DMAi and Octane.in Announce the Launch of the Fourth Annual India e-Marketing Research Report at the DMAi Convention 2014

NEW DELHI, January 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Study Indicates That e-Marketing in 2014 is all About 'Igniting Engagement'

Octane Marketing (Octane.in), India's leading email marketing company, in collaboration with the Direct Marketing Association of India (DMAi), has announced the release of 'Igniting Engagement', the fourth edition of its annual e-Marketing research report at the DMAi Convention 2014 event in New Delhi.

400 India marketers from 344 companies across 12 verticals have shared their inputs, insights and plans for e-Marketing to make this report the biggest community outreach and research project of its kind in India. The report covers ongoing trends in digital marketing, adoption of technology, budgetary allocations, new strategies, e-Marketing challenges and marketers' plans for 2014.

Out of the 344 companies that participated in the survey, 136 have online operations and out of those, 44 are purely e-commerce companies. This report is a part of a one-of-a-kind research series that investigates, understands and covers the state of e-Marketing in India year after year.

"As the report launch partner, we are proud to be associated with Octane's effort to create a consolidated e-Marketing Outlook, fourth year in a row that includes all the whereabouts of the digital space in India. Insights from this research can help marketers demystify long established truths around e-marketing and reveal marketers' perspectives, from start to finish, on the how to deploy e-marketing strategies. It aligns perfectly with our core belief of marketing made smarter," said Ms. Shelly Singh, Director and COO, DMAi at the launch ceremony.

At the same time, Mr. Digvijay Bhandari, Co-founder and CEO, Octane.in added, "The premise of the industry, as we've understood it from this report, is that marketers in India are deploying digital multi-channel campaigns to move more and more towards personalisation, content relevancy and enhanced engagement with their audience. Even the space based design theme of this edition has been chosen to represent the leading edge of this technology integrated marketing renaissance."

Some of the key findings from the report are:

1. For the fourth successive year, Customer Acquisition remains the top choice as the primary marketing goal for marketers in India with 51% of the respondents choosing this option over customer retention or brand awareness.
2. Social Media updates and Email Campaigns continue to dominate the minds of marketers in India (both at 35%) when it comes to preferred channels of customer engagement. While Email had significantly dropped last year (29% in 2013 vs. 39% in 2012), it now seems to be back in favour with a 21% growth in the number of marketers choosing it for 2013-2014.
3. For 29% of the companies surveyed, e-Marketing currently contributes between 11% to 30% of their total sales revenue while an additional 19% chose the '31% to 50%' option for the same.
4. 47% of the respondents shared that they think that between a quarter to half of all their Email marketing messages will be viewed on mobile devices in 2014. A further 25% were even more confident and chose the 50% to 75% option.
5. According to marketers in India, Content (at 50%), Frequency/Volume of sending (at 46%) and Black Listing/Sender Reputation (at 34%) are the top three factors that impact inbox deliverability rates for Email campaigns.
6. 36% of the marketers in India feel that a strong anti-spam law like the CAN-SPAM (USA) would help curb the menace of spam in India. A smaller group at 30% believes that a 'code of conduct' for Indian marketers by an industry body like IAMAI or DMAi would be effective. Meanwhile, 27% of the marketers chose self-regulation as their top choice while a surprising 7% of the marketers (up 3% since 2013) want Indian regulators to stop all promotional activities via Emails and SMS.

More information about the report, the findings and links to previous editions of the series can be found at www.octaneresearch.in.

About Direct Marketing Association of India (DMAi):

DMAi is a non-profit organization (established in 1992) that has evolved to become one of the leading voices and champion of the digital marketing community in India. It aims to bring about collective action for advancing & protecting responsible Data Driven Marketing and Advertising. DMAi stands for creating marketing relevant to organizations and provide to them sustained customer engagement. This in-return creates better industry standards and effective self-regulation of the Data driven, Marketing & Advertising community of the country. More information at: www.dmai.co.

About Octane Marketing (Octane.in):

Octane.in is India's first multi-channel platform for integrated marketing campaigns. Marketers can send integrated (Email, SMS & Social) campaigns on a clean, spam-free marketing platform; built on intelligent software which is available on demand online (pay as you go, zero upfront cost, zero lead time to start) or onsite (deployed at location). It is a powerful, up-to-date campaign software backed by a 24x7 IP reputation management service, on a highly scalable & secure platform for even the most demanding customer campaigns. In 2012, Octane was voted as one of the Top 20 Tech start-ups in India by Tech Circle. More information at: www.octane.in.

Primary Media Contact: Ahmer Hasan, [email protected], 91-9871718555

Secondary Media Contact: Sahiba Sachdev, [email protected], 91-9971909268