95% ‘think paid search is cost effective’

The vast majority of respondents to a recent survey claimed paid search marketing techniques were cost-effective.

Research from E-consultancy found that 95 per cent of retailers think paid search is either "very" or "quite" cost-effective, compared with 42 per cent who said the same of display advertising and 88 per cent for email.

Paid search was also identified as the most effective volume driver of all marketing strategies, with 65 per cent reporting that the technique drives a high volume compared to two-thirds who claimed a "high" or "medium" volume from affiliate marketing.

The study also found that investment in affiliate marketing is set to rise over the next two years.

According to the report, 71 per cent of retailers expect to increase investment in affiliate marketing over the next 24 months, with 19 per cent of the average online marketing budget currently directed to such strategies.

Meanwhile, a recent post on the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog cites a new study showing that the company received the biggest jump in customer satisfaction levels of all the search engines surveyed.