Forecast: E-mail marketing is on the rise

Crank up those spam filters - because by 2014, consumers will be "deluged" with more than 9,000 e-mail marketing messages annually, predicts Forrester Research Inc. of Cambridge.

Think of it - 9,000 e-mails. Offers from retailers for free shipping. Invitations to join dubious investment schemes. Ads for miracle diets that promise to make geezer Romeos jump and frisk - and lose weight at the same time. Put another way, 9,000 e-mails per year works out to nearly one per hour, 24/7, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.

"Spending on e-mail marketing in the US will balloon to $2 billion by 2014 - a nearly 11 percent compound annual growth rate," Forrester said in a press release. "Falling CPMs (cost per thousands), a high return on investment, and growing consumer use of social e-mail accounts will fuel the use of e-mail by direct marketing professionals."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)