Email marketing may be one of the oldest forms of online marketing but it remains one of the most effective, as new research from Econsultancy shows that the medium continues to directly drive conversions among consumers.

As reported by the UK Internet Advertising Bureau, the Econsultancy survey has found that email marketing campaigns are possibly the most popular form of direct marketing among consumers. 61% of consumers surveyed for the How We Shop in 2010: Habits and Motivations of UK Consumers report said that they preferred to receive advertising via email.

This compares extremely favourably with other mediums. Traditional direct marketing via post was only preferred by 28%, whilst advertising messages on social networking sites were extremely unpopular with only 5% of respondents saying they preferred such messages.

Furthermore, the survey showed that there is a significant number of people who still exclusively use email for communication. More than a third (38%) of respondents said they do not use any kind of social networking site.

It was also revealed that email marketing has a relatively high impact upon generating customer interest and sales leads both for online and offline goods and services. Just over a third of consumers (36%) said that they had been prompted to make an online purchase after receiving an email, whilst 27% said that an email message had led to them making a purchase offline.

“Email is extremely effective as long as companies are targeted and relevant when communicating with consumers,” said Linus Gregoriadis, UK research director for Econsultancy. “Despite the rise of social media, the role of the email channel is secure.”