Email Still Top Marketing Tool, Says New Study

With the many discussions, studies and success stories touting the importance of social media, email is still the most useful tool in the kit, according to a new survey of marketing professionals by the Direct Marketing Association. Though it's starting to shift, email is the #1 channel for 55% of marketers.

In the future, email will likely become a bit less important. Cross-channel real-time messages, while sent out by only 29% of marketers at the time of survey, saw the most interest for future implementation at 49%, according to eMarketer.  Mobile devices will also become more important to real-time marketers, with 42% planning to invest going forward.