most effective, 46% said events and 39% stated email marketing. The less popular choices were webinars (11%) and interactive tools (5%).

Emma Wootton-Woolley, Creative Director at Inbox Insight commented: “Organisations are beginning to see the importance of lead generation and are utilising different methods to find which avenue is most effective for them. Email marketing provides a low cost way to generate high quality opt-in leads making this is a popular channel within an organisation’s lead generation strategy.”

When looking at lead generation patterns and budgets in 2011, exactly one third of respondents spent up to 10% of their marketing spend on lead generation, and 16% spent up to 20%. A huge 25% spent over 50% of their marketing budget on lead generation, with 32% looking to spend the same in 2012 as they did in 2011.

With 80% of respondents agreeing lead generation is a valuable tool for increasing their customer base, and 58% having success targeting specific markets with their messages, a successfully implemented lead generation strategy can be a great way of bringing in new and relevant business to your organisation.