Marketing Charts is one of my favorite bread and butter blogs for getting recent marketing reports. They just posted another interesting study today that says consumers who receive emails from a company are 50% more likely to buy their product.

I have the same concerns of a self-selection bias with this report as well. Likely people who are receiving these emails have a positive view of the company to begin with. I don’t believe the logic is “if a user receives an email, they’re more likely to buy”.

Dell’s experiences with Twitter hint that these trends have more to do with keeping in contact with your customers with relevant information instead of blanketing the landscape with your message.

Key study findings:

* 57% of consumers feel they have a more positive impression of companies when they receive email from them.

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* 40% said that simply receiving email has a positive impact on their likelihood to make a future purchase a company.

* 71% remember email communications when making purchases at the sending company’s web site.

* 50% said they’re more likely to buy products from companies who send them email, whether their purchases are online or at a place of business.

* One-third said they usually visit sites directly instead of clicking on an email link.

The survey also captured activities that may not be measurable by typical email marketing platform, Epsilon said. For example, 33% of respondents said they usually visit sites directly, instead of clicking on an email link. In the retail category, 67% of respondents said they purchased products offline as a direct result of receiving an email from a retail company.

via Email Increases Likelihood to Buy by 50%.