More small business owners and entrepreneurs will be going online with e-mail marketing messages to reach new customers, existing clients and build stronger relationships according to a report from Forrester Research Inc. The independent research company is forecasting e-mail marketing spending in the United States will reach two billion dollars by 2014.

"Spending on e-mail marketing in the US will balloon to $2 billion by 2014 - a nearly 11 percent compound annual growth rate," Forrester said in a media release to journalists. "Falling CPMs (cost per thousands), a high return on investment, and growing consumer use of social e-mail accounts will fuel the use of e-mail by direct marketing professionals,” according to analysts in the Forrester Research report.

Forrester analysts predict in five years, consumers will be deluged with more than 9,000 email marketing messages annually!

“By 2014 direct marketers will waste $144 million on emails that never reach their primary target,” said Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst David Daniels. “Successful Direct Marketing pros will alter their tactics to overcome inbox clutter and increase relevancy.”

The June, 2009 report notes some of the growth areas shaping the future of email marketing:

• Retention email — email that recipients have blessed with their permission — will continue to replace paper communications and will make up the largest share of marketing messages. Retention emails will account for more than a one-third of all marketing messages in consumers’ inboxes by 2014, representing increased competition for marketers.
• While the bulk of the market will continue to deploy email marketing on a self-service basis, the growing complexity associated with data integration and new tactics to increase relevancy will drive healthy growth in use of email service providers.
• Spending on ad-sponsored or ad-supported newsletters will double over the next five years as traditional print publishers face falling circulation and ad revenue.

“The use of email in social networks will be one of the biggest challenges for direct marketers,” said Daniels. “Over the next five years, marketers must bridge the gap between social and traditional inboxes with social sharing tools.”

The Forrester report “US Email Marketing Forecast 2009 To 2014” is currently available to Forrester clients and can be purchased directly at www.forrester.com/go?docid=53620