The channel works amazing well for marketers who know how to use it. Even 45% of consumers in a recent survey said it was a "great way" for companies to stay in touch with their customers. Return on investment for e-mail marketing tops all other channels except for telemarketing. Dimensional and direct mail may generate higher revenues per contact, and sometimes better response rates, but their costs are higher. And among the four media with lower costs per contact than e-mail, response rates are abysmal.

Bottom line: when properly used, e-mail can balance low costs and high response rates better than other marketing media. But...the challenge is to maximize its effectiveness with better content, targeting,