YNOT EUROPE – Consumers in Europe’s six largest countries may demonstrate clear preferences for different types of online interaction, but when it comes to marketing communications, email remains more reliable than social media in all six nations.

A recent study conducted by Mediacom Science on behalf of email services provider eCircle analyzed responses from more than 5,000 internet denizens in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Consumers in the UK, Spain and Italy engage more often than those in other countries with multichannel marketing messages that present brand messages through both social media and email. Users in Italy were the most amenable to mixed-medium messages, with 69 percent of respondents saying they embrace email, newsletters and social media equally.

In contrast, email dominates the marketing landscape in Germany, France and the Netherlands, where more than one third of all respondents only accept contact via email. The number of consumers only using email varied considerably across the six markets, from just 11 percent in Spain to a massive 40 percent in the Netherlands. In the UK the “email-only” figure was less than one quarter, with just 18 percent of respondents using only email and the majority preferring to use a combination of online channels.

“Global brands launching European campaigns need to look carefully at the nuances between different countries and tailor their communication strategy accordingly,” said eCircle Chief Executive Officer Volker Wiewer. “There has been much debate about social media ‘killing off’ email, [but] this research demonstrates that far from preferring one method, many consumers prefer a multi-channel approach.”

Across the six countries, email marketing remained the most popular channel of digital communication. An average of 83 percent of consumers in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy subscribe to marketing newsletters, according to the study. Even in countries where the share of email newsletters is lower, more than two thirds of consumers subscribe to newsletters (Spain 70 percent; UK 73 percent).

Of the social media channels used, Facebook dominates in five of the six countries surveyed, with an average of 88 percent of respondents using the network. In the Netherlands, Facebook is significantly less popular: Instead of Facebook, the majority of Netherlands consumers (80 percent) use local network Hyves. In Germany, Facebook snagged the top spot with 60 percent of consumers, only barely leading local competitors VZ network (50 percent) and We-kennt-wen (36 percent).

Surprisingly, although Facebook is dominant in the majority of markets, relatively few respondents are following a company or brand’s profile on that social network, suggesting brands across Europe are failing to engage with consumers effectively over social networks. The UK has the highest number of users signed up to fan pages (more than one third), but in other countries including Germany and France, fewer than 16 percent of users track Facebook fan pages.

“Email marketing still forms the backbone of all effective online marketing campaigns [in Europe],” Wiewer said. “Yes, there is significant variation in the way consumers across Europe are using online channels and how they choose to interact with brands, but email is the one constant method consumers depend on.

“That said, with the emergence of smart phones and tablet devices, we are seeing the way people are using online channels change,” he added.