A new survey shows that 87 per cent of UK intermediaries prefer to receive information from fund management groups and investment houses via email.

This means email is far ahead of personal visits, which rank at 49 per cent.

Direct mail registered 33 per cent and telephone communication is preferred by only 23 per cent of respondents.

Interestingly, receiving information via fax is preferred only by four per cent, the same as SMS (texts).

The survey, entitled “How financial advisors perceive fund managers’ marketing emails” was conducted by UK marketing agency Abstracts for its proprietary email marketing system, ReportMail.

The study also showed that over 45 per cent of respondents have a preference for “trade email alerts” over editorial and advertising in websites and printed publications. At the same time, over 90 per cent of respondents rated trade mail alerts as being "very" or "sometimes" useful. With 76 per cent claiming they opened all or most of their emails from fund managers and 60 per cent clicking on links in these emails, intermediaries appear to dedicate more time to their inbox than expected, Abstracts said in a statement.

However, the survey also showed that 22 per cent of fund managers’ emails always or often go to junk folders.

“Fund management groups and investment houses really can’t afford to get this wrong, and whilst budgets remain restricted, providers can get so much more value for money, easily analyse their return on investment and at the same time keep the IFA community happy. None of this is rocket science, and we are surprised by the continuing reluctance of some investment houses to engage in, or at least test out, today’s technology,” said Paul Wreford-Brown, digital marketing director at Abstracts.

The survey was conducted during April this year, based on 191 responses of financial advisors.